Sunday, June 24, 2018

Peter Browne 1595-1633 of Surrey and Plymouth

Peter Browne was baptized 26 January 1595 at Dorking, Surrey, son of William Browne.  I need to confirm, but I would think he was baptized at St. Martin's Church, an Anglican parish church in Dorking, Surrey. Surviving parts of the structure date back to the Middle Ages. It is in the archdeaconry of Dorking, in the Diocese of Guildford. His last name is also spelled Brown. He is my 11th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family, although I have not submitted my line to the Mayflower Society.

St. Martin's, Dorking, Surrey

He was a young man of 25, one of the “strangers,” when he boarded the Mayflower. He brought along his English Mastiff dog.

The Browne family appears to have had several associations with the Mullins family of Dorking, who also came on the Mayflower. 

The Pilgrims were unsettled by the far off presence of Indians when they first landed at Plymouth. They would see smoke from Indians' fires in the distance. Work was interrupted for several days when Peter Browne and John Goodman went missing one noontime while gathering thatch for the common house roof. A party searched the woods until dark but didn't find them and they were afraid the Indians had killed them. Peter and John were near a pond when their dogs, a large Mastiff (Browne's) and a small Spaniel, raised a big buck which went bounding into the woods. The men tried to follow but were soon winded and lost. They wandered around in a cold drizzle that turned to snow. They lay on the cold ground to sleep and were awoken by two lions roaring, so they dashed for the nearest tree, intending to climb if attacked. The Mastiff kept trying to go after the lions. The next day they climbed a hill and saw the bay, which gave them their bearings. They stumbled into camp after dark. Goodman's shoes, which were worth their weight in gold, had to be cut from his swollen, frost -bitten feet. They soon learned the “lions” were actually wolves!

In a partial list of the house locations of the Pilgrims made out in 1620, John Goodman and Peter Browne appear to have been neighbors on the south side of the Street and the ocean side of the Highway.  Peter Browne was apparently still living there during the 1623 Division of Land.
 
Abt. 1626 he married the widow Martha Ford whose maiden name is unknown.  She came in 1621 on the Fortune, giving birth soon after landing. Peter and Martha had two children: Mary and Priscilla. The latter perhaps named after Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins who was also from Dorking. Martha would die soon after giving birth, I descend from Mary.

Mary, born about 1626, married Ephraim Tinkham, had 8 children and remained in Plymouth. Priscilla, born about 1628, married William Allen and moved to Sandwich.
 
Peter Browne's Tankard, at Pilgrim Hall Museum
In 1623 Plymouth land division "Peter Browen" received one acre as a passenger on the Mayflower (PCR 12:4). In 1627 Plymouth cattle division Peter Brown, Martha Brown and Mary Brown were the fourth, fifth and sixth persons in the eighth company (PCR 12:11).

In the 1627 Division of Cattle he, Peter, his wife Martha, his daughter Mary Browne, and his stepchildren John and Martha Ford were included with the Samuel Fuller and Anthony Annable families.  About a year later, Peter and Martha would have daughter Priscilla but wife Martha would die shortly thereafter. 

Peter Brown was on the 1633 Plymouth list of freemen ahead of those made free on 1 Jan 1632/33 (PCR 1:4). He was assessed 18 s. in Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 (PCR 1:10); Widow Brown assessed 9 s. in list of 27 March 1634 (PCR 1:28).

Peter married, second, Mary whose maiden name is also unknown and had two more children: Rebecca born about 1631 and a child born about 1633. name unknown, who did not live to adulthood. 

Rebecca married William Snow and lived in Bridgewater.

The evidence for the marriages of Peter Brown's three daughters is largely from deeds in which his land was sold by his sons-in-law, with the consent of his daughters.

Peter Browne's brother John Browne came to America about 1632 and settled in Duxbury, just to the north of Plymouth.  John Browne was baptized in Dorking on 29 June 1600.

Gov. Bradford wrote that "Peter Browne married twice. By his first wife he had two children who are living and both of them married, and the one of them hath two children. By his second wife he had two more. He died about sixteen years since."

Peter died between 25 March and 10 October 1633 at Plymouth, likely in the fall when there was a general sickness in town. He was just 38 years old. Mayflower passengers Samuel Fuller (Peter’s neighbor) and Francis Eaton, both my ancestors, and several other Plymouth residents died at that time.

His estate inventory taken 10 October 1633 shows that he owned 130 bushels of corn, six melch goats, one cow, eight sheep, and a number of pigs, and a Bible, among other things. The Bible indicates he could read. His widow Mary Browne was granted administration. He died without a will leaving “diverse children by diverse wives,” his estate amount to 100 pounds.

In his estate records, Peter’s daughter Mary is mentioned as having been placed with John Doane of Plymouth for the past nine years and was to stay with him until age 17. Widow was to pay down 15 pounds to Doane for “the use of Mary Browne, daughter of said Peter.” She was also to pay down 15 pounds to Mr. William Gilson for the use of Priscilla Browne, another daughter of Peter.  It mentions the widow having two children by the said Peter together with her own third, so she must have been married before Peter. Sadly, I appears placed her step-daughters with other families when Peter died.
                                                                                                                      
Peter Browne and his family bring home to me the danger of living in Plymouth in the 17th century—illness, lack of comforts of home and the cold winter climate. He died as a young man in his 30s and he had already buried two wives and possibly one of his children. I wonder though if he regretted coming to Plymouth. He owned land, which likely wouldn’t have happened back in England and experienced a lot more freedom in Plymouth. After his death his children by his first wife were put out to other families, something I find very sad.   

