Edgefield Brown (1811 - 1901)

Born 3 Sep 1811 in Georgia, USA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 19 Jan 1901 at age 89 in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States

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Biography

Edgefield Brown was born September 3, 1811 ^{[1] [2]} , in Georgia. ^[3]

He was married to Leah Elizabeth Messick on April 28, 1839. ^[4]

He grew up in Georgia, but resided for a time in Alabama. He is recorded in Alabama in 1866, 1870 and 1880. By 1900 he is back in Georgia, where he passed away the following year.

His occupation was variously brick maker, farmer, grocer, shoemaker, wagon maker and blacksmith. ^[5]

Edgefield Brown was mentioned in a court case before the Georgia Supreme Court, which says (1) that he sold lot #38 in Atlanta on April 3, 1862, and (2) that he did not reside in Georgia on January 29, 1867. ^[6]

He died January 19, 1901. He received the following obituary, according to which, he was one of the founders of the city of Atlanta:

Edgefield Brown, the venerable Atlantian who passed away Saturday night at the home of his daughter on Lakewood Heights, was perhaps the oldest pioneer in this section of Georgia.

So far as all records go he was the sole survivor of those early patriots who voted at Decatur, Ga., in 1833. Had he lived until the coming April, Mr. Brown would have been ninety-one years of age, and this long life, with the exception of a comparatively few years, was spent in and about Atlanta.

He was a native of South Carolina,(incorrect)^[7] born in that state in the year 1811. He resided there with his parents until he reached the age of eleven years in 1822, when he became a resident of Georgia. The family moved to Decatur when that town was a mere straggling village and when Marthasville, now Atlanta, had not even developed into a hamlet. It was there that young Brown attained his majority and cast his first vote. The courthouse was the polling place and in those long past years the DeKalb temple of justice was simply an unpretentious log structure.

While he was still a young man the question of settling a site about six miles from Decatur was agitated and Brown left that town and became one of the number that composed the settlement, which was given the name of Marthasville and which later became Atlanta. From that time on until he breathed his last Mr. Brown’s interests were identified with Atlanta and he watch [sic] the growth of the city from its birth.

During his long residence here he had been enabled to number his friends and acquaintances by the score and the surviving relative have the sympathy of the community in their bereavement. Mr. Brown had been in feeble health for the past year, and he was an invalid from his boyhood. He had nine living children and six dead.

The funeral services will be conducted today at 12 o’clock at the residence of his daughter and the remains will be interred in the old family burying ground near South river.

^[8]

His grave is in the Brown Family Cemetery, in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, USA. ^[9]

Research Notes

Not to be confused with William Edgefield Brown. This Edgefield Brown was not a William.

Date of Birth

The newspaper obit gives his birthdate as April. FindAGrave also said April, but has been corrected. His tombstone photo on FindAGrave does not have an engraved date.

We have three original sources agreeing that he was born in September:

• the 1900 census form says Sept.
• The Brown family “Record of Ages” gives his birthdate as Sept 3, 1811.
• The Garrett necrology record of the Brown Family Cemetery also gives Sept 3, 1811 as his birth date.

The obituary also miscalculates his age. Someone born in 1811 would be 90 after passing their birthday in 1901. They would not be 91.

Place of Birth

His birthplace is given as Georgia in five out of five census records, however, his obituary states it as South Carolina, and FindAGrave gives Alabama.

Sources

1. ↑ The Brown Family Record of Ages
2. ↑ The Brown Family Cemetery; The Garrett Necrology; (1931)
3. ↑ His birthplace is given as Georgia in all his attached census records, 1850-1900.
4. ↑ Holder, Lollie Robinson; The Lollie Holder Research (Note the incorrect reference to a first name of William. This is a fairly unreliable source.) This is the source of the photo we have of Edgefield. The original pagination makes it clear the photo is of Edgefield Brown.
5. ↑ Garrett, Franklin M.; Atlanta and Environs Volume II, page 416. "...Atlanta area residents received the final summons during 1901... Edgefield Brown, 89, ante-bellum wagon maker and blacksmith, who cast his first vote in Decatur in 1832;"
6. ↑ Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, Volume 37; Solomon vs. Peters, pg 251
7. ↑ Apparently INCORRECT. See Research Notes
8. ↑ The Atlanta Constitution, issue of January 21, 1901. (note: U.S. newspaper articles before 1923 are now in the public domain)
9. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #181986047

See also:

• Family Search ID: LZ8S-HCG
• "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY5-Q3C?cc=1786457&wc=31SV-Y4K%3A1588665920%2C1588667986%2C1588668276 : 24 August 2015), Georgia > De Kalb > District 530 > image 3 of 10; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). (Note: same page as Meridith, Joel and William Brown)

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6QZ9-D67?cc=1401638&wc=95RX-Y4W%3A1031315501%2C1032391101%2C1032426801 : 9 July 2014), Georgia > DeKalb > Atlanta > image 27 of 55; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). NOTE: This census page is very faint and is NOT INDEXED on Family Search. The page is indexed on Ancestry, but the image is completely illegible there (as of 2018).

• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZMP-6K9 : 13 December 2017), Edgefield Brown, 1860.

• "Alabama State Census, 1866," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6P2-J9C : 18 July 2017), Edgefield Brown, Tallapoosa, Alabama; citing certificate 51790, p. 5, Department of Archives and History, Montgomery; FHL microfilm 1,492,022.

• "Alabama State Census, 1866," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6P2-62J : 18 July 2017), Edgefield Brown, Tallapoosa, Alabama; citing certificate 44882, p. 12, Department of Archives and History, Montgomery; FHL microfilm 1,492,022.

• "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHKM-WGY : 12 April 2016), Edgefield Bann, Alabama, United States; citing p. 99, family 8, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,510.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JZ-18T : 12 August 2017), Egfiela Brown, Goodwater, Coosa, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district ED 51, sheet 227C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0009; FHL microfilm 1,254,009.

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3NP-YB1 : accessed 11 August 2018), Edgefield Brown in household of Nancy E Porter, Militia District 1348, South Bend (excl. Atlanta city), Fulton, Georgia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 37, sheet 29B, family 584, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,198.

• "Georgia, Fulton County Records from the Atlanta History Center, 1827-1955," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL2J-F3QM : 16 March 2018), Edgefield Brown, 1901; citing Burial, 1901, 19 Jan 1901, Atlanta History Center, Georgia.

• Paternal relationship is supported by a GEDmatch test match between John Rogers, Jr., GEDmatch CB1963708 (son of Janie Jones), and Joyce Poole, GEDmatch A080430, 4th cousins. Their most recent common ancestors are Peter Brown and Sarah (Scales) Brown. Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 4.4, based on sharing 31.8 cM on three half-match segments.