Brown and Lane Family Papers: Staying connected through correspondence

The Brown and Lane Family Papers span the years 1853-1992 and include the correspondence of several generations. Correspondence consists of exchanges between family members recalling daily activities, travels, work, relationships and illness.

Henry Denison Brown was one of the most prolific correspondents in the family. When courting his future wife, Jeanie Valliant Brahan, Henry wrote love letters to her daily. Henry married Jeanie in 1881 and they eventually moved to San Antonio where Henry worked as the head teller at Breckenridge Bank.

In 1884, Jeanie and Henry had their first child, a daughter named Elise Denison Brown. As Elise grew up and went to school, Henry continued his passion for writing letters by frequently corresponding with Elise while she was away at school. Elise attended the University of Texas at Austin and was the first member of the Iota Chapter of Chi Omega Sorority. She graduated with an M.A. in Spanish.

Elise put her proficiency in Spanish to good use by working as an interpreter in Mexico City. Several years later, she returned to Texas to focus on entrepreneurial pursuits. She became one of the first women homebuilders in San Antonio. Elise and her husband Barton George Lane, Sr. had four children. The eldest of the four, Elise Lila Lane and Henry Lane, carried on the family tradition of staying close through letters when they lived apart.

When Henry moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1930s, he shared details of this new chapter of his life with his sister. Henry studied accounting and law and was a dedicated student who earned his degree as a Certified Public Accountant.

Despite his grueling academic schedule, Henry found time to keep Elise up-to-date on his life in the city by the bay.

Henry had an apartment on Nob Hill from which he could see the lights of the ferries as they glided from the city to the shores of Marin County. Henry described the city in wonderful detail, proclaiming there was simply nowhere else on earth as beautiful, and anyone residing elsewhere was being “gipped.” Henry’s love for the Bay Area never waned; he anchored his life there after marrying Sally Brown who hailed from one of San Francisco’s founding families.

While correspondence forms the foundation of the Brown and Lane Family Papers, other items in the collection include Elise Brown Lane’s Chi Omega materials, genealogy notebooks, and financial records. Other print materials include two handwritten recipe books that contain favorite recipes and homemade concoctions used to remedy common ailments such as rheumatism.

The collection is housed at UTSA Libraries Special Collections on Main Campus and is available to researchers by request.