WILLIAM BROWN (c. 1760 - c. 1833)
NORTH CAROLINA TO TENNESSEE TO ALABAMA
RESEARCHERS -- James Hargraves. James Brown, Judy Voran, Marilu Werrell, Kay Van Der Ostyne, Ann Turner
Clicking on the Table of Contents Link will take you to the named section heading. Clicking on the section heading will bring you to the Table of Contents section.
KNOX AND ROANE COUNTY TENNESSEE RECORDS
SETTLEMENT IN WHITE AND WARREN COUNTIES
WARREN COUNTY LAND RECORDS DETAILING BROWN RELATIONSHIPS
WARREN COUNTY, TENNESSEE TO ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ALABAMA
ARRIVAL IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY -- SOMETIME BETWEEN 1814 AND 1819
THE BROWN FAMILY IN 1816 MISSISSIPPI TERRITORIAL AND 1820 ST CLAIR COUNTY CENSUSES
WILLIAM BROWN LAND IN EARLY ST CLAIR COUNTY
RELATIONSHIP OF MARY ANN BROWN AND STACEY ELLEZY GRAYSON BROWN
SUMMARY OF WILLIAM BROWN'S LIFE
This section of the website devotes extra attention to William Brown the Revolutionary soldier, a son of William Brown the Immigrant, who is believed to have been the GGGGgrandfather of the site's owner, Judy Voran, because
Research over the last three
years has established clearly that David Brown was from the family
of the RW vets of Thomas and Robert Brown of Warren Co TN and was therefore
a descendant of the immigrant William Brown of Augusta Co VA and Waxhaws SC/NC,
as demonstrated chiefly by
The immigrant William Brown and our David appear to have been grandfather and grandson, because
Among the six names of
William the Immigrant's sons, only "William" is found among our David's
sons -- so by process of elimination, we believe the William of this discussion
to have been the father of our David.
We recognize the circumstantial and limited nature of this evidence. On the
other hand, since several years ago when James Hargraves first posited the hypothesis
about William the RW vet's having been the father of David, it has been altogether
robust and has not been contradicted or contravened by any subsequent findings.
Equally important, this hypothesis has been remarkably consistent
with recently discovered evidence, both from conventional documents
and from DNA.
Therefore we think it's entirely appropriate to proceed essentially as if we
had conventional genealogical "proof" of the parentage of our
David Brown. In fact, if we weren't willing to do so, we probably would not
have discovered a number of important findings about our extended Brown family.
On the other hand, we'll continue to be alert to evidence that might seem contradictory,
and we encourage others to do the same.
William Brown, the father of David Brown, was born about 1760 in Anson County, North Carolina where his father had purchased land in 1758.
The years between William's birth in about 1760 and the time of his service in the Revolutionary War action in North and South Carolina were surely filled with the experiences of any boy of Scotch descent.
I quote rather extensively from Albion's Seed by David Hacket Fischer [pp. 687-690] for it describes very well the manner of rearing children, most especially boys, in the backcountry of Virginia and North Carolina:
"...After the baby was born, parents began the process which the modern world calls socialization. For backcountry boys, the object was not will-breaking as among the Puritans, or will-bending as in Virginia. The rearing of male children in the back settlements was meant to be positively will-enhancing. Its primary purpose was to foster fierce pride, stubborn independence and a warrior's courage in the young. An unintended effect was to create a society of autonomous individuals who were unable endure external control and incapable of restraining their rage against anyone who stood in their way."
Fischer uses Andrew Jackson as a case in point, and since the Browns lived but a few miles from the Jacksons we might expect the experiences of Thomas, Robert, William, Alexander, Felix and John to parallel his description:
"The games of his youth were contests for dominion--wrestling, running and fighting....As a small boy, Jackson was remembered as 'wild, frolicsome, mischievous, daring and reckless." His upbringing left him quick to take offense, and with a mighty rage that burst upon its objects with explosive violence. As a young militiaman, he was described as "bold, dashing' fearless and mad upon his enemies.' That style of behavior was widely admired in the backcountry, where small boys were routinely taught to conduct themselves in the same way. [Hughes: North Country Life in the Eighteenth Century.]
...At an early age male children were given their own miniature weapons--an axe, a knife, a bow, even a childish gun. Daniel Drake recalled that as a child he was given a hatchet to "hack down saplings," while his father did the "heavy chopping." [Drake, Pioneer Life in Kentucky, 1785-1800.]
This method of child rearing was used mainly for boys. The daughters of the backcountry were raised in a different way. Mothers were expected to teach domestic virtues of industry, obedience, patience, sacrifice and devotion to others. Male children were taught to be self-asserting; female children were taught to be self-denying.
Fisher's description of farming methods [pp. 741-742] provides an interesting glimpse into everyday life:
...Most of them lived by a combination of farming and herding which required heavy labor in some seasons and little effort in others. In their new American environment the backsettlers adopted an old North British system of agriculture called the "infield-outfield" farming. The"infields" were given over to the most valuable crops, and cultivated with the light plows that were common in North Britain or with hoes that became more common in the backcountry. The outfields were allowed to lie fallow. The land was fertilized by confining animals in movable enclosures called "cowpens." [Hence the battle of the Coup's in the Revolutionary War.] (http://www.nps.gov/cowp/batlcowp.htm)
...Sheep which had been the main support of British animal husbandry, became an easy prey for predators in the American wilderness. They were replaced by swine which were allowed to breed freely on the range, rapidly reverting to the wild species from which they had descended. This process of devolution produced the backcountry razorback, which was more like a wild boar than a barnyard pig. It became so wild that it was hunted with a rifle.
Scotch-Irish in the American Revolution
Their [Scots] experience of religious discrimination in Ulster by their Episcopal English landlords meant the Scots-Irish had no hesitation in taking the side of the rebels in the War of Independence. In the words of Professor James G. Leyburn "They provided some of the best fighters in the American army. Indeed there were those who held the Scots-Irish responsible for the war itself".
No less a figure than George Washington once said "If defeated everywhere else I will make my last stand for liberty among the Scots-Irish of my native Virginia".
The Scots-Irish provided 25 Generals and about a third of the revolutionary army. The Pennsylvania Line was made up entirely of Ulster-Scots emigrants and their sons. The Battle of Kings Mountain was a Scots-Irish battle where a militia of mainly Scots-Irish Presbyterians defeated an English army twice its size.
President Theodore Roosevelt said of the Scots-Irish "in the Revolutionary war, the fiercest and most ardent Americans of all were the Presbyterian Irish settlers and their descendants" (http://www.theulsterscots.com/america.htm)
When the American Revolution broke out, at least in the Scotch-Irish version of the story, the Ulster natives leaped at the opportunity to attack the British crown. "Call this war by whatever name you may. . . ," observed one Hessian officer, "it is nothing more or less than a Scotch Irish Presbyterian rebellion." King George allegedly called the conflict "a Presbyterian war," and another official [Hugh Walpole] stated that cousin "America has run off with the Presbyterian parson." In spite of these comments, the actual Scotch-Irish population was a bit more divided in their loyalties than legend would have it, especially in the South. Still, the Scotch-Irish generally emerged from the Revolution with an enhanced local reputation. (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scottish_american.htm)
William Brown Service in the Revolutionary War.
