Where might this be?

[Neale1961]

Did you consider “Bridgelands”, near Selkirk?

[Forfarian]

Yes.

But Jeremy was my cousin on his mother's side, so I'm related to him but only connected, not blood related, to his father William MD.

[Chawi]

Well then Forfarian, you are my husband’s first cousin by marriage 😉

So on to my wild theory - James Brown & Janet Richardson seem to be ghosts, appearing from nowhere, sadly the previous poster who was looking into Janet appears to now be deceased, so we can’t even ask her what she found 🙁

This total lack of a history for James & the sudden appearance of the persisting Henry Raeburn name is eerily coincidental considering the shared connection with Stockbridge, don’t you agree?

Read this https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146663917

Some theories: first, James Brown is in fact a descendant of this James Brown, or second, perhaps the ghost James had a secret second life in Jamaica? Yet another theory is the family in Edinburgh that Isabella got sent to was the Slater Brown descendant? The fact that her portrait was painted by Raeburn perhaps sparked the name being adopted so firmly for so many generations?

Another thought is James Brown the ghost was somehow a recipient of the uplift of Stockbridge that is attributed directly to Raeburn https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/stockbridge/index.html & James then used his name for his son as a token of appreciation?

Lastly, this was suggested by a recently discovered 3rd cousin, “The story I have been told is that one of my great, great, great grandfathers was a Taylor and a Neighbour of the portrait artist Henry Raeburn and because they were friends, this is where the name came from.”

I’m assuming you have easier access to records in Edinburgh, so perhaps one of these theories sparks your interest & you fancy a challenge 🤔

Finally, I found a link to a biography of the portrait artist written by his great grandson that may/may not hold some tantalising clues…

https://electricscotland.com/history/other/Life-of-Sir-Henry-Raeburn.pdf

I would chase this down but I’m neck deep in an MSc, so dare not 😂

[Forfarian]

It's a splendid theory, but I'm not sure I would go with it.

From the information in my earlier thread, you can see that in 1826, James Brown was described as a gamekeeper in the marriage record of Ann Brown to George Wilson, and that in 1841 Ann and her Wilson children were living with Henry Brown, tailor, and Janet Brown.

Henry named his first son James and his second daughter Janet; her death certificate gives her name as Janet Richardson Brown. This is a strong pointer to the names of his parents, though he did deviate from the traditional naming pattern by naming his second son William Slater. (I did have a look at the Post Office directories for 1840-1845 to see if there was a William Slater after whom he might have named his son, but I didn't find a likely one in Edinburgh.)

There's nothing there to suggest that Henry's father James Brown was ever a planter in Jamaica; and James Brown of Gattonside died in 1816, whereas Ann's (and therefore Henry's) father was not described as deceased when she married in 1826.

Another slight spanner in the works is that the painter Sir Henry Raeburn was not the only Henry Raeburn in the first decade of the 19th century. There was another Henry Raeburn who was a merchant in Leith at the same time as Sir Henry was painting portraits in York Place. Maybe it was he after whom Henry Raeburn Brown was named?


 

[Chawi]

Sigh, it was fun cobbling together though…..

Actually, the previous contributor c-side who tracked down Janet Richardson’s family did a pretty good job, they all checked out so far except the sibling Robert. It’s just James Brown’s side that remains stubbornly blank.

[Forfarian]

Yes. Sorry to be a wet blanket.

I reckon Robert must either have died before 1855 or emigrated and I am wondering if Ann Brown or Wilson and her children also emigrated as I haven't found anything on them after the 1841 census.

Would still like to know where the William Slater came from, however. 

[Forfarian]

Speculation.

William Slater Brown was born in Edinburgh in 1844/1845, parents Henry Raeburn Brown and Janet Richardson.

But why was he named William Slater?

In the 1841 census in Edinburgh is a William Slater, aged 70, a tailor, born in Scotland but not in Midlothian. Given that Henry Raeburn Brown was a tailor, could there be some connection?

