The Royal Ancestry of George Brown, Sr.?

Question

How do you do?  I was wondering if anyone knew whether or not the ancestry of George Brown, Sr. [Brown-47497] as presented on Wiki Tree was proven.  His father's line has been taken back to English royalty via Lady Dorothy (Butler) Brown [Boteler-453].  I have The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants..... in two volumes by Gary Boyd Roberts.  The only accepted immigrant listed surname "Brown" is Nathaniel Brown I [Brown-3264] on p. 653.  My father's ancestor Thomas Gascoigne I [Gascoigne-135] no longer qualifies for societies like the BOMC, MOC, and/or the OCC.  It is extremely discouraging, for all my current lines are either collateral, disproved, unknown, or unproven.  Thanks so much!

Comments

Added tags for England and EuroAristo to bring it to the attention of project members. Always best to tag with those if dealing with English royals or nobles.

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Disproving connection to royal ancestors isn't failure, it's success at discovering the truth.

Answer 1

The weak link here is between George Brown (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brown-47497) and his supposed father William Overett [Brown] (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brown-79661). The Wikitree profiles themselves offer no proof of a relationship between them. One of the sites listed as a source on George Brown's profile (the Early Colonial Settlers site) does list a deed in which a William Overed [no Brown in his name] conveyed land to George Brown, now husband of Frances Rowland; this deed lists Frances Rowland as William's daughter-in-law, but does not list George as his son, which to me suggests that Frances's first husband had been William Overed's son and Frances has now remarried to George.

Comments

I guess the passage could also be interpreted as meaning that Frances Rowland had become William Overed's step-daughter through William's marriage to her mother (i.e., a daughter through the operation of marriage law). In either case, though, George Brown does not seem to have been William's biological son - and it is also not entirely clear to me how William Overed relates to the earlier Browns.

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I appreciate the information!  It clears out George Brown, Sr. as I continue my research on this project.  God bless you!

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In fact, that is how the Early Colonial Settlers site interprets the evidence - that William Overed/Overitt was Frances Rowland's stepfather, and that the parentage of George Brown is unknown.