New Information from an Old Bible

I have recently been in contact with members of the family of my great-uncle, Neil D. Brown. They are in possession of the Brown family Bible and several documents that were stored in it. They have been kind enough to make photocopies of this material available to me, as well as some other family history.

Probably the most important of the materials I have received are photocopies of several pages of lined paper with penciled notes on them. Since these notes refer to “Hattie’s father” and “Hattie’s mother," they were probably written by the husband of “Hattie” (Harriet) Brown, Harmon Leroy Fairchild. It appears that the notes were written in 1888, since that date appears in them and Sarah (Brignall) Brown’s weight at age 43 is noted. Sarah would have been 43 in 1888.

Harmon Fairchild's notes

Some of the information in the material I have received corroborates what I have learned from other sources. Some of it adds to or corrects what I have written earlier. Some of it appears to be mistaken. I will be editing previous posts to include some of the things I have learned. So far, I have edited the post “The Brignall Family in England and Canada” to include new information about Joseph and Harriet Brignall, the parents of Sarah Ann Brignall.

Baltimore, Pembina Co. Dakota Territory

A significant new piece of information about the family of Donald Brown (1840 - 1918) has to do with their movements from one place to another. I had thought that the family moved directly from Listowel, Ontario, to Cass City, Michigan. But in fact, after living in Listowel, the family first moved to the Dakota Territory. There they lived in or near the town of Baltimore. At first I was unable to locate Baltimore or find any reference to it. However I found an 1886 map of Dakota Territory online. On that map, in the extreme northeast corner of what is now North Dakota, I found Baltimore. The tiny town is now called Glasston, North Dakota, and is located in Pembina County. The dates that the family was there are a bit uncertain. Alfred Hubert Elwood Brown, the youngest of the children of Donald and Sarah Brown, was born in Listowel, Perth County, Ontario on February 26, 1880. (Alfred died on September 6, 1886.) The record of the marriage of Harriet Brown to Harmon Fairchild says that she is a resident of Baltimore, Dakota Territory. Harmon and Harriet were married in Chicago, Illinois, on September 4, 1884. Harmon was from Midland, Michigan, and that is where the couple settled. Apparently the Donald Brown family moved to Michigan soon thereafter. Thus they probably were in the Dakota Territory between 1880 and 1884.

The new information I have received will enrich past posts about the Browns (when I am able to modify them) and future posts as well. My sincere thanks to my relatives in the Neil Brown family!