The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Researching Alexander Hamilton Brown

After the 1900 US Census, which found Hamilton residing with his mother and younger siblings, the next chronological record appears to be a marriage license application from Wells Cty, Indiana. On this record, he names his parents (John Brown and Tisha Ogle), gives his birthplace as Allen Cty, Indiana, and lists his birthdate and that he was not previously married. There is no date on the application license, however, because the license was not completed and issued - on the portion of the form for the bride, the application is incomplete, and has written across her portion of the page "License Refused." The name given was Mary E. Kelly, with a listed birthdate of 18 Apr 1851 in Fairfield Cty, Ohio, but no further information was given so far as parents' names or whether she had been previously married. No reason is apparent on the application for why the license was refused; the applications on the pages immediately following or preceding have dates in October 1908, which would suggest that is the month in which Hamilton and Mary applied for their license. Interestingly, Hamilton would have been thirty-eight at the time, while Mary would have been fifty-seven according to the date given.

Interestingly, there is a household for a Kelly family at the other end of Wells Cty, Indiana, in Nottingham Twp, as counted in the 1860 and 1870 US Censuses. In that household is Ohio-born Mary E. Kelly (b. about 1850), the daughter of Irish-born Edward Kelly and his Ohio-born wife Mary J. Kelly. The younger Mary is no longer counted in the household at the time of the 1880 US Census, but there is a listing for her on the FindaGrave.com website which shows a gravestone with a death of 13 Nov 1871, with her age given as twenty-one and her parents as "E & MJ Kelly." Despite the proximity, this would preclude the Nottingham Twp Mary Kelly from being the one who attempted to marry Hamilton.

Further complicating matters is a 1910 US Census record for the household of James Henseil in nearby Aboite Twp, Allen Cty, Indiana, which contains a pair of married boarders by the names of Hamilton Brown (aged forty, born in Indiana) and Mary Brown (aged fifty-four, born in Ohio). It seems reasonable to assume that this is the same pair from the marriage license application, but whether they were actually married at this point is unknown. Likewise, it is difficult to know Mary's actual age, given the apparent discrepancy - if the date given on the earlier application was correct, by 1910 Mary should have been fifty-nine.

I have been unable to locate either Hamilton or Mary in further census records, though there is a death record from Eaton Rapids, Eaton Cty, Michigan for Alexander Hamilton Brown on 1 Sep 1937. This record gives an estimated birth year of 1870, names his parents John L. Brown and "Lutcia Carpenter," and gives his birthplace as "Markle, Indiana." It seems likely that this record belongs to our Hamilton, despite the slight discrepancy in birthplace and the errors in his mother's name. This record gives his marital status as "widowed," and no image of the original record was available on the index for review of the reporting party's name. In addition to this death record, there is a listing for "Alexander Brown" on the FindaGrave.com website, with no picture of a gravesite but with a death date and place that agrees with the death record and a plot location of "Potter Field." This suggests that Hamilton likely died quite poor, and possibly without family to account for him in any appreciable way.

All of this would suggest that Hamilton may or may not have actually married, but it seems a likely guess that he and Mary remained together at least for a few years, and that their ages (particularly hers) would have precluded having children. I have not found any other records for further spouses for Hamilton, nor any to suggest he had any children. Mary's actual identity is still unknown to me.