Thanks! I'll take you up on that with some simple searches.
Personally, I wonder about a crime. Gad was 19 when they emigrated; I suppose he could have been fleeing the law. Somehow more likely, to me, is that his father might have needed to flee the country. IDK. From what I know of the family and the legacy of Gad, it seems more likely they would change their name out of shame than to dodge the law. They were a strict, church-going, hard-working bunch. Very moral and high minded. Gad was a patriarch. He parceled his land out in his will in very fair ways, and my grandmother (who was an in-law) expressed surprise that the family didn't fight over the will. Heaven knows her own family would have. Her mother-in-law was shocked. "No one would dream of questioning Daddy's word," she said. Somehow seeing him as a fugitive from the law doesn't work for me. But avoiding something shameful might work.
Anyway, I've tried, but if you can find a family in the 1851 or 1841 census named either James or Evans (there are way too many Evans's) that looks like this: Father William, mother Eliza or Elizabeth, son Gad born 1833, daughter Mary born 1826, son John and possibly son Stephen, it would be a huge answer to the question of which surname they were using. The Browns believe they came from Carmarthenshire, but that's tentative. Nothing in Britain after 1852, since it's fairly clear that's when they emigrated. Thanks for looking!
no subject
Personally, I wonder about a crime. Gad was 19 when they emigrated; I suppose he could have been fleeing the law. Somehow more likely, to me, is that his father might have needed to flee the country. IDK. From what I know of the family and the legacy of Gad, it seems more likely they would change their name out of shame than to dodge the law. They were a strict, church-going, hard-working bunch. Very moral and high minded. Gad was a patriarch. He parceled his land out in his will in very fair ways, and my grandmother (who was an in-law) expressed surprise that the family didn't fight over the will. Heaven knows her own family would have. Her mother-in-law was shocked. "No one would dream of questioning Daddy's word," she said. Somehow seeing him as a fugitive from the law doesn't work for me. But avoiding something shameful might work.
Anyway, I've tried, but if you can find a family in the 1851 or 1841 census named either James or Evans (there are way too many Evans's) that looks like this: Father William, mother Eliza or Elizabeth, son Gad born 1833, daughter Mary born 1826, son John and possibly son Stephen, it would be a huge answer to the question of which surname they were using. The Browns believe they came from Carmarthenshire, but that's tentative. Nothing in Britain after 1852, since it's fairly clear that's when they emigrated. Thanks for looking!