Amanuensis Monday - A Great Reason to Transcribe...

Last Tuesday I posted about the Rt. Rev. John Brown.  I had wondered who he was, came to some conclusions and vowed to continue my research.  I had a feeling that he was a relative.  As it turns out, I was right.  How did I discover it? 

My mom emailed me because of the John Browns I listed in that post, she recognized the city "Southern Pines, N.C." as being a place many priests were sent on missions.  That made me laugh!  Probably sent to convert the South to Catholicism!  Too funny. 

But even before my mom emailed me with this tid-bit I had already performed another search for John Browns on Ancestry and came up with the following result from the North Carolina Death Collection:

This John was born in Pennsylvania at the right year, never married and was then buried out of state.  Sounds right for my priest, but it wasn't a confirmation, but then the church in Hazleton, PA that buried him responded to my email and told me that the Rev. Brown in their cemetery was buried in September 1986.  So of the John Browns I had found in the SSDI, the Southern Pines John was the right John.  This didn't tell me that he was a relative though. That's where I credit transcribing and taking part in Amanuensis Monday for (once again) saving the day (and an awful lot of time).

I was going to transcribe an obituary.  I knew that.  I wasn't sure which one though.  I had gone through so many this summer while back home and I wanted to start getting them online.  I was a bad girl though and didn't give many of them more than a cursory glance when I first found them.  The trip back home was crammed with family time and genealogy spread in between...not to mention my 10 and 5 year olds.  So now I get to transcribing the obituary for Charles Brown, Sr.

21SEP1935 - Hazleton Standard-Sentinel

"Deaths

Charles B. Brown, Sr.

Charles B. Brown, prominent resident of Hazleton, died at his home, 531 Arthur street, at 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon after a two months' illness, due to complications.  He was born in this city, where he spent his entire life.

Mr. Brown was bottom foreman for the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. at the Hazleton Shaft colliery for 35 years.  He was a member of St. Gabriel's church and of the Holy Name Society of that parish.  He was a third baseman of the old Hazleton Athletics' team of many years ago.

His wife, formerly Anna LeGrande, died eight years ago.  Surviving are the following children:  Mrs. William McLaughlin, Washington, D. C.; Charles Brown, Jr., of Hazleton; Leo Brown, Cumberland, Md.; Mrs. George Cassidy, Elizabeth, N. J.; Esther and Marian, at home; Mrs. John Hooper, Elizabeth, N. J.; John of Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Emmittsburg, Md.

Three brothers also survive, Thomas and Neil Brown, of Hazleton, and Patrick Brown of West Hazleton.

The funeral will be held on Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock.  Solemn high mass of requiem will be offered u pin St. Gabriel's church at 9:30, and interment will be made in St. Gabriel's cemetery."

Published in the Hazleton Standard-Sentinel, 21JAN1935

Charles Bernard Brown Sr was my 2nd great uncle.  The brother to my great grandfather, Thomas Brown Sr., and the father to Rev John Brown, which makes John my 1st cousin twice removed.

Of course, his son, John, isn't a priest as of his death, but was going through the seminary.  That's enough to confirm it for me.  Yes, I'll be requesting John's death certificate from North Carolina as well as checking to see if I can get any of the seminary records or find out where he served as a priest.  I'm not overly familiar with all that, so I may be talking to my priest to find out how the Church keeps it's records.

What I will be doing when I go back home next year is looking for the burial/funeral notice for Charles Sr...and John.  It's on my Research Calendar.  I look forward to seeing what else is out there!