About me

ST. CATHERINE'S HOUSE, LONDON
A few years ago - a building familiar to all genealogists.
1983 (L to R) Clarice Shuttleworth and Delyse Brown - at the start of the family search.

CLARICE AUDREY SHUTTLEWORTH (1922-1992)
My mother, a tireless worker in the effort to gather the family history together. There was no limit to her enthusiasm for the collection of early family records. She deserves special credit for researching the SHUTTLEWORTH family tree in S. Africa. Married to DONALD TOLLNER BROWN, she had already spent a busy life as a farmer's wife.

We made a good team - I researched, she compiled all discoveries into (hand written) Family Trees. Many were the hours we both spent poring over old records! She is sorely missed.

DELYSE ANN BROWN (b. 1945) Origins have always interested me. I was motivated to locate SETTLER roots then trace their UK origins. I wanted to link the recent people (born during the last 100 years) to earlier people - some of whom could not read and write, and therefore had no written accounts of their family histories to leave us.

I soon realised I would have to find the original sources (and since the improvement of technology) make copies thereof. I traced every line in our family - some records go back into the early 1600's. Now, it is time (as those who came before us did) to pass on the information. I continue to research, see below.

RESEARCH PRESENTLY BEING UNDERTAKEN by Delyse Brown

1820 Settlers
Samuel Taylor James and Esther Trollip
James Weeks and Maria Ann Shepperson (previous wife of Portius Smith)
[and offspring - James James and Sarah Weeks]

1857-1867 Immigration to the Cape
David Brown and Christina McKay (and her parents George McKay and Christina McKay)

BYRNE Settlers
Alexander Gifford and Mary Gordon
[and offspring - Mary Agnes Gifford]
Henry Shuttleworth and Eleanor Butler

BRITISH ARMY
Captain William Michael Tollner

1880's Settlers
Thomas Tattersall Fryer and Charlotte Rodway (mother of the Fryers, Ann Webster, and grandmother Jean Brander.)

I am concentrating on the ANCESTORS of the above SETTLERS.
And copying any Source Documents that verify the information in regard to the Settler parents, grandparents, even great-grandparents (and further back), if possible. Contact me if you're interested.


Acknowledgements to the following valued contributors...
ALLEN DONALD McKAY (1908-1985)
What a Clan Historian ! 'Bunny' (as he was called) did a wonderful job of compiling histories of the individual Scottish families and their connections. He was the source of a great deal of information, including photographs. His enthusiasm and passion for Scotland and family history was boundless. Read his written account, 'The McKays in South Africa'.
ELIZABETH BROWN (1875-1965)
A lady who imparted a tremendous sense of family. As the family extended over the years 'Auntie Lizzie' as she was known, kept the family members in touch. Her photograph albums proved an invaluable aid in linking together the BROWN and McKAY family histories in Scotland and S. Africa. Her husband, HENRY DORNING, wrote a wonderful account of their lives (including names and properties of others) - 'The Days That Count'.
JANE GEORGINA McKAY (1880-1969)
Daughter of Donald McKay (my father's family) and Jane McGregor (my mother's family), what a goldmine of information she was ! Georgie kept us in touch with our Scottish roots and got us started in our family history quest. Married to COLIN SHAW. She left us a written account of life in the early pioneering days in the Cape - 'The Story of the MacKays'.
RONALD FREDERICK BROWN (b. 1943)
Ron is our Webmaster ! This Website, which he has designed, is the result of his dedication to mastering all things to do with computers and the Internet. Without his encouragement, the many boxes of information containing our family history would be gathering dust in some cupboard ! Having started his working life as a commercial pilot and flight instructor, he will now guide us through the airwaves on the Internet.