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Richard Browne (abt. 1620 - 1662)

Richard Browne
Born about in Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire, England.map [uncertain]
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married about 1642 (to 1662) [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 42 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England.map
Profile last modified | Created 24 May 2011
This page has been accessed 5,536 times.
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Contents

BIOGRAPHY

Richard was a Friend (Quaker)
Cross of St George
Richard Browne was born in England.

Preface

Richard would be a little known Non-conformist English farmer and Quaker activist if it weren't for two of his sons, James and William, emigrating to the Province of Pennsylvania in America, becoming Gateway Ancestors and in turn, spawning a huge interest among their descendants in the early Pennsylvania settlements. James left England in 1677 and William, sometime around 1682/4.[1] Richard did not live to know of their sea voyages nor that accounts of his spiritual life would be preserved by his descendants and disseminated around the globe for centuries to come. The stories William Brown had told in the new settlement in America over the years, were recounted by his great-nephew, some forty years after his death and placed in the minutes of the East Nottingham Quaker Meeting in 1786, for posterity.[2] That account from the Quaker minutes forms the beginning of Gilbert Cope's book, The Browns of Nottingham and is freely accessible to read online.[3] It's been helpful for historians over the centuries who were able to build upon the biography of Richard Browne and his family despite a dearth of primary sources. It contains small details of life in 17th Century England, anecdotes of early hardship during a terrible time of religious persecution, and confirms with unique closeness, the impact prominent Quaker William Dewsbury had upon the later immigration to America.

Origins

It is believed that Richard was born in Leicestershire, England. Two handwritten death entries exist in Northamptonshire Quaker minutes, the later from the Northampton Quarterly Meeting that reads;

"Richard Browne of Boasworth departed this life the 28th [sic] day of the 9th month in the year 1662".[4]

Richard then, was from Boasworth, or Bosworth, and in keeping with his occupation and station in English life, more likely from Husbands Bosworth, a small village located close to the border of Northamptonshire and only 15 miles from Wellingborough.[5] The village name was derived from the surname Bar and until the early 17thC, about the time Richard was born, it was known variously as Boresworth, Borisworth and Baresworth. The prefix was added to further identify it as the smaller, husbandmen's Bosworth as opposed to the larger, historically famous market-town of Bosworth.

Richard's wife's birth, marriage and death details are currently unknown and we only have references to her first name, Margery, on the birth entries of her two youngest children, from the Northamptonshire Quarterly Meeting. Based on their births and the births of their older siblings, it's assumed Richard married in the early 1640s and was born around 1620.

Mistaken Identities

Margery's name on the two existing birth entries was often mistranscribed by historians and researchers over the centuries, not just the years, and pivotal errors crept into many Brown family trees. Her name was fumbled on William's entry as it was written into the Northampton Quarterly Meeting record.[6] [7] It was recorded as Mary by earlier historians and incorrectly affirmed as such by later ones, and she eventually became confused with Mary (Master) Browne of Cirencester, daughter of a Knight who married Richard Browne Esq., a Gloucestershire member of the landed Gentry, in 1651.[8]

Home and Family

According to the stories of William Brown, Richard had nine children, seven sons and two daughters of which William was supposed to have been the youngest but we know that Jeremiah was born after him, in 1660.[9] The account is confirmed not to be entirely correct in all detail. Given that William was only four at the time of his father's death, so one of the youngest children, it should be considered that some of the events figuring in William's stories occurred before he was born when the family may have lived in another parish or district. This likely possibility means that research into the birth records of Richard's older children will be more difficult to confirm, especially if Margery was his second wife. We can deduce that closer to Richard's death though, the family lived on a farm located nearer to Wellingborough than to Northampton because of the location of the Meetinghouse at which the births of his younger children were registered. Later mentions of possible family members refer to some of them as being of Puddington which does conform with the detail from the East Nottingham account where it states;

"The latter residence of [Richard] was supposed to be in Bedfordshire, or Northamptonshire, in a village or parish called Puddington, near Wellingborough; though before, it is said his dwelling was in another part of England ...".[3]

Puddington, now Podington, was part of the district of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire but is now part of Bedfordshire.

Quaker Convincement

The East Nottingham record in Pennsylvania suggests that the Browne patriarch, Richard, was first drawn to Baptism and Puritanism until being convinced as a Quaker in 1654 by William Dewsbury, a leading preacher of the Religious Society of Friends in England.

