Thomas Brown

Protrait

Thanks to Thomas’ eldest daughter Jessie McCulloch Brown we have a portrait of him! Jessie donated two framed portraits of her father to the Otago Early Settlers’ Association of Otago.¹ Thanks to the Toitu Otago Settler’s Museum, I have found these portraits and have been granted permission to use these images on this profile (note: Permission of Toitu Otago Settlers Museum must be obtained before any re-use of these images):

Birth & Emigration to New Zealand

Thomas was born in 1835 in Lesmahagow, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, to parents Thomas Brown and Isabella Brown (née Frahm), his father was a Farmer.²

At the age of ~26, Thomas came to New Zealand with Walter Brown (relationship currently unknown) on the ship ‘Lady Egidia’ in January 1861 which travelled from Greenock, Scotland, to Port Chalmers.^{3 4} There is a recorded account of “The Story of the S.S. Lady Egidia, an Immigrant Ship of 1860” written by William Hood Davidson in the Auckland Museum - though William was not listed on the passenger list of Thomas’ voyage so it may be of a different voyage, at any rate, it’s in Auckland so I haven’t been able to get my hands on it to determine either way.⁵

There also exists a transcription of diary entries written by one of Thomas’ fellow passengers if you care to get a feeling of how the journey must have been for everyone on board.⁶ While the weather was fair, 32 of the passengers did not survive the journey (30 of the lost souls being children).⁷

Marriage & Children

Thomas married Isabella MacFarlane (daughter of John McFarlane [1811-1895] and Janet McCulloch McFarlane [1810 - ?]) in 1864 in New Zealand.⁸

Together, they had six children:

• Thomas Brown was born in 1865.⁹ I have to do a bit more hunting to get any further information on this Thomas Brown - it’s not a very unique name, so I often come into trouble trying to determine which Thomas Brown is him!

• Jessie McCulloch Brown was born on the 3rd of November in 1867.¹⁰ Jessie married Charles Speight in 1898,¹¹ and together they had five children: Norman Charles Speight, born 6th July, 1899;¹² Allan Francis Speight, born 16th of September, 1932;¹³ Hugh Speight, born on the 4th of July, 1904;¹⁴ Colin John Speight, born on the 16th of November, 1907;¹⁵ and Winifred Jessie Speight, born on the 2nd of November, 1910.¹⁶ Jessie died on the 7th of May, 1958 at the age of 90.¹⁷

• John MacFarlane Brown was born in 1870.¹⁸ I haven’t found any record of a marriage - though John Brown is a reasonably common name, a death certificate might confirm this one way or another. John passed away on the 22nd of September in 1933 at the age of 62.¹⁹

• Robert Symington Brown was born in 1871.²⁰ In 1898, Robert married Edith Caroline Isabella,²¹ and together they had three children: Reta Isabella Brown, born in 1902;²² Edith Mavis Brown, born in 1907;²³ and Herbert Thomas Brown, born in 1912.²⁴ Thomas died in 1965 at the age of 94.²⁵

• Emma Isabella Brown was born in 1877.²⁶ Tragically, Emma passed away in childhood, at only 14 years and 11 months old, on the 21st of January in 1892.^{27 28 29}

• Florence Jane Brown was born on the 10th of February in 1879.³⁰ Florence never married, and passed away on the 5th of May in 1969 at the age of 92.³¹

Death

Thomas passed away on the 12th of June, 1897 at the age of 66, at his home in Canongate Street, Dunedin, after a 3-week bout of Influenza.^{2 32}

Thomas was then buried on the 14th of June, 1897 in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.² Thomas is buried in Block 138, Plot 9, alongside his wife, Isabella Allen Brown (née McFarlane), his daughters Emma Isabella Brown and Florence Jane Brown, and a John McFarlane - who may be his father-in-law, but this requires confirmation.³³

References