BROWN-L Archives

From: Jane Tripodi <>
Subject: BROWN + GERHART: Chicago 1860s
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 17:41:25 -0700 (MST)

John Pember BROWN-b. about 1840 Sodus, NY. May have spent part
of his youth in Warren Co. PA and in the s.w. corner of MI.
Allegedly he was apprenticed to a sail maker about 1849. At
the beginning of the Civil War, he must have been living in IL,
as he joined Chicago Light Artillery, Battery A. After the war
was over he must have returned to Chicago, because on 30 Dec.
1869, he m. Catherine (Kate) GERHART in St. Paul's German Evan-
gelical Church. Around 1874 they migrated to Calif. John P.
was a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason.

John's father was Elijah-b. 1813 in Ontario Co., NY. I have no
idea where he went after 1840 census. Was he in Chicago? John's
mother d. 1848, location unknown. His brothers and sisters
were: Charles E., Lucretia (m. George STEVENS), Mary, and two
boys, names unknown, killed in the Civil War.

Catherine GERHART was b. in Ditscheid, Prussia in April or May
1840. According to the 1900 census she and her family immigrat-
ed to America in 1842. Her father, Mathias, doesn't show up on
any census, but I know he's in America because of family letters.
I know absolutely nothing about Kate until she m. John P. BROWN,
except that her mother, Anna Marie SCHMITT Gerhart, allegedly
died in 1846, and Mathias married again.

I have no idea if Kate had any brothers or sisters, but one would
think so. The family name in Germany was spelled GERHARDS.

John and Kate's children were:

Jane (Jennie) Lucretia BROWN-b. Jan. 1871
Alice Mary BROWN-b. Dec. 1872
Nellie Patience and Frank BROWN were both born in CA and died young.

Any information about this family will be gratefully accepted.

Jane

This thread:

• BROWN + GERHART: Chicago 1860s by Jane Tripodi <>