"About the first going forth of that eminent minister of the Gospel, William Dewsbury, he came to the town where this man dwelt...". He spoke of people who, " ... were much enraged against Friends, becoming cruel both in speech and ill treatment [toward them]; terming the power which attended their ministry, witchcraft, and endeavouring to stir up prosecution, which greatly increased in those days."[3]

In 1654 Dewsbury toured the Eastern Midland counties of Leicestershire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and experienced constant harassment and none more so than that in Northampton where he was falsely accused and imprisoned for six months.

"As soon as William Dewsbury ... apprehended himself at liberty to leave Leicester, he pursued his journey into Northamptonshire, and proceeded to Wellingborough ... where he tarried for a season...". An occurrence took place in this town, which ultimately occasioned him some months' imprisonment at Northampton...".
"About three weeks afterwards ... [in] 1654, William Dewsbury having been absent from Wellingborough in the interval, felt it to be his religious duty ... to return to the place again...".[10]

It was a time of deep distrust and religious Intolerance and those not conforming to the common view of the Church of England, or refusing to pay tithes to it, were frequently persecuted, fined and jailed. In records of Defendants at the High Sheriff Assizes of 1667 and 1668 - several years after Richard has died - we find the names of quaker Brownes who were most likely his sons and widowed daughter-in-law.

"Jeremiah Browne of Barford, shoemaker ... Daniel Browne of Puddington, yeoman Margaret Browne of the same, widow ... ".[11][12]

Occupation

Richard was a yeoman farmer, and maybe a husbandman, who was portrayed by his son as a man whose religious convictions led to loss of property and esteem but who eventually found a new farm to work where his reputation was regained. William's stories have helped to flesh out Richard's place in rural England, namely, that he had rented a farmhouse and land, alongside other renters, on the fringes perhaps of an Estate;

"After the said ...[Richard] Brown's convincement his landlord sent him a couple of young hounds to feed and raise for him ... but his tenant ... did not comply with his desire. — at which his landlord was much displeased, and having generally paid his rent at a set time every half year to a steward appointed to receive the rents ...".[3]

The story continues, Richard hadn't required a receipt the last time he paid the steward. The embittered landlord asked for proof of his payment trying to provoke the newly convinced Quaker into swearing an oath, something the Quakers were adamantly opposed to. Richard would not swear to it so he was forced to pay his rent twice and was also turned off his farmland. It was difficult for him to find another property given the circumstances but when he did, he prospered there.

The persecution of Quakers didn't let up until the Act of Tolerance was approved in 1689. It was no wonder America called Richard's sons. It was suggested by historian Rufus M. Jones though, that in addition to purely religious reasons, an entirely practical reason also existed for Quaker yeomen to emigrate. In his book, The Quakers in the American Colonies, he points out that Penn pre-sold land in the Colony at affordable prices, "[enabling] many a poor English renter to become a landowner in Pennsylvania". [13]

We don't know how Richard worked his farm, that is, whether he kept livestock or planted crops but we do know from early American sources that his son James was a weaver and William was a maltster.[14] From the later assize records, Jeremiah Browne of Barford - a possible son- was a shoemaker while Daniel Browne of Puddington was a yeoman. The skills that James and William put to good use when pioneering the Nottingham lots in America - cropping, milling, carpentry, animal husbandry - were no doubt gained from the rural environment in which they were raised. In addition to farming, Richard was described in the East Nottingham account as an "approved minister". While this has yet to be confirmed through English Quaker minutes, we might assume he was literate, like his sons, and able to read and reflect upon Quaker texts and scripture, and in this sense, was considered active in the role of ministering by way of giving advice and sharing insight within a religious community.

Death

Shortly before Richard died, he shared with his wife a prophecy that she would live to see all their children grow and prosper and that they would all remain in the faith, which they did.

"... he hath even shewed me that thou shalt live to bring up all our children, and they shall be blessed and be all favoured to keep their habitations in the Truth. l am a witness that this was a true prophecy, for I am the youngest of his nine children, (he having had six sons beside, and two daughters,) who all lived and were favoured to die in unity with Friends."[3]

Richard Browne died in 1662. The correct date was the 8th of November, as recorded by the Wellingborough Monthly Meeting.[4]

Legacy

19th Century Historian George Johnston wrote of Richard's Quaker descendants in America;

"The Browns ... were noted [as much] for their zeal as ministers as for their enterprise and industry. ... [I]n 1751 six of the Brown family, four men and two women, were ministers of Nottingham monthly meeting."[15]

In simple terms, Richard's legacy lay in the Quaker values he imbued in his offspring, one of whom spoke often about his father to younger generations of Quakers who were born in America. Richard thus became venerated by those younger generations, and for all the Brownes at least, he represented the very beginning of their particular Quaker lineage. The stories that were chosen to be included in the account placed on the Pennsylvania Quaker record in 1786 supported the design that it be a, "profitable Memorandum concerning the pious Ancestors of many living in [those] parts."[3] It's an age-old consequence of celebrating longevity and achievement, and more so perhaps for pioneers, that they looked back to a distant point in history to measure the long road from their humble beginnings. On this occasion Richard, their earliest Quaker ancestor, was that distant point and an exemplar of the Quaker values that were most revered by the Pennsylvanian communities at that time.

