John William Brown b 1850, Westminster, London.
Update 11 Feb 2023 His life after 1889 was a mystery, until Tessa Readman discovered that John Brown had a parallel existence as Philip Gordon a fairly well known late 19th century comedian and Shakespearean actor/Stage manager . Details to follow John William Brown was a mystery to members of his family in America. He was known to have been born in England, but after the death of his wife Elizabeth in 1889 in Philadelphia USA, he apparently disappeared from the lives of his family including his children. I (John Winchurch) only knew of his existence from family history research done by my father Vic Winchurch. There was no record of John in Britain after the UK census of 1871 when he was 21 and living with his mother in Birmingham (UK) Vic's mother, my grandmother, was born Marion Brown and was John's niece, but I do not recall her ever mentioning him, even though she and her sisters Nora and Millie had a good deal of knowledge about their family history. The pieces of the j