Biography of Peter Falkenberg Brown

Peter Falkenberg Brown is an author, columnist, publisher and public speaker whose niche speaking speciality is "The Culture of Heart". He is the co-founder and co-owner (with his beloved bride, Kimmy Sophia) of the World Community Press, located in Portland, Maine. WCP publishes "heartistic education curricula" and other literary works, including the online magazine, "Significato ~ a journal about the meaning of life ... and lots of other stuff".

Peter is also a Perl and MySQL web database programmer.

He is the author of the book, Becoming a Parent of True Love, published by the World Community Press. He is currently working on a new seminar for married couples, entitled Building a Marriage of True Love. He is also the author of the teenager curriculum on marriage preparation, abstinence and character education, called, The True Love Thing to Do. Peter and his wife, Kim, both write columns on family issues which are published on their web site.

Peter has been very active in the non-profit educational and political arenas throughout his career. Beginning in 1979, he has given lectures and seminars on family and social issues, political issues, and world affairs. From 1984 until 1986, he was a City, and then State Director of CAUSA, an organization which produced national and local seminars that educated elected officials about the dangers of Marxism-Leninism and offered a comprehensive counter-proposal.

He served as the VA Executive Director of the American Freedom Coalition from 1987 until 1998, conducting many campaigns on issues as diverse as the support of the troops during Desert Storm and the passing into law of "Parent's Day" as a national holiday.

In 1992, Peter managed a statewide program in Virginia, sponsored by the national American Freedom Coalition, which presented "Diamond Awards" to outstanding citizens and volunteers in recognition of their unique contributions to the community. Working with volunteers from around the state, over 40 events were held, with the cooperation of numerous mayors, city officials and ministers.

Peter was active with the Washington Times Foundation, and its program of National Service awards. He was the Virginia State Sales Rep for the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, a newspaper that has garnered kudos from numerous national-level leaders.

Until 2006, he was the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the American Family Coalition and the Chairman of the American Family Coalition of Virginia. He was a regular speaker at the American Leadership Conferences in Virginia, sponsored by the American Family Coalition and the Washington Times Foundation.

In 1994 he created, produced and edited The Richmond Republican, a tabloid newspaper distributed by the Richmond Republican Committee in Virginia. Peter was a member of the Richmond Republican Executive Committee for a number of years, until he and his family moved to Virginia Beach in 1995. Although short-lived, due to financial restrictions, the newspaper received wide-spread praise for its content and design. Peter also designed and hosted the original web site for the Republican Party of Virginia Beach until his family moved to Indian Neck, Virginia. In 2007, he and his family moved back to his home state of Maine.

While in Richmond, Peter helped launch Citizens for Safe Streets (as its Executive Director), a Richmond-based political action committee dedicated to reducing violent crime in Richmond by 50%. The PAC had a significant impact on the Richmond City Council, which adopted a number of the organization's proposals in 1994.

On the international scale, Peter traveled to Guyana, South America in 1990 and organized and produced an ecumenical ministers conference with the theme "Guyana and the World of True Peace." He wrote and placed a full-page proclamation in Guyana's national newspaper, focused on the same theme, calling for the Guyanese people to adopt a world-level vision of God-centered service as the nation's primary perspective for the 21st century. Guyana at the time was moving away from a debilitating 30 year experiment with Marxism that had reduced the country to the status of the poorest country in the Caribbean, after Haiti.

He and his wife, Kimmy Sophia (a fellow New Englander), were betrothed in 1979 and married in 1982. They are the proud parents of four lovely children: Tymon, Thea Grace, Ranin and Tadin; and one dog and one cat. (The "lovely" children insisted we mention the dog and cat :-).

Family History

Peter was born in Miami, and raised in Portland, Maine. He has a sister, who is a Yoga instructor in Vermont, and a brother, who was a magician, and now works as a New Media Web Designer. They are fabulous individuals, and Peter's favorite brother and sister.

Peter is endlessly fascinated by history, and thus became very interested in his own family tree. Every ancestor has a story, and considering the idea that everyone lives on in the spiritual world, those stories will one day be shared with their descendants.

