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THE BROWN FAMILY - DESCENDANTS OF EASTERN CAPE SETTLERS 1857-1867 DAVID BROWN
An Introduction to the BROWNS As there is always more information to find, and always more stories to tell, this Introduction will be expanded from time to time. In September 1861 my great-grandfather, DAVID BROWN, at the age of 21, departed Southampton on 15.7.1861 aboard the overcrowded vessel "Coldstream II". He arrived at Port Elizabeth on 27.9.1861 bound for Fort Beaufort. At that time the Cape Colony had become prosperous with the production of Wool and Wine. Skilled artisans and labour were difficult to find. David Brown was a Ploughman, as his father before him. At this time wages for farm servants were between 15 and 20 Pounds a year plus board and lodging. Reputed to be hardworking and reliable, the Scots were in great demand. HUGH DONALD BROWN
My grandfather, HUGH DONALD BROWN, was the son of DAVID BROWN. As he had been born 4 months after the death of this father, and we had in our possession the "Self-Interpreting Bible" (of John Brown of Haddington, Scotland, fame) - brought from Scotland by David Brown (inscribed David Brown 1861), I always wanted to know more about my great-grandfather. Unfortunately, for me, my grandfather had died in 1940, 5 years before I was born. DAVID BROWN had died on 17 Nov 1885. His parents were George and Elspeth Brown. His Birthplace was Crail, Fife. He had been born there in March 1840. He worked as a Transport Rider after his initial start at the Cape. By the time he died he owned property in King Williams Town and 4 Wagons and 60 oxen.
CHRISTINA (McKay) BROWN and family
He had married CHRISTINA McKAY. Their children were Christina, George, Roberta, Elizabeth, Isabella, David. Their daughter, Euphemia had died as a small child. [Christina was pregnant with Hugh Donald Brown at this time. As a result of the help given her at this difficult time, Christina named my grandfather after 2 of her brothers - Donald and Hugh McKay, who had been transport riders with David Brown.] The OBITUARY of David Brown reads: "Yesterday there was taken to his last resting place Mr David Brown, for many years a resident of British Kaffraria; he having come to this Colony many years ago with Mr George Peebles and other "brither Scots" who are well-known in this community. The deceased was a native of Pershshire, N.B., and was brought up as an agriculturist and after settling in this colony he took to sheep and stock farming in the Komgha district, carrying on too as his opportunities served him the pursuit of a carrier. He married a niece of Mr Donald McKay of this town, by whom he had two sons and four daughters. He was a temperate and industrious man, and those who had transactions with him learnt to know that Davy Brown's word was as good as his bond. He was a great sufferer in pocket by the depredations made on his flocks and herds by native thieves, and on his last Kurveying trip to Kokstad and on the return journey therefrom was again mulcted, as we took occasion to mention in a recent issue of our paper. His intimates, however, say that Davy took these losses and bore the irritation of them in a very philosophical spirit, remarking to those who spoke hotly about them that they should remember that this was South Africa, intending to convey the meaning that it was unlike any other country. Mr Brown left on Monday morning last to join at Kei Road his wagons loaded up for Mount Frere and with the exception of complaining of a slight pain between the shoulders seemed in his usual good health. However on Tuesday morning, Mr George Saunders of Kei Road, an old friend of Davy's, came into town for immediate medical aid, Mr Brown, having been brought to his house during the night by his (Brown's) native servants suffering great agony, and we regret to have to record that those sufferings terminated fatally during the course of Tuesday, the cause being we are given to understand the drinking of some water which proved to be unwholesome and which brought on violent vomiting and purging resulting in prostration and collapse. Thus death overtook, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight years, a man who was greatly esteemed by a large circle of friends, and to them and to the widow and children we tender our sincere sympathy in the sorrow this swift and severe bereavement must entail. The funeral was attended by the Celtic Lodge of Freemasons and by the brethren of the Order of Odd-Fellows." [NOTE: David Brown was from Fifeshire, it was George Peebles who was from Perthshire.] As I did not have the opportunity to know DAVID BROWN, or his son, HUGH DONALD BROWN, I was given the following information by Allen Donald (Bunny) McKay: "My information is a bit