Brown Family Network
Richard Brown initiated a gradual emancipation of one of his enslaved families by specifying in his will that Molly and all of her children would be free when they reach the age of 31 years. This condition of term slavery was passed down to Molly's descendents, but in several instances, required intervention from a court of law to be carried out.
- Dr. Gustavus Brown - b. April 10, 1689, Dalkeith, Scotland; d. April 1762, Rich Hill, MD - immigrated to Maryland in 1708
+ (1) Frances Fowke - b. February 2, 1691; November 8, 1744 - Gustavus Brown - b. December 7, 1711; d. September 8, 1712
- Frances Brown - b. July 29, 1713
- Sarah Brown - b. August 29, 1715
- Mary Brown - b. December 8, 1717
- Christian Brown - b. August 29, 1720; d. September 17, 1742
- Gustuvus Brown - b. September 5, 1722; d. September 13, 1733
- Elizabeth Brown - b. October 5, 1723
- Rev. Richard Brown - b. December 2, 1725; d. 1789 - was a controversial Rector of King & Queen Parish, St. Mary's County, Md.; accused but not charged of murdering one of his slaves; bequeathed Molly and her children to his daughter Elizabeth
+ (1) Helen Bailey - Elizabeth Brown - d. 1825 - sold Milly Dunbar, Ann Graham, and Rachel Graham to Frances in 1813
- Ann Brown
- Alexander Brown - d. abt 1794
- Frances Brown - d. 1823 - purchased Milly Dunbar, Ann Graham, and Rachel Graham from Elizabeth
+ Charles Alexander - Charles Alexander
- Susannah Pearson Alexander + George Chapman
- William B. Alexander - security for his brother's appeal against Moses Graham
- Dr. Richard B. Alexander - inherited Moses Graham as administrator to his mother's will; claimed Christy Dunbar and her children
- Gustavus B. Alexander
- Lee Massey Alexander - d. 1823 - inherited Rachel Graham from his mother
- Frances Alexander - inherited Ann Graham from her mother and Rachel Graham from her brother Lee
+ William T. Swann - Mary Swann
- Edward Swann - co-counsel in freedom suits against his mother and uncle
- William Thomas Swann - co-counsel in freedom suits against his mother and uncle
- John Brown - denied any inheritance by his father's will
- Robert Brown
- Richard Brown
- Helen Bailey Brown
+ William Magruder - Richard Brown
- Dr. Gustavus Brown - b. 1751; d. July 3, 1801
- Sarah Brown
+ Charles Tyler - Elizabeth Tyler
- Richard B. Tyler - executor of Elizabeth Brown's will
- Dr. William Brown - d. December 20, 1792
+ Catharine Scott - Dr. Gustavus Alexander Brown
- Gustavus Brown - b. May 30, 1727; d. June 9, 1727
- Jean Brown - b. June 1, 1728
- Celia Brown - b. abt 1730 + (1) Dr. John Key - see Key Family tree + (2) Thomas Bond
- Ann Brown - b. 1732
- Dr. Gustavus Richard Brown - b. October 17, 1747, Rich Hill, Md.; d. September 30, 1804 - was one of the physicians attending George Washington when he died
- Margaret Brown - b. abt 1749; d. June 1, 1787 + Thomas Stone, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Sources
The Brown lineage revealed in the court records has been cross-referenced with the genealogical research at "Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties," and information filled in where necessary: i.e. the names of Frances Brown's and Frances Alexander's husbands, the forename of Mrs. Chapman and her husband. See Richard Rev. Browne.
The ancestry of Rev. Richard Brown and the connection to the Key family has been taken from the prayer book of Gustavus Brown, published by Horace Edwin Hayden and his subsequent notes. See Horace Edwin Hayden, Virginia Genealogies (Wilkes-Barre, PA: E.B. Yordy, 1885), 147-154; 164-165; 167-169; 182. See also Frederick Horner, The History of the Blair, Banister, and Braxton Families Before and After the Revolution (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1898), pp. 220-222.
For biographical sketches on the many physicians in the Brown family see "Necrology," The Journal of American Medical Association 20 (1883), pp. 600-602.