Peter's childhood was a curious combination of being Poor, but Connected – the kind of Connections that Mr. Collins of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice would find positively scintillating, so marvelous as to cause the pompous cleric to wax eloquent at the dinner table, boring his listeners to death. However, since the word "Poor" was not Mr. Collin's favorite word, Peter feels that his bio might have escaped Mr. Collin's attention after all, which is a great relief. One doesn't at all want to be like poor Mr. Collins.

Peter's father, Carl Falkenberg Brown, may he rest in peace, found it extremely difficult to make ends meet, and frequently had to bring his wife and children back to his mother's family home in the West End of Portland, where Peter's grandmother Helen sipped tea with Peter and regaled him with her favorite story of dancing with Prince Edward the VIII, in her coming-out party, on the Queen Mary cruise liner, while it was moored on the St. Lawrence River outside of Quebec.

Baron Conradt von Falkenberg

His "Granny", of whom he was very fond, was Baroness Helen Dean Falkenberg Brown, of the Falkenbergs of Trystorp, Sweden. The line includes Peter's 7th Great-Grandfather, Baron Conradt von Falkenberg (b. 1591), pictured on the left, as well as Peter's 25th Great-Grandfather, Harold II (Godwinson), the King of England .

Queen Matilda of England, Peter's 1st Cousin, 27 times removed

Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, and died in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, fighting against the forces of William the Conqueror, the husband of Peter's first cousin, 27 times removed, Matilda, the Countess of Flanders and the soon-to-be Queen of England.

Having been raised as an ardent reader of every edition of Robin Hood that he could get his hands on, Peter had gained a distinct bias toward the Anglo-Saxons (ignoring the fact that they were invaders too). Thus, he had to admit that he wasn't particularly fond of William the Conqueror, who supposedly "stank like a tannery".

King Alfred the Great, Peter's 30th Great Grandfather

Peter had no hard feelings at all toward Queen Matilda, even though she was Very Short (four feet and two inches). Matilda initially opposed William, reportedly stating that she was far too high-born (being descended from Peter's 30th Great-Grandfather, Alfred the Great, King of England (b. 849), to consider marrying a bastard. William didn't like that, and according to legend, found Matilda on her way to church and dragged her off her horse by her braids and threw her down in the street. Peter is glad he's not directly descended from William, although he had to admit that William the Conqueror is his 1st Cousin 28 times removed.

However, Peter found it very interesting that King Alfred the Great, who was the first effective King of England, over 1,136 years ago, was the 32nd Great Grandfather of the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II . Peter thinks that means that Her Majesty is his 31st Cousin, twice removed.

King Gustav Vasa I, Peter's 11th Great-Grandfather

As Peter browsed the Falkenberg family tree, he discovered that his 30th Great-Grandfather, Ebalus Manzer, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine (c. 870 – 935) was known as "The Bastard". Duke Ebalus was the illegitimate son of Peter's 31st Great-Grandfather, Ranulf II of Poiters, possibly by a Jewish woman . Manzer may be a corruption of the Hebrew word, "mamzer", meaning "bastard". Peter could only exclaim, "Oy vey! What would Matilda say?" Peter has often wondered if he has Jewish ancestors, and considers Daniel Deronda one of his favorite movies. (It's a movie based on George Elliot's novel about an English gentleman who discovers that he's Jewish.) Of course, one wants one's Jewish ancestors to be gained under "respectable" circumstances, but one must also assume that Duke Ebalus's mother was a Good Woman.

Charlegmagne by Albrecht Dürer, Peter's 34th Great-Grandfather

Peter used to think that he was one quarter Swedish, one quarter Dutch and half English, with a bit of Scottish blood thrown in for good measure. When he examined the Falkenberg lineage, coming through his grandmother, the Baroness Helen Dean Falkenberg, going back to before the year 500 AD, he found that his great-grandparents and great-uncles included over 250 Kings and Queens, from all over Europe, including such notables as Gustav Vasa I , (1517-1560), the first King of Modern Sweden and Peter's 11th Great-Grandfather. King Gustav's son (and Peter's 10th Great-Grandfather) was Johan III (1537-1592), the King of Sweden. Peter's 34th Great-Grandfather is Charlemagne (b. 742), the Emperor of the West.

