Help to Connect Singer James Brown

Question

We recently found we didn't have a profile for singer James Brown, so one has been created, but there are several murky details that I'd love some help on.

First, his paternal grandfather is currently a placeholder (and likely to be removed at some point - possibly soon) due to many uncertain details about his father. James' father, James Gardener/Gardner Brown, has been claimed to have been simply James Gardner (no Brown) and only took on the Brown surname when a kindly woman raised him after his mother left him.

However, there are suitable Brown families that may have been his actual parents (if you lean towards this as a bit of an urban legend), so there's the possibility that he actually was a "Brown".

And last, this link:

https://www.thoughtco.com/ancestry-of-james-brown-1421630

Seems to lean towards the likelihood of an "Evans" having something to do with his grandparents, although I've not figured out the connection.

Any help in biography, chasing family members, or even making a connection would be more than welcome. Thanks!

Answer 1

Summary of probables

Henry was the father of Joseph

Henry and his wife died before 1920

Their children went to live with various relatives

Joe lived for a few years with uncle Aleck, then with Uncle James and Mary Gardner, likely a common law wife of James

Joe considered them his "parents" and assumed Gardner as a middle name to honor his foster mother

Comments

The Henry I found doesn't match well - he was alive in 1920 and 1930, so I'm starting to think Henry's a red herring. But the James born 1867 is a strong possibility. If he was alive in 1911-1912, fathered James with an unmarried Mary Alice Gardner, and died before they were ever married, she may have given him the name Joseph Brown or even Joseph Gardner Brown, but been unable to raise him.

In comes his Uncle Aleck, who raised him until he was old enough to take care of himself. I did find a 1930 Census with a Joe Brown in Richmond, Georgia who appears to be working on a construction project. It seems to fit. Again, speculating, but when the project ended, he probably returned home to Barnwell, married Susie, and fathered James Brown. James was born in 1933, Susie left him in 1937-38, and by 1940-ish, he picked up and moved to Augusta.

I did find a potential Mary Gardner on a 1910 Census, but I'm not terribly comfortable with her as she is listed as married in 1910, having 3 children, but the husband isn't listed anywhere. She's a possibility, but it would imply that Gardner is her married name and that either Joseph was born while James was with a married woman, or she was mistakenly listed as married when she was widowed, and again, perhaps he didn't live long enough or wasn't interested in either marriage or possibly even raising a child.

Lots of speculation. Wish I had good concrete answers.

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Another potential spin? James might have married Mary, then died after their child was born. This would mean Mary's LNAB was something else. But then she married a Gardner, but they weren't in a position to raise a child, so she gave him up to his Uncle Aleck Brown. Uncle Aleck did a lot of the raising, but his mother visited often. And his name was either intentional (she did it on birth) or added later, but either way it was to honor his mother.

Still speculation, but not sure if the narrative fits.

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Hey I’m late late. But I am a member of The Brown Family In Barnwell, Sc. I’m 22 years old, from what I was told back in 2006 before James passed away. We had a family reunion in Barnwell July 2006. What I was told, I was told that my Uncle Henry Brown was supposedly The father Of Joseph “Pop” Brown. Then it was another story told to me that My Auntie Maisy (Mattie) Brown. Was the woman who actually raised Joseph Brown when his mother had left him. That’s what I was told. Im still asking questions from my family members especially the elders who are still alive. I do have relatives that actually look just like James brown all the way, if you glance at them you would be wondering. My great great great grandfather named was James Brown and his 8 kids names were: Ben Brown, Sr., Silas Brown, Sr., Wiley Brown, Henry Brown, Richard Brown, Tobaccus Brown, James Brown, Jr. & Maisy (Mattie Brown). I believe ancestry gets their information from people that puts it out there. I do have some Browns on my dad side and they are from Allendale, Sc. Barnwell Brown Family, The two older brothers Ben and Silas Brown, Sr. Had 17 Children and 19 Children

Answer 2

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

Name:	Joe Brown
Gender:	Male
Race:	Black
Birth Date:	29 Mar 1911
Birth Place:	Barnwell Cou, South Carolina
Death Date:	10 Jul 1993
Father:	James Brown
Mother:	Mary A Gardner
SSN:	250149318
Death Certificate Number:	030149
Notes:	Sep 1938: Name listed as JOE BROWN
Household Members:	Name Age Mary A Gardner James Brown Joe Brown

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original Data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.

