Our Ancestors

Brown family members, there are two people from whom all of us are descended - Nelson Antoine Moquette and Mary Elizabeth Robinson. Most of this information was collected by the late Clarice (Brown) Richardson, was collected from Nelson and Mary's youngest child, Mary Margaret, the grandmother of Clarice and her nine siblings.

Nelson Moquette was born on the French island of Martinique on December 25, 1810. He received his medical degree in Alsace-Loraine, France. Recorded in the family bible were these dates:

Michel Moquette died November 8, 1846, age 74

Rosetta Moquette died April 18, 1849 - consort of Michel.

Clarice thinks that these were Nelson's parents.

Mary Elizabeth Robinson was born January 1, 1820 of parents who had fled the native uprising led by Tousaint L'Ouveture on the island of Haiti between 1791 and 1798.

Landowners, especially the English, were driven from the island.. Although Robinson is an English name, Mary Robinson was very closely related to the Dodets, probably through her mother.

St. Mary's Seminary was the American Mother House of the French Sulpician Fathers. The seminary was a natural meeting place for the French-speaking people of Baltimore. It was here that young Dr. Moquette met Mary Robinson. They were married in the chapel (which is now on the National Registry of Historic Places) on November 9, 1840 by Rev. John Randon.

Six children were born of this marriage:

     Augustine Antoine Benedict, August 28, 1841

     Mary Rose Elizabeth, June 17, 1843

     Mary Josephine Frances, January 3, 1845

     Mary Theresa, March 25, 1847

     Julien Joseph William, March 16, 1849

     Mary Margaret, June 10, 1853

Mary Margaret was born two months prematurely and, as she told her grandchildren many times, was small enough to fit in a quart cup. She lived to be 84 years old.

Mary and Nelson's first child was baptized by Father Hector Joubert, who was the co-founder (1829) of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. With the exception of one child, who was baptized at the Cathedral, all were baptized in the Seminary Chapel. 

The Enoch Pratt Central Library has a Matchett's Baltimore Directory for 1849 - 1850 which lists - Moquette, Dr. Nelso, 175 Mulberry Street (Baltimore).