Notes for: Rufus Brown

Rufus Brown left no will. The only record found of his death is his headstone, the weathered inscription on which is reported by Findagrave.com as "In memory of RUFUS BROWN, who died July 6th 1832, aged 66 years." But there appears to be an error in the transcription of the badly worn marker. Given his documented Aug 1771 birth date, it is almost certain that either his age was other than 66, or that his death date was other than 1832, probably the latter. If his age was in fact 66, his death date was probably 1838, or possibly 1839. Support for this conclusion, as well as a record of his children's names, is found in Grantor Record Book 65, p. 413, Cooperstown NY, dated Feb 29 1840, in which the children of Rufus Brown signed a Conveyance-Indenture transferring ownership of his property to them. This was presumably done as part of the settlement of Rufus' estate. Thus, it is likely that Rufus had died sometime within the previous year or so, and that his wife had predeceased him. His death was probably in Otsego County, his last known residence.