It is difficult to disentangle the William Browns who served in the Revolution. There are no less than nineteen entries for William Browns in the South Carolina Patriots in the Revolutionary War. However, there were only 3 William Browns in the 1778-1779 taxpayer lists: a William Brown from Charleston, a William Brown from 96 Courthouse and a William Brown from East of the Wateree River (our William Brown, on the Catawba River, a northern extension of the Wateree River) James Hargraves, William Brown researcher, has found a record of a William Brown who served forty days in the Militia as a guard at the Long Bluff Jail at the age of 14. This is about right age to be our William Brown, though there is no definitive proof. That a 14 year old boy might serve as a member of a militia unit may seem somewhat unusual to us today,however the children of the frontier assumed adult responsibilities at an early age. If William Brown were raised in the way described above, it is possible to see how he could have served forty days in the Militia as a guard at the Long Bluff Jail at the age of 14. [South Carolina Roster of Patriots.] (Long Bluff, 3/4 mile east on Great Pee Dee River, was the site of the first courthouse and jail for old Cheraws District in 1772. The town was known as Greeneville after the Revolution and remained the seat of justice until the formation of Darlington, Marlboro and Chesterfield Districts. Circuit courts and elections were conducted for a while longer). According to the previously referenced record this William Brown, age 14 also served later with Francis Marion.
James Hargraves also believes that this is the William Brown who served under Edmund/Edward Lacey in the Turkey Creek Volunteer Militia in Union County, South Carolina. If that is the case, then young William Brown could have been at the Battle of Huck's Defeat as chronicled at http://www.yorkcounty.org/Brattonsville/1780-Huck.html. This web page gives excellent background material for understanding the passionate engagement of the Lowland Scot and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in supporting the Revolution and their determination to defeat the British monarchy.
The first written record we have of William Brown comes from his brother Thomas Revolutionary War pension application:
…and in October, 1776, [Thomas] reenlisted and served six weeks at Charleston in Captain John Barkley's Company, Colonel Joseph Kershaw's South Carolina Regiment: after the expiration of this tour, he started for father's home in the Waxhaw Settlement, and while on the road, met some troops from North Carolina, among whom was his brother, William and decided to enlist with these North Carolina troops and served in Captain William Houston's Company, Colonel Locke's North Carolina Regiment and was discharged in June, 1777, having served six months…
Colonel Francis Locke is best known for his American victory at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill (Lancaster County, SC) on June 20th, 1780 (http://www.uswars.net/1775-1783/battles/800620.htm) which is three years after Thomas Brown says he enlisted in Col. Locke's North Carolina Regiment. According to Roster of North Carolina Soldiers in the American Revolution Col. Francis Locke was in the North Carolina Militia. 1779-1781. He died January 8, 1823.
There is one other reference
to a Colonel Locke's regiment on the Internet with the following information:
Fiscus, Adam; Born 25 Sep 1759, at Lancaster County Pennsylvania; Children Peter; Henry; Frederick; Jacob; Sussy Fulk; Elizabeth Full; Service Entered service at "Moravian Town," North Carolina as volunteer for 9 months, in 1778 in Captain Henry Smith's Company, Colonel Locke's Regiment.
This places a Colonel Locke in North Carolina two years before the Battle of Ramsour's Mill, but still not as early as 1776 - 1777 when Thomas says that he served with William in that Regiment.. However, Thomas does go on to say " …that many years ago he received a severe hurt upon his head by the fall of a tree which together with extreme old age has greatly impaired memory…" The southern campaign of the Revolutionary War began in earnest in in the Carolina backcountry 1780, so it is possible that we may move Thomas' timeline forward about 3 years.
Whether it was father or son or both, a William Brown served with a militia unit and/or provided supplies. The entries from a book on South Carolina stub indents (John Lenell Andrews, Jr., South Carolina Revolutionary War Indents. SCMAR, Columbia, South Carolina, 2001.) That name William Brown in the Camden District are listed below:
104 W Militia duty Major Crawford Camden £ 5.11.5 332 Y Supplies and militia duty Major Thomason Camden £ 14.8.7 1099 Y Supplies Sumter's Brigade Camden £ 10.14.3 1/4
Because two of the stub indents refer to "supplies" it is likely that they refer to William Brown, father of Thomas and William Brown since he had the land and establishment to produce the supplies. However, it is possible that the militia duty under Major Crawford was performed by William Brown, the son.
Major Thomason
Records for Major Thomason may identify him as the Thomas Thomason who held the following land:
Anson County, North Carolina Deed
Abstracts, 1749-1766;
Page 245. 5 February 1761. John McGee of Orange County, North Carolina, Planter
and wife Martha to Thomas Thomson of Anson, Planter, for 17 (pounds) proclamation
money....land on north side of Catawba, McGee's Branch, granted to McGee in
1750. John McGee (seal), Martha McGee (seal), Witness: Robert Dickie, Margaret
Johnson.
So far we have not found McGee's Branch, but the Catawba River turns west about
7 miles north of the land of William Brown in the Waxhaws, so that the land
of Thomas Thomson would be in the northeast tip of present day York County,
South Carolina, about 7 to 20 miles N or NNW of William Brown in 1761 and part
of the Camden District. It seems very likely that he served in the Waxhaws Militia,
of which did exist, as I have seen accounts of that Militia in battle reports,
although it appears that the Waxhaws Militia Roster did not survive. Unfotunately,
it was the Waxhaws Militia as one of the Militia units that broke ranks
and ran in the face of Cornwallis and his British Regulars.
Major Crawford
One reference to a Major Crawford in the Camden area comes from the book by William R. Davie, The Revolutionary War Sketches of William R. Davie, Blackwell Robinson, editor, (Raleigh, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History. 1976) which is extracted at the site: http://battleofcamden.org/davie.htm
A convoy of provisions captured by Major Davie [dated July 21st 1780]
The Insurgents on the West Side of the Catawba being entirely dispersed, General Rutherford marched to oppose or rather follow Colonel Bryan who had raised eight hundred of the Tories and was marching down the Yadkin, and Major Davie was ordered to take a position near the South Carolina line opposite to the Hanging rock that might enable him to prevent the enemy from foraging on the borders of the State adjacent to the Waxhaws and check the depredations of the Loyalists who infested that part of the Country; for this purpose he chose a position on the North side of the Waxhaw creek, his corps was reinforced by some South Carolinians under Major Crawford the Catawba Indians under their chief General Newriver, and a part of the Mecklenburg militia commanded by Lt Colo Heaggins. This ground being only eighteen miles from the Hanging-rock where the enemy were in force, skirmishes happened every day for some time, but as the Enemy were generally well received they soon became more cautious and respectful; small detachments of cavalry were sent out to scour the country…
It could be for service under Major Crawford that William Brown made his claim, but I believe it was for action at the Battle of Hanging Rock as detailed by Louise Pettus at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~scyork/RevWar/HangingRock.html. Maj. Robert Crawford was of the region, being the brother of Betty Jackson's brother-in-law. Crawford and his young sons and nephews (of whom one was killed) were at Hanging Rock, Andrew Jackson was at Hanging Rock and I believe that the record for the William Brown under Maj. Crawford is for young William Brown who was part of Crawford's militia along with other (very) young men of the neighborhood.