My line from Peter Browne:
Peter Browne and Mary (____) (Ford)
Mary Browne and Ephraim Tinkham
Helkiah Tinkham and Ruth (_____)
 John Tinkham and Anne Gray
Ann Tinkham and Samuel Fuller
Mary Fuller and Jabez Nye
Desire Nye and David Pierce
Lucy Nye Pierce and Rowland Sturtevant Bumpus
Mary Briggs Washburn and Seth Washburn
Charles F. Washburn and Hattie Benson
Carrie C. Washburn and George Brewster Smith (unmarried)
Arthur Washburn Davis (changed his surname from Washburn to Davis)
My parents
Me

Famous descendants of Peter Browne: Dick Van Dyke, the Beach Boys (Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson).

Sources Not Listed Above:
Caleb Johnson, The Probable English Origin of Mayflower Passenger Peter Browne, And His Association with Mayflower Passenger William Mullins, The American Genealogist vol. 79 (July 2004)
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol, 1, 1995
Mrs. John E. Barclay, The Widow Martha Ford, The American Genealogist, vol. 42, 1965
William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation
Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations. Volume Seven, Vol. 7: Peter Brown, 1992
George F. Willison, Saints and Strangers, 1945

16 comments:

  1. I share these ancestors with you. Mary Brown/Ephraim Tinkham are my 8th great-grandparents, so I suppose we are at least 9th cousins! BTW recently I notice a maiden name for Peter's first wife, no sources cited. Have you seen that? Thank you for this interesting post!

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  2. Another connection...I love the way you tell these stories.
    I descend from Martha's daughter Martha who married William Nelson and then their Jane who married Thomas Faunce.

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    1. Thanks, John! I'm catching up after realizing Blogger stopped notifying me of new comments. Thomas Faunce is an interesting guy!

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  3. My husband share's this line also. I am still working on it, but it is through Sarah who married Samuel Allen and on down to Robbins in the 1900s.

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  4. I have found on ancestry that Peter was my 12th great grand uncle brother of my 12th great grandfather Thomas Brown(e)

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  5. Peter is my 12th great grand uncle brother of my 12tg great grandfather Thomas Brown (e)

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  6. Does anyone know anything regarding the controversy over Peter Brown (and possible sister Isabel) who could have been children of Peter Browne’s (and Mary) who were both born in Plymouth Colony and then both lived in Winthrop, CT. The only reason that they aren't recognized as his children is that they were not included in the division of his property. Could Peter be the child they think didnt make it to adulthood? And Isabel the other child of Mary’s?

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    1. I've wondered about the child of Peter whose name isn't know, but unfortunately I don't have any information.

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    2. The abolitionist, John Brown and family had long claimed relation to the Mayflower Peter through the Windsor CT Peter Brown. Could it be recent historians for the Mayflower don't want to associate him with a Mayflower passenger? I know there is a lot of snobbery regarding connections to Mayflower passengers. The historians generally regarded this Peter of Winthrop to be the son until other historians started disputing that about 100 years ago, saying that the fact he wasn't in the real estate divisions/transactions of the passenger's property after his death that it proved he wasn't related. I hardly think that proves anything. Maybe Peter of Winthrop didn't want anything to do with the property. Maybe he wanted his sister/half-sisters to have it. I think it means something when a family like John Brown the abolitionist passes info for generations regarding their relationship to Peter the passenger and then a bunch of people get on board to disprove the notion. I found at least one list of descendancy photograph from a Bible passed down in this family showing the relation. Many early encyclopedias and historians regarded it as true. Bradford said he had "divers wives and divers children" in his notes.

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    3. I honestly don't believe anyone is excluded because of "snobbery." It's always possible to prove new lines. I personally had a situation where a line of descent to another Mayflower passenger wasn't included in the GSMD silver books, but another descendant had it accepted according to the Society's standards of proof, so it is possible for new lines to be accepted.

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    4. Hi Chris, Maybe "snobbery" was the wrong term. What I was trying to say is that it is possibly viewed as a high goal or lofty ground so to speak for a genealogist or historian to prove or disprove descent from Mayflower lines. It just seems odd to me to base "proof" to be the exclusion from real estate transactions (from birth/existence) and absence from Freeman rolls (for death). There could be many reasons (besides the scant records) that a person would not be seen in the divisions of property, including estrangement from the family. Also, many very young people left an area prior to making it to the age of 21 which I believe was the age you could become a Freeman? I also feel that there is something fishy about the fact that John Brown was regarded as being descended from Peter Browne the passenger in encyclopedias and within the family until a certain date when certain folks got involved in disproving the notion.

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    5. It would be amazing for more people to be able to claim Peter as a descendant. I hope someone more knowledgeable than me sees this!

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  7. Hi Chris, No response on this so far. I discovered we are directly related to another descendent though...through the Hascal/Haskell line and Patience Soule, to George Soule. No controversy there. But, I really feel it is awfully suspicious that the John and Johnathan Brown link to Peter has not been more thoroughly examined to determine accuracy (maybe it has). There is a relation through another line to the Gentlemen John Browne and his daughter, Mary, but this is definitely not a relation to Peter, though this fellow was well respected in Plymouth. His daughter married Thomas Willet, first mayor of NYC. We are directly related to both (obviously). Our family has been here since the beginning, of that I was pretty sure. Anyway, somewhere way back in time then, our family's were acquainted on this ship The Mayflower. Through George Soule at least. And possibly Peter.

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    1. I did not word that well at all. We are descendants to a Mayflower passenger (maybe two) and not related to a descendant haha. And we were here since the beginning of Europeans being here in New England. Not the beginning of Europeans to the continent, or settlement (Jamestown).

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  8. Our family has been here (Massachusetts) from the beginning of Europeans being here I meant.

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I'm now moderating comments on this blog. My apologies for any ensuing delays, but the large number of "spam" comments have made this necessary. ~Chris