Footballing Scottish Browns in Argentina

[Adam Brown]

My brother sent me this snippet of an article which he found in the Guardian. It mentions a famous family of Argentinian footballers who were of Scottish descent. No clues as to where they come from in Scotland and there must have been dozens if not hundreds of James and Mary Browns in early nineteenth century Scotland but if anyone has come across an Argentine connection to their family it may be of interest.

...However, the greatest British footballing family in South America was the Browns. James and Mary Brown emigrated to Argentina from Scotland in 1825. Six of their grandchildren later played for Argentina. Jorge Gibson Brown (1880-1936), known as El Patriarcho, played in Argentina's first game and in all won 23 caps, scoring four goals. Two of Jorge's brothers also played for Argentina. Carlos Carr Brown (1882-1926) won two caps in 1903 and 1905, and Ernesto Alejandro Brown (1885-1935) won 12 caps scoring once between 1902 and 1912.
The brothers had three cousins who also played for Argentina. Alfredo Carrow Brown (1886-1958) won nine caps (four goals) and Eliseo Brown (b 1888) won 10 caps (six goals) both between 1906 and 1911. The most capped player of the cousins was Juan Domingo Brown with 36 caps and two goals between 1906 and 1916.

Incidentally, another direct descendant of James and Mary Brown scored in the 1986 World Cup Final – José Luis Brown scored the first goal in Argentina's 3-2 win over West Germany.

[Currie]

Hello Adam,

Just some odds and ends.

According to this site http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport/A ... 4697484.jp

"On 11 August 1825, James Brown was one of 220 Scots on board the Symmetry, one of several ships that left Leith and Greenock for Buenos Aires that year. Their passage had been paid by two Roxburghshire-born landowners, John and William Parish Robertson, who, with the consent of the Argentinian government, set out to establish an 'experimental agricultural colony' at Monte Grande, outside Buenos Aires."

On the passenger list linked to this page there’s a James Brown, age 25, wife Mary (Hope), and one child. http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/genealogy/sym.html

According to The Newcastle Courant etc, Saturday, May 28, 1825, “The Symmetry, Smith, sailed on Sunday from Leith Roads for Buenos Ayres, with 160 emigrants.”

A useful site for anyone researching Brown’s in Argentina is this FamilySearch site which has census images for Argentina on Record Search. http://labs.familysearch.org/

All the best,
Alan