William's father fled from the Lancaster home to Mecklenberg County. The British forces under Banastre Tarleton defeated the patriots in the Battle of the Waxhaws and showed no mercy to settlers as they moved through the countryside. "Tarleton's Quarter" which was the rallying cry of the forces of Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens, which many military historians consider to be the turning point of the Revolution in the South, and thus the turning point of the war, referred to Tarleton's butchery of patriot forces in previous battles. The patriot forces used this cry to unite them to victory over a brutal opposing force.
Sometime around 1781 William Brown, his wife Martha (Kennedy) Brown and their sons left Mecklenberg County and moved westard with a small army of Scotch-Irish settlers from the southern part of North Carolina and the northern part of South Carolina along with Scotch-Irish settlers from the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia. Among the names that are associated with the Browns from Virginia to Alabama, one finds the Looneys, the Dills, the Mccullochs, and the Leepers.
An excellent interactive map at http://www.segenealogy.com/tennessee/tn_maps/tn_cf.htm displays the counties as they were formed in Tennessee from 1777 to 1965. This may be used to understand the movement of the Browns through various counties from Washington through Sullivan, Hawkins, Grainger, Knox, Roane, Smith, White and Warren counties.
James Hargraves believes that William Brown (b. 1760) was in the Sullivan/Hawkins County area of western North Carolina/eastern Tennessee by 1783/3. Through his research on Guian Leeper Brown, son of William Brown (b. 1760) James Hargraves has hypothesized and other researchers have agreed that William Brown (b. 1760) married Mary Ann Leeper about 1783 and that their first son was David Brown who reported in census records and legal affidavits that he was born about 1784 in North Carolina.
Family Group Sheet for William Brown Jr.
There are two land grants in Hawkins County to a William Brown dated 25th and 26th of December, 1791. The first land grant was to William Brown:
To all who these Presents shall come ----Greeting: Know Ye, that we, for and in consideration of the sum of fifty Shillings for every hundred acres hereby granted, paid into our Treasury by William Brown have given and granted and by these presents do give and grant unto the said William Brown a tract of Land containing two Hundred and Fifty acres lying and being in our County of Hawkins on a Creek by the name of Renfrow Creek including the plantation where William Brown now lives -- Beginning on a white oak and black near a fork of said creek, thence South 70 East 140 poles to three small white oaks in a hollow then south 75 East 40 poles to a branch (?) of _____[looks like Eleuc] near a branch thence North 75 East 142 poles to a Spanish (?) oak thence north 30 east 80 poles to a white oak & pine then north 11 east to a pine and small white oak then north 75 west 100 poles to a stake near the Main Road and thence to the Beginning. In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made Patents and our Great Seal to be hereunto affixed. Witness: Alex Martin, Esquire, our Governor, Captain-General and Commander-in Chief at _____ (written in) this 25th [could be 26] day of December in the 15th year of our Independence and in the year of our Lord 1791. By His Excellency's Command. [Signed] J. Glasgow, Secretary [signed] Alex Martin [North Carolina Land Grants TSLA Roll #19 Book 8 p. 314.]
According to current maps
Renfrow/Renfroe Creek enters the Holston River at:
The Village of Cloud or Cloud Creek
About two miles east of the Village of Cuba.
About six miles west of the Town of Rogersville.
A current US government rural development map [www.rurdev.usda.gov/tn/HawkinsCo.pdf] shows the present course of Renfroe Creek north of US Highway 11W.
Researchers believe that the Renfrow Creek land grant was most likely to William Brown Sr, father of William Brown Jr because the land was purchased in 1791 after William Brown had sold his land in Lancaster County, South Carolina. Thus, he would have had money available to pay for the land. William Brown Sr. had probably left Mecklenberg County, North Carolina sometime during the early 1780's. The land grant acknowledges his preemption right with the phrase "including the plantation where William brown now lives..." David Brown, son of William Brown Jr and Mary Ann Leeper stated in the 1850 US Alabama census that he was born in North Carolina. Given his age as he reported it in the 1850 census (76) he was born about 1784. For William Brown Jr to have migrated to North Carolina with his family, met and married Mary Ann Leeper and had a child by 1784, the Brown family probably moved into the Renfrow Creek area about 1781.
By the time that William Brown Sr. received his land grant in Hawkins County in 1791, this part of the frontier had gone through many changes in sovereignty and administration:
The land along the Holston River in an area that had at one time been claimed by both Virginia and North Carolina had also been an area which had seen tensions and confrontations between the Indian Nations who had been the original inhabitants of the area and the settlers who, probably driven by insufferable conditions caused by the battles of the Revolution and the depredations of the British and Loyalist forces began an immigration into the Kentucky and Tennessee areas explored and reported by earlier frontiersmen. An excellent source of information on Indian treaties in the area may be found at: http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/ Type in "Holston" as a search term and relevant Indian treaties giving an indication of the Indian/settler tensions in the area will be presented. One source indicates that the settlers in the area where the Browns and Leepers established their homesteads were less liable to Indian attacks than those settlers in the area that is now Hancock County because of geographic isolation.
There is another land grant along Lyons Creek in what is now the easternmost area of Knox County. We will almost certainly never know certainly whether this was a grant to William Brown Sr. or to William Brown Jr.. There are, however, two viewpoints. The first viewpoint is that the record of the land grant (found on a microfilm copy of North Carolina land grants) is a grant to William Brown Sr. because the wording of the grant does not use the suffix "Jr" and since the grants were recorded either on the same day or a day apart, the recorder would have entered a "Jr" if he had known there were two William Browns. Another viewpoint is that the grant for land on Lyons Creek is to William Brown Jr. because it does not mention cash payment and thus might have been for military service. Nor does the Lyons Creek grant suggest preemption rights which could indicate that William Brown Jr was moving into new territory. The Lyons Creek land is roughly ten miles north and east of present day Knoxville while the Renfrow Creek land about six miles west of the town of Rogersville. Given the distance between the two grants, I suggest that the Lyons Creek grant was a separate grant to William Brown Jr.
State of North Carolina No. 809 Know ye that we have granted unto William Brown four hundred acres of land in Hawkins County on the south side of Holston River on both sides of Lyons Creek joining the lands where Joseph Kerns now lives Beginning at a white Oak marked WB then running due East 22 poles to a white Oak being a conditional line Between said Brown and Kerns then along the same South 66 degrees West 82 poles to two white Oaks and black Oak then the reverse course to the said white Oak then said course 40 poles along the said conditional line to a sourwood and three dogwoods then North 22 East 200 poles to two sourwoods then North sixty eight West 210 poles to a Green ash and Ironwood then said course Crossing said Creek 36 poles to a stake then south 16 West 300 poles to two white Oaks and black Oak then South 73 East 135 poles to the Beginning. ____ to the said William Brown his heirs and assigns forever Dated the 26th Decr 1791 J Glasgow, Secretary Alex Martin
A copy. Wm Hill Secretary Warrant no 1182 Surveyed by Jos. McCullah (?) Jos. Kerns and Ch McCloud chain carriers [North Carolina Land Grants, Book C, p. 165 Roll #5 TSLA.]
