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Subject: Bennett/Brown(e) Marriages in Eastern Virginia
Date: 3 Sep 2005 07:19:04 -0600
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Surnames: Bennett, Brown, Browne, Garrett, Hill, Meriwether, Woodhouse, Owen, Webbmore, Edloe, Carter
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/BRD.2ACEB/5881
Message Board Post:
There was a Browne (typical spelling in the 1600s)/Brown family in VA in the Surry/Middlesex/Mathews/Gloucester Co., VA areas in the 1600s-1800s (and some may still be there today). A Lt. Colonel William Brown, Senior took as his second wife Elizabeth (Woodhouse) Meriwether, the widow of Nicholas Meriwether "I" (an early ancestor of Meriwether Lewis, the explorer). Before Nicholas Meriwether "I" died, he and his wife Elizabeth Woodhouse had Jane Meriwether, and she eventually married William Browne, Junior, the son of the above Lt. Colonel William Browne, Senior.
Years later, a John Brown (POSSIBLY my 3rd ggf on my mother's side) married a Mary Bennett on 22 Oct 1805. Mary’s mother was Winney Bennett, and she had married a James Owen on 27 Jan. 1798. A Henry Garrett had been a witness for Winney's and James' marriage in 1798. I do not know Winney’s maiden name nor the name of her first husband, other than that it was obviously "Bennett." A Smith Bennett married Sally Webbmore in Middlesex on 9 Dec 1812 (so about 7 years after Mary Bennett married John Brown). I do not know how/if Smith Bennett and Mary Bennett were related, but brother/sister would certainly not surprise me.
Back in 1775, a Bennett Browne married a Mary Hill. I don't know who Bennett Browne's parents were or why he had the given name of "Bennett." Had there been a Browne/Bennett marriage back in the 1700s (or earlier)? There was also one other Browne/Hill "connection" (via the Clements family) back in those days. I don't know what Hill family this was, but there was a Colonel Edward Hill whose daughter married into the powerful Carter family in Virginia, and that combined Hill/Carter family has owned famous Shirley Plantation on the James River in Charles City Co., VA for 11 or so generations. There was an Edloe family that married into the Browne family, and Colonel Edward Hill was associated with the Edloes in Charles City Co., VA, so that is the only reason why I wonder if the Hill family that married into the Browne/Brown family COULD have been the same one that married into the Carter family.
My 2nd ggf (on my mother's side) was Smith W. Brown, and he was born about 1818 (probably in Middlesex Co., VA). He married Susan Hill Garrett in the 1840s. I do not know how/if Susan Hill Garrett was related to the Henry Garrett who was the witness for the Bennett/Owen marriage mentioned above, and I do not know from which Hill family she descended. In 1848, a Frances Brown married a Lumpkin Garrett. My 2nd ggf, Smith W. Brown, provided the surety for this marriage, and Richard Garrett gave his consent. There were a couple of Richard Garretts (maybe father/son) and a Robert Garrett (and a couple of other Garrett men, as I recall) in the Middlesex/Gloucester Co., VA area around that time.
I wonder if my 2nd ggf, Smith W. Brown, was named for the above-mentioned Smith Bennett, and I wonder if John Brown who married Mary Bennett was really Smith W. Brown's father? If so, then I am (obviously) a Bennett descendant. Finally, of course, I wonder if my Brown family was descended from the above Browne family (and if Lt. Colonel William Brown, Sr., Bennett Brown, etc. are some of my ancestors)? Several members of the Browne family appear on the list of people who were in Virginia in 1623/1624, though there certainly could have been more than one "blood related" family of Brownes at that time.
Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. I have traced my Davidson family for several years, but I am just starting to trace my mother's side of the family (Brown). It is beginning to look like that I also need to trace the Bennetts! Thanks!
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