Census Sunday~John H Brown, 1850 Lauderdale County, MS

In the early 1800’s sometime around 1802 John H. Brown married Sarah Rivers, the daughter of Frederick Rivers. John and Sarah's firstborn, a son they named Frederick Epps was born 9 months later. Shortly thereafter John, Sarah and Frederick left Chesterfield County, South Carolina migrating southward into Georgia.

There their next three children were born; William Lafayette, ca 1807,  Epps Rivers, ca 1810 and John R., ca 1815. There may have been other children borne to this couple but record have not been found to substantiate this fact. 

It seem about 1815 timeframe John and Sarah decided to moved West and the next three children were born in Alabama; Martha, ca 1818, Henry Epps 22 May 1820 and Stephen, ca 1823 in Monroe County, Alabama.

Then we have Nancy born 1831 in Mississippi and James D. “Jim” born 1838 in Mississippi. 
Very few documents have been found between 1805 and 1839 on this couple thus making the documentation of their adventures very sparse.  In 1840, they are enumerated in the Population Census for Lauderdale County, Mississippi. [1]

The family composition was:
2 Males < 5 years
1 Male 5-9 years
3 Males 15-19 years
1 male 20-29 years
1 Male 60-69 years [John H. Brown]
1 Female 5-9 years
1 Female 40-49 years

That’s 8 males and 2 females.

Then in 1850 Lauderdale Mississippi we have this listing for the Family.[2]



By 1850, only two of the boys are still home and enumerated with their parents.



1850 CENSUS: Lauderdale County, Mississippi; Roll  M432_375; Page: 385B; Image: 326, Line 36, Dwelling 844, Family 857;
John H. BROWN, Farmer, age 63, born in SC;
Sarah BROWN, female, age 66, born SC;
James BROWN, male [Son], age 12, born in MS
Henry BROWN, male [Son], age 29, Atty. at law, born in AL.

By 1850, all the known Children are married and only Henry Epps and James Brown remains in the household. Their son, Frederick is living in Choctaw County, Mississippi; Son, John R. has married Elizabeth Pigford and moved off to Anderson County, Texas and son, Epps Rivers has married Dorinda Adair and they are living in Union County, Arkansas in 1850.[3] [4]

Then on 4 Sep 1855, John H. Brown died in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi.[5]



After John was buried, Sarah moved to Arkansas to live with her son, Epps Rivers Brown where she is enumerated in both 1860 and 1870. [6] [7]

Also, about this time, tragedy has struck their son John R, and daughter-in-law Elizabeth and the two of them have either died or been killed. The six children of John & Elizabeth can be found in their Grandparents Pigford home in Mississippi and with Epps Rivers and their paternal grandmother in the 1860 census for Arkansas.

By this time, Stephen, James D. and Henry Epps have moved from Mississippi to Arkansas joining their brother Epps Rivers.



Sarah Rivers Brown died in Berryville,Union County, Arkansas. Her reported death occurred in July 1871 according to several secondary sources; but, I haven’t been able to confirm this date. If you have any information on the death of Sarah Rivers Brown I would love to hear from you.














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[1] 1840, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, population schedule, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Page: 47; Line 13, None, Household off John H. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:viewed 18 June 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication Roll M704_216.
[2] 1850, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, population schedule, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, enumeration district (ED) No ED, Page: 385B, Line 36, dwelling 844, family 857, Household of John H. Brown; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:viewed July 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication Roll M432_375.
[3] 1850 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, Page 226A, Line 31, Dwelling/Family 21/21, Household of Epps R. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: M432_30.
[4] 1850 U. S. Census, Anderson County, Texas, population schedule, Anderson County, Texas, Page 15B, Line 12,, Dwelling 101, Family 101, Household of John R. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:accessed ); citing National Archives Microfilm M432_908.
[5] Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Probate Court Estates, Filebox 31: No 253, John H. Brown.
[6] 1860 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, Page 316B, Line 17, Family/Dwelling 703/651, Household of Epps R. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: M653_51.
[7] 1870 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Franklin, Union County, Arkansas, Page: 523B; Line 26, Dwelling/Family 107/108, Household of Epps R. Brown; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: M593_65.