Several references to other settlers in the area may be found on the Internet. Here is an entry for a man named Charles Blackley/Blakely who purchased land from the Joseph Kerns/Karns named as the neighbor of William Brown in the Renfrow grant:
In 1794 the man we know for sure as our Charles Blackley appeared in Knox County, Tennessee. On September 7 of that year, he purchased 246 acres of land from Joseph Karns. Land deeds from that day make it difficult to identify current day locations, but apparently the land was south and west of Knoxville near Lyons Creek on the Kingston Pike, which was the main wagon road heading in that direction. Today the land has been incorporated into Knoxville and is covered with homes and businesses. Again the Blakelys were pioneers to a new area. Knoxville had been founded in 1787 by James White, a fellow Scotch-Irishman, who built a fort and several cabins on 1000 acres of land he purchased near the Holston, now Tennessee, River. In fact, the home and store built at that time by White still stands. No doubt Charles Blackley walked through its doorway many times. In fact ownership of much of this land was still in dispute with the native Indians. In 1791 William Blount, the territorial governor, met at White's fort with 41 Cherokee Indian chiefs and negotiated the treaty of Holston, which legitimized settlement by whites of the land around Knoxville and south of the French Broad River. Despite this treaty, numerous Indian attacks occurred in the area until 1793. [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/6746/blakley.html]
Husband [of Prudence Walker] William Walker was born between 1750 and 1760 probably in Cumberland, Pennsylvania. In 1791 in Hawkins County, North Carolina (which later became Knox County, Tennessee), William purchased 200 acres of land from Robert King. It is on Lyons Creek in Eastern Knox County, and some descendants in the family of William and Prudence Walker still live in the area of Lyons Creek today. [http://www.brumm.com/genealogy/walkers_moyers/alpha_walkers/walkerprudence_ireland.html]
Robert King is mentioned in James Hargraves' analysis of Brown/Leeper land holdings below.
Land records in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in Tennessee place William Brown Sr's land in proximity to the land of Guian Leeper, as well as Mary Leeper, John Leeper, and Andrew Leeper, thus giving William Brown Jr. the opportunity to marry a Leeper. We assume her name is Mary Ann because a Mary Ann Brown received a land grant in St. Clair County in 1834 on land that adjoined that of William Brown who received his second land grant in 1832 in St. Clair County. We believe she was Mary Ann Leeper because relatively conclusive evidence indicates that Guian (and all the variations of this name) Leeper Brown was the son of William Brown and brother of our David Brown.
James Hargraves has prepared an analysis of land records of the Brown and Leeper families in western North Carolina/eastern Tennessee that indicate proximity and the opportunity for William Brown Jr. to marry Mary Ann Leeper.
Land
Acquisitions Relative to the Leeper Families and William Brown Sr. in Early
Sullivan and Hawkins Counties of North Carolina.
The initial acquisitions:
1. Mary Leeper: Land Entry. 1690. September 21, 1779. 640 acres in Sullivan County, North Carolina on a Branch of Muddy Creek. Adjoining John Adams and David Maxwell. Warrant issued February 3, 1780 by John Carter. (Pruitt, A. B., Tennessee Land Entries: Washington County 1778-1796: Part 2 #1479-3132, 199, p. 226[For grant see file #21 in Sullivan Co.; MARS 12, 14, 17, 21]) Note: In 1782 Mary Leeper was adjacent to or near Moses Looney as per land grant to John Adams. (Edwards, Shelby I. Sullivan County Deed Book 1-2 1775-1795, p. 14)
2. Gavin Leeper: Land Entry. 1818 October 6, 1779. 400 acres in Sullivan County, North Carolina on north bank of the Holston River, adjoining the Goose Ponds and Jonathan Duglass. Land Warrant # 1816 issued February 3, 1780 by John Carter. Land also adjoins John Carter.(Pruitt, A. B., Tennessee Land Entries: Washington County 1778-1796: Part 2 #1479-3132, 199, p. 247 [For grant see file #1491 in Greene Co.; MARS 12.14.6.1491])
3. Andrew Leeper: Land Grant # 113. 23 October 1782. 240 acres in Sullivan County, North Carolina on the north side of the Holston River at Dunlop’s Branch on John Talley’s line. Also adjoins Coplin’s line. (Edwards, Shelby I. Sullivan County Deed Book 1-2 1775-1795, p. 25)
4. John Leeper: Land Purchase, September 6, 1790. 397 acres in Hawkins County, North Carolina adjoining Edward Irwins, Joseph Longs and James Hylands. This land later identified as on the north side of the Holston River. (This is a buyback of the same land sold on October 4, 1788 to Hugh and Randall Quinn. Original land warrant not recorded.
5. William Brown Jr.: Original land acquisition not recorded. Subsequent land records indicate that his land was acquired 1780-1783 in Sullivan County, North Carolina and located on the north side of the Holston River at Renfrow’s Creek.
The preceding list indicates
that Guian Leeper, his brothers Andrew and John, as well as William Brown Jr.
owned land in Sullivan County, North Carolina, on the north bank of the Holston
River in the period 1779 to 1783 in an area that became Hawkins County in 1783.
Hawkins County was established in 1783, but not a functioning county until 1786.
The following list of Hawkins County, North Carolina land deeds, 1788-1800 will
show through a sequence of deed transfers that William Brown Jr. and Guian Leeper
were neighbors in the early 1780’s, on the north bank of the Holston River
1. On October 4, 1788, John and Susannah Leeper sell land to Hugh and Randall Quinn. This land is on the north side of the Holston River, bounded by James Hylands on the north, Joseph Longs on the west, Edward Irvins on the south and Holston (River) the east. This land was acquired before 1788 and repurchased on September 6, 1790 by John and Susannah Leeper who had moved to Kentucky in the interim.(Tennessee Records of Hawkins County Deed Book No. 1798-1800; Copying Historical Records Project : Official Project No. 465-44-3-115 Liber C, p. 12)
2. On September 4, 1790, James Hylands sells 475 acres of land to Henry Feltnor. This land is described as being on the north side of the Holston River, joining John Leeper’s land below (south) and Jonathan Douglass’ land above (north). (Tennessee Records of Hawkins County Deed Book No. 1798-1800; Copying Historical Records Project : Official Project No. 465-44-3-115 Liber C, p. 3) The land of Jonathan Douglass adjoins the land of Guian Leeper (on the Holston River). See #2 above
3. On July 11, 1799, Jacob Kline sells land to Henry Feltner by mortgage of 3 years duration. It is stipulated in the document that “…..nevertheless, the true intent and meaning of this indenture is to keep Henry Feltner unidentified from any suit or suits which William Brown of Knox County, formerly of Hawkins County may institute against said Kline and Henry Feltner above named for the non compliance with sundry bonds and obligatory writings by them executed sealed and delivered unto the said William Brown for the payment of the land the said Kline now lives on……” This passage confirms that Jacob Kline purchased the land of William Brown and then sold it to Henry Feltner. As previously, Henry Feltner also purchased land from James Hylands, a next door neighbor of John Leeper. (Tennesse Records of Hawkins County Deed Book No. 1798-1800; Copying Historical Records Project : Official Project No. 465-44-3-115 Liber E, p. 202.) Note: this also identifies William Brown as being of Knox County as early as 1799.
4. On August 1, 1800, Robert King sells land to William Bradly. “……six hundred and forty acres lying and being in the county of Hawkins on Renfrow’s Creek joining the plantation whereon William Brown formerly lived and Jacob Kline now lives…..” This again confirms the sale of land by William Brown to Jacob Kline. (Tennessee Records of Hawkins County Deed Book No. 1798-1800; Copying Historical Records Project : Official Project No. 465-44-3-115, Liber E, p. 239.)