Sources

  1. "Brothers William Brown & James Brown are said to have been the earliest settlers in Nottingham.[Pennsylvania] They were sons of Richard and Mary [sic] Brown of Wellingborough Monthly Meeting in Northamptonshire." National Gen. Soc. quarterly Vol 70, Early Settlers of the Nottingham Lots, pg 284.
  2. Ancestry.com, 2014. "US Quaker Meeting Record 1681-1935", Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Births and Deaths 1691-1883; Collection: Baltimore Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: RG2/B/N681 3.1., [database on-line], images from page: 302, (https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/2189/43154_1821100519_5211-00309/1107344280#?imageId=43154_1821100519_5211-00303
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Cope, G., (1864). "The Browns of Nottingham", (Accessed: December 6th, 2019), Original document pp: 1-6, digitized images: 10/34 - 6/18. (https://archive.org/details/brownsofnottingh00cope/page/n5)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Ancestry.com, (2013). “England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837”, Description: Piece 0502: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire: Births; Marriages; Burials (1647-1777), [database on-line], (https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/7097/41815_b0152819-00000#?imageId=41815_b0152819-00161), [Image: 162/243], Name: Richard Browne | Event Type: Burial | Death date:1662 | death-place: [England, Northamptonshire] | Burial date 28 Nov1656 | Burial Place: Northamptonshire, England | Gender: Male | “Richard Browne of Boasworth departed this life the 28th day of the 9th month in the yeare 1662”.
  5. Brian Gubbins of the Northamptonshire Family History Society (https://www.northants-fhs.org/) kindly conducted research into the name 'Boasworth'. He, and several colleagues from the Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Leicestershire societies, concluded that Boasworth most likely refers to the village of Husbands Bosworth for the reasons stated in the biography. See also (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/leics/vol5/pp28-38).
  6. Ancestry.com, 2013. “England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837”, Description: Piece 0502: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire: Births; Marriages; Burials (1647-1777), [database on-line], (https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=7097&h=246957&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7097), "Name: Willm Browne, Event Type: Birth, Birth Date: 29 Mar (sic) 1658, Birth Place: Northamptonshire, England, Gender: Male, Father: Rich Browne, Mother: Marrey Browne, Meeting: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire, Piece Description: Piece 0502: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire: Births; Marriages; Burials (1647-1777)", “William Browne son of Rich. and Marg/rey Browne was borne the 29 day of the first month in the year 1658”.
  7. Neither William's nor Jeremiah's birth entry in the Wellingborough Monthly Meeting contained the name of their mother.
  8. Ancestry.com, 2014. "Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813", Gloucestershire Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P273 IN 1/1, [database on-line], (https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=4732&h=1543766&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=FWY3&_phstart=successSource),
    "Married| Mr. Richard Browne & Miss. Mary Masters. August fourteenth".
  9. Ancestry.com, 2013. “England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837”. Piece 1380: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough: Births (1653-1824), [database on-line], “Name: Jerimiah Browne| Event Type: Birth| Birth Date: 19 Oct 1660| Birth Place: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England| Gender: Male| Father: Richard Browne| Meeting: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough| Piece Description: Piece 1380: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough: Births (1653-1824). ::“Jerimiah Browne the son of Richard Browne borne the 19th day of the 8th month 1660”.
  10. “The Life and Letters of William Dewsbury: Friends Library.” The Life and Letters of William Dewsbury | Friends Library. Accessed December 26, 2023. https://www.friendslibrary.com/william-dewsbury/life-and-letters. This book can be downloaded, free of charge, and searched using terms such as; Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Wellingborough.
  11. Presentments of Nonconformists, 1668 Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service, (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/b013b1e5-da44-48bc-b551-242b45231526)
  12. Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue. “Records of the High Sheriff, Assizes fonds | HSA 1653 - 1688,” Summer Assizes, sub-fonds | HSA1670/S, 1670, Presentment of nonconformists. (http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110060678), accessed December 3, 2019.
  13. "The large majority of the settlers were Englishmen, mostly yeomen ...They had bought their lands of (sic) Penn from rough maps before leaving England, at the very moderate price which he asked of 100 pounds (roughly $500 in early U.S. currency) for 5,000 acres or smaller tracts in proportion, with a quit-rent annually of one shilling for each 100 acres." Our First Friends, The Early Quakers, Rae Tyson, Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine Vol. XXXVII, No. 2-Spring 2011, (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/pa-heritage/our-first-friends-early-quakers.html).
  14. Hazard, S., Philadelphia.“Register of Pennsylvania”, Vol. vii, January - July, 1831, (Digitized copy, page 134), (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=A_tRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=william+brown+concord+monthly+meeting+1746&source=bl&ots=G-zrTIG291&sig=ACfU3U1QkddtgNU1DkCZ0fkfToqWyX2R3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj21oKb3IbnAhVEzzgGHVxAAAkQ6AEwAXoECBwQAQ#v=onepage&q=william%20brown%20concord%20monthly%20meeting%201746&f=false).
  15. Johnston, G., (1881), CHAPTER XI, "History of Cecil County, Maryland, and the early settlements around the head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with sketches of some of the old families of Cecil County. 1829-1891". p. 160. (Accessed: December 6th, 2019), The Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/historyofcecilco00john/page/n6)




