In 1884, a year after marrying David Henry Brown, Rebecca, David, and their baby son Herbert moved to Genoa, Nebraska. In the 1890s her husband became one of a group to organize a cooperative colony and traveled south seeking a location to settle. In 1896 they and their seven children moved to Georgia as members of the Christian Commonwealth Colony located on an old plantation east of Columbus. After a year, they and other families became disillusioned with the colony. David, having had traveled to Florida prior to settling in Georgia, returned to Florida and bought a tract of land located across from the Apalachicola Bay. In April 1898 David, Rebecca, their eight children ranging from 5 months to 14 years old, and four other families loaded household goods, farm machinery, horses, and poultry onto three barges and floated down the Chattahoochee River. Two weeks later, they reached their destination in Florida. The wood from the barges was used to build houses...the settlement of Eastpoint was founded. On July 16 of that year, a post office was established in the Browns' family home with Rebecca serving as postmistress for almost 40 years. Rebecca was a birthright member of the Society of Friends and always kept her membership in the Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln, Virginia.
Note: Click on her photo to read about Rebecca and David's wedding.
In 1884, a year after marrying David Henry Brown, Rebecca, David, and their baby son Herbert moved to Genoa, Nebraska. In the 1890s her husband became one of a group to organize a cooperative colony and traveled south seeking a location to settle. In 1896 they and their seven children moved to Georgia as members of the Christian Commonwealth Colony located on an old plantation east of Columbus. After a year, they and other families became disillusioned with the colony. David, having had traveled to Florida prior to settling in Georgia, returned to Florida and bought a tract of land located across from the Apalachicola Bay. In April 1898 David, Rebecca, their eight children ranging from 5 months to 14 years old, and four other families loaded household goods, farm machinery, horses, and poultry onto three barges and floated down the Chattahoochee River. Two weeks later, they reached their destination in Florida. The wood from the barges was used to build houses...the settlement of Eastpoint was founded. On July 16 of that year, a post office was established in the Browns' family home with Rebecca serving as postmistress for almost 40 years. Rebecca was a birthright member of the Society of Friends and always kept her membership in the Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln, Virginia.
Note: Click on her photo to read about Rebecca and David's wedding.
Family Members
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Herbert Gardner "Egg" Brown
1883–1984
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David Waldo Brown
1885–1975
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Ralph Birdsall Brown
1886–1967
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Frederica Deborah Brown Tucker
1887–1978
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Ruth Eleanor Brown
1888–1892
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Whittier Benjamin Brown
1892–1974
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Elizabeth Taylor Brown
1893–1984
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Rebecca Eleanor "Reba" Brown
1895–1985
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Thomas Moore Brown
1897–1989
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