The Falkenberg lineage is displayed on Baron Tim Falkenberg's web page, which states: "One line goes up to Charles the Great (Karolus Magnus or Charlemagne), coronated as Roman Emperor year 800. Other lines include Saints, Holy Roman Emperors, Byzantine Emperors, Grand Princes, Kings and Dukes. The family tree increases exponentially once it has reached into these Royal Houses since meticulous records have been kept for the nobility in Europe since the early Middle Ages."

Peter recently wrote a fictional story about Charlemagne's grandson, Nithard, who is Peter's 1st cousin 34 times removed. The story is posted on this site and is called The Child in the Forest.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Peter's 1st Cousin, 25 times removed

250+ Kings and Queens: Peter's great-grandparents and great-uncles and aunts include Kings and Queens from the following countries (with the number of Kings or Queens in parentheses): Sweden (38 Kings or Queens), Norway (24), Denmark (18), the Kingdom of the Franks (12), Scotland (12), Kent (11), England (10), the Byzantine Empire (9), Pamplona (7), Leon (6), France (5), Hungary (5), Ireland (5), Kvenland (5), Vestfold (5), Wessex (5), Aragon (4), Asturias (4), Hedmark (4), The Holy Roman Empire (4), Italy (4), Uppsala (4), Austrasia (3), East Anglia (3), Poland (3), Portugal (3), Armenia (2), the Kingdom of Paris (2), the Picts (2), Reidgotalandi (2), Trondelagen (2), Viken (2), West Saxons (2), Alfheim (1), Aquitaine (1), Birkebeiner (1), Bohemia (1), Burgundy (1), Castille and Leon (1), the East Franks (1), The Empire of the West (1), Finland (1), Gardarige (1), Glaesivollum (1), Hadaflyke (Oplandene) (1), Holmgard (1), Hringarikir (1), Jutland and Vestfold (1), Oplandene (1), Orleans (1), Ringerike (1), South Jutland and Wends (1), Spain (1), Vestmar (1), West Armenia (1), the West Franks (1), Russia (1).

Rurik, Grand Duke of Novgorod and the Founder of Russia ~ (Peter's 29th Great-Grandfather) [Rurik and his brothers Truvor and Sineus arriving in Ladoga]

So, is Peter Swedish, Dutch, English, Irish (this will make his wife happy), or just one gigantic soup of European genes?

Peter used to joke with his lovely bride, Kimmy Sophia, (who is 1/2 Irish) that perhaps Kimmy Sophia's ancestors might be mad at him because perhaps one of Peter's ancestors fought with Cromwell's Roundheads and terrorized Ireland (which was a Bad Thing). Lo and behold, Peter's ancestral line from the Falkenbergs also includes a gentleman by the name of Charles Fleetwood (Peter's 7th Great Grand Uncle), who went into the Army and became Cromwell's Commander and Chief of all the Armies of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Fleetwood married Bridget, the daughter of Oliver Cromwell, and was horribly ruthless toward the Irish (shame! shame!).

Kapteyn Coat of Arms

Peter is relieved that he is not a direct descendant of Charles, but is instead the 7th Great Grandson of Charles' brother George Fleetwood, who did not support Cromwell, but instead went to Sweden and became a Lord. Who knew?

Peter's mother is the late artist, Polly Kapteyn Brown . His mother's lineage (the Kapteyns) is also quite colorful. It began in 1538 with Peter's 11th Great Grandfather, Pauwels Cappeteyn, possibly descended from two Huguenot Capitein brothers from the Burgundy region of France.

Geertruida Agneta Muysken, Peter's Great-Grandmother

In an interesting twist of history, Peter's great-grandmother, Geertruida Agneta Muysken (b. 1855, d. 1920), (who married Peter's great-grandfather, Albertus Philippus Kapteyn), was a social activist in London and was good friends with George Bernard Shaw and Prince Pyotr Kropotkin, the "Anarchist Prince". In "De Profundis", Oscar Wilde described Kropotkin thus, "Two of the most perfect lives I have come across in my own experience are the lives of Verlaine and of Prince Kropotkin: both of them men who have passed years in prison: the first, the one Christian poet since Dante; the other, a man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia." Kropotkin was a descendant of Rurik, the founder of Russia, and thus, much to Peter's surprise, he was Peter's distant cousin.

