DavidByrne
14-06-17, 05:17
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!
(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!