WS is in the household of William Knight and Margaret Knight, both 25 and born in Midlothian, and several other people including a John Slater, 35, born Midlothian, with wife Janet and some children.

This John Slater died in 1868, married to Janet Gloag, and parents William Slater and Agnes Rutherford. The 1861 census says he was born in Fala, and sure enough, William Slater and Agnes Rutherford's seven children were baptised in Fala and Soutra between 1796 and 1806.

So was Henry Raeburn Brown perhaps apprenticed to William Slater?

[Chawi]

Valid points there Forfarian, are there searchable apprentice lists perhaps? I see mention comes up periodically 🤔 If we could make this connection it would go some way to solving where Slater came from, even William tbh.

I just feel there is a missing link somewhere - how did we go from James Brown gamekeeper to Henry Raeburn tailor? I wonder if a sibling “James” perhaps died early, also, only 2 children Ann & Henry is really unusual for the period.

I wish we were dealing with Cornish records, they are far more comprehensive, sigh…

As for the other mystery, no, not Scotland at all, rather Denmark, South Africa & Rhodesia

Another mystery I’ve stumbled on is the father of Roberts Dods 1650-1675 b Dunbar called Dods of Dunbar who is 3rd GGF to Sir William Slater Brown’s wife Margaret Dodds 1840-1912, is missing parents. Others claim it is Nicolaus Dunbar 1625-1665, but he was born in Elgin, so over 200 miles from Dunbar. That doesn’t make sense unless the Dods of Dunbar refers to Nicolaus Dunbar rather than the place. What do you think?

[Forfarian]

Valid points there Forfarian, are there searchable apprentice lists perhaps? I see mention comes up periodically 🤔 If we could make this connection it would go some way to solving where Slater came from, even William tbh.

I just feel there is a missing link somewhere - how did we go from James Brown gamekeeper to Henry Raeburn tailor? I wonder if a sibling “James” perhaps died early, also, only 2 children Ann & Henry is really unusual for the period.

Yes, though you've left out Robert, the only one actually in the records.

As for the other mystery, no, not Scotland at all, rather Denmark, South Africa & Rhodesia

I don't know anything about researching in Denmark, and records from South Africa and Rhodesia seem quite hard to access.

Another mystery I’ve stumbled on is the father of Roberts Dods 1650-1675 b Dunbar called Dods of Dunbar who is 3rd GGF to Sir William Slater Brown’s wife Margaret Dodds 1840-1912, is missing parents. Others claim it is Nicolaus Dunbar 1625-1665, but he was born in Elgin, so over 200 miles from Dunbar. That doesn’t make sense unless the Dods of Dunbar refers to Nicolaus Dunbar rather than the place. What do you think?

What I think is that I would need to see the full paper trail to prove each step of that line of descent before I would start wondering about a connection between Robert Dods and Nicolas Dunbar.

Robert Dods, father of George and grandfather of Margaret Dods, appears to have died before the 1841 census. The probability is that he was the son of Alexander Dods and Janet Lorain, baptised in Duns 10 April 1772, but as you can see from the rest of the Brown and Dods families, there are many records that have simply not survived, and he could have been an entirely different Robert Dods whose baptism record is one of the missing ones.

But for the moment I'll assume that he is the right Robert Dods. Alexander Dods and Janet Lorain were married in Longformacus in 1766 and there are two recorded children, John in 1769 and Robert in 1772. Was Alexander the one baptised in Duns in 1746, parents Thomas Dods and Margaret Scot, or was he another one missing from the records? 20 was quite young for a man to marry, because most artisans and labourers were not in a position to support a wife and family at the age of 20. Further, if he was the one who married Margaret Scott, you'd expect him to name a son Thomas, and there's no record of a Thomas.

So I am quite sceptical about any supposed descent from someone another 100 years earlier. Did that come from an online tree? Because if it did, don't trust it unless and until you have found evidence to corroborate every step of the way back. The baptism and marriage records on their own are not sufficient to prove every generation.