Cousins Cabrini and Gloria

By: David Miller

Dec 15, 2023

4 min. read

Cousins cousins and more cousins. The hills are alive with the sound of cousins. Well okay maybe not quite. At any rate back in February of this year ('23) I was minding my business on Ancestry trying to establish as much history as I could and uploading some old photos of our ancestors when I got this message:

My name is Gloria and my first cousin Cabrini has this site on Ancestry.com. We have been trying to uncover some of our history and recently she saw a picture you posted. It was of a man who lived in Jersey. Cabrini would go to his home and visit with the family. We believe that Cornelia Brown and Maggie Brown were sisters. We are going back a couple of generations and over 100 years. We so appreciated the pictures you posted. Can you tell us anything about Maggie and Cornelia and the family? We do not know if you are a direct relation or married into the family. Our parents from this generational line are deceased so we would love any info that you could share.

I responded that I was a great-grandson of Margaret "Maggie" Brown and remembered her from visiting with her and Aunt Anna (great-aunt) when staying at 125 first street in Englewood. Also I had already established some of Maggie's siblings and parents. Sisters Cornelia, Genevieve, Estelle, and Louisa among them.

So some of us in my generation, the ones who are left, may have heard of "Cousin Eddie". I remember Mom (Aunt Therese) speaking of him. I don't have any direct memory of ever meeting him. Maybe I did.

Cabrini and her family woulld visit grandaddy every Labor Day weekend. Cabrini remembers it was at least between 1964 and 1974. See the photos Cabrini shared below.

Then I got this message:

Thank you so much for responding. Gloria and I are related to Cornelia, Maggie sister. She is our Great Grandmother. We are the grandchildren of Cornelia son Edward James. I used to vist your grandfather every Labor day, I remember his homemade eggnog, and all the animals he had. He had a son that was trying to be a veterinarian. We don’t have the full story about Cornelia, we dont know when she died, but she died young. My grandfather was very young when she died. Story is that my grandfather was born outer wedlock and he was handed down through the family. We love to see pictures of Maggie and Cornelia. Thanks for responding to us! We are not part of Smith. Maggie Brown married a Smith. Cornelia Brown, Maggie’s sister had our grandfather while married to another man. Do you have any idea of race? We think Cornelia was mixed race as our grandfather was white. I am attaching a picture of our grandfather. Gloria

Here is some of our story. Robert James had a son named PeterJames. Peter James married Cornelia Brown. Cornelia got pregnant and had a son named Edward James, our grandfather. But we now know that Edward was definitely not Peter’s. So Edward carried the last name but was from another man. The identity of Edward’s father remains unknown to us. When I read the article about the AME church, I saw the name Robert James. It must be the same person.

The story continues that the family rumor is that Cornelia Brown may have been murdered by a jealous wife after giving birth to a son that was not her husband's. Cabrini wrote that ...

"Edward’s father did not want Edward and gave him away after Cornelia’s birth. He was essentially made a slave and had a terrible childhood. Ultimately one of Cornelia’s sisters found him and brought him to New Jersey." So we're trying to connect the dots of how Edward "cousin Eddie" got to Englwood.

Was that Maggie's or Genevive's who adopted Edward, cousin Eddie?

Cousin Eddie clearly had a hard life :

"He grew up sleeping in barns. Also, my Uncle Sonny told me that Edward James was raised by his grandfather Robert James that Taught him how to be horse and buggy man, also mentioned that he was raised by a German Aunt. We find it was Genevie Brown, aka Jennie G Hunt. I have have a copy of school letter Edward James attended. He left school at 15."

So very curious. If you've never heard the story of our great-grandfather James G Smith, Uncle Leon said he used to drive a buggy around Englewood collecting rags. Rags were turned into paper back at the turn of the century (18 - 19th). Is this also a clue/connection? A horse and buggy man?

See the family tree

Browns Family Tree

Cousin Eddie, Aunt Caroline, and Grandaddy James C Smith

Cousin Eddie was grandaddy's cousin related through his mother Maggie Brown.

Cabrini and Aunt Anna on the left.

There's no date but Cabrini was born in '62 so late 60's early 70's. I don't know who the 3 seated woman are. You can see the stonewalls of the brook in the background. Remember how that thing used to flood? Man!

Photo taken of a lawn party in 1969 in the yard of 125 first street in Englewood NJ

You can just make out Aunt Anna on the far left, Cousin Eddie seated at the left side of the table, Aunt Margaret far right. I thought that was Uncle Leon on the lounger but Cabrini said that was her Uncle Sonny.

Aunt Margaret Uncle Carter Mildred James and Aunt Anna

Mildred James is Cabrini's mother. Not sure where that was taken. It's not at grandaddy's house at 125 first street. Aunt Margaret and her husband Uncle Carter on the left. Aunt Anna on the right.

Cabrini and her mother Mildred

I can't be sure to place this one either. It's not grandaddy's porch. Could it be great-grandmother Maggie Brown's? The woman Cabrini has her arm around looks familiar. Help me out anyone? I know there are other photos of her.

Cousin Eddie Don't know the date or location here.