James Brown       1746? - 1784?

 

 

Born:   Baptized November 30, 1746, Essex County, Massachusetts. 

Died:   March 18, 1784 or 1827 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. 

 

 

Spouse:          Margaret “Mary” Potter on April 16, 1769 in Ipswich, MA, with intentions being noted April 11, 1768.  Died  1827 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and buried in Frost Park (Victoria Park), marker is lost. 

Children:         Mary “Polly” (Brown) Dane

James Brown, b January 12, 1772, d April 8, 1779

                        Elizabeth (Brown) Shaw, b January 12, 1773, m Zebina Shaw, d September 14, 1850

                        Abigail (Brown) Shaw, b October 19, 1774, m 1st  Joseph Shaw (brother of Zebina) and 2nd Zachariah Chipman, d September 22, 1853

                        Bethiah (Brown) Bain, b April 23, 1776, m Capt. Alexander Bain

                        Sarah (Brown) Jenkins, b May 21, 1781, m James Jenkins, d July 26, 1851

                        Anne Brown, b November 9, 1783 and d March 20, 1784

 

Father’s name:          William Brown, Jr. of Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Mother’s name:         Elizabeth (Phipps) Brown of Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Siblings:         Nathan Brown (See below)

 

James Brown:  It is uncertain when he was born, an LDS contributor says it is “about 1743”.  There is an entry in the “Tan Book” , an index of Ipswich, MA Vital Records (Available online at: http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/EssexCounty/Ipswich/ ) which shows a James Brown, son of William Jr. and Elizabeth, baptized November 30, 1746.  James married Margaret “Mary” Potter on April 16, 1769 in Ipswich, MA, with intentions being noted April 11, 1768.  James died March 18, 1784 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  However, there is some debate regarding this date.  A note in the Francelia Nagel Collection in the Yarmouth County Museum & Archives gives the year of his death as 1827, but 1827 is generally regarded as the year for the death of wife Mary.  I have seen a record of a sale of land between James Brown and son-in-law Thomas Dane occurring in 1786. 

 

James’ brother is Nathan Brown.  The only entry in the Ipswich Vital records (noted above) that could possibly be him says, “Nathan, son of Nathan and Elizabeth, baptized February 12, 1743.  If the father noted was “William” instead of “Nathan”, then it most certainly would be him.  Is there a clerical error in the entry?  Nathan was married June 15, 1772 to Sarah Soames or Somes, daughter of Capt, Isaac Soames of Gloucester, Massachusetts, who died at sea in 1755.  Isaac Soames was the son of Timothy and Eunice Somes and Timothy was the son of Timothy and Elizabeth Soames.  Nathan and Sarah had 5 children:

                        Mary Brown, b April 12, 1773, d December 27, 1779

                        Lydia Brown, b October 17, 1775

                        Nathan Brown, b December 9, 1778

                        Mary Brown, b May 14, 1781

                        James Brown, b August 8, 1783

 

According to a variety of Nova Scotia history resources, James and Nathan’s father was William J. Brown and he only had the two children.  James and Nathan Brown were early settlers in the Yarmouth area, coming from Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1767.  James had settled at Chegoggin at the head of a salt pond which became know as Brown’s Salt Pond.  Nathan Brown settled in Cape Ann, but later returned with his family to Massachusetts.  They are both mentioned in the Yarmouth Township Grant dated April 7, 1767.

 

Many of the details regarding the Brown family is from the George Stayley Brown book Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Genealogies: Transcribed from the Yarmouth Herald; Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, MD, 1993.

 

The compilation Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Volumes 1 and 2, by retired Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. (Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, MD, 1992) mentions a James and Nathan Brown coming from Ipswich to Yarmouth in 1766, and they are both the sons of Nathan and Elizabeth.  This does not jive with other sources, unless he has taken what I noted above as a possible clerical error as fact. 

 

Below is another source of information regarding James parents, William and Elizabeth.  However, the additional children, absence of Nathan as a child, and various dates do not coincide with my other information.  From: New England Phipps Family   http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~walkersj/Phipps8.htm

 

ELIZABETH8 PHIPPS (JAMES7, JOHN6, JAMES5, WILLIAM4, ROBERT3) was born Bet. 1712 - 1717 in Gloucester Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died Aft. 1735.  She married WILLIAM BROWN December 09, 1735 in Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts, son of JOHN BROWN and ELIZABETH SOMES.  He was born July 03, 1714 in Gloucester Essex Co., Massachusetts, and died after 1735.
   
Children of ELIZABETH PHIPPS and WILLIAM BROWN are:
    i.    ELIZABETH9 BROWN, baptised October 03, 1736, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts.
    ii.   WILLIAM BROWN, baptised October 01, 1738, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts.
    iii.  ABIGAIL BROWN, baptised July 10, 1743, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts; d. November 11, 1793.
    iv.  EUNICE BROWN, baptised December 1745, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts.
    v.   HANNAH BROWN, baptised October 02, 1748, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts.
    vi.  JAMES BROWN, baptised June 03, 1753, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts; d. 1779, the Revolutionary War; m. MARY ELWELL, August 06, 1772, Gloucester, Essex Co., Massachusetts; b. July 24, 1753, Gloucester Essex Co., Massachusetts; d. September 1835.

 

The Yarmouth County Museum & Archives has an artifact of a journal or day book which I am in the process of transcribing.  Their documentation indicates that this book was first

                       

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