About
Us
It
seldom fails that when people discover a common interest, they
can’t resist the temptation to share whatever they know
about it. Most of us have heard family stories from our parents,
grandparents, and other elders in our family, but rarely do we
have the opportunity
to confirm those old stories, or find far distant cousins who
share
our history. Instead, we treasure the bits and pieces we have,
while the blank spaces must be left to our imagination.
After Captain
Robert Brown
lay buried in an unmarked grave for over a hundred years, a few
of his descendants felt
the need for a proper headstone to commemorate his life. News spread
through word of mouth and through cyberspace until, in
the summer of 2005, this monument was formally unveiled at a family
reunion that started in Renton, Washington, where our good captain
lies buried,
and continued
at
the home of a great-grandson in Olympia.
When the party
was over and it was, sadly, time to go home, there were
stories still to be shared, connections we couldn’t bear to
lose, and one big-mouthed web designer who stepped up and suggested
we do something more. The result (so far) is this web site –
intended as a repository for information pertaining to the life
of Captain Robert Brown and his family.
So, to the
memory of our ancestors and to those who will follow after us,
this web site is respectfully dedicated. If you have a connection
to, or interest in our good captain or his
family,
you are welcome
here.
Dear
Ancestor,
Your tombstone stands among the rest, neglected and alone,
The name, the date, are chiseled out in weather-beaten stone.
It reaches out for all to see, it is too late to mourn,
You did not know I would exist, you died and I was born.
Yet each of us are part of you, in flesh, in blood, in bone,
And in my breast there beats a pulse entirely not my own.
Dear
ancestor, the space you left those many years ago
Is filled today by all of us who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you laughed and loved, I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this place and come to visit you.
—
Unknown
Descendants of