Ewing & Brown Family Trees
IN THE BEGINNING - ROOTS
Based upon what I have gathered so far, "Maria from Madagascar" was captured "very young" and shipped to the U.S. by the Portugese. She must have been enslaved somewhere in the vicinity of Houston, TX when she was granted freedom. Freed slaves typically migrated to the nearest major city. It was in Houston that the next several generations were born. Many descendants still live there.
Juneteenth - On June 19th ("Juneteenth"), 1865, Union General Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston (50 miles from Houston), thus belatedly (the proclamation was actually issued by President Lincoln on 01/01/1863) bringing about the freeing of 250,000 slaves in Texas. The tidings of freedom reached slaves gradually as individual plantation owners read the proclamation to their bondsmen over the months following the end of the war. The news elicited an array of personal celebrations. The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth were used as political rallies and to teach freed African American about their voting rights. Within a short time, however, Juneteenth was marked by festivities throughout the state.
Some of the early emancipation festivities were relegated by city authorities to a town's outskirts; in time, however, black groups collected funds to purchase tracts of land for their celebrations, including Juneteenth. A common name for these sites was Emancipation Park. In Houston, for instance, a deed for a ten-acre site later called Emancipation Park was signed in 1872 (still one of the few public facilities open to Blacks during my childhood).
Click here to review President Obama's recognition of Juneteenth on June 19, 2010.
The family descendant chart copied below has appeared in the 1997, 1995, and 1993, and possibly earlier family reunion booklets. While not perfect it represents the most extensive Brown-Ewing family tree illustration I have seen to date. If a more current and/or accurate version on this chart has been prepared please send it to me ASAP to update this page.
Please provide any updates and/or corrections as needed on the message board. It is my hope that a volunteer will come forward to accept the responsibility for updating the family tree in time for the August reunion. I can post it on this site.
In the interim, I offer the following personal corrections and updates:
Rose Robinson, born Rosie Mae Brown (named after Alice's sister, Rosa Lee), was produced by Otha "O.T." Robinson and Alice Brown. They later changed her last name from Brown to Robinson. The corrected names of Rose's children, from oldest to youngest, are Alan Robinson, Robert "Butch" Robinson (died in Viet Nam in 1968), Anthony "Tony" Robinson (yours truly), and Sandranna "Sandi" Robinson ILER (lost in 2006 to illness). (Robert was named after Alice's brother, Robert "Bobby" Brown, who died the day before Butch was born at the same Kansas City hospital.) Alan sired two daughters and one son with his wife, Maria Solano: Shandra Robinson, Estella Robinson, and Robert Anthony Robinson. Sandi married Clayton ILER and gave birth to Clayton Anthony ILER, Brandon Robertalan ILER, and Josiah ILER. I married Anne Baylis in 1981. She had two daughters, Myla and Ebony, from her first marriage. They were 3 and 6, respectively. Brandi was born in 1989. We also raised Anne's nephew, Jamil Walker, from age 12.
Curiously absent are Rosalee, Walter, and Thomas Jesse ("TJ"), all born before Marguerite. (According to one elder, it is possible that Rosalee, Walter, and TJ were temporarily living in another household at the time of the census.)
A "living", i.e., fully updatable version of the Ewing and Brown Family Trees are planned for the near future. Please stay tuned.