BROWN, Samuel 1800 U.S. Census Readfield 1-1-1-0-0 (Updated 11/13/2013)

Samuel Brown was born in Epping, New Hampshire 10 Jun 1749 the second child and eldest son of Abraham and Hannah (Osgood) Brown. At this time I do not know the name of his wife. There are three illegible slate stones beside his grave at Dudley Plains Cemetery and I assume that one of them is hers. Their eldest child Sarah, who was born in 1768, is the oldest birth recorded in our Readfield town’s vital records – again do we assume she was born in Readfield, and that Samuel had migrated here that early on? It is possible – the very first settlers came to Winthrop in 1764. Unight Brown was one of the first to come in 1769 – could it be there is a relationship between these two men? That mystery remains to be solved. I have not been able to find him on the 1790 U.S. Census in Maine so perhaps he, and his family, was living in another household at that time. Or perhaps they had not yet arrived here in Maine before 1790. Read on for evidence that supports that possibility.

Samuel Brown c.1793. Plains Road

Samuel Brown purchased part of lot# 130 in 1793 - 130 acres of the 200 acre lot which was originally owned by Dudley in 1784. On the deed it says “Samuel Brown of Gilmanton, New Hampshire." Samuel was licensed as an inn holder on the Plains Road in Readfield from 1796 to 1799.

Samuel Brown died in 1822 at the age of 78 years and is buried in Dudley Plains Cemetery - a short distance north of his home. Brown’s granddaughter, Polly, married Eliphalet Dudley’s grandson, John, and they lived in that house which remained in the Brown / Dudley family for generations.

9 Children of Samuel Brown: i.Sarah b.1768 ii.Abraham b.1770 iii.Benjamin b.1772 iv.Samuel b.1775 v.Cotton b.1777 vi.Currier b.1779 vii.John b.1781 viii.Levi b.1784 ix.Jonathan b.1787

Bibliography:
History of Winthrop with Genealogical Notes by Stackpole & Young; pgs. 736-737
To Those Who Led the Way: Readfield VR's 1768-1913 self published by Dale Potter-Clark; pg6
1800 Readfield U.S. Census
Kennebec County Registry of Deeds 6/21/17

AND THE GRANDSON OF SAMUEL BROWN WAS SAMUEL E. BROWN b.1828.

Here is information about him and subsequent generations that may be of interest:

Samuel E. Brown was born 1828 in Readfield, the fourth child of ten born to John and Betsey Brown. He married Amelia _?_ about 1850 and they had four children: 1) Christana b. 1852; 2) Frank  “Fred” b.1853; 3) Clarissa b.1855;  4) William b.1860 [i]

Samuel bought land on (now called) Adell Road about 1855 where he built his homestead.[ii] He enlisted in Company F, Maine 21st Infantry Regiment on 13 Oct 1862 and is listed among the Civil War casualties in the annals of Readfield which relate that he died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana March 18, 1863.[iii] His wife Amelia was left alone with four young children and she had no way to support them so she “farmed them out.” In 1870 she was living in the home of Asa and Ursula Gile where she was working as a domestic.  When their son Frank “Fred” Brown became an adult she lived with his family.[iv] Fred was the father of C. Willis “Bill” Brown and this is the home (on South Road) where Amelia lived the last years of her life. To paraphrase some of Bill Brown’s life story as told in Reflections of Readfield:

My grandfather died in the Civil War and my grandmother could not afford to keep all the children at home so she farmed my father out to Samuel Greeley in Readfield when he was about 5 years old. Samuel and Harriet Greeley did not have children so they took him on as their own and he bought the Greeley farm (South Road Depot) when he became
an adult. The Greeleys lived with him and he took care of them in their old age. His biological mother also came to live with them when she became old. She called him Frank. She got a Civil War widow’s pension check every month and when she knew it was time for the mail to come she would get all fixed up and sit by the window to wait for the mailman... [v]

House on South Road once owned by Fred then C. Willis Brown

 

The other children of Fred and Nellie Brown were Doris Dow, whas the Winthrop Town Librarian 1961 – 1986; Helen LaVallee who worked at Roberts Funeral Home in Winthrop for many years; Mildred “Brownie” Schrumph, who was a Home Economics professor at University of Maine, a (cooking) columnist for Bangor Daily News and she authored cookbooks. She was also the inventor of the "Bangor brownie".[vi] 

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[i]Clark, Dale Potter; Potter-Clark-Boatman Family Tree on www.ancestry.com accessed 11/13/2103

[ii] So called when Samuel’s widow Amelia sold the house to Amy Perkins November 16, 1871. Kennebec Registry of Deeds Book 283 Page 142

[iii] Clark, Dale Potter, Readfield Maine Historical & Genealogical Page (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mecreadf; 1998; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mecreadf/rdfldvet.htm#Civil War Veterans.

[iv] U.S. Census various 1880-1920

[v] Charles Willis Brown oral history in Reflections of Readfield by Mary Page Schultz; Readfield Bicentennial Commission 1975

[vi] Clark, Dale Potter; Potter-Clark-Boatman Family Tree on www.ancestry.com accessed 11/13/2103