Edward Brown and Jean Mitchell, his wife, resided in Kerranbeg, where their first three children, David, Janet and Edward, were born between 1770 and 1774. An Edward Brown, probably of the previous generation, is known to have been at Kerranbeg in 1756. By 1776 Edward and Jean had moved to Machrimore, where eight more children were born in the intervening years to 1793. The name of the property was probably South Machrimore. A branch of the family remained at Kerranbeg. In 1792, Robert Brown, 61 years, Elizabeth Ralston, 50 years, his wife, a daughter, Nancy, 16 years, and Hugh Reid with wife, Betty Brown, 21 years, resided there. Betty is presumed to be Robert's daughter.

A number of families of Browns resided at Machrimore. Thomas Brown and Helen Dunlop (My 4th Great Grandparents), his wife, who were recorded through their baptisms of six children, from 1772, is one family whose relationship with the Edward and Robert Brown is imprecise. However, the presence of the names Edward, Robert, Charles and Thomas among their children supports the view that there is a close link between these men. Seven children were baptised, between 1801 and 1817, to the only son of the family of Charles Brown of Machrimore and Elizabeth Ralston (My 3rd Great Grandparents), formerly of Brecklate. Two daughters migrated to the United States of America.

Helen Brown

Helen or Ellen Brown, who married John Greenlees of Machribeg in 1833, migrated to the USA in 1836. She died in Illinois, USA, in 1865.

Janet Brown

Janet married Peter, sometimes known as Patrick, Ralston (My 2nd Great Grandfather)in 1820. Peter's brother, William Ralston of Brecklate, married Elisabeth Andrew of Glenmucklach in 1823. Elisabeth and William, with sons and some daughters, were among the Kintyre passengers who sailed from Campbeltown and completed a 24-day voyage in the Gleaner to New York, USA, on 28 June 1842. The following year, Peter and Janet Ralston arrived in Willow Creek, Illinois, USA, but later moved to Ohio, where the ninth child, William, was born. Janet Ralston died in 1845.

When Janet and Peter Ralston emigrated, they left a daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Fleming, at Campbeltown. Elizabeth and her husband wrote from Campbeltown, on 30 July, 1850, that 'a great many able young men left Kintyre this summer'. They sent 'respects to all our Brothers and sisters and to all ants (sic) & uncles and all inquiring friends'. The implication is that they not only knew a good number of Kintyre people in the USA, but also that there were extended families and generations of their relatives in the USA. The Fleming's also mentioned relatives and friends, including the 'Granlees (sic) family', who were expected in the USA, and 'John Ralston and Duggale Kerrale', destined for Canada. (The last name is the colloquial form of Dugald McKerral.) One group who had emigrated 'for America this summer will be across the Atlantik (sic) by this time'.

The Southend Old Parochial Register [OPR] details the marriages of nine of the children of Edward and Jean Brown of Machrimore, to form connections with the McGeachy, Breckenridge, Maxwell twice, Smith, Ralston, Whitelaw, Cordnar (usually 'Cordiner'), Clark and Andrew families, and the subsequent baptism of some 40 grandchildren. It is the absence of many of these children in the district which suggests that this branch of the family began to disperse possibly as early as 1795, with a sudden increment after 1836. The detail of the departures of some of these people has been revealed in a variety of records.

Janet Brown

Edward's sister, Janet Brown of Machrimore, who married Hugh Breckenridge in March, 1790, emigrated to Northern Illinois, USA, in 1836. It is understood that this family hosted a number of the subsequent arrivals from Kintyre to allow them time to settle.

Janet Brown's youngest surviving brother, James Brown, had 16 children. His first wife, Isabella Clark, who died in 1823, had given birth to Catherine, Edward and Mathew. His second wife was Margaret Andrew from Glenmuckluch, sister of Elisabeth Andrew, wife of William Ralston. Margaret Andrew, who died in 1845, was the mother of Isabella, David, Jean, Janet, Margaret, James, Hugh, Elizabeth and Mathew; the elder Mathew is presumed to have died prior to 1843. The third wife, Janet nee Brown, native of Douglas in Lanarkshire, gave birth to John, who died in infancy, Agnes and Archibald. Unfortunately, the OPR does not record each of these children.

The 1841 Census showed James and Margaret Brown with nine children residing on Machrimore farm. This property was farmed by him until about 1847. At that time, James left the farm in the management of David, his son. David and the younger siblings remained on their father's former tenancy. In the 1851 Census, David Brown and five siblings were living on the 100 acre property, where two servants were employed. In the same Census, the father, James Brown, and his third wife, Janet, and one child were at Moneroy Village (which is now Southend). James and Janet Brown operated a grocery and clothing merchant business in this village. In the 1861 Census, Elizabeth Brown, a daughter aged 23 years, operated a grocer's shop at Brown's Land, Southend.

James Brown died, aged 68 years, at Muneroy, on 9 January 1859. The inventory detailed a loan of 114 Is 10d to Mathew Brown & Co, merchant, L588 17s 4d as the balance of an account with the Clydesdale Banking Company, Campbeltown, stock in the same company and the Campbeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company. Trustees included Mathew Andrew at Campbeltown and Reverend James Lambie, Minister of the United Presbyterian Church, Southend.

Mathew Brown, son, and later a merchant of Southend, married Anne Dickie. Two of their children, James, who died in infancy on 21 September, 1864, and Thomas Paterson Brown, who died aged 22 months on 9 January, 1877, were buried in Keil Cemetery, Southend, where their paternal great?grandfather and grandfather had been buried. Matthew and Annie Brown and four surviving children ? Margaret, James, Jessie and Annie Jain ? were at '8th house', Front Row, Southend, in the 1881 Census.

