Conflation of William and Martha Jane Brown of Invercargill

Date: 1857 to 1915
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
Surname/tag: brown

In the Otago and Southland Early Settlers Database (retrieved in person by McNabb-412 09:36, 4 October 2020 (UTC) at Otago Early Settlers Museum -- not online), the records for William Brown and Martha Lane Lewis contain contradictory information. Multiple profiles have been conflated.

Contents 1 Martha Jane Lewis - OASES 2 William Brown - OASES 3 Hall-Jones 4 Conclusion 5 Sources

Martha Jane Lewis - OASES

it say: her father is Thomas Lewis (b c. 1800) and she was married in Scotland in 1855 to William Henry Brown (b. 1835, d. 1914). In 1855 she lived at Burford, Oxfordshire. She immigrated 5 May 1858 on the Nourmahal. It gives six children: Unknown (c.1856), John(c.1857 - 15 Mar 1911), Edwin(1859), Alice Anne(9 Nov 1860), Agnes Isabella (c.1866), Annie (c.1868-1914).

William Brown - OASES

(Omitted for brevity, a cluster of confusing points)

Hall-Jones

The book Invercargill Pioneers by Hall-Jones documents a person from Dunedin called Walter Brown (c.1835-1914) who it is claimed married Martha Jane Lewis, died 6 Nov 1914, and had children Mrs Thomas Brown, Mrs Findlay, and Miss Annie Brown.

I think this is the origin of the confusion in OASES. I can find no record of any such couple. There is only Walter Brown whose wife was Agnes; and they did have children John, Agnes Isabella, and Annie. (Although not with the same dates as above). Agnes has a probate.^[1] She died 10 May 1913 at Invercargill and Walter Brown, blacksmith, gives an affidavit.

I couldn't find any scotlandspeople 1855 marriage record; the closest was 1857 William Brown / Jane Lewis, Kilmarnock. On that record, her parents were Robert Lewis and Janet Mitchell. So I think that is almost certainly a different person to both of the above.

Conclusion

The notes in OASES cannot be trusted it seems.

Sources

1. ↑ "New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2XL-9GWQ : 28 May 2019), Agnes Brown, 1913; citing , , record number 3461, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 102317554.