Gustavus (or Henry Brown) is said to have joined the Union during the Civil War at about sixteen years of age and served on Union gunboats as a ships cook. After the war he was on an American gunboat that was cruising the South Seas, and when the ship, supposedly the "Albert", made port at Eden, Australia, Gustavus and his friend jumped ship and deserted; changing his name to Henry Brown. His friends name was Pruss, a very early German pioneer of Bega. Henry Brown was about 20 years old when he arrived in Australia and he and Pruss set up a coach building factory in Bega; Pruss teaching Henry blacksmithing, which he went on to perfect. Henry was a noted blacksmith and several of his gates and iron-mongery are still extant in Bega.
Henry Brown married Catherine Moon in Bega in 1871. Henry and Catherine had ten children, all born in Bega; Margaret J. born in 1872, Laurence Frederick born in 1874, Henry L. born in 1875, William L. born in 1877, Charles Edward born in 1880, Robert W. born in 1882, Ethel E. born in 1884, Bertha C. born in 1888, Stanley H. born in 1890 and died in1895 and Kenneth G. A. born in 1892.
Henry Brown died on December 11, 1899, at age 53, of a heart attack; certificate number 12247. He was buried in the old Bega Cemetery, which is now situated under the present day Bega High School. An act of the New South Wales parliament was needed to re-use the old cemetery, after a new cemetery was developed further out of town in 1904. The old cemetery was closed because of its proximity to the centre of town, and several typhoid and other disease outbreaks, which were blamed by local doctors on the ‘run-off' from the cemetery into household water sources; like wells in the people's backyards. In the book of transcription of monuments in the new Bega Cemetery, Henry Brown's gravestone with that of his wife, who died in 1925, and his sons Kenneth who was killed in action in France in 1917 and Stanley, aged 4 who died in 1895, were all found. It is believed that Henry however, is still buried under the school and when his wife died all the other names were simply added to her gravestone.
Gustavus (or Henry Brown) is said to have joined the Union during the Civil War at about sixteen years of age and served on Union gunboats as a ships cook. After the war he was on an American gunboat that was cruising the South Seas, and when the ship, supposedly the "Albert", made port at Eden, Australia, Gustavus and his friend jumped ship and deserted; changing his name to Henry Brown. His friends name was Pruss, a very early German pioneer of Bega. Henry Brown was about 20 years old when he arrived in Australia and he and Pruss set up a coach building factory in Bega; Pruss teaching Henry blacksmithing, which he went on to perfect. Henry was a noted blacksmith and several of his gates and iron-mongery are still extant in Bega.
Henry Brown married Catherine Moon in Bega in 1871. Henry and Catherine had ten children, all born in Bega; Margaret J. born in 1872, Laurence Frederick born in 1874, Henry L. born in 1875, William L. born in 1877, Charles Edward born in 1880, Robert W. born in 1882, Ethel E. born in 1884, Bertha C. born in 1888, Stanley H. born in 1890 and died in1895 and Kenneth G. A. born in 1892.
Henry Brown died on December 11, 1899, at age 53, of a heart attack; certificate number 12247. He was buried in the old Bega Cemetery, which is now situated under the present day Bega High School. An act of the New South Wales parliament was needed to re-use the old cemetery, after a new cemetery was developed further out of town in 1904. The old cemetery was closed because of its proximity to the centre of town, and several typhoid and other disease outbreaks, which were blamed by local doctors on the ‘run-off' from the cemetery into household water sources; like wells in the people's backyards. In the book of transcription of monuments in the new Bega Cemetery, Henry Brown's gravestone with that of his wife, who died in 1925, and his sons Kenneth who was killed in action in France in 1917 and Stanley, aged 4 who died in 1895, were all found. It is believed that Henry however, is still buried under the school and when his wife died all the other names were simply added to her gravestone.
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