Cracking the Browning Wall: Inference in Names

One of the primary genealogical discoveries during a trip my father and I made to Washington, DC and Maryland in March 2018 came from the patient case file of my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Clarence Nicholson ("Clarence"), who died at Springfield State Hospital in 1925. A card associated with his admission papers listed his father as Mahlon B. Nicholson (and his mother as Cordelia Nicholson). There were no Mahlon Nicholsons in Montgomery County, Maryland, where Clarence was born in 1861, but the middle initial B turned out to be critical to learning more. We knew previously from later records (e.g., the 1870 Census), that the Nicholsons were Clarence's maternal family, so it was clear given the dearth of Mahlon Nicholsons in the region that Nicholson as a paternal surname was a fabrication. In reporting information about his childhood to Springfield, Clarence seemed to be trying to make himself appear legitimate. However, there was a Mahlon Browning (the only Mahlon with a surname beginning in B), born circa 1829, who lived in Montgomery County. (We later learned that this Mahlon's middle name was Francis, meaning that the B, if we had the right Mahlon, had to refer to a surname, not a middle name.) He was married to Sarah Smith in 1858, and they went on to have 11 children between 1859 and 1880. A close DNA match with one of Mahlon's (miraculously still living) grandchildren born in 1923 later proved the connection to the Browning family. Clarence's paternal family were Brownings, not Nicholsons, which means, if you're familiar with the story of Clarence's son Richard, that the O'Hagans were Nicholsons were Brownings, within the span of two generations.

Springfield State Hospital, Sykesville, MD (Mar. 2018)

Mahlon Browning, unfortunately, turns out to be another mystery. The first record of him to my knowledge so far is the Census enumerated in September 1850. Mahlon, at the reported age of 21, was living in the household of Thomas Mills and his wife, Angeline, together with John Mobley. (Mobley named his first son Mahlon in November 1857, suggesting the two were close.) In January 1857, Mahlon purchased 99.25 acres of Happy Choice farm from Thomas Hodges, including land on which Thomas Mills resided -- at a cost of $955, a very large sum of money for the time, suggesting he'd inherited or done well for himself somehow (the latter seems less likely given his age). Mahlon lived as a farmer, earning additional small amounts of money doing labor on construction projects for the county, serving as a juror, and other odds and ends. The last currently known mention of him is in the October 1892 issues of the Montgomery County Sentinel, when he is reported to have earned $1 for having served as a grand jury witness during the year ending June 30, 1892. (The county was obliged to make such reports in repeated issues of a local newspaper.) So, he was alive at least as late as July 1, 1891. Clarence's Springfield papers say Mahlon died at 60, from paralysis. This is more or less consistent with a birth year of circa 1829. Mahlon's daughter Sarah's (Clarence's half-sister's) papers from the same hospital say Mahlon died at 68, from "abdominal trouble." That would put his death around 1897, if Sarah had in mind the same birth year. There is no death record for Mahlon in Montgomery County, but death records were not required in Maryland until 1898. He probably died in the early 1890s: the Sentinel had reported his labor in 1890 and 1891 (and had fairly regularly before that), and there is no subsequent mention of him beginning in 1893.

Various Browning families are attested in Montgomery and neighboring counties going back to before the Revolution (see Hurley's The Browning Families, Heritage, 2006). But it's not at all clear who Mahlon's parents were, or even a sibling; thus it's been effectively impossible to link him with one of the surrounding Browning families that are better documented. (Before 1850, the Census only recorded the name of the head of household, and Mahlon would have been too young to be a head of household.) The fact that Mahlon was a single young man living outside the home of his parents in 1850 suggests that both his parents were deceased (typically children lived with their parents until marriage, or indenture), and that any siblings of his did not depend on him (an older sibling often took over as head of household upon the death of both parents). We have to turn to other kinds of inference to begin to crack what has become the "Browning brick wall" in my family.

Mahlon Browning, 1850 Census (Ancestry.com)

Mahlon named his first son Charles Horatio, in January 1861, the month before his illegitimate son Clarence was born. His fourth son he named Silas Young, and the next child, a daughter, was Alethea Etherlee (now an AI), in 1871. Horatio, Silas, and Alethea are not common names, and suggest inheritance from a relative. The digitization of massive amounts of genealogically relevant records has permitted broad searching across regions for relatives that would have been impossible even 20 years ago. Searching across regions has led me to one Horatio Browning, who was a prominent grocer in Washington, DC. (The Washington Times had the following to report in Horatio's April 19, 1904 obituary: "A number of years ago Mr. Browning and N.W. Burchell had a great discussion as to which of the two was the oldest groceryman in the city. It was decided that they would share the honors and celebrate their long term in that business by having a dinner. On the very night the dinner was to have been given, Mr. Burchell died.")

