Who Was Mary Mooney? DNA UPDATE

When I view this image I see many common facial features, the downward slant of the eyelids, the downward curve of the mouth in repose, and that strong line from the nose to the corner of the mouth which is more visible on one side than the other.   This is an ancestor but a woman of some mystery.  Mary Mooney is believed to be her name. The following has been shared and shared through the Brown researchers for many years as they sought to piece together that large family.     Yet, substantive proof of her identity is still lacking.

Once in America, Isaac joined a group of men who fought against the Indians. During a battle, he was shot and left to die. But a tribe of Indians, thought to be Cherokee, since he was in the Tennessee area, found him and brought him back to good health. While with the Indians, he fell in love with the Chief's daughter. Only name that is known for her is Mary. Some family believe her name to have been Mary Mooney. But during whose times, the white population did not believe in the marriage of white people to Indians, so no record was ever made of their marriage.

Census records prove the family lived in Davison County, Tennessee until 1849. The couples first ten children were born in Tennessee. Issac was a well educated, since he named his children from the Bible and history names. Then in 1849, Issac H. Brown went to Missouri with his wife, Mary, their nine children and one grandson. Isaac's first son, Ptolema had stayed in Tennessee at that time with his family, but in early 1859 Ptolema with his family settled in Missouri with his father. 
Their eleventh child, Marcius Brown was born in Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri. Reason are unknown why the family moved to Missouri, probably to find land like most did during those times.

Isaac and two of his sons, Lycurgus and Ptolema, bought 800 acres of land in Township 33, Range 9 and 10. It was in this area, that the Blooming Rose Post Office was first established. On July 25, 1856, Isaac H. Brown became the first post master for Blooming Rose, Missouri. Blooming Rose was in Texas County on the farm that he owned at the time. There was also a school in that area. 

In the fall of 1859, the Brown family sold the land of Licking. Ptolema went to Arkansas, Lycurgus went to Illinois, and Isaac and his other sons bought land in the north part of Texas County, Missouri. They owned land in both Texas and Phelps County.  The Civil War broke up the Brown family. The story has been told by neighbors that the Bushwhackers were so bad that Isaac buried his money in fruit jars in the apple orchard and left the country. Her later returned and the neighbors could see a lantern light in the orchard at night. They thought he was trying to find his money.  Source: Kerry S.

Those who believe her name to have been Mooney indicate she was born in 1810, TN and died in 1881 in Texas Co., Missouri.  Just who her father was and her back  ground are strangely absent.  With as many children as she had this is very striking that she did not share her family history with some of her descendants.  There are many 'if's associated with this line.  The original tale of her husband as a runaway apprentice who changed his name brings almost all that is known into question.  The chronology of the story could be slightly off and the Isaac of the tale the son of that other man, the runaway. Of the woman, Mary (whatever her name was)  so little is known. Her appearance does not suggest obvious Native American connections, however even at that early date there was evidence of intermarrying between European newcomers and  settled indigenous peoples.

Some have also suggested she was from a Melungeon line of the VA,TN, KY region bearing that name.  The lack of family information make this difficult to prove or disprove.  Until DNA tests are done, it will remain a mystery.  One theory of the Melungeon culture (at least part of the small but also diverse culture group) is that they are descendants of Portuguese sailors known to have been lost in the 1500's off the Virginia coast line.   Incidents off and on during the next 200 years provide some clues of their presence and intermarrying in the hills of VA, NC, KY, TN, etc.  They would tend to keep away from others because of the dominant racism of the time for the next 250 years. As a culture they are often identified less by dark looks than by a lack of family history, records, and a common but unprovable story of an "Indian" ancestor. DNA NOTE: A male child of a female descendant of this Brown family was tested for DNA and the Haplogroup identified for the female descendant was U5a1a1.  This would seem to preclude any Native American connections - as this is a European based group.  More DNA studies, however, using BROWN male descendants must be done to either completely prove or disprove this theory. 

Today, as many professionals are questioning even the use of the concept of race and as DNA is proving we were a lot more intermingled than we had often preferred to claim, the issue is being seriously addressed. DNA work is apparently supporting the genetic origin for self-identified Melungeons as matching a Native, North African/Mediterranean, and Portuguese/Romy background for many,

Her children were:

2. i. PTOLEMA PHILADEPHUS2 BROWN, b. August 30, 1829, Warren County, Tennessee; d. November 02, 1903, Soldier's Home in St. James, Phelps County, Missouri.

3. ii. JUAN FERNANDEZ BROWN, b. 1831, Davidson County, Tennessee; d. March 07, 1854, Texas County, Missouri.

4. iii. ARCHIMEDES BROWN, b. March 22, 1834, Warran County, Tennessee; d. March 14, 1863, the Civil War in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

5. iv. SELTICANA BROWN, b. 1834, Tennessee.

v. LYCURGUS BROWN4, b. 1835, Warran County, Tennessee; d. May 22, 1887, Macoupin County, Illinois; m. MARTHA P. ARMOUR5, Abt. 1860, Missouri; b. 1840, Illinois.

Marriage Notes for LYCURGUS BROWN and MARTHA ARMOUR:

No children can be found from this marriage.

vi. METROBAR JAMES BROWN, b. 1840, Warren County, Tennesse; m. MARY BROWN; b. 1843, Tennessee.

6. vii. MARY A. BROWN, b. December 04, 1843; d. April 17, 1887, Texas County, Missouri.

viii. ELSINORA ODENSIA BROWN, b. February 21, 1845, Tennessee; d. March 1910, Piaza, Illinois; m. (1) KAYLOR; m. (2) THOMAS MCCOY, 1876, Illinois.

Notes for ELSINORA ODENSIA BROWN:  Elsinora brother, Marcellus Brown, is her twin.

More About ELSINORA ODENSIA BROWN:  Burial: March 1910, Medora Cemetery, Medora, Illinois

Marriage Notes for ELSINORA BROWN and THOMAS MCCOY:  After their marriage, Elsinora and Thomas traveled to Macoupin County, Illinois

7. ix. MARCELLUS BROWN, b. February 21, 1845, Tennessee; d. 1933, Macoupin County, Illinois.

x. FASCILINA BROWN, b. April 05, 1847, Warren County, Tennesse; d. April 03, 1885, at home in Vernon County, Missouri; m. REUBEN HIRAM MAIN, March 05, 1866, St. Louis, Missouri; b. Aft. 1840.

Notes for FASCILINA BROWN: Family decedents say that Fascilina Brown was killed when her team and wagon ran away. She was also thought to be pregnant at the time of her death.

8. xi. MARCIUS SABINUS BROWN, b. November 05, 1849, Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri; d. August 17, 1912, Calera, Bryan county, Oklahoma.

9. xii. LEONIDAS H. BROWN, b. 1853, Texas County, Missouri

The above was sent to me.   This research has been shared - in the way of much family history - over and over for nearly twenty years. The first of this information I remember seeing in the early 1990's from Missouri Brown researchers.  In the way of good research, it should be cited but in the way of good research it also needs to be investigatible and able to be duplicated.   Since so many people come together with their pieces of the puzzle the tradition is to share freely.

UPDATE NOTE:  A male child of a female descendant of this Brown family was tested for DNA and the Haplogroup identified for the female descendant was U5a1a1.