William & Mary Brown

October 31st marks 100 years since the death of Mary E. (Yingling) Brown.

Mary Yingling was born in Maryland on March 28th, most likely in 1851. Her gravestone gives the year 1821, which would put her birth four years even before her father's.  Mary was the younger daughter of Jesse R. Yingling and Annie M. Gettier.  In the 1860 census, her father was working as a tailor.  He's not listed as owning any real estate, but the value of his personal property was $1,200.  Mary, who was nine years old, and her older sister Julia, were both attending school.  Interestingly, the census enumerator had creatively transcribed the family's last name as "Zingley".

Ten years later, Mary was still living with her parents, but her sister Julia had married and moved out of the household.  Her father Jesse now owned $1,000 worth of real estate.

William Brown was born on December 10, 1845 in Maryland, the son of Thomas S. and Belinda Brown.  Unlike Mary, he came from a large family;  in the 1850 census, William was one of nine children in the household.  His father Thomas was working as a farmer in Carroll County, owning real estate valued at $3,500.  Four of William's older siblings were attending school, though at age five, William was still too young.

In the 1860 census, the value of Thomas Brown's real estate had doubled to $7,000.  Two of William's older brothers, Joshua and Josiah, were working on their father's farm.  Curiously, fourteen-year-old William has no occupation given, nor was marked as attending school.

By 1870, William had moved out of his parents' house, and was working at Hitshue's Hotel as a bartender.

William Brown and Mary Yingling were married sometime around 1872.  In the 1880 census, William was now working as a butcher.  Mary, now 25 years old, was keeping house.  Her father Jesse had passed away four years prior, and so her mother Annie was living with the couple.

In the years following, the property that Mary's father had owned in Reisterstown changed hands several times, and there was some sort of legal battle that ensued.  Eventually, on January 29, 1891, the property was resold to Mary and her husband for $900.  The very same day, Mary and William mortgaged the property to the Franklin Permanent Building Association.

A map of Reisterstown from 1898, however, shows that William and Mary had returned to the property, located near the Lutheran Church, and across the street from the present-day location of Franklin Middle School.

In the 1900 census, William was unemployed, and had been out of work for about two years.  The couple had been married now for 28 years, but had no children.

Ten years later, William, now 64 years old, was likely retired, as under occupation, he's listed as living on his "own income".

Mary passed away on October 31, 1914 at the age of 63 from hemiplegia.

In 1918, William sold the couple's house, and went to live with a nephew in Baltimore City.  He passed away on February 10, 1927 from heart disease at the age of 81.

Unfortunately, the Browns' house at 121-123 Main Street no longer exists today. 

Sources:
Ancestry.com (census records & map)

• Year: 1850; Census Place: District 4, Carroll, Maryland; Roll: M432_289; Page: 190B.
• Year: 1860; Census Place: Woolerys, Carroll, Maryland; Roll: M653_471; Page: 774.
• Year: 1860; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M653_468; Page: 45.
• Year: 1870; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M593_569; Page: 279A.
• Year: 1870; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M593_569; Page: 277B.
• Year: 1880; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 495; Page: 568D.
• Year: 1900; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 606; Page: 5B.
• Year: 1910; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: T624_550; Page: 10B.
• Year: 1920; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: T625_654; Page: 14A.

Baltimore Sun

• "Died." Date: 1 November 1914; Page: 6.
• "William G. Brown." Date: 13 February 1927; Page: 4.

Maryland Archives (death & land records, Historic Sites Inventory Survey)

Cemetery photos © AgateGS