William Wilson, the pioneer ancestor of this family, emigrated from Stewardstown, County of Tyrone, Ireland, in 1732, when 19 years of age. The Town of Stewardstown is in the parish of Donagheny in the province of Ulster and eighty-two miles northwest of Dublin, long noted for its very superior linen cloth.
Jacob Polhemus, deceased, was one of the pioneers of Colton, who located in that thriving city when the only buildings in the place were a saloon and eating-house, and the Pioneer Lumber Yard office. This was in 1875. He was a carpenter and builder by occupation, and was employed in the erection of the pioneer buildings of Colton. He built the first store opened in the town for Hathaway & Davenport, and many other well-known old-time buildings. In 1877 Mr. Polhemus purchased lots on the corner of Eighth and I streets and built his residence and shop upon them. This … Read more
In 1895, Cyrus Henry Brown began collecting family records of the Brown family, initially with the intention of only going back to his great-grandfathers. As others became interested in the project, they decided to trace the family lineage back to Thomas Brown and his wife Mary Newhall, both born in the early 1600s in Lynn, Massachusetts. Thomas, John, and Eleazer, three of their sons, later moved to Stonington, Connecticut around 1688. When North Stonington was established in 1807, the three brothers were living in the southern part of the town. Wheeler’s “History of Stonington” contains 400 records of early descendants of the Brown family, taken from the town records of Stonington. However, many others remain unidentified, as they are not recorded in the Stonington town records. For around a century, the descendants of the three brothers lived in Stonington before eventually migrating to other towns in Connecticut and New York State, which was then mostly undeveloped. He would eventually write this second volume of his Brown Genealogy adding to and correcting the previous edition. This book is free to search, read, and/or download.