Talking To Myself.....or, the Endless Browning Circle

I've been thinking the past few days about my recent post and in doing so something heretofore unseen jumped out at me. I can't help but think that kind of thing is another important reason to blog about genealogically related struggles. Writing it down and seeing it in virtual black and white sometimes helps clear those cobwebs.

I noticed I said that Lemuel Browning had lived in Brooke County, WV, and had married a woman named Caroline Beck.

Beck!

Could it be? Could this Caroline from Brooke County have ANY connection whatsoever to the James Beck I posted about a week or so ago? The James Beck who was asserted to be the father of Washington, whose mother was Samuel's daughter Julia? The James Beck who Samuel took to court to sue for child support? And if so, doesn't this place one more point of circumstantial evidence linking my Browning family to the members of the Browning family I mentioned in my previous post here, whose roots were lodged in Brooke County WV and before that, Frederick County, Maryland?

There is much Browning research in W. M. Hurley's 1998 book, Browning Families (Primarily Of Montgomery County, Maryland.) In it, Hurley places Jeremiah Browning (b. c1744, son of Edward Jr) and his wife Cassandra as the parents of six children: 1) Jeremiah Jr (who married Catherine Mansfield), 2) Lewis b. c1766 (married Margaret Phillips), 3) Joseph, 4) Elizabeth, 5) Cassandra (m. Seth Clarke) and 6) Rachel (m. Richard Foster.)

The Lewis mentioned above had three children: 1) John Fletcher Browning (b.1799), 2) Lemuel Browning (b. 1801, m. Caroline Beck) and 3) Lewis Jr (b. c1807, m. Margaret.)

The deeds I have in Harrison County definitely refer to Lemuel, but Lewis is still a bit of a mystery. It seems there were three Lewis Brownings, all alive at the time, and ALL married women named Margaret!

Two of the Lewis Brownings are the ones mentioned above. The last is connected to another Browning family in Hurley's book that intrigues me: the family of Meshach Browning. Meshach says that his grandfather William (b 1710) lived with his son, John, one of Meshach's uncles. Meshach's parents were Joshua Browning and Nancy Farmer. The book says that the couple had children (Meshach being one of them) but only four are mentioned, with birthdates c1769 (Dorcas), c1773 (Joshua Jr) , c1775 (Jeremiah) and 1781 (Meshach).

This family is interesting because Joshua Jr. married Cassandra Farmer and moved to Licking County, Ohio. He had children, one of whom (Jeremiah) was the father of Van Browning, the man who moved to Crawford County, Illinois! And one of Van's brothers was Lewis Browning, who married Margaret Heff.

I wonder sometimes if Joshua and Nancy had another son.....John. If they did, that John (b. c.1771?) would be the right age to be my Samuel's father. AND it would cement the Licking County connection.

Ever wish you could play Calvin and Hobbes and use the Time Machine that Calvin built out of a cardboard box to go back in time? I know where I'd go.....