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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 5225--------------------------------------------------
Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 18, 2025, 6:18 pm
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Nina's been working on the possibility that one of the two
individuals in this 1870 US Census is Carrie Brown.
First of all.....Charles, Carrie, and their oldest daughter
leave for New York sometime after
the 1860 census was taken. The 1860 census has them living in
Salem, Mass. The second
daughter, Anna, would be born in 1861
Why did they leave Salem ? Charles' duties during the first
year of the Civil War?
He is 32 when the War begins.
Is he stationed there in New York, and was the move related to
military service?
Who in New York would assist Carrie if he were sent abroad?
Was Charles with his family from 1861 to 1863? Is Carrie alone
with the two children
and does she receive some assistance in raising the two kids
while in New York?
Did either have family there?
What we know for certain is that they moved to New York with
two children, and after the son's death.
Anna was born around 1861 and after the 1860 census.
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So, for approximately two years, 1861-1863....the family, now
four people, live in New York City. Anna
was alive as all references to Charles "taking the children" in
1891 newspaper accounts, mention the 'children',
not 'the child'.
In 1866, Charles is listed as living in Salem at 7 Becket
Street. This is Peter & Hannah Lassen's home.
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Several articles from 1891 mention Charles taking the girls and
returning to Salem in 1863. The reasons vary from
Carrie's inability to manage her alcohol and/or being 'cruel' to
the children.
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In the 1870 US Census, Peter & Hannah Lassen are found at 7
Becket Street. However, the children are not listed as living
with them at the address provided.
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Did Charles simply leave Carrie alone to her own devices or did
he provide for her in order that she
stay put in New York? It is unlikely that Charles left Carrie
destitute in New York City.
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This is the first of two 1870 US Census reports with a woman, 35
years of age, a keeper of house, and from Massachusetts,
named Carrie Brown.
The census does not have a street address. So Nina looked up one
of the other men next to Carrie's name in the census and got
the address of that person from an 1880 census. From there it
was determined that this Carrie Brown lived two doors away from
the other man at either 112 East 25th Street or 120 East 25th
Street in the 18th Ward & 5th District.
This is the entry for the first Carrie Brown in the 1870 census:
LINE 31
The map shows where the building would have been.
The value of the dwelling was $ 5,000. Her personal assets were
valued at $2,000.
The dwelling would be worth $123,000 in 2025. Her assets would
be $49,000 in 2025.
Those are some significant figures for someone who was 'keeping
house' ( housekeeper or domestic) and who wasn't
a widow.
This Census was taken in July 1870
HTML https://i.imgur.com/v2N6u1z.jpg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/aJ0EKPN.png
#Post#: 5226--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: August 18, 2025, 6:30 pm
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Best of luck to Nina, hope she finds her.
In this case, the Carrie Brown is born in Mass. and both her
parents are US-born.
So, not likely to be our Carrie Brown, I should think?
#Post#: 5227--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 18, 2025, 6:40 pm
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This census was taken at a later or different date.
The map shows the location of Carrie Brown ( no.2) in this
census in the Twentieth Ward
HTML https://i.imgur.com/68uNoDR.jpg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/hBkjGKd.jpg
#Post#: 5228--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 18, 2025, 6:51 pm
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In this case, the Carrie Brown is born in Mass. and both her
parents are US-born.
So, not likely to be our Carrie Brown, I should think?
-Pete-
It does give cause for pause since she is listed as being born
in Massachusetts.
Relying on censuses for the accuracy and clarity we might desire
has more often than
not been, like newspaper reports, a grueling task. I'm thinking
of Charles E. Brown
being born in Copenhagen and then in Schleswig, as one example.
What stands out with the first Carrie Brown....to me...as Nina
is non-committal...is that our Carrie Brown was
a ballpark estimate of 35 in 1870, did engage in domestic work,
and was from Mass. Of course, she wasn't born in Mass.
but there's always the chance that she wasn't home when the
enumerator came by, and someone who knew her
gave the vital stats....and goofed on her origins.
#Post#: 5229--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 18, 2025, 6:57 pm
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We know, from Matron Rosana Fitzgerald, that Carrie lived at 318
East 27th Street in 1876
in the 21st Ward....designated by the star.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/fFJjJC0.png
#Post#: 5230--------------------------------------------------
Re: Carrie Brown: 1870 ?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 18, 2025, 7:07 pm
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Carrie returned to Salem.....and almost certainly after Charles
had died...to work with a well-known sea captain in Salem.
This arrangement went down the tubes, and she, according to
several reports in 1891, had been back in the Big Apple for
fifteen years.
Carrie had to stay somewhere in the city after the 1863 split
with Charles. Maybe one of these two censuses, warts and all,
was her.
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