Liza Wilson, daughter in law of Charles Wilson, sent us a thank you card for a donation we made to the Clark County Genealogical Society on behalf of her mother in law Marjorie who passed away last month. Charles Wilson is the grandson of Charles Brown and grew up right here in the Brown House.
The Charles Brown House website has won another award! This time it is the Genealogy Award for preserving family history, presented by Connie’s Family History Pages. The award and Connie’s comments about the site are below.
Hello Vince,
Thank you so much for writing and drawing my attention to your website. Yes,
I agree, you may be the first law firm to not only revitalize a local
historical building, but also to research and share your findings of the
family and history of the building. Well done!
I’m happy to send this well deserved award from Connie’s Family History
Pages!
Thanks for sharing your research with the world.
P.S. Your restoration looks beautiful!
Connie Spindel
Connie’s Family History Pages
We recently donated photographs and other historical information regarding the Brown family to the Clark County Historical Museum. The information we donated was placed in their research library for the community to use. Here is the thank you note they sent the firm.
Was the date the law firm of Bates and Burnett finalized the sale of the Brown House to James Gregg, who still practices and shares space with us in the house today. Bates and Burnett were innovative in that they were not only the first decentralized law office in the City of Vancouver, but also the first decentralized office used by any professionals in Vancouver as well. Below is the deed showing the transfer of property from Bates and Burnett to James Gregg. Click to enlarge.
Letter written to Charles Brown regarding his father Samuel’s life assurance. The letter is dated October 29, 1897. Click on the image to enlarge.
The Charles Brown House website has won the Heritage Award for genealogical websites. The award recognizes and encourages development of websites that contribute to the depth and breadth of trustworthy genealogical information available on the web.
Throughout my research, pictures of Frances and Rebecca Brown have been quite elusive. Nonetheless, it is very exciting to find one of them together. Frances is on the left. The realtives who gave me this photo don’t know where or when this was taken, but knowing the dates of birth for each of the women, and estimating their ages in the photo, I would say it was taken around the turn of the century.
Bell Cook is the wife of Alonzo Cook who is believed to be the original builder of the Brown House. In 1874 the Cook family left Vancouver for California where Alonzo founded the City of Garden Grove. The family later relocated to Olympia, Washington where Alonzo and Bell lived for the duration of their lives. Bell’s obituary below appeared in The Daily Olympian (Evening Edition) Saturday February 15, 1930.
Alonzo Cook is believed to be the original builder and owner of the Charles Brown House, possibly dating back to 1866. Born in Maine in 1839, Alonzo would go on to attend Ohio State University as well as Union Law School which is now Northwestern University. Alonzo married Belle Webster and eventually the couple would live in several different states, one of them being Washington. After leaving Washington in 1874, Alonzo made his mark by starting the City of Garden Grove, California. Below is his obituary which appeared in the Sunday Olympian, November 13, 1932.
Thank You for your interest in the Charles Brown House. We are always
interested in learning more
about the history of our beautiful historical
house. If you have any questions, comments, concerns,
or interest, we would
love to hear from you.
© 2004 - 2010 Stahancyk, Kent & Hook P.C.