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DNA Connections
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Comments: 8

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I've removed the recently linked father to Richard. The FAG and LDS references aren't based on verifiable sources.
posted by Jennifer Mortimer
I'd be happy to continue reworking the biography should anybody have further information to add to this profile.
posted by Jennifer Mortimer
Richard is managed by the Religious Soc/Friends Project - his wife's profile, Margery (Unknown) Browne, is managed by the England Project.

Would there be benefit in both projects managing both profiles?

Richard died a Quaker in England but he wasn't born one. There are 3 counties in which to find yeoman/farming & probate records - Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Bedfordshire. The profiles lack births/baptism/marriage records and death/probate dox for both, sufficient to confirm the cohesion of their relationships.

In regards to English Quaker sources on their profiles, more of a picture is needed to flesh out their shared lives through the 17thC English Quaker milieu, and to substantiate facts referred to in the Pennsylvanian Quaker record of son, William.

posted by Jennifer Mortimer
Merged Browne-2018 Profile which had inaccessible gedcom sources for a range of hypothetical profile candidates and mother ranging over two hundred years. It is my understanding that the initial research was intended to focus on the unknown details of birthplace and parentage of Northamptonshire Quaker Richard Browne, as the profile most notably had references to Boarsworth, Puddington and Wellingsborough as well as the death date of 1662.
posted by Jennifer Mortimer
My goal is to untangle truth from myth and there are many historical Brown stories that were devised for a number of reasons, by researchers in different eras. I too am loathe to lose connections so would not disconnect profiles without discussion which is my point in raising the topic: is there anybody else interested? As a starting point, how can we know definitively if the Wellingborough MM birth records of William, James and Jeremiah Brown, and the death record of father, Richard, are the right records for our Pennsylvania immigrants? Brownes/Browns can be extraordinarily confusing, especially for those new to this project so researchers with a knowledge of the secondary material are valuable to the project's ultimate goal of defining confident connections.
posted by Jennifer Mortimer
If I read the record correctly, I believe that Richard Browne's death was on 8 Nov. 1662 = 8th day, 9th month, 1662 = until 1750 in England the year began on 25 March, so the 1st month was April.... and 9th month = November. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_1750

I also oppose detaching children historically noted as this couple's children without more cause than lack of a proper birth certificate unless some member can state categorically that they did local research in England and failed to find them.

posted by Chet Snow
Hi fellow Browne researchers. I'm thinking that it's time we worked out how we know who the children of Richard and Margery are. I don't know if we can be sure that we know that all of these profiles are related. There was no birth entry for Margery at the same time as Jeremiah despite the 'stories' that state they were twins. Without any real sources confirming their connection, we might have to work out if they should be disconnected. The only three we have sourced are James, William and Jeremiah. Maybe it's enough to leave the information as Further Research on the profiles of their parents. Please let me know what you all think. Cheers, Jenny
posted by Jennifer Mortimer
Browne-2236 and Browne-440 appear to represent the same person because: same person
posted by [Living McQueen]

Rejected matches › Richard Browne (1616-abt.1670)

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Categories: Wellingborough Monthly Meeting, Northamptonshire