March 30, 2004:

Dear Mr. Lewis:
 
I'm writing to you to seek your assistance in locating a distant relative 
of mine, John Brown.  He is my great-great-great grandfather.  Born on the 
Isle of Tiree (or Tyree as he spells it) in the Inner Hebrides in 1798.  
The next I hear of him, he is in Williamstown 1816, receiving a set of bagpipes 
from a James Brown (he doesn't say what if any relation he is to him), who states 
that he (James) received the pipes from a Macdonald.  These pipes were supposedly 
placed at Culloden.  Having said all that, I know he married a Marjory MacDonell
(or MacDonald).  I know the names of all their children, who they married, etc.  
I even have a picture of him.  Apparently he was a piper of some fame and piped 
at the laying of the cornerstone of the first Parliament Buildings in 1860 when 
the Prince of Wales visited.  Believe it or not, we even found the bagpipes!!!  
They were donated by distant relatives of mine to the College of Piping in 
Summerside PEI where they are on display.
 
Now comes the hard part...I cannot find him!  I have newspaper articles 
(Ottawa Journal) where family members in 1911 say that he died in Ottawa in 1889
(making him 91.)  I have checked all the traditional sources, but he is nowhere 
to be found.  The only conclusion that I can come to is that he died on the 
Quebec side in Hull.  I have yet to figure out how genealogy research works over there.
 
Do you have any suggestions?  Places I should look?  I have never been able to find 
info re. his marriage.  Perhaps you can make some suggestions?
 
Thanks,
 
George Brown
 February 3, 2005:

Hello Al,
Yes, we'd be very happy to have anything added that might be of assistance to 
fellow researchers. ... Garth Dixon

Hello George - my name is Garth Dixon, and I just happened to come across your 
inquiry. We're obviously distant cousins and share the same gr gr gr grandfather, 
John Brown. I am descended from Christina Brown, his daughter, who married Richard 
Nolan. 
We have also been researching the family, but in all honesty we have spent more 
time on the Nolans than on the Browns. We do have an interesting photocopy of a 
newspaper article from Ottawa 1952 about the McDonald / Brown bagpipes. At that 
time, my great uncle H.C. Nolan (grandson of James Brown) had possession of the 
bagpipes. We also have another article from 1911 in which the pipes and how they 
came into his possession are discussed in a letter written by James Brown. 
It also mentions that Supple Sandy McDonald was Christina's Brown's maternal 
grandfather and shook the hand of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Edinburgh. You appear 
to have these articles as well, so unfortunately I'm not sure that we can 
contribute much to your search right now. However, if we come across anything 
as we continue researching, we'll be happy to provide it to you. We would be 
delighted to have copies of any photographs you may have, if you wouldn't mind 
scanning and emailing them to us.
thanks and regards,
Garth Dixon

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