scanty, but I have managed to get a little more from John Bannantyne, (your father's cousin) who lives at Nottingham Road. The Browns (David Brown and Christina McKay) were first at King Williams Town, and then at Komgha. The McKay brothers and brother-in-law (David Brown) worked together and were at Kimberley together, where each obtained a big diamond, which was then set in a ring for the respective wives. (Christina McKay's brother) Donald McKay had settled in Mount Frere and there collected his family round him (Hugh McKay was at Buffalo Nek in the Mount Frere District and David Sutherland McKay at Ntaboduli in the Qumbu District). The Browns also decided to move there. Christina and the children moved first and left David to trek up with the stock from Komgha. At the Kei Road there was apparently a long hill, and the old man was feeling tired and thirsty, so he had a drink from a pool of water at the side of the road. In a short while he was in great pain and the native driver went to a nearby farm for help. The farmer and his family were unable to do anything for him and he died before morning. Word was sent to Mount Frere and Donald McKay provided Christina with a cart and horses for her to go back to Kei Road to see to things. By the time she got there David was already buried. She was "expecting" Hugh at the time but she stayed with the trek to Mbonda (just outside Mount Frere) where Donald McKay had arranged with the Baca Chief - Makaula, for her to have grazing for her cattle and sheep. Mbonda was a Presbyterian Mission. Later on William Bannantyne married Christina Brown, daughter of David Brown and Christina McKay, (Tinnie - John Bannantyne's mother). I believe at one time that William Bannantyne was managing Donald McKay's Mount Frere Trading Business. There was some trouble with the delivery of goods to the store and William Bannantyne, set off by wagon to go and see to things. On the way, I think somewhere near the Tina (?) River drift in the Mount Frere District, he jumped off the wagon, stumbled and fell under a wheel and was run over and killed. Back to Christina, grazing her cattle and sheep at Mbonda, where she hoped to make some money selling butter and milk to the Cape Mounted Riflemen, stationed in Mount Frere. Red Water killed a lot of her stock and the family decided to move up to East Griqualand. The Bannantynes were able to help with finance and they took over a farm in the Mount Currie District, which they named BROBAN (BROwn and BANnantyne) which was originally "Deepfontein" and part of "Pramberg". (On the Map "Deepfontein" is No. G.E.Q 10.6 and "Pramberg" G.E.Q 9.72 - they are near the junction of the Cedarville-Franklin road with that between Franklin and Swartberg. The farming at Broban gradually failed and the Bannantyne family moved to Kokstad where Tinnie Bannantyne took over "Old Government House" belonging to Donald McKay to run a boarding house for the children of the related families - Donald McKay's children, some of David McKay's children, and her own. David Brown and Christina McKay's son, George Brown, was bitten by the get rich bug and sought his fortune in the Transvaal Lowveld where Phalaborwa now is. He was prospecting for tin - unsuccessfully - little dreaming what riches were under his feet, as Phalaborwa (Palabora) has now proved. I don't know what happened to David Brown who married Francis le Grange, nor Roberta who married McLaughlin. John Bannantyne tells me that David Brown and Christina McKay's daughter, Elizabeth (Henry Dorning's widow), who lived in Kokstad in later years, had the Family Bible - presumably the *George McKay Family Bible, but when a search was made for it after her death, it could not be found. He said it contained a lot of information about the earlier days of the family." *[Note -- only Family Bible known to the Brown Family was the Self-Interpreting Bible brought from Scotland to S. Africa by David Brown in 1861. It contains a few births: those of David Brown and Christina McKay and their children.] The above Bible is now in my possession. I have the Photograph Albums belonging to *Elizabeth Brown, daughter of David Brown. Among the many photographs in it are photographs of her uncle: George Brown (David's Brown's younger brother who lived in South Africa) known as "Geordy Broon" and his daughter *Elspeth. Elizabeth visited her grandfather, GEORGE BROWN in Scotland in 1902, therefore these photographs are also in her Album. *Elizabeth is featured in the "e-book" section. *Elspeth's photograph is displayed on the Home Page (top left hand corner). I have additional information regarding the BROWN family and their Ancestors in Scotland - which I will write about, in due course. To Be Continued ...
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