Chipping away at a brick wall
I have been focusing some of my time lately on my paternal grandmother's maternal family. Mainly the Bell and Brown families of Haverstraw and Garnerville, NY. Mary, or in some documents, Barbara Brown was born about 1833 or 1834. She married William Brown. They had nine children over the course of 16 years, at least seven surviving to adulthood. I know so little about Mary/ Barbara. Her first name seems to interchange in each record I find. Her maiden name, while I have several clues, it remains a mystery for now. I was able to find a small death notice for William, who died in 1883, but until recently I had no death information for Mary. According to the 1870 Census, William and two of his oldest sons work at the Calico Factory, a major part of the economy of the Garnerville area in the 1800's in a building that still stands today. Two doors down from the Browns, live the Bells. In 1888, Henry Bell marries a daughter of William an...