Sunday’s Obituary–Uncle “Nap” is Dead, Aged 80

Famous Union County Man, Harassed by the Luck of Oil, Finds His Perfect Peace
Uncle Nap Brown will find his elusive peace today. 

In a quiet little cemetery eloquent with the calm he had sought so unerringly since the 'monotonous' exhaust of gas engines on pumping oil wells drove him from his Arcadia one mile south of the city, to another farm that resembled the green fields of his youth, the body of Napoleon B. Brown, 80, enriched with the flow of crude that smeared itself over the fields his father cleared, will be laid to rest.

In a modest room of the home he built to escape the discordant yelpings of the masses who trooped from their home in El Dorado to their work in the oil fields south of the city, last night lay the body of the pioneer, the "fugitive from wealth," and yet the overtaken.

The little home was built in the EI Dorado East Field several years ago, it was built in the heart of a little glen that spoke of peace-the peace that Uncle Nap loved more dearly than dollars poured into his lap from the cornucopia of King Petroleum. He lay in a room of that little home last night-and outside dozens of gas engines barked discordantly, pulling from the heart of the soil he loved so well the black fluid that drove him from his home, the "home of his father," to newer fields.

Uncle Nap, as he is known to newspaper readers of every state in the Union, loved the soil. He was a part of the soil. When EI Dorado first began to appear, a log cabin or two beside trails beaten by homing cows and errant pigs, Uncle Nap was the farmer-born.

It was in 1840 that Napoleon B. Brown and his brothers and sisters came with their father, F. B. Brown, to the Arcadia. A small tract of land that promised food to the family was hidden under green foliage, swaying trees.

That was the Bryant place, the place where Uncle Nap remained until his father and mother were dead, until he had married and his sons and daughters, Miss Susie, M. E., Albert, Grady, and William had reached an age where they were thrilled by the prospect of oil being discovered on the farm that was not so rich as it once was.

Not so many years ago, two or three, the oil was discovered. Arcadia became a Babylon. Rig builders appeared, stayed a few hours and departed, leaving derricks that pierced the sky Uncle Nap had watched for years across the tassels of growing corn. The drillers came, they sweated for a few days, swore orders at their rough-necks, and departed-leaving oil that flowed into steel tanks. Then there were the barking engines, the "sentinels of the night" that kept him from enjoying the hours of sleep to which he had become accustomed through the active years of close association with the open, with the soil, with life.

The engines spoke of wealth; royalty checks began to appear among the mails he took from his newly rented post-office box in the "footloose" city that for years had been a quiet place where he might go for a few hours on Saturday afternoon and gossip with his neighbors-who thrilled at the touch of the soil. Uncle Nap found himself rich-he never awoke from the shock-wealth brought controversy, distrust. It killed old association-but worst of all it brought noise.

Uncle Nap moved to a quiet spot to build another Arcadia. He accepted the demands urged upon him by his new business, that of looking after his oil interests, buying new automobiles, signing papers that might mean a gift of thousands to charity, or the receipt of many more thousands to his own bank account. It was a quiet little farm east of EI Dorado, the mad oil town.

Last night his body lay in a room of the home he built on that quiet little farm. Outside the gas engines barked on oil wells that constantly added to the fortune from the first well drilled on his "Arcadia."

At 4 o'clock this afternoon he will be buried with Rumph-McWilliams undertakers in charge at Lambert Cemetery, six miles from the city.

The above article appeared on the front page of the EI Dorado Daily News on Tuesday, August 11, 1925, in EI Dorado, Arkansas. 