5. On May 27, 1801, Alexander Nelson sells land to William Bradley. The location is described: “……in the county of Hawkins and bounded as follows (the lesser)…..lying on the Holston River…….on the widow Leeper’s line, thence with her line……to a stake on Feltner’s line…..the larger lying on Renfrow’s Creek joining the plantation whereon William Brown formerly lived and where Jacob Kline now lives, beginning on Brown’s line……” (Tennis Records of Hawkins County Deed Book No. 1798-1800; Copying Historical Records Project : Official Project No. 465-44-3-115, Liber E, p. 291.)
In conclusion, it can now
be seen that John Leeper’s land adjoined James Hylands, and
that the land of James Hylands also adjoined the land of Jonathan
Douglass and that the land of Jonathan Douglass adjoined the land
of Guian Leeper. James Hylands then sold his land to Henry
Feltner who then became a neighbor of John Leeper, Guian Leeper
and Jonathan Douglass. Jacob Kline then bought the land of William
Brown, selling later to Henry Feltner. Finally, the land sale of
Alexander Nelson to William Bradley shows that this land adjoined
the land of the widow Leeper, the land of Henry Feltner and the
land of Jacob Kline, formerly owned by William Brown at the Holston
River and Renfrow’s Creek.
The importance of these
land records is that they show William Brown Jr. was next door or near
neighbor of both Guian Leeper and his brother John Leeper in the
1780’s in Hawkins County, North Carolina, and further supports the marriages
of Felix Kennedy Brown to Jane Leeper (1785) and William Brown-Jr
to Mary Ann Leeper (1783), children of William Brown
r. and Guian Leeper respectively.
April 27, 2003
By: James E. Hargraves
KNOX AND ROANE COUNTY TENNESSEE RECORDS
It is my suggestion that by 1800 William Brown, Sr. has moved to Knox County with his son William Brown, Jr. By 1800, William Brown Sr. would have been nearly 70 years old and quite possibly, he and his second wife Martha (Kennedy) Brown would have been ready to relinquish responsibility for land and be ready to live with one or more of their children. The Hawkins county grant was for 250 acres, but the Lyons Creek grant in Knox County was for 400 acres, so it is possible that in the beginning the four brothers Thomas, Robert, William and Alexander started out on this land together
From the Knox County will of William Brown dated 6/August/1803: To Martha Brown, Rebecca Harrelson, Mary Fulton, Agnes Fulton. Sons: Thomas, Alexander, Robert, William, Felix and John. On 21st of August 1803 James Brown and Felix Brown along with Jos. McCulloch witnessed an addendum to the will. The importance of the will in relationship to the Brown family genealogy is that Thomas, Alexander, Robert, and William were the names of sons of William Brown Sr. that Thomas Brown mentioned in his Revolutionary war pension. Felix and John were too young to have served in the War. Charles Blakely witnessed the original will. This is most likely the Charles Blakely who purchased land from Joseph Kerns adjacent to William Brown on Lyon's Creek. Jos McCoulloch witnessed the addendum to the will. Jos McCulloch may have been the surveyor for the Lyon's Creek grant.
The 1799 list of men in Knox County who signed the petition for the formation of Roane County include the cluster of the names William, John, Thomas, and Robert Brown; not too far below those Brown names is the name of Alexander Brown in the first petition. There is no Brown in the second petition. Alexander Brown, Junr is in the third petition, and Alexander Brown and Thomas Brown who signed the "supplement" appear to possibly be the same individuals who signed the first petition. Thus, the family of Browns appears to be living in proximity in the Knox/Roane County area. A David Miller also signs the supplement. He is likely the David Miller who held land next to David Brown in Warren County and who is thought to be the father of Sarah Miller, wife of David Brown, son of William Brown Jr. It is also possible that the first four are brothers, sons of William Brown Sr., that the first Alexander is a brother of William, John, Thomas, and Robert, Alexander Junr is the son of Alexander and that the third Alexander and the second Thomas who were old enough to sign the petition. The petition and the list of signers may be found at at http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/petition/p14.htm
In the 1801 list petitioners
for the formation of Roane County, there are, as a group of signators, Alex.
Brown, Thomas Brown, Robt. Brown, and William Brown Senr and Junr. This looks
like our family. Interestingly the names are immediately after Robt. Miller.
Lower down on the list in the petition are these names:: Thos. Brown, Will Brown,
Wm Brown, J Brown , Alexander Brown, William Brown, Thos. Brown, William Brown
Sener and William Brown. There may be two families with the same given names,
or this may be a situation in which the same men have signed twice -- or, more
sons of the original brothers have come of age by 1801. The petition and the
list of signers may be found at: http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/petition/p15.htm
In the 1802 Roane County tax list Alexander, Robert, Thomas and William Brown were in Capt. Richard Oliver's Co. Since William Brown, the father of these Brown men, made his will in Knox County in 1803 and died in 1807 the William Brown of the 1802 must be his son William Brown along with brothers Alexander, Robert and Thomas.
In the 1805 tax list there are three William Browns and two Thomas Browns. Alexander is not there and it appears from studying the Road Orders from Roane County that a Thomas Brown has left the county between 1802 and 1804. There is a marriage record in Roane County where many of the Brown family lived in the very earliest years of the 1800's for a William Brown and Stacey Ellezy Grayson who were married in Roane County in 1805. A Stacy E. Brown appears in St Clair County, Alabama as the wife of a William Brown in the estate papers after William's death. William and Stacy's children are listed in these same estate papers. Stacy's daughters, along with their husbands hold land near to land held by William and Mary Ann Brown. After William Jr.s death, this land was held by Mary Ann Brown, It is apparent that the Roane County marriage record was for the William, the son of William and Mary Ann Brown.
SETTLEMENT IN WHITE AND WARREN COUNTIES
A thorough discussion of the settlement of the lands in the Second Surveyor’s District of Middle Tennessee is found at a web page by Fred Smoot: http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/elk-bribe.html. A link on that page leads to a map and a discussion of the land plats in the Second Surveyor’s District: http://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/tn2dmap.htm. A separate page contains a discussion and a map of the Third Surveyor's District http://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/tn3dmap.htm
A William Brown, presumably
the father of David Brown, received a land grant in White County in 1807.
Know ye That by virtue of part of certificate No. #63 dated the 21st day of July 1807 obtained from the board of Commissioners for West Tennessee by Thomas Dillon and entered on the 28th day of August by No. 169 as an occupant claim, there is granted by the said State of Tennessee, unto William Brown, assignee of the said Thomas Dillon a certain tract or parcel of land, containing one hundred acres lying in white County in the third District, on Cane Creek the waters of the Cany Fork – Beginning at a white hickory in a cane brake on the west side of said creek thence east crossing the creek one hundred twenty-six and a half poles to an elm, white walnut, white oak and small hickory near a clift of rocks thence south crossing said Creek one hundred twenty-six and a half poles to two black oaks, thence West one hundred twenty six and a half poles to ______ thence to the Beginning – Surveyed May 19, 1808 with the here _______ and, appurtenances, to have and to hold the said tract or parcel of land with its appurtenances to the said William Brown and his heirs forever. In Witness whereof John Sevier, Governor of the State of Tennessee.