Comments

I'd go with Henry as gramps

seems likely he and the wife may have died in the Spanish flu epidemic running that year and the kids went to whichever Brown relative could afford to feed them

I had similar occurrence in my Alabama King lines around that time

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What about that first record that seems to indicate James Brown and Mary Alice Gardner as parents?

If you tie that to the 1880 Census where there was a James born in 1867 (sure, he or she is listed as a female, but I ignored that part), then it's possible that was the James whose brother is Aleck which would mean he was Uncle, which lines up nicely with the 1920 Census. Still can't find the smoking gun where James Brown and Mary Gardner were either married or died, but this is still way more than when we started.

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Or are you saying that the Brown Bran is most likely Henry Brown? - I'm telling you, I was a Census taker 10 years ago and would have NEVER been as sloppy as these dudes. I guess it's different times now.

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Just saw the earlier comment that Mary Alice Gardner was "Aunt". Hmm... so getting to be most likely that the other brother (Henry) was grandfather. Now I think I see where you're coming from. Need to take a step back and draw a map since I'm getting myself confused now. I'll take another look tonight when I'm less bleary eyed.

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the Social Security death claim would have been filled out by one of his kids or grandkids

Army record lists Mary Gardner as AUNT as Mary Gardner, not as Mary Brown in 1940

Find Mary Gardner in Barnwell ?

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FAG death year for Henry probable error

He does not appear in Census 1920, 1930

no death record in Ancestry

just disappears

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Joseph has a military headstone

US Navy

says he served WW2

check fold3 ?

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http://images.findagrave.com/photos/2011/74/67004287_130030733622.jpg

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My Brown Family is Extremely big in Barnwell. By 3rd grandfather James Brown, sr. Having 9 kids

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Henry and James are in a different set of Brown family. They are brothers and are from Barnwell. Now my Uncle Henry Is Very VERY QUESTIONABLE. cause I don’t think Henry Brown Was the Father of Joseph Brown. But I did heard that my aunt Mattie raised James Brown’s father. It may just maybe a possible chance that the other set of browns could’ve been first cousins to Aleck Brown

Answer 3

good luck on this

you know someone's going to come along and stick EVANS on Joseph's profile

found no EVANS associated with Barnwell Browns except on 2 unsourced Ancestry trees

Answer 4

So I've crawled as far back along the Behling line, off to the Loadholt line and finally to an Able line. Got an ancestor with good sources back to the 1830's, and am filling in from there. I figure best case scenario is that I'll add 100-200 profiles and come up with a connection. Worst case is I'll add 100-200 profiles and come up with no connections. Either way, lots of tree work will be done on him and when that day comes and we can connect him, all those profiles get connected as well. And maybe they'll pay off for some other family who joins or wants to find their connection.

Comments

OK - still not done with the initial Able line I got started on, but about 60-ish profiles into it and at least that line's looking decent now. I can see several branches peeking out from the edges of this line, so it opens the door to many possibilities. The head of that line is here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Able-356

If anyone wants to help, you can pick a branch and fill it out, or dig deeper into his wives (if you can find something, please be my guest - most of them are still living - send me a request and I'll open them up as much as I can).

Answer 5

I might have a stroke of luck. One of the families I'm looking into was listed as a mulatto and from the photos they were very light skinned blacks. BUT, also listed was their white ancestor, so I'm digging into this a bit deeper, but there's an outside chance that this might branch into a connection.

And THERE IT IS. I need a bit more work to get to it, but the connection (at least this one) will run through this guy.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Inabinet-27

I still want to clean up his tree, expand it a bit, make sure all the links are accurate, but from what I can tell this should work.

Comments

OK - I'm still not sure I have enough proof of the relationship yet, but I've got the connection established and I need to do some more digging to make sure I've got enough proof out there. I might just have to accept it, as records like that were often intentionally not created, although if Henry was a decent man, he probably left something in his will for his son Anthony. It would be an acknowledgement of his son if I can find something along these lines.