Sunday's Obituary - James Brown...No Not That One

The Standard Speaker,
28NOV1994, pg2

Last Sunday I shared the obituary of Mary Barth nee Brown as I tried to make sense of this line and its zombie progenitor, Neil Brown Jr. For the backstory on my undead 2nd great uncle please refer to my April 9th post.

So far as I've made my way through the children of Neil and Bridget Brown nee Brown I haven't turned up anything unusual. It's been a typical scenario of transcribing on the blog, updating records in my tree and FindAGrave and there doesn't appear to be anything that would break up what I currently have in my tree. Everything just solidifies the connections. This week the next in line of the children would have been Neil Brown III, but I've transcribed his obituary previously. I'll move on to the next child of the group which is James Brown.

"James Brown

James P. Brown, 140 S. Laurel St., Hazleton, died Saturday at the Mountain City Convalescent Center, Hazleton, after a lengthy illness.

Born in Hazleton, he was the son of the late Neil and Bridget Brown.

He was a 1932 graduate of St. Gabriel's High School, where he was a standout basketball player. Brown later excelled in the Catholic basketball league.

Brown was employed as a business agent for the Boilermakers' Union Local 13, before retiring in 1966.

He was an Army veteran of World War II and served in Italy.

He was preceded in death, in addition to his parents, by his wife, Martha (Thompson) Brown, in 1979; sisters, Rita Dermott, Nancy Harkins, and Eleanor Prosser; brothers, Neil, John and Eugene (Cy) Brown; and a grandson, Patrick O'Donoghue, in 1985.

Surviving are children, William C. Brown, St. Augustine, Fla.; Nancy L. O'Donoghue, Hocessin, Del.; and James P. Brown Jr., Hazleton; sisters, Joan Cann and Mary Barth, both of Hazleton; brothers, Paul, Erie; Charles, Hazleton; six grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Several nieces and nephews also survive.

The funeral will be held Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. from the Boyle Funeral Home, 100 S. Wyoming St., Hazleton, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church. Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

Friends may call today at the funeral home from 6 to 9 p.m."

My cousin, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, had initially given me a lot of the information on this line and as you can see from the obituary, she would know...James was her father. Zombie-Neil was her grandfather. I wish I could talk to her now and ask her more questions, but I wish that frequently.

This obituary is pretty good since it shows where the family was spreading out to which will help with later research. Still nothing that contradicts what I already knew about Neil and Bridget and their family.