David, James and Hugh Brown

These brothers were mentioned in the 1851 Census. In 1854, James, aged 19 years, and Hugh, aged 18 years, went 'direct to Illinois USA and settled in Guildford'. They were accompanied by Miss Agnes Hamilton, who subsequently married David Brown. One author had understood that David was a half?brother to James and Hugh Brown, but close inspection of the Southend OPR, (Old Parish Record), reveals that these three men were the sons of Margaret Andrew and James Brown.

Poor farming conditions and 'hard times' in Kintyre and the redevelopment of agricultural lands for sheep pastures made other countries attractive. It was not until the Australian gold rushes from 1851 that the Brown family shifted its interest for a brief time from the USA.

The discovery of gold in the Australian colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, during 1851, led to the sudden increases in the shipping volume on the Australian run. The need for the fastest trip led to innovative navigational techniques. Cheaper, reliable chronometers had enabled seafarers to travel on longitudinal bearings. Acknowledgement that charts exaggerated distance in the higher latitudes placed the shortest route to Australia close to the 66° S latitude in Antarctic waters. The Australian route offered greater scope for the application of Great Circle coursing to save one thousand miles. A voyage could be reduced to some 63 days. Severe Antarctic conditions led to a 'composite' ? middle ? sailing route using lower latitude. All courses, which set many ships on a northerly path into the southern ports of Australia, where a number of ships foundered, emphasised the hazards faced by mariners and passengers near the end of their long, lonely journey over the wild seas. Liverpool, the base for the British emigration traffic, was dominated by the White Star and Black Ball lines, which brought large American clipper vessels for the long Australian run. Not only were fares higher, but additional clothing and food supplies were required on this route. The daunting voyage for the Australian colonies begins to reveal the determination of those passengers not to travel to America and their aspiration to seek the Antipodes.

Knowing that the southern Kintyre people had established considerable family connections in the Americas by this time, it is remarkable that the Brown family would make such a dramatic change in migratory pattern and disperse the families in a second continent. The simple answer is gold. Finding gold was in itself a gain, but other people gained from the prosperity derived from the gold mining industry and the economic wealth generated within the economy.

Jean Brown

Jane Brown married Andrew Paterson at Southend, on 20 April, 1847. Although no record of their passage to Victoria, Australia, has been discovered, this ill-fated couple traveled to the goldfields and lived in the Maryborough district for at least nine years. Jean and Andrew Paterson's fifth child, Jane, had been born on 12 September, 1856, at Adelaide Lead, a mining area south-west of Maryborough. One feature of the Victorian Civil Registration system is that the birth certificate records all previous children of the father. In this instance, it offers the only known detail of the four older children - Archibald, Margaret, James, and Ann, - who had predeceased this birth. None of these children is referenced in the civil registration for births and deaths in Victoria, which commenced on 1 July, 1853, or in the Early Church Records system in that colony, nor do they appear in the Scottish Church Records CD-ROM. The absence from the latter might only show that the couple did not present the children for baptism in a Kirk whose records were included in the compilation. The registration of Jane's birth in 1856 is the earliest Victorian source for this family.

The names of these children might infer the paternal ancestry. It is possible that Andrew Paterson is the person christened in the Parish of Saddell and Skipness in February 1823.

Adelaide Lead was a typical Maryborough gold field. A surface of yellow clay gave way to layers of gravel until the bottom of slate was revealed. Wash dirt averaged six to 36 inches in thickness, with a yield of one to four ounces per load.

Another daughter, Janet, was born at Back Creek, Talbot, cast of Adelaide Lead, on 6 February, 1859. The young Jane Paterson died of diphtheria on 4 August 1859. Janet Paterson died of the effects of dentition on 26 August 1859. Both deaths occurred at Back Creek, Talbot.

Although gold mining in alluvial fields encouraged individual workings, the need for more complex technical enterprises generated forms of association and incorporation to harness the funds and labour of groups of men. Many corporations were floated. To encourage investment, shares were allocated and serial calls were instituted to collect the committed investment. A number of corporations did not reach their full capital. Andrew Paterson of Rocky Flat, Talbot, was a shareholder in The Perseverance Tunnel Gold Mining Company when it was registered at Amherst, another mining settlement, on 16 August, 1865. The original papers for the registration survive, but the absence of a gazettal suggests that the company did not survive for any length of time. The name of the company suggests that the design was to dig closer to the horizontal. This design was suited to mining in the banks of a river or side of a hill to extract wash dirt or quartz reefs.

Various companies had been floated in Rocky Flat from 1862. Two companies failed. They either failed to bottom on gold or found insufficient gold to satisfy shareholders. Some 60 men were employed on the works of the third company - mining, puddling, pumping and winding. Perhaps the dipping drive of the first company in 1862 foreshadowed some of the theory behind the formation of The Perseverance Company. While fossicking - rummaging for any gold-bearing soil - could rely on luck and some physical effort, more organised and expensive mining depended on the rudimentary application of geological knowledge to select the best site for the mine and foster a successful float of the venture.

The last reference to Jean Paterson occurred on 4 November, 1865, when she attended the birth of her grand nephew, Herbert Williams, at Rocky Flat, Talbot. This child was the first son of Mrs. Margaret Williams, granddaughter of the James Brown of Machrimore.