. . . more about who George was . . .

Addendum to my last post:
In looking through the images I brought back from our Texas trip in 2014, I found two items that actually should have been included last week, but here they are now:

1861-1862 - School:  Our very last research stop on our trip to Texas was at the Huntsville Public Library.  Although the staff member for their amazing (!) Genealogy Room was not in on that day, a staff member from the main part of the library produced a key and let us into the room to research without assistance.  I took two photos of pages from an "Inventory and Index" book which I browsed through; but I didn't have access to the boxes they referenced.  I was hoping to find adoption papers for George, but was happy to find the following two items:

Index pages for records and loose papers from San Augustine County, Texas, listing George E Brown.

Actually, the first page did not list George Brown - it listed George Baker, along with Elizabeth Baker and J.T. Baker.  Joseph did have a cousin named George Baker; but since he wouldn't have been a child at that date, and I don't find any record of that George in Texas, and since there are typically three people of each surname shown on the list, it sounds more like a listing of parents and students, done alphabetically.  The index calls it a Tabular Statement of Schools, and identifies it as being for the 1861-1862 school year.  Perhaps I will contact the library, to see if they will look and see what is in "Box 5, folder 19"!  If this is 'our' George, it tells us he was with Joseph and Elizabeth by 1861.

1878-1879 - Citizen of San Augustine:  On the second index page, George E Brown is part of a list of citizens who received pay for jury duty, work on the courthouse, feeding prisoners, or other services.  This establishes his return to San Augustine as happening by 1878 or 1879.

So - this would mean George left San Augustine in 1864 (at age 8, when Joseph Baker died) and likely returned by 1878 (age 22) or earlier.

This brings us back to the end of the previous blog post:

1883-1889 - Events in Georgia and Texas:   After their marriage on April 12, 1883, George and Narcissa (McMurrain) Brown may have continued to live in San Augustine, Texas, for a time - since their first child (and only daughter) Elizabeth - "Lizzie" - was born in Texas.

However, there may have been other trips to Narcissa's home in Georgia, because her father, John Wesley McMurrain, passed away on December 28, 1883.

The following spring, Narcissa's niece Lucie Ida Snellings passed away on April 24, 1884, in San Augustine, Texas.

A few months later, in August 1884, George and Narcissa's daughter Elizabeth was born there in Texas.

Redland Lodge No 3, AF AM 1837; photo of B.D. Crockett, positions from 1872-1896.

George may have been associated with the Masonic Lodge in San Augustine, since his brother-in-law was a member.  When we visited Texas, we asked around, and found that the manager of the San Augustine Motor Co., next door to the Lodge, was a member who had a key; and he let us in to look around.  It is a very old building.  I was hoping to find a photo of George, or at least a photo of his brother-in-law; but what I did find was a photo of B.D. Crockett, who is listed in the resolution below.   I would have loved a whole day to look at records there - but it was amazing that we were able to go inside at all!

The following summer, Narcissa's sister (Mary Jane "Mollie" McMurrain Snellings) gave birth to a son, John Franklin "Frank" Snellings, on July 29, 1885, there in San Augustine, Texas.  Just a little over two months later, on October 9, 1885, Mollie's husband, Franklin King Snellings, passed away in San Augustine.  The obituary below has the initials 'GEB' at the end; we believe that his brother-in-law (and our ancestor) George Eugene Brown was the writer.  The transcription and original article, from 1885, follow:
 

George and Narcissa were in Columbus, Georgia, when Walter Blanchard Brown was born on February 8, 1886.  However, they were living in Texas again in 1887, when George Eugene Brown Jr. was born on September 17, 1887.  They were also living in Texas when Joseph Baker Brown (named for George's adoptive father, Joseph T. Baker) was born on December 27, 1889.

Since this is a bit of a timeline, it should be noted that on November 21, 1887, Elizabeth Baker made application for a pension, based on Joseph Baker's service in the Mexican War.  Information from that application was immensely helpful, as I will detail in a later post.