Prince Pyotr Kropotkin, Peter's Distant Cousin

Of course, when Great-Grandmother Geertruida was sipping tea with Prince Kropotkin, she didn't know that her great-grandson would be related to the Prince through the marriage of Peter's grandmother (the Baroness Falkenberg) to Norman Brown, whose son Carl married Polly, Geertruida's granddaughter. Don't you just love genealogy?

Peter was initially quite nonplussed to realize that he was related to leading socialists and communists, since he had spent a great deal of time doing his best to critique Marxism-Leninism as an ideology that denied God. He took some comfort in the fact that Prince Kropotkin rejected the violence perpetrated by Lenin.

Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, Peter's Great-Aunt

Peter's great aunt was Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, the founder of the Eranos Foundation in Switzerland, and a friend of Carl Gustav Jung.

His great-granduncle was Doctor Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, a Dutch astronomer and founder of the Kapteyn Institute. Quoting from the Kapteyn Institute's web page, "Kapteyn's main interest was the Structure of the 'Sidereal System'. His first major contribution was the discovery of the two 'Star Streams', announced in 1904 at the St. Louis International Exposition."

William Wentworth Brown ~ (Peter's 2nd Great-Grandfather)

Peter's paternal 2nd great-grandfather was William Wentworth Brown (b. 1821, d. 1911), who founded the Brown Paper Company in the 1860s in Berlin, New Hampshire. He was born and raised in Clinton, Maine, and was the 10th son (out of 12 children) of Jonathan Brown (b. 1776) and Betsy Michaels.

Jonathan Brown, Peter's 3rd Great-Grandfather, born in 1776 in Hallowell, Maine

Jonathan and Betsy were homesteaders and farmers, and held Bible studies in their home in Clinton for forty years. Jonathan was the son of Captain George Brown (b. 1747) from Massachusetts, who fought in the Revolutionary War, and Elizabeth French. George was the son of Lt. Samuel Brown (b. 1701) and Mary Davis French. Samuel was the son of George Brown (b. 1668) and Sarah (?). George was the son of William Brown who married Elizabeth Ruggles in Boston, in 1655. The trail grows cold there, with no documentation (yet) on when William Brown came to Boston from the United Kingdom. William was Peter's 7th Great Grandfather.

Sir Anthony Browne, a possible multiple-great-grandfather.

The family tree from William Wentworth Brown's own report states that the family is descended from Sir Anthony Browne, the Standard Bearer of England under King Henry VIII. However, the parents of William Brown of Boston are unknown, and therefore there is a gap between Sir Anthony and William. Thus, at this point, it is not clear from whence William came, or whether Sir Anthony is a great-grandfather or not. One thing is sure; Sir Anthony is someone's grandfather. If some clever genealogist can make that link, Peter would love to find out.

Brown Memorial Library in Clinton, Maine ~ donated in 1900 by William Wentworth Brown ~ (Peter's 2nd Great-Grandfather)

William Wentworth Brown donated the funds to build the Brown Memorial Library, in Clinton, Maine. Peter is very grateful for the kind assistance of the staff of the library and the Clinton Historical society for the tremendous amount of Brown family history that they gave to him.

Peter's aunt recently told him more about his grandfather, Norman Brown (the husband of Helen, and the grandson of William Wentworth Brown). Since Norman was raised in a wealthy family (although their wealth was lost during the Depression), Norman could have been a stuck-up prig, but wasn't. Instead, he was superbly egalitarian and believed that everyone was equal. This is what Peter believes to the bottom of his heart.

One day, he hopes to have vigorous and illuminating conversations with all of the above ancestors, to discuss the wonderful topic of the equality and value of all human beings. He is already planning a very large dinner party for his ancestors in the spirit world, at some distant time in the future. He wagers it will be very interesting indeed. The question remains, however, as it did for Hendrik Willem Van Loon, when he hosted Erasmus and his many guests for dinner, as recounted in his lovely book, Van Loon's Lives, .... what on earth shall they have for dinner? So many cultures and eras of history! Perhaps it will be a one-hundred course meal.