According to his death certificate, dated April 18, 1904, Horatio was a native of Maryland, aged 71 years, 9 months, resident in Washington, DC for 55 years. This suggests he was born July 1832 (the 1900 Census reports his date of birth as July 1833), and is consistent with November 1871 testimony in which Horatio stated he had lived in Washington for 23 years (most likely 1848). According to obituaries, Horatio came to Washington with his parents, having been born in Barnesville, not only in Montgomery County but within a few miles of where Mahlon purchased Happy Choice in 1857. Horatio named his first son Charles Thomas, and his second son Horatio, Jr. (later Horace). Moreover, the Montgomery County Sentinel's brief mention of his death states that Horatio was the brother of Silas Browning, former sheriff of Montgomery County. So, in short, Mahlon used Horatio as the middle name for his first son, and Silas as the first name for his fourth son, and here we have a demonstrable pair of brothers Silas and Horatio Browning. This would suggest there was a close family connection between Mahlon, Silas, and Horatio. If Mahlon was a brother to Silas and Horatio, Mahlon and Silas's residence in the households of non-relatives in late 1850 would be explained by the fact that Horatio had already gone to Washington with their parents. This is also consistent with demonstrated ages, Silas having been the oldest of the three, then Mahlon, both of them 18 by 1848 and able to live independently.

Horatio Browning, Sr. (The Washington Times, Apr. 19, 1904)

Unfortunately the life of Silas Browning shines little more light on this story. In October 1850 (Census), aged 26, he was living in the Cracklin district of Montgomery County (also known as District 1), an area surrounding modern-day Laytonsville. (Mahlon was in District 3, or Medley's district, centered around Beallsville.) Silas was described as a teacher, living in the household of Wesley and Eliza Duley. Again, as with Mahlon, this suggests deceased parents and no dependent siblings. He was sheriff for a time in the 1850s, then married Serena Gittings in 1858, before moving to Washington, DC, where he was resident by August 1860 (Census). Silas died January 16, 1884 (aged 58 years, 8 months, 4 days), and was buried in the same cemetery (the Congressional Cemetery) that his brother Horatio later would be. Silas only had one child -- a daughter, Ida, in 1859 -- before his wife Serena died. So it's not possible to see possible similarities with family names in other children.

The other most interesting Browning at this time is John Nelson Browning. According to his death certificate, dated September 14, 1889 (aged 69 years, 9 months, 9 days), John was born in Clarksburg, Maryland (which is District 2), and had been resident in Washington for 46 years, suggesting an arrival year of 1843. He was similarly buried in the Congressional Cemetery. The first record of John is his marriage to Alethea Ann Berry in August 1845, in Washington -- another Alethea (Mahlon's daughter's name). Their first known son was William Silas -- again, another Silas (Mahlon's son's name). Like Silas and Horatio, professionals, John was a clerk for the post office and other agencies. This sets the three of them apart from Mahlon, who "remained" a farmer. (But, strikingly, Mahlon was literate, suggesting he had an education superior to other farmers of his generation. Perhaps the $955 Mahlon used to purchase Happy Choice in 1857 came from one of his more well off purported brothers.) However, I would not expect a family that had children in Clarksburg (John) to later have children in Barnesville (Horatio), given families' relative sedentarism. Whether John is a brother of Silas and Horatio (and/or Mahlon) is an outstanding question. But he was also buried in the Congressional Cemetery, like Silas and Horatio.

Mahlon Browning's signature, Sep. 1872 (Maryland State Archives)

There are other originally Maryland-based families who were resident in Washington by the mid-19th century that are intriguing cases to examine in seeking connections between Mahlon Browning and other Browning families. One is that of Meshach Browning (thrown into a "fiery furnace" by Nebuchadnezzar II in the Book of Daniel) and his wife Sarah (née Holmes), who were married in 1805, lived in Montgomery County in 1820, but by 1840 had made their way to Washington (censuses). Their children are not well determined beyond a son, John, and two daughters, Eliza and Martha. But they're not the best candidates for parents of John (the first described), Silas, Mahlon, and/or Horatio, seeing as they were in Washington by 1840, whereas both John and Horatio's life stories suggest later moves to Washington, in the mid- to late 1840s. I would expect the name Meshach to be passed down, and among the descendants of Meshach and Sarah's known children, the names Horatio, Silas, and Alethea do not appear. But Meshach was also buried in the Congressional Cemetery.

There is a set of four apparent siblings Browning resident in Washington in July 1850 (Census): Washington Jackson, Lewis, Jane Ann, and Ellen; they were all born in Maryland. Their birth order is not clear, but their birth years are all relatively close and seem to straddle 1830. This makes them unlikely siblings for Mahlon and/or Horatio, since their birth years (circa 1829 and 1832/1833) are unlikely to fit in with the necessary space between non-twin siblings. Also in Washington in 1850 are a William Browning (aged 18, clerk), living with seeming non-relatives, and a James N. Browning (aged 26, tailor), married, with children; both were born in Maryland. It has not been possible so far to learn more about how they might be connected to the core set of John, Silas, Mahlon, and Horatio.

Even if Mahlon is a brother of Silas and Horatio (known brothers) and/or of John, who were their parents? We might look back to Mahlon and Horatio's oldest sons, both named Charles. But there are no obvious Charleses in the right period of the early 19th century. And there are no Charles Brownings married in Montgomery or neighboring Frederick (an area of frequent movement) counties in this period whatsoever. From here, it will probably be best to search for records related to Mahlon on the one hand, or John, Silas, and/or Horatio, on the other, that would provide direct information regarding their parents' names. This unfortunately won't come from the death certificates of the period, even when they exist, since in Washington they only required the place of birth of parents, not parents' names. But Mahlon was Catholic, and St. Mary's in Barnesville, where most of his children were baptized, may contain relevant information.