When Sylvester Brown was born on 14 March 1880, in Metcalfe Township, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada, his father, James Brown, was 28 and his mother, Nancy Montgomery, was 23. He married Bertha Rosilla Fonger about 1903, in Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters. He died in 1958, in Middlesex, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 78, and was buried in Strathroy-Caradoc Township, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada.
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In 1883, there was a mining boom in Northern Ontario when mineral deposits were found near Sudbury. Thomas Flanagan was the blacksmith for the Canadian Pacific Railway that noticed the deposits in the river.
In 1886, Ontario passed its first Workmen's Compensation Act. This was in response to the number of railway workers that were being injured.
Ontario Hydro was established in 1906. It is the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario.
English, Scottish, and Irish: generally a nickname referring to the color of the hair or complexion, Middle English br(o)un, from Old English brūn or Old French brun. This word is occasionally found in Old French, Middle English and Old Norse as a personal name or byname (Middle English personal name Brun, Broun, ancient Germanic Bruno, Old English Brūn, or possibly Old Norse Brúnn or Brúni). Brun- was also an ancient Germanic name-forming element. Some instances of Old English Brūn as a personal name may therefore be short forms of compound names such as Brūngar, Brūnwine, etc. As a Scottish and Irish name, it sometimes represents a translation of Gaelic Donn (see below). Brown (including in the senses below) is the fourth most frequent surname in the US. It is also very common among African Americans and Native Americans (see also 5 below).
Irish and Scottish: adopted for Ó Duinn (see Dunn ) or for any of the many Irish and Scottish Gaelic names containing the element donn ‘brown-haired’ (also meaning ‘chieftain’), for example Donahue .
Irish: phonetic Anglicization of Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh; see Breheny .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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