Hello My name is Greg D. Haxton.
The intent of this Web page is to reach out and find descendants of Dr. William Abner Brown.

It's evident that my interests are:

Genealogy

Becuase of the constant search involved in genealogical research, I have named my web page:

Genealogical Hunting

As time permits, I will be adding any family photo's and pedigree charts on Dr. Brown's family on this site. If you recognize any of these members as ancestors, please Email me at

1974spt@tampabay.rr.com
Please come back soon to visit my site.

On to the mystery!!!

Dr. William Abner Brown (1852-191?)

William Abner Brown was born somewhere in Alabama around 1852, according to the various census records I have been able to find him in. What I do know about him is that he had served as a doctor in the small town of Garland, Alabama located in the southwestern part of Butler county from roughly 1880 until 1901 when his first wife died of unknown causes.
After that time he moved around a bit first to a small town called Bluff Springs in Clay county Alabama, and then finally settled down just across the Alabama/Florida state line. He appeared in the 1910 Florida, Holmes County Census living with him widowed daughter in law, Ellen Nora Clepper Brown and several of her children by her husband and Dr. Brown's deceased son Thomas A. Brown. After they moved in together they prospered in the area and Dr. Brown fathered four children with his former daughter-in law while living in Florida.
According to various family members, Dr. Brown died after recieving some medicine for an unknown illness, to which had a severe reaction. Dr. Brown, as with many of various family members were not buried anywhere near where they died. In fact to this day, no family member is aware of the burial place of this indivdual, his first wife, second wife and many of his children is located. It is through this web page I am in hopes that descendants of Dr. Brown will be able to connect with me and help me piece this puzzle together. Below is listed the information I have on Dr. Brown, and his families. If you are a descendant of this individual please contact me at the e-mail address listed below!

Family Photograph taken in Esto, Florida 191?

Father or Grandfather?

Upon my initial research into this man, I was working on the belief that Dr. Brown was the Great Grandfather of my wife. The one thing that we had to work on was that they had lived near the town of Esto, Florida in the early 1900's. After that point none of his descendants had any information on where he might be buried or even where he might have died.
So given this little bit of information my wife and I started out attempting to confirm this with only this little bit of information.
1) My wife's Grandfather had related that his father was a doctor, both in the town of Esto, Florida and the town of Garland , Alabama, where my wife's Grandfather was born in 1894. (NOTE: The sad part of this was that while he was alive we could have asked my wife's Grandfather about much of this. But, like many we did'nt start researching this until well after his death!)
2) My wife's Grandfather whose name was William Thomas Brown, had three brother's we knew of, Robert W., Thomas J., and Oliver L. Brown. Additionally he had two sisters, Annie E., and Minnie M. Brown. 3) The children's mother was named Nora!
Armed with only this bit of information, I started out on a quick fix to a genealogist, the U.S. Census record.

1920 Holmes Co. Florida Census

I had no luck in finding any family members in this census record in the Holmes County Florida census.

1910 Holmes Co. Florida Census

On page #330. lines 13 thru 20 was the family listed as follows:

1) Brown, William A., Head of the household, White Male, aged 59, at the time of the census. The census did list that this was his second marriage, having been married for 10 years at the time of the census.
He had related to the census taker that he as well as his Father & Mother had been born in Alabama. He also listed that he was a Physician in General Practice at the time.

2) Brown, Nora, wife, White female, age 36. She too related that this was her second marriage, and like her husband related that she, along with her Father & Mother were born in Alabama.

3) Brown, Annie E., Daughter, White female. Age 17. She was born in Alabama and listed her parents as also having been born in Alabama.

4) Brown, William T., Son, White male. Age 15, listed Alabama as the location of his and his parents birth.

5) Brown, Robert W., Son, White male. Age 13, born in Alabama!

6) Brown, Thomas J., Son, White male. Age 6, born in Florida!

7) Brown, Oliver, L., Son, White male. Age 4, born in Florida.

8) Brown, Minnie M., Daughter, White female. Age 3, born in Florida.

So, here I had succeeded in locating my wife's grandfather with his family in North Florida. But it did leave a few questions for me. If Dr. Brown and Nora were only married 10 years, that meant that they were married around 1900.

If this is true then Dr. Brown could not be the father of the first three children in the family. Who, and where was their father? Obviously the next step would be to go back another 10 years in the census to locate the family.

1900 Holmes Co. Florida Census

After checking the records, I found no signs of Dr. Brown or any other of the members of the family in Holmes County Florida.

1900 Butler Co. Alabama Census

Thinking that perhaps the family was still in Alabama at this time, I began researching the Butler Co. Census. What I learned confused me, but it utilmately led to the answers and created many more!

On line # 7 thru 15 of the Butler County 1900 Census, Beat # 13, Garland district, was listed a Dr. William A. Brown. The following is how the family was listed on that census.

1) Brown, Dr. William A., Head of Household, White male, Date of birth Aug. 1851, Age 48, married 29 years, born in Alabama, along with both of his parents.

2) Brown, Mary C., Wife, White female, Date of birth Sept. 1852, Age 47, married 29 years,The census did list that the mother had a total of 11 children, 7 of whom were still living! She was born in Alabama, but listed North Carolina as the place of birth for her parents.

3) Brown, Della J., Daughter, White female, Date of birth Sept. 1878, age 21, Single, born in Alabama, along with both of her parents.

4) Brown, Webster, Son, White male, Date of birth Sept. 1881, Age 18, Single, born in Alabama.

5) Brown, Robt. L., Son, White male, Date of birth May 1884, Age 16, Single, born in Alabama.

6) Brown, Sam Jones, Son, White male, Date of birth March 1886, Age 14, Single, born in ALabama.

7) Brown, Charlie B., Son, White male, Date of birth, month could not be made out, year 1888. Age 12, Single, born in Alabama.

8) Brown, Evie, Daughter, White female, Date of birth March 1890, Age 10, born in Alabama.

9) Brown, Dorie or Doris, Daughter, White female, Date of birth Oct. 1892, Single, born in Alabama.

So here was the old Doctor, in the right location, and this obviously was his first wife and 7 out of 11 children. Now I was left with several questions. If my wife's Grandfather's father was not Dr. Brown, then just who was his father. Where was Nora and the first three children Annie E., William T., and Robert W. Brown at?

The answer as it turns out was on the very same census page in Butler Co. but at first I didn't see it! My next step was to contact the Alabama Department of Archieves and History and have them search for a birth record of William T. Brown.(wife's grandfather)

Additionally at the same time I turned to several different means to learn more about Dr. Brown himself and I then began looking for the members of his first family as well. I contacted the American Medical Asociation and had them search for any information on Dr. Brown, such as where he attended Medical school, etc.

I also reviewed a microfilm at my local Family History center in Tampa, Florida, related to the births and deaths of Butler County Alabama. The film which listed each area of Butler Co. was broken down by beats. Beat 13 was the area around the town of Garland, where I found many entries in which Dr. Brown was the attending physician at births and deaths in the Garland area.

After reviewing many of the entires on this record, the earlist I was able to place Dr. Brown in the Garland area according to this record was 1889.

Links to other sites on the Web

united states genealogical web page
Holmes County Florida Web page
Alabama Genealogical Web Page

© 1997 ghaxton@yahoo.com

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