In White County Deed Book D (Dec. 1811 - June 1812) there is the entry:
Page 61: Deed of Gift, 12 August 1811. William Brown for natural love for my younger sons William Brown and John Brown, all my estate in White County, granting an equal right to each. Witness: Turner Lane, Alexander Thomas. Inventory included, 150 acres, live stock, and also a negro woman slave named Frances, 17 years, now in Hawkins County."
(Joyce Martin Murray, White County Deed Books:Abstracts of Deed Books, A, B, C, D, E & F)The deed records contain several references to Jacob, Isaac, William, Thomas J., John, Richard and George Morgan Brown, but after a careful study it appears that all of these entries are referring to a completely different family group of Browns, even including the William, Thomas J. and John, so that only the August 12, 1811 entry is actually our William, who, according to the wording, seems to be recording a deed in White County while living in Warren County, in my opinion.
There are also references to Jacob, John and Frederick Miller, but these also may be referring to a different family group than the Millers that came to exist in Warren County, Tennessee and even though David Miller is mentioned in other White County records, he does not appear in the deed records for that county.
WARREN
COUNTY LAND RECORDS DETAILING BROWN RELATIONSHIPS
We know from three documents from St. Clair County, Alabama(National Archives: Record Group 15A B/W+ 55-120-10045) that David Brown served in a militia unit from White County in the War of 1812. From these documents David Brown can be placed in the White/Warren county area of Tennessee. (Do. 1; Do. 2: Do. 3)The land records of the area along the Red Banks of the Barren Fork River near what is now the town of McMinnville in Warren County make clear the relationship of the Browns in this area. The following information comes from the Warren County GenWeb site (http://www.tngenweb.org/warren/redbanks/) where Fred Smoot has placed his excellent research. All the surveys, grants, and principals in these documents can be found in the microfilmed copies of the originals in the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
In 1808 a tract of land was surveyed for George Richie. (TSLA RG50 Microfilm Roll 32 Tennessee Land Records Vol 26; Survey No. 1241) The chain carriers for this survey were William Brown Senr and William Brown Junr. Chain carriers for surveys were usually either close relatives or close friends of the person for whom the land was being surveyed. William Brown Senr and William Brown Junr appear to be father and son. In 1812 Robert Brown purchased this tract of land from George Richie, (Warren County, TN Deed Book A, pp 335-6)
In 1808 William Brown Senr and William Brown Junr were again chain carriers, this time for a survey for the heirs of Moses Davis. (TSLA RG50 Microfilm Roll 32 Tennessee Land Records Vol 26 Survey No. 1243) According to Fred Smoot this land was later sold to Thomas Brown although he does not give a citation.
In 1808 Wm Brown Senr and
William Brown Junr were chain carriers for George Michie in a survey for a tract
of land adjacent to the tract of land surveyed for Moses Davis. (TSLA RG50
Microfilm Roll 32 Warren County Tennessee Land Records Vol 26 Survey No. 1241)
Fred Smoot offers this further
information:
A third "Brown" tract just to the east of 2nd/3rd Districts line demonstrates how the Brown family controlled many acres along the Barren Fork River and on Old Shelbyville Road east of Crisp.
About the Wm Brown survey and Thomas Vaughan grant: we could not find the Wm Brown entry, this is the first step of getting a grant. Unlike the Michie and the Davis heirs' grants, Wm Brown had a survey based on his preference right or occupant claim. The other two were based on North Carolina Military Warrants. We also could not find a grant to Wm Brown. Occupant claims required payment to the State of Tennessee and since the tract in the 1808 survey was not granted to Wm Brown, we can assume that he did not pay the State of Tennessee.
It appears that in 1811 Thomas Vaughan entered on the same tract and also submitted Wm Brawn's 1808 survey to the Tennessee Land Office. It was granted to Thomas Vaughan in 1814. There is the possibility that Wm Brown had an arrangement with Thomas Vaughan to later purchase all or part of the tract, or perhaps he rented from Thomas Vaughan. In any case, Thomas Vaughan used a Certificate issued by the Register of Western Tennessee to qualify for the grant.
A second tract of three acres granted to Thomas Vaughan actually joins the west side of the Brown three hundred acre survey and this tract of three acres is ì... near to the eastern boundary of the 2nd District ... Hence, we are able to plat the location of the two 3rd District tracts and place them in relationship to the two 2nd District tract.
Having reasonably established through the chain carriers of the previously mentioned surveys that William Brown Senr and William Brown Junr are father and son, the final survey of interest posted by Fred Smoot is especially interesting to David Brown researchers. This survey is for William Brown and the chain carriers for this survey are William Brown, Junr and David Brown. (TSLA RG50 Microfilm Roll 35 Tennessee Land Records Third Surveyors District, Vol 35, p. 5.)
WARREN
COUNTY, TENNESSEE TO ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ALABAMA
There is a very interesting interactive map site for the formation of Alabama counties from the land cessions of the Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in Alabama: http://www.segenealogy.com/alabama/al_maps/al_cf.htm It is helpful to consult this map as we consider the movements of William Brown and his family from Warren County, TN
In 1814 the Chickasaw, Creek,
Cherokee, and Choctaw Indians held legal title to the lands in what is present
day Alabama except for a small triangle of land called Madison County. There
are early tax lists for Madison County, but no Brown who might be identified
as a member of David Brown's family is listed on the early Madison County tax
lists.
The first document we have for William Brown in the territory of the Alabama settlement is in the 1816 Census of Monroe County Mississippi Territory. (Mississippi Archives, Microfilm Roll 1610.) He is on page 12 of the microfilm copy of the Territorial Census with Jesse Brown who is possibly a nephew of William Brown. Alexander Brown, probably the son of William Brown is on the first page of the census.
David Brown and his father William Brown Jr. probably traveled more or less directly to the area of Ashviille, St. Clair County in Tennessee although they might have spent some time in Franklin County, Tennessee where the names of men who appear to be brothers of our David, Alexander, Guian Leeper and Thomas were on the Franklin County, Tennessee tax rolls of 1812.
The changes in the legal boundaries can be outlined as follows:
Early history of St Clair County: Along the Coosa River from a point above Ten Islands, the entire river boundary of the county is dotted with evidences of aboriginal occupancy. At Lock 3, at Lock 4, and Woods Island and at points in the northwestern section of the county the indications are quite extensive. DeSoto found the country on the opposite bank of Coosa River quite thickly settled when he visited Coosa in 1540 and it is very reasonable to suppose that these settlements extended west. A town of the Cherokees was located some 20 miles southeast of Brown's villages in Marshall County, but little is known of it.
Later History and Settlement: It is very likely that soon after the treaty of Fort Jackson the upper parts of the Creek cession were visited by many prospectors. It is certain that by the close of 1815 some settlements had been made in the cession. The influx of settlers greatly increased in 1816 and many permanent homes were made in what later became Shelby County. Settlers from Madison County traveled down the old Indian trail that led from Ditto's Landing to Mud Town on the Cahaba, while East Tennesseeans came down the Tennessee River in Flat boats, landed at Deposit or Gunter's Landing, and thence made their way to their place of settlement. The Georgians and Carolinians reached the Creek cession on the Coosa by crossing the Chattahoochee at the Upper Shallow Ford, passing through Rome, crossing Will's Creek near Bennettsville and thence skirting the east side of the mountains. By 1818 the settlers in the new county had become so numerous that the first session of the Alabama Territorial legislature found it necessary to create thirteen new counties. Source: Owen, Thomas McAdory, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921), p. 1220-1221 http://members.aol.com/stclairal/History.html
ARRIVAL
IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY -- SOMETIME BETWEEN 1814 AND 1819
The area in which the Browns
apparently first settled was on Big Canoe Creek or Brown's Creek, a few miles
north of Fort Strother where David, William's son, at least, had spent some
time in service with his Tennessee militia company.
