Robert Rogers m. Elizabeth Browne

Recently I've read three of Kenneth Roberts' novels about early Colonial America. The most recent as "Northwest Passage" in which the first few pages introduce a fictitious character, Langdon Towne, who as a descendant of the three Towne sisters who were the subjects of "Three Sovereigns for Sarah". Langdon Towne's family was said to have settled in Kittery, ME and it seemed like leaving Salem Village (now Danvers, MA) was part of "Langdon's" family's reason for leaving, though I don't think it was specifically stated.

Anyway, later in the book, Major Robert Rogers ends up marrying Elizabeth Browne and they became parents of one child, Arthur Rogers.

My father's full name was John Taylor Rogers Browne and four generations of my Brown(e) ancestors were from York County including Wells, and Arundel, places prominently mention in Kenneth Roberts' historical novels. My ggggrandfather, John Brown served in the Revolutionary war under Benedict Arnold, another one of Roberts' favorite colonial characters.

While my father was alive I remember asking him about the "Rogers" part of his name and his vague reply was to the effect that it was "an old family friend". Taylor was the maiden name of my gggrandmother, her husband, another John Brown(e). The above information, though speculative, has me wondering if his second middle name is somehow related to a Robert Rogers of a descendant of Robert Rogers.

If anyone reading these comments is able to provide me some further details about Robert Rogers' son Arthur Rogers and descendancy I'd be most appreciative.

John Brown my ggg gf

Right click this link and open in new tabor window. This will bring you to a PDF file of John Brown's Revolutionary War pension records. It includes lots of information written in support of a pension request for ggg gf John Brown's widow, Betsey Cluff/Clough Brown. Email me or post your comments.

1 Oct 09 update: The link worked when I posted it (because I was logged into the Heritage Quest Online_Revolutionary War records database via the Boston Public Library. I will look into posting the Adobe PDF file on my personal web space and changing the link so that you may see the records even in you do not have a BPL library card.

11 Mar 2018 Link to John Brown's Revolutionary War pension records should now work.

Three Sovereigns for Sarah

Three Sovereigns for Sarah is a movie made about the 1692 Salem witchcraft hysteria. I won't go into detail except to say that as an eighth great grandchild of Rebecca Towne N(o)urse I was fighting tears throughout as I viewed this accurate portrayal of my gggggggg grandmother and her two sisters, as well as the other victims of the Salem hysteria. The DVD of this movie is available through CWMARS Library system in Massachusetts, Amazon, and other sources.

One of Rebecca Nourse's daughters, Elizabeth Nourse married William Russell of Salem, MA and through the Russell line came Percy Russell, my dear old great grandmother Nellie Noble Morse's husband, who died in a railroad accident about 1909 and is buried next to "Great" and "Tompie" in Forest Hills Cemetery in Lynnfield, MA.

Kennebunk "Homestead"

Here's the photo of the house at 102 Summer Street (Rte 35) in Kennebunk. It is immediately West of the Wedding Cake House. It was owned by John Brown from sometime around 1863 and was in the family until probably the 1920's. Somewhere in between it became the home of Lillian Brown Hodsdon one of Great Grandpa Brown(e)'s children and a sister of Grandpa Browne.

Seven Generations

On the way back from our Summer camping trip to Hermit's Island at Small Point, ME we stopped in Kennebunk to show Tara and the four grandchildren Great Grandpa Brown's house on Summer Street in Kennebunk. We also visited the graveyard where John T. Brown's family is buried. Here's a picture that represents Seven generations starting with John Brown, John T. Brown (his gravestone but his father and mother are buried on this site as well) several of their children siblings of Grandpa Burton Brown (he's buried in Saxonville, MA) . I'm behind the camera, and Tara (6th generation) Andy, Aras, Noureen, and Ryan (7th generation) are scattered around the stone.

Other Surnames

Other surnames that I'm searching include, but are not limited to: Leighton, Butland, Taylor, Clough, Lachmann, Mroch, Wolf, Luedtke, Russell, Morse, Pettengill, Small, Butman, Noble, Grover, Gamage, Joll, Nourse, Towne. The geographic area that most of my ancestors came from is Maine but some European connections are from Poland/Prussia.

If any of the above names are of interest to you please post a query or drop me an email at kbrowne01518@gmail.com.