The Formidable Descendants of James W. & Sarah Brown

This information is from Blackfeet Heritage, 1907-1908, a book of geneology records found in a shoebox, evidently used as the index for the issuing of rations and possibly land allotments.

JAMES W. BROWN, white. His father was also James and mother was Elizabeth. He had a sister named Sarah in Ohio and a brother named George in Paris, IL)
married
SARAH, full Piegan, whose father was Melting Marrow and mother was Bird Sailing This Way. [Melting Marrow, if it is the same as “Melting Tallow” or “Grease Melters” is the name of the band, rather than an individual. It is a distinguished family but the name comes from their practice of putting pot of fat on the fire to melt as soon as they had made camp.] Melting Tallow’s father was Little Spotted Calf. Bird Sailing This Way’s parents were Many White Swan (father) and Under Otter (mother).

Their children were JOSEPH, WILLIAM (35), JESSIE (27 and married), Leo (11), and Geneva, who married Bob Stewart. Three children died in infancy.

The family lives on the South Fork of Milk River just above Hagerty’s.

SON JOSEPH W. BROWN (30 years old in 1907-8)
married by the priest at Holy Family Mission on Oct. 13, 1897, to
FRANCES ARNOUX, (1/4th Piegan, 31 at census)

Her father was James Arnoux, whose parents were Edmund Armoux and Emma Crane Arnoux. Her mother was Susan Arnoux, whose father was Augustus Armelle. Her sibs were Monroe, Marion, George, and Mary who married Sam Dunbar.

The children of Joseph and Frances were:
Wesley William Brown, born Sept. 13, 1898.
Joseph Aloysius Brown, born April 8, 1900.
Theodore Nelson Brown, born September 24, 1901.
Lawrence Ignatius Brown, born July 13, 1903.
Alma Adelia Brown, born May 14, 1907.

They lived on Greasewood Creek.

SON WILLAM (36, half Piegan)
married by the priest at Holy Family Mission on October 19, 1898, to
VICTORIA LUKIN

Her father was HECTOR LUKIN, and her mother was MARY (full Piegan). Mary Lukin had a half-brother, Young Man Chief. Victoria’s sibs were John, Peter, and Dora.
The children of William and Victoria were:
Sarah Adele Brown (8)
Norman Hector Brown (6)
Joseph Sydney Brown (4)
Angeline Agnes Brown (2)

This family lived on the North Fork of Milk River, three miles above the agency.

SON JESSIE BROWN (25, half Piegan)
married July 15, 1903, by the priest at Holy Family Mission
CATHERINE GOBERT (24, half Piegan)
Their children were:
Hazel Brown, born July 21, 1906
Bernadine Brown, born June 11, 1907

This family lived on Milk River above Hagerty.

Catherine’s father was ROCK GOBERT (white) and her mother was Maggie or MARGUERITE KENNERLY (full Piegan, 57). Maggie’s father was Mountain Chief and her mother was a full-blood. Her full brother was Night Gun and her half-brother was Black Weasel. Her first husband was Rock Gobert, a white man whom she married in 1868. He died November 1, 1886.

Marguerite’s children with Gobert were:
Mollie Gobert Davis, married to William Davis (32) with four children
Edward Gobert (28) widower with two children.
Catherine Gobert Brown (two children)
Agnes Gobert Devereaux (Round Face) wife of Charley Devereaux with two children.
Annie Gobert (20) unmarried

Marguerite’s second husband was HENRY KENNERLY (whiteman) whom she married in 1896 by a priest.
Their children were:
James Kennerly (10)
Leo Kennerly (8)

Rock Gobert had two children by a former wife:
Johnny Gobert
Angeline Gobert (Percival)

MARY LUKIN (62, Full Blood)

Mary’s father was LAME BULL, signer of the Treaty called by his name. Lame Bull’s father was Amidst the Crowd and his mother was Bobcat.
Mary’s mother was AIMING TOGETHER.

Lame Bull’s sibs were Pretending to Strike (sister), deceased, leaving Double Runner; a son deceased leaving two children; Eddie Double Runner and one other. Half Dog, a brother, deceased leaving a daughter, Sua-t-aka, wife of Red Fox; Beaver Hair, a sister, died leaving a son, Chief.

AIMING TOGETHER’s sibs were Sta-sa-apee, a sister died leaving a son, Fast Runner and Wolf Runner, both dead. One daughter, a child of Fast Runner, is maarried and living near Heart Butte. Little Woman, a sister is dead leaving a son, Old Iron, and a daughter, Under Children, now deceased leaving a son, Sitting in a Crowd. No Chief, a brother, died leaving children, now all dead. Cut Finger, a son, has two children. Ernest Cut Finger and Maggie, wife of Ear Rings. Last Snake, a sister, died and had children now dead.

Mary Lukin’s first husband was GEORGE STEELE, the Indian Agent. they were married by “Indian custom.” He died in 1916. Steele was one of the first county commissioners of Choteau County, Montana, established in 1865. He was later a member of the State Legislature and a business partner of Joe Kipp.

By this marriage, Mary and George had two children:
Dora Steele, married to GEORGE WELLS, a white man. They had one child, a girl, who went to England with her father. Adelaide Steele, married William Thomas, a white man. She died leaving three children:
Marie Thomas (15)
George Thomas (13)
Rachel Thomas (11)
The girls were sent to relatives in Dubuque, Iowa, and the son remained with his father in Highwood, Montana.



This book of families can be bought from the Blackfeet Heritage Center in Browning. They have a website. This material is not necessarily accurate. Picture someone sitting at a table writing down information as people file past and then picture someone else many decades later trying to type it out from old smudgy penciled file cards.

The names of many of these people are familiar, recent history and the present. When I taught high school in Browning in the early 1960’s, among my students were Mary Jo Brown and Mary Lynn Lukin. They were exceptionally intelligent, organized and graceful young women who went on to college and other successes. For many years Mary Lynn Lukin ran the Advance By Choice program at Montana State University in Bozeman where she was “auntie” to many students. Today’s Rock Gobert is a popular musician. He’s a vivid personality and I wish you could hear him cut loose with his guitar and band on the back of a flatbed truck at the North American Indian Days parade in July!

Major Steele’s name remains only on a mountain near Heart Butte, “Major Steele’s Back.” (It’s swaybacked.)