Born about 1847 at Bellhouse, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Interestingly, his names could have come from his grand-uncle John Brown (1832-1932), brother of his grandmother, but it definitely ties him to the Browns of Paisley, Scotland.
Little is known about John’s early history until he married Elizabeth Jane Davey on the 10 Apr 1873 at Sebastapol, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Elizabeth Jane was daughter of Charles Davey.
The marriage would enjoy the birth of 7 children, but in 1875, John was arrested for abandoning an illegitimate child and he was put in jail and ordered to pay maintenance costs. The child was born around 1872, so before he married Elizabeth. There is little more detail on the child of Mary Ann Cook. I have not been able to find a registered birth in either the name Cooke or Ramsay relevant to the claim.
John and Elizabeth’s children were as follows:
| Child | Born | Married | Children | Died | Comments |
| Daisy Maude* | 1872 | 9 | 1953 | Hardie | |
| * out of marriage | |||||
| Child | Born | Married | Children | Died | Comments |
| Charles William James | 1874 | – | – | 1876 | |
| Marion Tregedio Bond | 1876 | – | – | 1883 | |
| Mary Beatrice Victoria | 1878 | 1898 | 4 | 1952 | Townsend |
| Elizabeth Alexandrina May | 1880 | – | – | 1882 | |
| Thomasine | 1881 | – | – | 1883 | |
| Mabel Frances Evelyn | 1883 | 1900 | 4 | 1968 | Turnbull |
| Elizabeth Wilbertha | 1887 | 1912 | 3 | 1951 | Downie |
| Andrew John Purvis | 1888 | 1902 | 11 | 1915 | McAuliffe |
Clearly there were issues in his career as well, even though he rose to level of Manager.
Died 29 Aug 1894
There is no grave stone, but the record of burial states that he was a Publican.
It is very sad to note that two of his children share a date. Little Charles passed away on the 13 Jun 1876 and Marion arrived in the world on the same day. That must have been quite a lot to deal with by the family.
References:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/200185858?searchTerm=john%20brown%20ramsay
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/200185931?searchTerm=%22john%20brown%20ramsay%22