I will insert information here about another situation which may have meant trips between Texas and Georgia for George and Narcissa:  Mary Jane "Mollie" McMurrain Snellings passed away on September 16, 1891.  At the time of her death in San Augustine, Texas, or possibly earlier, her youngest son, John Franklin "Frank" Snellings, was sent to live with Frank Wilkinson McMurrain, a brother of Mollie and Narcissa.  Frank McMurrain raised Frank Snellings in Georgia, as his own son.

1888 - George was editor of a Newspaper:

G.E. Brown, Ed., "The News", San Augustine, Texas, Vol. I, No. 39:  "A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the Counties of Sabine, Shelby, Nacogdoches and San Augustine."

This note, written in George's hand, to his adoptive grandfather, A.E. Baker, must have been from about the same time:

Note from George E. Brown to A.E. Baker, circa 1888.

1890 - George's job in Washington, D.C.:
The December 1, 1890, appointment which George received was reported as part of an article in the Friday, February 13, 1895, issue of the Dallas Morning News, under these headlines:  "CIVIL SERVICE LAWS -- No Section Has Been Benefited Under the System as Much as the Gulf States. - Appointments from Texas From July 1, 1890, to February 8, 1895, in the Classified Departmental Service."  Theodore Roosevelt wrote an article specifically to Texans, in addition to a letter to the St. Louis papers, because of a demand in St. Louis for the repeal of the civil service law.  Apparently the civil service law had replaced a 'patronage system' - the new law called for an apportionment of appointments - which meant 292 appointments from Texas, rather than the 24 appointments received from Texas under the patronage system.  Roosevelt referred to the fact that they held a special series of examinations early in 1890 in the southern states, including Texas, advertising as widely as possible the fact that several hundred appointments were to be made - which they were.  He said they had reason to believe that at least three-fourths of the persons appointed through the examinations were democrats - although the administration at Washington was republican - whereas none of them would have been appointed by the old 'spoils' system.

This may have been the first affirmative action project!

Below is the basic article, which I summarized above, as well as the part of the lengthy list which mentions "George E. Brown, San Augustine; interior; $1000; December 1, 1890; clerk."

Friday, February 13, 1895; The Dallas Morning News; report of December 1, 1890, appointment of George E Brown to D.C.

Two months after the death of Narcissa's sister Mollie (in San Augustine, Texas), Narcissa gave birth to Frederick Morgan Brown in Washington, D.C., on November 13, 1891.

George may have begun as a clerk; but by the time the twins, Herbert McMurrain Brown and Hubert Motley Brown, were born on February 16, 1896, George was referred to as a 'Special Examiner' with the U.S. Pension Office when the Knoxville Daily Journal reported on the event the next day.  He was apparently on a field assignment in Knoxville, Tennessee:

1896 births of George Eugene Brown's twin sons in Knoxville, Tennessee.

We have a 'mystery item' which has ties to Knoxville, Tennessee.  It may be from the time of George's work in Tennessee, but when Grandma (May Ludwig Brown) gave it to me, she emphasized that it was 'very old'.  She was born in 1890, six years before George was there as an Examiner.  I've been in contact with a gentleman who descends from the Jett Family, and his grandmother has a collection of these little jugs:

The Little Brown Jug with a Knoxville, TN, address, and the name J.M. Jett on it.

This tiny brown jug, roughly made of pottery, is less than three inches in height.  The jug is very heavy, has a very narrow mouth, and appears to be empty.  On the side of the jug the following has been crudely scratched:  "J M Jett -- 962 Broad Street -- Knoxville, Tenn"

This photo of George, which I am SO glad our cousin Sandy Brown shared with us, has a date of August 1, 1897 attached to it:

George Eugene Brown - August 1, 1897

The 1900 Census confirms details of George and Narcissa's living arrangements at that time.  They were living at 1239 M Street NE in Washington, D.C., which they owned (with a mortgage).  George is listed as an Examiner in the Pension Office, and he is shown on this census as having been born in Texas, with both parents having been born in Alabama (DNA results have made this location seem doubtful).  Narcissa is listed by her middle name, Lorena.  George's adoptive mother, Elizabeth Baker, was living with them - shown as 'm-in-law'.  Most D.C. city directories from this time list them at 1239 M Street NE; some directories list them at 1329 M Street.

