The goal of these surname search blog posts is to help you connect with other researchers interested in the “Brown” surname and to find more information about your ancestors. Use the resources below as a stepping point to find credible sources, and remember: not every “Jane Doe” is your “Jane Doe”! If you have information related to the Brown surname, or would like to reach out to fellow Brown genealogy researchers, leave a comment. Please do not share any information about those still living to respect privacy.
Brown
Related surnames or alternate spellings: Browne; Braun
Notable ancestors include:
James Brown, “Godfather of Soul”, singer and dancer
John Brown, abolitionist
Margaret Wise Brown, children’s book author
Peter Brown, Mayflower passenger
Genealogy websites
“Brown Family History and Documents” Maybole.org
“Brown Family Photograph Album” (Rootsweb)
“Brown Family Tree” DorothyStewart.net
“Brown family: Family and Descendents of Patrick Henry & Bridget Burke Brown” (Rootsweb)
“Brown Genealogy” (Rootsweb)
“History of the Brown Family” thebrownfamilyhistory.co.uk
“Morgan A. Brown: Family History and Genealogy: The ancestors and descendants of Morgan A. Brown (1788 - 1845) Noted Citizen of Washington County, Georgia” Robertwilbanks.com
“Our Maternal Brown Family Ancestors” (Rootsweb)
“Overview: Our Browns of Early Warren County, Tennessee” by James A. Brown, Jr. and James E. Hargraves (Rootsweb)
“The Genealogy of the Brown Family: Descendants of Richard Brown” The Seibel Family Stories
“The Patrick H. Brown Family” (Rootsweb)
Message boards
“Brown” posts on Ancestry.com Message Boards
“Brown” posts on Genealogy.com GenForum Message Boards -
“Brown family, east belfast” thread on Belfast forum
“Brown family” thread on Rootschat
“Thomas Brown (1750-1816” thread on British-Genealogy forum
Photographs:
“Albert, Les and Stanley Brown” Rescued photo, The Cousin Collector
“Alonzo J. Brown” National Portrait Gallery
“Aycock Brown Family - Annette Brown Backdoor” North Carolina Digital Collections
“Blanche Brown and Sylvester Brown” 1907. Online Archive of California
“Brown Family Group” Oklahoma Historical Society
“Brown family: Silas Allen Brown, Eugene R. Brown, Lucy Brown Olson” Cottonwood County Historical Society
“Brown, Horace.” Digital Library of Tennessee
“Brown, Sophie” 1880. History San Jose.
“Carlson Brown Family” Minnesota, Big Stone County Historical Society Museum
“Clara Brown” Fort Collins History Connection
“Clyde Brown - Member of the Fort Collins, Colorado Voluntary Fire Department” 1913. Fort Collins History Connection
“Eleanor Brown in New York, July 1957” UCLA Library Digital Collections
“Emma Volle Brown” ca 1890. California State Library
“Helen Brown” 1900. History Colorado Online Collection
“Horace Brown Family, Tulare, Calif., 1914.” Online Archive of California
“Kathleen Bartle Brown” Monrovia Legacy Project
“Lorena Genevieve Brown” ca 1890 - 1900. California State Library.
“Mary Brown” ca 1900. California State Library.
“Minnie Brown, 1883” California State University.
“Minnie Ruth Brown and Augusta Brown” 1919. Valdosta State University.
“Mr. and Mrs. Clinton T. Brown” 1905. Online Archive of California
“Orin Brown” ca 1900. California State Library.
“Portrait of Edna Brown” circa 1880s. Oakland Public Library.
“Portrait of Kathleen Elise Brown, Petaluma, California, 1888” Sonoma County Library
“Studio portrait of Daisy Brown” ca 1875. Center for Sacramento History
“Studio portrait of Henry W. Brown” ca 1873. California State University.
“Studio portrait of Jessie Brown” ca 1875. Center for Sacramento History
“Studio portrait of W.B.C. Brown family members” 1880. Center for Sacramento History
“Wesley Brown, Martha Ann Brown Meacham, and Tom Brown” The Portal to Texas History
“William Daley Brown, San Jose Police Department Chief” History San Jose
Website clippings, blog posts, and more (no paywalls)
“A little Brown family history” Lucas Countyan Blog
“Brown Family: Dr. John Powell Brown” Fairmont History
Gordon, John Steele. “The White Sheep of the Brown Family: A descendant examines her ancestry from philanthopists to slave traders” Summer 2018. PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
“John Brown Resources” Hudson Memory
Marshall, Brenda Sodt. “The Brown Family” Apr 1, 2013. LifeinMichigan.com
“The Brown Family” GU272 Memory Project, American Ancestors
“The Brown Family” Liberty Hall Historic Site
Artifacts & Mixed Media
Brown, Samuel. “A Genealogical Table: Showing the Names, Time of birth, marriages and deaths, of the Descendants of William and Elizabeth Brown, in the male line, or those only who perpetuate the name of Brown” 1852. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown Family Collections, American Antiquarian Society
Brown Family Genealogical Society (newsletter), partially available on FamilySearch
Charlotte Browne diary, 1754-1757; 1763 - 1766, New York Heritage Digital Collections
Theo Brown Diaries, Digital WPI
Correspondence and Letters
“Letter from John Brown to Mary E. Stearns, 1859 November 29” Tufts
“Letter from Peter Brown to Sarah Brown, 25 June 1775” Massachusetts Historical Society
“The John Brown Letter” CSUN University Library
Homes & Historical Markers
“Antebellum Home: The Thomas Brown House” Old Town Franklin, TN
“F.W. Brown House” Lead Historic Preservation
“Historic L.B. Brown House Museum” National Trust for Historic Preservation
“John Brown Farm State Historic Site” New York State: Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
“Sylvanus Brown House” National Park Service
“The Brown House Museum” The Washington County Historical Society, Sandersville, Georgia
“The Captain David Brown House Site” National Park Service
The John Brown Birthplace, Torrington Historical Society
The John Brown House, The Summit County Historical Society of Akron, Ohio
“The John Brown House Museum” The Rhode Island Historical Society
Oral Histories
“Frances Brown Collection” Alabama. Library of Congress.