Napoleon Bonaparte "Nap" Brown was born on 14 Feb 1845 in Lauderdale County, Mississippi.¹  He appeared in the 1850, 1860, 1880, 1900 and 1910 census for Union County, Arkansas. ^{2 3 4 5 6} He was a son of Epps Rivers Brown and Dorinda Adair and grandson of John H. Brown and Sarah Rivers. He served in the military Civil War in 1861–1865 from Union County, Arkansas. He died on 10 Aug 1925 at the age of 80 in Union County, Arkansas.⁷ He was buried on 11 Aug 1925 at Old Shady Grove Cemetery in Union County, Arkansas.^{8 9 10}
 
Napoleon Bonaparte "Nap" Brown and Martha Ann "Missie" Moody were married on 11 Dec 1884 in El Dorado,Union County, Arkansas.¹¹ Martha Ann "Missie" Moody, daughter of Tom Moody and Martha Lambeth, was born on 17 Aug 1866 in Calhoun County, Arkansas.^{12 13 14 15} She died on 1 Aug 1949 at the age of 82 in Union County, Arkansas.¹⁶ She was buried in the Old Shady Grove Cemetery in Union County, Arkansas.^{17 18}
 
Napoleon Bonaparte Brown and Martha Ann Moody had the following children:

i. Epps Matthew Brown, born 8 Oct 1885, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas.
ii. Albert Lee Brown was born on 25 Dec 1886 in Union County, Arkansas.
iii. Jewel Brown was born on 20 Aug 1889 in El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas.
iv. Lula May Brown was born on 1 May 1890 in Union County, Arkansas.
v. Susie Brown was born on 28 Jul 1893 in Union County, Arkansas.
vi. Thomas Grady Brown, born 30 Aug 1897, Union County, Arkansas.
vii. Sam Cougar Brown was born in Dec 1899 in Union County, Arkansas.
viii. Virgil Brown was born on 28 Dec 1900 in Union County, Arkansas.
ix. William "Bill" Brown, born abt 1904, Union County, Arkansas.
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1. Jim Tipton, Find A Grave, digital image, http://www.findagrave.com; Headstone for N B Brown; (14 February 1845–10 August 1925); Memorial # 74040595; Record of the Shady Grove Cemetery; Union County, Arkansas, USA; Accessed on 14 August 2011.
2. 1850 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, Page 226A, Line 31, Dwelling/Family 21/21, Household of Epps R. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: M432_30.
3. 1860 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, Page 316B, Line 17, Family/Dwelling 703/651, Household of Epps R. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: M653_51.
4. 1880 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Franklin, Union County, Arkansas, Page 225A; Line 21, Dwelling 64, Family 68; L.[afayette] BROWN, Household of L.[afayette] BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 24 July 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: T9-0058.
5. 1900 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Franklin, Union County, Arkansas, enumeration district (ED) #124, Page 90B; Line 79, Dwelling 76, Family 76, Household of N. B. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 14 August 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: T623_0078.
6. 1900 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, enumeration district (ED) #0128, Page 41, Line 27, Dwelling 305, Family 316, Household of Napoleon BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 14 August 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: T624_0066.
7. Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com, Accessed on 14 August 2011; Headstone for N B Brown; Memorial # 74040595.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Napoleon Bonaparte "Nap" Brown obituary, El Dorado Daily News, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, 11 August 1925, Front Page. (Copied from microfilm and provided to Charles Purvis by Vickie Rushton Bickle on 18 October 2011.)
11. State of Arkansas, marriage no. Certificate # not available (11 December 1884), Name: N. B. Brown and Spouse: Mattie A. Moody; database on-line; www.Ancestry.com, Union County, Arkansas.
12. Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com, Accessed on 14 August 2011; Headstone for Martha Ann "Missie" Brown; Memorial # 74040708.
13. 1900 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Franklin, Union County, Arkansas, ED #124, Page 90B; Line 79, Dwelling 76, Family 76, Household of N. B. BROWN.
14. 1900 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, ED #0128, Page 41, Line 27, Dwelling 305, Family 316, Household of Napoleon BROWN.
15. 1930 U. S. Census, Union County, Arkansas, population schedule, Franklin, Union County, Arkansas, enumeration district (ED) #70-16, Page: 15B (3401 penciled in); Line 69, Dwelling 343, Family 345, Household of Epps M. BROWN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 14 August 2011); citing NARA publication Roll: T626_0096.
16. Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com, Accessed on 14 August 2011; Headstone for Martha Ann "Missie" Brown; Memorial # 74040708.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.