1900 Census for George E Brown and Family, 1239 M Street NE, Washington, D.C.

I couldn't find the address on Google maps; but I did 'drive' up and down Morse Street, and found this home, 1239 Morse Street NE, which is definitely in the right area, although it's not necessarily the exact house:

1239 Morse Street NE, Washington, D.C.

The following photo may have been taken in 1901, so I'm listing the ages that everyone would have been in 1901:

Frederick Morgan Brown (10) is standing beside George Eugene Brown (45), and Joseph Baker Brown (12) is standing behind them, while Hubert Motley Brown (5) is standing between George and Elizabeth Breed Baker (73); Walter Blanchard Brown (15) and Lizzie (17) are standing behind Elizabeth and Herbert McMurrain Brown (5) who is holding hands with his mother, Narcissa Lorena Brown (44); George Eugene Brown Jr. (14) is behind his mother.

The faces in the above photo have been enhanced at MyHeritage; the photo below has also been colorized there:

George E. Brown and Family in Washington, D.C. about 1901.

While photos in 1901 weren't color photos, the colorization does make everyone show up very nicely!

In July of 1901, George E Brown shows up in a US Register of Civil Service for the Department of the Interior, Pension Office.  He is shown as a clerk, born in Texas, from San Augustine County, Texas, with compensation of $1,000.00.

Judging from a newspaper clipping, George had been in ill-health since at least 1899; and so he, and possibly his family, spent the winter of 1901-1902 in Arizona, before returning to Washington D.C.  Then, in September 1902 the family headed West on a permanent basis.  According to the September 19, 1902 edition of The Evening Times, Washington D.C.:

1902-09-19 George E Brown moved to California

“Mr. George E. Brown, who, for many years, has been one of the most efficient clerks in the Pension Office, left a few days since for Los Angeles, Cal., where he will permanently reside. Mr. Brown has been one of the faithful workers in the bureau, both as a special examiner in the field, and as a clerk in the certificate division. For two years or more he has been in ill-health, and last winter he spent in Arizona in hopes of gaining benefit from the dry climate of that region. Returning to his desk for a brief time he concluded to seek a home among the orange groves of southern California. The best wishes of a host of friends accompany him on his journey to the Pacific Coast.”

Although the family had moved to the Highland Park area of Los Angeles (according to the1903 Los Angeles City Directory, George E Brown, clk, h es Aldama 1 S of Avenue 61was a resident), the family must have also had a home in Phoenix, Arizona (Narcissa sold at least one home there in 1906).  According to his death certificate, George Eugene Brown passed away at 490 North 3rd Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 21, 1904, because of tuberculosis.

George Eugene Brown, November 21, 1904 certificate of death

 The obituary mentions an address of No. 338 North Third Avenue:

George E Brown obituary, published in the Arizona Republican Newspaper on November 23, 1904.

“George E Brown died on Monday night at No. 338 North Third Avenue of consumption. He was 49 years old and leaves a wife and six sons here and a daughter in Los Angeles. He came here for his health from Washington D.C. where he was a clerk in the pension bureau. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3 o’clock at Merryman’s parlors, the service being conducted by Rev. Lapsley A. McAfee.”

Will and Probate records for George's estate were nearly non-existent; apparently he had already deeded everything to Narcissa.  The only item to consider was an uncashed, certified check for $1,987.40 payable to George E Brown, drawn by a John Cook on the Columbia National Bank of Washington, D.C.  The check had arrived right before George's death, and he had not been able to cash it.  That check was declared the personal property of his wife, Narcissa Lorena Brown.

The life of George Eugene Brown has impacted the lives of us as descendants in many ways.  Many of us are who we are, and live where we live, because of decisions made in his lifetime.  I'm thankful to have learned more about who George was.

We will learn more about Narcissa in a later post.

But - I know I can not put it off any longer - my next post needs to talk about the results of DNA testing, and what it has revealed about the birth parents of our George Eugene Brown!

Realizing that Elizabeth Breed Brown, his adoptive mother, was mother and teacher and influencer in George's life, I will share what I've learned about her in a later post, and then take a look at our McMurrain ancestry.  Those aspiring to DAR membership will want to listen up!

We have quite a ways to go!! :)

(And, a little later, we will learn about our German and Irish ancestors, the Ludwigs and Gallaghers.)