Mattie Lou Teague Crow in her book History of St. Clair County (Alabama) describes Alexander Brown's trading post in St. Clair County:
The first court was held at Alexander Brown's combination home and trading post on December 7, 1818 "The site of Alexander Brown's place is four and a half miles from the present town of Ashville, on old Number 11. It is still spoken of as "Old Town" î It was often called Cabala, since was within a few miles of the location of Chief Catala's village, Littafatchee. (p. 15)
From the records of the 1820 U. S. Federal census in St. Clair County we know that David Brown’s household was adjacent to that of Alexander Brown and that there were five households between those of David Brown and his brother G. L. (Guian Leeper) Brown. It appears then, that for the first few years in St. Clair County David Brown, wherever he may have bought his first land, lived at Alexander Brown's trading post or adjacent to it. Perhaps he assisted his brother in the activities there.
Andrew Jackson's Tennessee
militiamen opened a road called Jackson Trace, which led from Columbia, Tennessee
through Fort Deposit on the TN River, about eight miles west of present day
Guntersville, AL, into the Upper Creek County of Alabama. Alabama history states
that the Greasy Cove area of Chandlers Beat, St. Clair Co., was settled by soldiers
from Andrew Jackson's army after they fought the Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe
Bend in 1814. The reason for the name Greasy Cove (still known as that today)
was the soldiers camped there and butchered hogs on their way back to TN.
THE BROWN FAMILY IN 1816 MISSISSIPPI TERRITORIAL AND 1820 ST CLAIR COUNTY CENSUSES
All of William Brown's children were in a wagon train that probably left Franklin County, Tennessee sometime during 1815 except William (d. 1828) who did not arrive in St. Clair County, Alabama until 1822.
A comparison of the 1816
Monroe County census as opposed to the 1820 St. Clair County Census shows the
following, for the 3 main players;
William Brown, 1816: 2-3-1-3.
William Brown, 1820: 2-3-1-3.
A perfect match. This allows for the fact that children; James, Robert, Felix,
John, Temperance, Sarah and Sally are still living at home and unmarried.
David Brown, 1816: 1-3-1-0.
David Brown, 1820: 1-2-1-3.
A near match. In 1816, we have Miller and William, as well as a 3rd son who
could be David Jr., but Louisa does not appear, so her mark may have faded out
over the years? It may also be that the 1816 census taker included all the children
in the male category. We know who everybody is in 1820 and the son born before
1816 is missing.
Alexander Brown, 1816: 3-6-2-2.
Alexander Brown, 1820: 3-3-1-3.
A near match. But much more complicated as brother Guian Leeper has moved out
and brother Thomas has died. I can identify everybody in both census lists,
except the two older males in 1820. William Brown-4th has not yet arrived in
Alabama.
From the 1816 Census of Monroe County, Mississippi Territory it seems reasonable to deduce from the enumeration is that David Brown is living separately; that Alexander Brown still has brothers Guian Leeper and Thomas with him, as they were in Franklin County, Tennessee; that William Brown Jr., father of these men, has children: James, Robert, Felix, John, Temperence, Sarah and Elizabeth with him; that sister Mary Ann has married and living with husband Joseph Coker; that William’s son (d. 1828) had not yet arrived in Mississippi Territory. This enumeration accounts for all thirteen children of William and Mary Ann Leeper Brown.
A plausible interpretation of the 1816 Monroe County, Mississippi Territory Census, is that Alexander Brown had 3 sons born 1808 to 1816. The 1820 Census of St. Clair County, Alabama shows that Alexander Brown still has the 3 sons and that between 1816 and 1820 that he has an additional three daughters. The fact that Alexander had six children born so close together between 1808 and 1820 would indicate that he was having children in the same time period as David Brown and Guian Leeper Brown and that he was of the same generation as David and Guian that he was indeed, David and Guian's brother.
We have proof in any case that some of the Browns were just northeast of Ashville as early as January 1816. This info comes from the book by Charlotte Adams Hood, "Jackson's White Plumes" (Bay Minette AL: Lavender Publishing Co., 1995.).
Mrs. Hood's book does not mention "our" Alexander Brown specifically. There is, however, an extremely interesting reference to his trading post. It is on page 72, where Mrs. Hood quotes from the unpublished diary of General John Coffee for 1816-17 (kept at the Alabama DAH in Montgomery).
In the diary, General Coffee tells of surveying the treaty line between Cherokee territory and the lands given up by the Creek as a result of their loss at Horseshoe Bend. He says that on January 27, 1816, he left Fort Strother -- where we know our David Brown served during the Creek War (1813-14) -- and then "swam Shoal Creek and Beaver Dam Creek."
The latter is obviously today's "Beaver Creek," which runs roughly parallel to present-day State Route 24 in St. Clair County. This creek runs through Beaver Valley -- the area where John Looney's restored house presently sits and where Rebecca Watkins and Reuben Philips, ancestors of many later Browns eventually settled, after they departed land adjacent to David Brown on Big Canoe Creek.
General Coffee then says
he "lay all night at Brown's on Canoe Creek. (James Catawley's old place.)"
Clearly he must be referring to Alex Brown's trading post, which we think was
located on Big Canoe Creek in (or very near to) present-day Section 26 of R4E,
T13S.
Then the next morning, January 28, 1816, Coffee says he paid his bill at Brown's
($1.75) and "employed two chainmen Joseph Coker and James Brown."
So we learn here the important
info not only that Alexander Brown's place formerly belonged to James Catawley
-- whoever he might have been --but also that Joseph Coker and James Brown were
there as early as January 1816 as well
An interesting map drawn
in the early 1990s,based upon the description in General John Coffee's 1816
diary of the line he proposed as boundary between the Creek "cession"
(lands where white settlers would freely be allowed to settle) and the Cherokee
nation is presented here.
We may assume that Coffee's
recommendation was followed. But in any case, it is clear that the area immediately
around Big Canoe Creek, where Alexander Brown is believed to have had his trading
post as early as 1815 or even 1814, was safely outside the territory Coffee
proposed to reserve for the Cherokee.
(On this crude map, it looks like Big Canoe Creek was about five miles from the proposed cession line. But on regular modern maps, the distance looks more like about ten miles.)
WILLIAM BROWN LAND IN EARLY ST CLAIR COUNTY
By the time that William Brown had left Tennessee and arrived in the area of St. Clair County he was about 57 years old. He still had seven children in the household. He applied for and received grants of land in the northeastern area of what was then St Clair County and is now in Etowah County:
| Brown | William | 2/25/1822 | 11S | 5E | 30 | E1/2NE | 80.19 |
| 2/25/1822 | 11S | 5E | 30 | E1/2SW | 80.19 |
William Brown was apparently to remain on this land until his death sometime before 1832 when Mary Ann Brown, his wife, received a receipt for land for which William had applied.
