George Brown and Jean Smith, Scotland(?)

[DavidByrne]

I'm looking for traces of my great-great-great grandparents, George Brown and Jean Smith, but so far with very little success. What I do know is this:

(1) They had three daughters, Jane (b. London 1816), Juliet (b. Southend, Argyll, 1822), and Janet (b. Campbeltown, Argyll, 1824). I'd have been suspicious that Jane was part of the family (being born in London) but for the fact that she subsequently emigrated to Australia with Janet and was clearly part of Janet's subsequent circle in Melbourne as Jane Mowit/Mowat.

(2) Family notes suggest that George Brown was a "mariner" (does this mean an officer, or could he just be a seaman?) who was involved in trading along the Clyde. I can find a couple of George Browns of about the right age in seamen's lists hailing from Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, very close to Campbeltown, but nothing to link them to my family. There was a good sea trading route between Campbeltown and Glasgow in those days.

(3) Family notes also suggest that "Mrs George Brown" died of cholera (I'm assuming, in light of subsequent events, that this was in the 1832 epidemic). George married again, but their new stepmother was "resented by the two elder daughters who went to Aust. with friends". I can find a record of Jane and Janet Brown (ie the oldest and the youngest daughters) arriving in Hobart, Tasmania, in early 1836 on the Boadicea - a controversial voyage because it consisted substantially of single women. While there was supposed to have been a minimum age of 16, contemporary records show that some girls were very much younger than that. Indeed, many young girls seem to have been cleared out of UK orphanages and sent to Australia. Hobart colonists were very unhappy at having to set up a new orphanage to accommodate the girls who had been dumped on them. My great-great grandmother (Janet) would have been just 12 at the time, but travelling in the company of her 20-year old sister Jane, so she doesn't turn up in Hobart orphanage records.

(4) I can find no other record (apart from the birth record) of middle sister Juliet Brown (I've searched for Julie and Juliette as well). Juliet at the time appears to have been a very rare name.

(5) I've checked all the obvious sources for references to George Brown and Jean Brown (nee Smith) including BNArchives, shipping/seaman's records (you might not believe how many George Browns were seamen) but with no "positive sightings".

Any suggestions on locating George Brown and Jean Brown (nee Smith) - and indeed Juliet Brown - would be most welcome!

[kiterunner]

A couple of points to start with before I have a proper look:

2. Mariner = seaman.

4. Not all Scottish parishes kept records of burials, so it could well be that she died young and that there is no record of her death.

[kiterunner]

There is a George Brown / Jane Smith marriage 8 Oct 1814 at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich (then in Kent, but now London, and a likely place for mariners):

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interacti...nSearchResults

[kiterunner]

Have you viewed the images of Juliet and Janet's baptisms on Scotland's People, David? And if so, do they have any more information?

[kiterunner]

A public tree on ancestry says that Jane jr's death registration shows George as a Master Mariner. The same tree has George and Jane's marriage as the 1814 Woolwich one, though I suppose we can't be sure that is the right marriage without something to prove it. The witnesses were Michael Fullam and Mary Fullam.

[DavidByrne]

Thanks for this info. I had noted the Woolwich marriage in 1814, and was aware also that the Scottish "Jean" is the same name as the English "Jane".

The Woolwich connection suggests to me that maybe George was in the Navy in the early part of his career - am I correct in thinking that Woolwich was military?

I also assume that Jean died in the early 1830s because her daughters left for Australia in late 1835. This is supported by the family notes which suggest that this was in resentment at their father's remarriage (though there are several other possible reasons for emigration to Australia which may also have been relevant).

I've only just bitten the bullet and joined Ancestry, so will be fascinated to see the public tree referencing Jane Jr's death registration.

Janet's baptismal record offers no information other than confirming her father as a mariner.

The only additional information on Juliet's baptismal record is that George is described as "George Brown Newton Argyll", with Newton being a locality further up the loch toward Inverary, but some 100 km plus from Southend, where the baptism was performed. Would this signify that George was born in Newton? If so, this is the first tangible lead I have toward his origins.

[kiterunner]

I would have thought that it just meant that he was living at Newton, not that he was born there.

[kiterunner]

Here is a link to the public tree on ancestry:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tr...08010171/facts

[DavidByrne]

The Ancestry tree has given me plenty to think about. There are many new names for me on that, and confirmation of some of the very detailed newspaper archive research I've already done as well. Someone's clearly on very much the same path as I, and it seems it may be a fellow NZer tracing a different branch of the family from way back. Much to analyse . . .

[kiterunner]

You should be able to send a message to the tree owner via ancestry, David.