Deerfield Community School Website

What We Have Learned About
Joseph T. Brown From Primary Sources

Joseph T. Brown
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Elsie Brown

This is Joseph T. Brown's gravestone in Deerfield's Parade Cemetery.

Joseph Brown's gravestone

According to the 1850 Federal Census, these were
the people living in the same house with Joseph Brown:

Transcript:

Name	Age	Sex	Occupation	Birthplace
Stephen Brown	47	M	Doctor	NH
Merriam F. Brown	46	F		NH
Moses Brown	19	M	Farmer	NH
Joseph T. Brown	16	M	Farmer	NH
Mary A. Brown	13	F		NH
Sarah C. Brown	4	F		NH
Mary Sawyer	35	F		Scotland
Christopher Campbell	26	M		Scotland

Mary Sawyer and Christopher Campbell
were probably servants of some kind.

From the Deerfield Town History, written in 1873:

Source – Elliot C. Cogswell, History of Nottingham, Deerfield, & Northwood, New Hampshire, 1873, pp.335-6.

In 1860, Joseph Brown was still living at home
and working on the family farm.

Source - 1860 Federal Census

Two years later, he got married.

Marriages - From the Deerfield Town Records, 1862

The following persons were joined in marriage Sept. 24, 1862 by [?] W. Condit:

Joseph T. Brown, 29

Place of Birth – Deerfield

Residence – Deerfield

To:

Mary E. Batchelder, 27

Place of Birth – Deerfield

Residence - Deerfield

Mary Batchelder Brown
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Elsie Brown

By 1870, Joseph and Mary had a young daughter.

Source - 1870 Federal Census

Cora Brown
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Elsie Brown

And then a son.

Births- From the Deerfield Town Records, 1870

Name – George W. Brown

D. Of Birth – Aug. 11, 1870

Sex – Male

Color – White

Names of Parents – Joseph T. & Mary E. Batchelder Brown

George Brown
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Elsie Brown

Mary may have died at around the same time her son was born...

Deaths- From the Deerfield Town Records, 1870

Name – Mary E. B. Brown

Sex – Female

Color – White

Occupation – Housekeeper

Place of Birth – Deerfield

Place of Death – Deerfield

Date of Death – Jan. 15, 1878

Cause of Death - Consumption

Names of Parents – Thomas Batchelder, Deerfield

Comfort Hill, Northwood

... or that may have been a misprint by the Town Clerk:

Source - 1880 Federal Census

Transcript:

Name	Color	Sex	Age	Relationship	Occupation
Brown, Joseph T.	W	M	46		Farmer
- Mary E.	W	F	42	Wife	Keeping House
- Cora M.	W	F	13	Daughter	At Home
- George W.	W	M	7	Son
- Thomas S.	W	M	2	Son
Whidden, James H.	W	M	23	Servant	Farm Laborer
- Mabel A.	W	F	19	Servant	House Keeper

(Also notice that by this time, the Browns had two servants living with them.)

There are no census records for 1890 - they were destroyed in a fire - but we do know that Joseph Brown lived in the Deerfield Parade neighborhood in 1892.

This is what Deerfield Parade looked like at around that time:

Though taken long after he lived there,
this is where Joseph Brown lived:

1933 Postcard

Source - postcard, circa 1934

This is what it looks like today.

Joseph Brown died in 1895.

Deaths- From the Deerfield Town Records, 1895

Name – Joseph T. Brown

Place of Death – Deerfield

Date of Death – March 28, 1895

Sex – Male

Color – White

Condition – Widowed

Y/M/D – 61/9/--

Place of Birth – Deerfield

Occupation – Farmer

Cause of Death – Tuberculosis

Name of Father – Stephen Brown

M. Name of Mother – Mary Reynolds

B. Place of Father – Andover, NH

B. Place of Mother – Lee, NH

This is Joseph Brown's will:

Joseph Brown's will.

This is a summary of Joseph Brown's estate

Estate

All his children got what they had been promised in his will.

To find out more about what Deerfield was like when
Joseph Brown lived there, we looked at the
Deerfield Town Report from 1895, the year he died.

Deerfield Town Report - 1895

Joseph Brown was mentioned twice in the Town Report :

Once for having done some work for the Town...

and once concerning tax issues.

Deerfield Town Report - 1895

We also noticed that the Town paid
a bounty to people who killed hawks.

Bounty on hawks - 1895

We also noticed that the teachers in
Deerfield didn't make much money.

Deerfield Town Report - 1895

And by looking at information about babies born in
Deerfield that year, we learned that just as in modern time,
people moved to Deerfield from all over in 1895.

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