“Lloyd Brown Collection” Library of Congress
“Oral history interview with Jean P. Black” 1980. (audio only). The Oregon Historical Collection.
“Vernon Alfred Brown Collection” Library of Congress
“Vivian G. Brown Collection” Library of Congress
Books (Online & In Print)
Brown, Cyrus Henry. “Brown Genealogy: of the Many Descendants of Thomas, John, and Eleazer Brown, sons of Thomas and Mary (Newhall) Brown of Lynn, Mass. 1628 - 1907” Boston, The Everett Press Company, 1907. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown, Cyrus Henry. “Vol II. Brown Genealogy: Part 1: Many of the descendants of Thomas, John, and Eleazer Brown, sons of Thomas and Mary (Newhall) Brown of Lynn, Mass (1628 - 1915); and Part II: Many of the Descendants of Charles Browne of Rowley, Mass 1647 - 1915” Boston, The Everett Press, Inc., 1915. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown, George Williams. “Historical Genealogy Relating to a branch of the Brown Family, Including brief history of other families” Philadelphia, 1885. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown, James Comly. “The Brown and Comly Families Genealogy” The American Tribune, Newark, Ohio, 1912. (Full view on Google Books)
Brown, James Edgar. “Genealogy of the Brown Family of Prince William County, Virginia; Being a history of William Brown and seven generations of his descendants” Chicago; Press of Geo E. Brown & Co., 1898/ (Full PDF view)
Brown, John Jordan. “The Descendants of James Brown, 1716 1922” Bloomsburg, PA, 1922. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown, Leon R. “300 American Ancestors of Leon R. Brown” Rochester, NY. 1952. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Brown, Rev. Richard L. “A history of the Michael Brown family of Rowan County, North Carolina, tracing its line of posterity from the original Michael Brown to the present generation..” Granite Quarry, N.C., 1921 (Full view on HathiDigital Trust)
Brown, Thomas S., M.D. “Brown ancestors and kinsfolk: being a genealogical and historical record of his immediate and related families, from colonial days to the present” Burlington, VT., 1940. (Full view on HathiDigital Trust)
Brown, Walter LeRoy and M. Theta Hakes Brown. “Ancestors of Florence Julia Brown and some of their Descendants” Albion, NY, 1940. (Full view on Internet Archive).
Bryant, Blanche Brown. “The Progenitors and Descendants of Thomas Page Brown and Sarah (Sally) Parker” Springfield, Vermont. 1938. (Full view on Internet Archive).
Burns, Annie Walker. “Cherokee Indian family history records by the name of Brown, back to 1835, in the United States”. Washington, D.C. abt. 1964. (Full view on Library of Congress)
Daughters of the American Revolution, California Linares Chapter (San Diego). “Genealogy of Elizabeth Caroline Seymour Brown” San Diego, California. 1954. (Full view on Internet Archive)
McAllister, Ruth Brown. “A Brown Genealogy” Denver, Colorado; 1961. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Penrose, George Hoffman, M.D. “A Genealogical record of the Brown Family” Salt Lake City, Utah, 1896. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Spooner, Ella Brown Jackson. “Brown family history, tracing the Clark Brown line” The Laurel Outlook, Laurel, Montana. 1929. (Full view on Internet Archive).
Taylor, William Harrison. “Our family records; a genealogical record of William Brown and descendants, of America.” Pittsburgh, PA., Dermitt printing company, 1905. (Full view on HathiDigital Trust)
Tenney, Samuel and Wallace Fay Tenney. “Genealogical Date concerning the family of Captain Edward Brown of Newbury, Massachusetts…from the Manuscript Autobiography of Samuel Tenney” Harvard University, 1913 (Full view on Google Books)
Whitney, Charles Carrell. “Some Brown genealogy: being some of the descendants of John Brown, one of the early settlers of Reading, Mass” New York, 1897. (Full view on Internet Archive)
Leave a note below if you would like to share relevant links to the Brown surname search, or get in touch with other researchers. Again, do not share any private information of your own, or belonging to anyone living. Thank you!
Which surname should we feature next?
See also: Allen | Clark | Davis | Haggard | Johnson | Jones | Kavanagh / Cavanagh | Smith | Upham | Warren | Wilson