RELATIONSHIP OF MARY ANN BROWN AND STACEY ELLEZY GRAYSON BROWN
It may be appropriate here to restate the evidence for a relationship between William Brown (d. before 1832), father of William Brown (d. 1828). There is a marriage record in Roane County where many of the Brown family lived in the very earliest years of the 1800's for a William Brown and Stacey Ellezy Grayson who were married in Roane County in 1805. A Stacy E. Brown appears in St Clair County as the wife of a William Brown in the estate papers after William's death. William and Stacy's children are listed in these same estate papers after William's death. Stacy's daughters, along with their husbands hold land near to land held by William and Mary Ann Brown. After William's death, this land was held by Mary Ann Brown, It is apparent that the Roane County marriage record was for the William, the son of William and Mary Ann Brown.
William and Mary Ann (Leeper) Brown -- William and Stacey Ellzey (Grayson) Brown. Their Connections in St. Clair County, Alabama, Through U. S. Land Office Deeds
(William Brown, son of William and Mary Ann (Leeper) Brown married Stacey Elezy Grayson in 1805 in Roane County, TN.)
William/Mary Ann Brown:
Section 30, Township 11 South, Range 5 East.
February 25, 1822, William/Mary
Ann Brown: E1/2NE, Section 30, Township 11 South, Range 5 East.
February 25, 1822, William/Mary Ann Brown: E1/2SW, Section 30, Township 11 South,
Range 5 East.
October 6, 1832, Mary Ann Brown: Section 30, Township 11 South, Range 5 East.
(Receipt for William).
September 10, 1834, Mary A. Brown: SWNE, Section 30, Township 11 South, Range
5 East.October 23, 1823,
William Brown: E1/2SE,
Section 9, Township14 South, Range 5 East.
November 30, 1825, William
Brown: E1/2SE, Section 14, Township 14 South, Range 5 East.
.
William and Stacey Brown
Children and Son-In-laws near William and Mary Ann Brown Land:
October 16, 1835, Jesse/Margaret
Turner: NWSE, Section 30, Township 11 South, Range 5 East
October 19, 1833, Jesse/Margaret Turner: Section 30, Township 14 South, Range
5 east.
September 10, 1838, Jesse/Margaret Turner: NWSW, Section 30, Township 11 South,
Range 5 east.
April 2, 1857, Jesse/Margaret Turner: NWSE, Section 11, Township 11 South, Range
4 East.
March 1, 1858, Jesse/Margaret Turner: E1/2SW, Section 11, Township 11 South,
Range 4 East.
January 27, 1835, Reuben/Mary Ann Washburn: Section 30, Township 11 South, Range
5 East.
October 7, 1836, James Pickett Banks: Section 36, Township 10 South, Range 4
East.
August 1, 1839, James P. Banks: NENW, Section 36, Township 10 South, Range 4
East.
August 1, 1839: James P. Banks: NWNE, Section 11, Township 11 South, Range 4
East.
William and Stacey Brown In-Laws Near Land of William and Mary Ann Brown;
April 27, 1837, Basil Wooley:
Section 35, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
April 27, 1837, Pinckney Wooley: Section 20, Township 10 South, Section 4 East.
April 27, 1837, Miner Wooley: Section 30, Township 10 South, Range 5 East.
November 18, 1831, John Washburn: Section 23, Township 12 South, Range 3 East.
June 16, 1837, Levi Banks: Section 2, Township 11 South, Range 4 East.
June 16, 1837, Austin Chappel Banks: Section 2, Township 11 South, Range 4 East.
June 16, 1837, Mary Caroline Banks: Section 3, Township 11 South, Range 4 East.
October 30, 1825, James Banks: Section 27, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
November 30, 1825, James Banks: Section 26, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
October 16, 1835, James Banks: Section 23, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
October 16, 1835, James Banks: Section 27, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
August 1, 1839, James Banks: Section 36, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
August 1, 1839, James Banks: Section 11, Township 11 South, Range 4 East.
April 2, 1857, James Banks: Section 36, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
April 2, 1857, James Banks: Section 25, Township 10 South, Range 4 East.
Nathaniel Jeffers also owned
land in Benton and Marshall Counties of Alabama from the 1830’s to about
1850, near the land of William and Mary Ann Brown, but privately purchased.
Reference:
Elizabeth Ann Wooley, wife
of Guian Jasper Leeper Brown.
Jesse Turner, husband of Margaret Brown.
James Pickett Banks, husband of Sarah Ann Brown.
Reuben Washburn, husband of Mary Ann Brown (daughter of Willam and Stacy Brown).
Nathaniel Jeffers, husband of Rebecca Brown.
Other children of William and Stacey Brown, not included in this study; William,
Thomas, David.
Browns in 1830 Census of St Clair County:
| David Brown | 0101101 -- 102101 13 slaves | John Dill, Berry Langford, Elisha Dearman,, William Dearman | 228 |
| William Brown | 01010001 -- 10010001- 0 slaves | Thomas Looney | 232 |
| John Brown | 1000001 -- 210001- 0 slaves | 235 | |
| James Brown | 10001 -- 21001- 0 slaves | Stacy E. Brown, William Brown cc | 236 |
| Stacy E. Brown | 0111 -- 1110001- 0 slaves | James Brown, William Brown cc | 236 |
| William Brown | 20002 -- 00001- 0 slaves | Stacy E. Brown, William Brown cc | 236 |
| Alexander Brown | 10001 -- 10001 - 0 slaves | Robert Brown | 244 |
| Robert Brown | 11001 -- 11001 - 0 slaves | Alexander Brown | 244 |
| William Brown | 01010001 --00000001 - 0 slaves | William A. Brown | 245 |
| William A. Brown | 00011 -- 00001 - 0 slaves | William Brown | 245 |
| Elizabeth Brown | 201 -- 100001 - 0 slaves | 246 | |
| John Brown | 2111001 -- 021101 - 0 slaves | William Brown | 247 |
| William Brown | 0222001 -- 0020001 0 slaves | John Brown | 247 |
SUMMARY OF WILLIAM BROWN'S LIFE
William had most likely outlived his sons, Thomas, William and James. If the Revolutionary records are correct, he had begun his career as a militiaman at the age of fourteen. He had witnessed the ravaging of the countryside which he called home. He fled with his family to a wilderness and moved continuously thoughout his life to new and better grounds -- albeit those given up by the Native Americans who had held those grounds by treaty. It is probably impossible to compute the miles he traveled with his family by wagon train, covering possibly as few as ten miles a day, possibly in some instances widening the existing trail. His son, Alexander, was a trader with the Indians, whose home was the central site for the new county of St Clair in the new state of Alabama.
Many of the Scots immigrants to colonial America had followed traditional paths down Indian trails through the Shenandoah mountains, to the backcountry of the Carolinas where the long-held grudges of British Cavalier and the Lowland Scots were played out once more and the tenacity, determination and the untraditional military tactics of the Scots held the day. The promise of new lands to farm and the lure of new lands where they and not their Cavalier opposites could establish the Presbyterian vision of personal autonomy drew them to eastern Tennessee. What drew them beyond the lands of eastern Tennessee to middle Tennessee and to the long trek to Alabama may very possibly be answered by the word "restlessness." William Brown lived in Alabama for a few more than ten years. He died at the age of about 73.To paraphrase the hymn....He "toiled and fought and lived and died" for the values of independence, personal freedom and autonomy which he held.