Hannah Aslett Brown 1644–1721

Hannah Aslett Browne
1644–1721
Birth 21 DEC 1644 • Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Death 1721 • Ipswich, Essex, Mass

wife of Joseph Browne Sr. (1638-1694)

mother of Benjamin Brown

5th great grandmother of Ada P Swasey Rogers, thus my 7th great grandmother

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Contributed to Ancestry by "Oldsinger":

Settlement of estate of Joseph Brown "Our honored father Joseph Browne, being Dyed these many years since intestate we, all the children of said Joseph Brown, named Joseph, John, Thomas, Samuel, Benjamin, Hannah, Elizabeth, Sarah" etc. Date 1723. 

"Inventory of the estate of Joseph Brown, who died September 30, 1694. House and homestead L100, 18 acres of village and meadow L95, one horse and tackling L4-12, four head of cattle L9, 36 sheep and lambs L12-12, three guns and one sword L4-8, 10,000 of brick L4-10, sheep and wool, flax and bedding L15-10, books, table linen and one pillion, L2-10, pewter brass L4-10, total L275-5: debts due L20-13, debts due in money L52-3. Hannah Browne, administrator made oath to the above as a true and perfect inventory of the estate of her late husband Joseph Browne, deceased, January 2, 1695." (Essex County Record)

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So the children gathered in 1723 to acknowledge the inventory that Mrs. Hannah Browne had made back in Jan, 1685...following the Sept. 30, 1694 death of her husband.

At least that is what is given here, and I do like having names of the children.  It is however, not a primary source.

There are 3 sources of the marriage of Joseph to Hannah Aslett, though one said "Hannah/Anna? (called Abigail in 1684, error) Asselbie/Aslett?; 27 February 1671, Ipswich"

I quickly figured out the error of her death date which was given for the widow of "farmer John Browne" in a couple of trees.  

I won't even begin to count how many children were born to each of my relations in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  There are many listed, and records of marriages but people's names were spelled many ways. As were the parents' names.  It really can give one a headache!

But I did enjoy spending an afternoon learning a lot about one family, these Browns. 

Many of my ancestors lived in Ipswich MA.  Unfortunately the dates and names were written in beautiful and most of the time legible script.  But sometimes the transcriptions weren't that accurate, or legible.  And there were the problems of different cousins with similar names being married into the families of others with similar names.  Brown could easily be one of those names, but it turns out Aslett is more difficult, sometimes being considered Aslebee, and Ayer could have been Eyer, or Ayre, or Ayers. 

Hannah's parents were Rebecca Ayer and John Aslett. Both of them were born in England, but Hannah was a first generation daughter born in America.

There were no colonists in Ipswich until after 1635 or so. (See Wikepedia HERE.) That is why it's doubtful how many people on this ancestry tree are listed as having been born in Ipswich.  A 1600 birth just couldn't have been there, unless it was a Native American. And none of these ancestors who were Native Americans according to the records.  They were immigrants at one time or another.

So the fact that Hannah's father is said to have died in England, but her mother and Hannah herself died in Ipswich, makes me scratch my head.

But Hannah married a man who was also born in Ipswich, Joseph Browne, Sr. whose parents were immigrants from England. Their son Benjamin was to become my ancestor.

There were 8 children of Hannah and Joseph Browne mentioned in the will above.  In my Ancestry trees, Benjamin was listed as either born in 1669 or 1680 or 1681 or 1683.  I find that just because one source says one date, and another has another date, I can't use them all in my tree.  The poor little program can't list him as having been born unless I just choose one, and the others can remain in the background as alternate dates of birth.  So I chose 1681, because it is in the midst of the other children born between 1672 and 1684.  One child has no dates given at all.

Joseph Browne Sr. is listed as a Turner,( in Genealogical and personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Vol III,) which means someone who turns wood or metal on a lathe...in case you didn't know like me.


The children of Joseph and Hannah Aslet Brown were:
Joseph Brown, a cordwainer 1672-1742
John Brown, a yeoman and turner, 1673-1758
Hannah Brown Pinder 1674-1740
Thomas Brown 1678-1767
Elizabeth Brown Holland 1680-1739
Benjamin Brown, yeoman and miller, 1681-1733
Lt. Samuel Brown, house carpenter, 1684-1763
Sarah Brown Rindge, 1692 - ?

These are dates available on Ancestry, but often may be within 5-10 years of actual events.