Namesakes - A Help or a Hindrance? : 52 Ancestors - Week 3

"Namesake" is the theme of this week's "52 Ancestors" prompt.  I would  love to have had a middle name of an ancestor to link me with the past - my favourite choice would be  - Maria or Jennet.   But it was not to be.  I don't  think I was named after anybody in particular - my two Christian  names were just  ones my parents liked.  

The traditional naming pattern prevalent at least in Scotland and the North of England  can be a big help in hoping you are on the right track in tracing ancestors enal grandfather 

• Eldest son named after paternal grandfather.
• Second son named after maternal grandfather
• Eldest daughter  named after maternal grandmother 
• Second daughter named after paternal grandmother
• Third son named after father 
• Third daughter named after mother  

Having an ancestor with a distinctive middle name is a great boon when it comes to identifying the correct person from  others with same popular Christian and surname - my uncle Harry Danson had his grandmother's maiden name of Rawcliffe as his middle name.

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But how many of us have torn  our hair out at the confusion that comes from researching the same name that occur down the generations?  

I am currently trying to keep a clear head when fathoming out the ancestors of my great grandmother Matilda  Such Simpson (below) - yes,  distinctive middle names are used but it can get confusing.  

My great grandmother's maiden name  was Matilda Such Simpson, born 1849  - parents Matilda Such and William Simpson. She married John Matthews of Wolverhampton.. Staffordshire.

Her mother  was Matilda Bloomer Such, baptized 1815 - parents Matilda Bloomer and William Such.  

Her grandmother was  Matilda Bloomer  baptized 1787.

My head spins just trying to write down the relationships of these three Matildas.

More namesakes in my family:  

• In my husband's family of direct ancestors  - there were three Robert Donaldson's, followed by three John Robert Donaldson's, spanning over 200 years.
   
• On his mother's side, there was Matthew White, followed by three direct descendants named Matthew Iley White. 
   
• My G.G.G. Grandfather's sister was Jennet Danson,  who in 1786  married  a John Bryning of Carleton, Poulton-le-Fylde Lancashire.    

But when I came to research this Bryning branch of the family, I discovered there were eleven John Bryning/Brining descendants living in the Fylde area at the turn of the 18th to 19th centuries - all descendant of John Bryning (1703-1779),  through his sons, John and Richard, with their sons, grandsons and great grandsons taking the name of the family patriach. 

Jennet Danson's  father-in-law John Bryning died in  1820 and in his will, he notes:  "My pew in the north gallery to my son John".  This boxed pew is still in place at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde. My photograph is not very good, but you can make out the name and the date 1778

St.Chad's Church with the Bryning pew at the front of the gallery on the left. 

My parents were married here and I was baptised in the same church. 

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One John Bryning stands out amongst the eleven - Rev. John Bryning (1770-1855), grandson of the first John Bryning.  

My first knowledge of him came many years ago through  a response to  a query on an Ancestry Message Board.    My contact, a descendant of the Rev. Bryning, was able to supply me with a fund of documentary evidence, plus several obituaries.  He certainly had led an eventful life. 

He was bound to an apprentice  to a mercantile firm in Liverpool, rising to the position of foreman  and in this capacity travelled widely.  He was in Brussels when the Battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815 and wrote about "the booming of the terrific engines of death."

Sometime in his 40's he left the merchant  life  behind for quite a different calling - that of the ministry.  In 1820 he travelled to Quebec and became a preacher at New Brusnwick on the Long Point Settlement on Lake Eerie. He was ordained as a pastor of the  Presbyterian Church of Canada. and established a church at Mount Pleasant, Simcoe.   He became a colourful  and influential leader, a familiar sight in  in the  Long Point Settlement.  An obituary noted that

 "In pioneer times he fortnightly travelled the considerable  distance  between churches by horse and buggy on dirt roads, which turned to mire in rain.....  He was esteemed throughout the area as a tireless man of the cloth."

Presbyterian church historian James Dey described the Rev. Bryning thus:

"Mr Bryning was, in more senses than one, a great man.  Physically he was great, well proportioned and muscular, he was of astonishing weight of 412 pounds.  He had three wives and fiftenn vigorous children..... He laboured incessantly to preach the glad tiding of the everlasting gospel to the few and scattered inhabitants, gifted with a vigorous constitution and as vigorous a mind, undaunted by difficulties, ready and ever working for the case of Christ against bigotry and superstition......He has left a memorable example for succeeding ministries."

The Reverend John Bryning died 15th September 1853 aged 83 - his eldest son his namesake.  

With thanks to Yvonne for her contribution 

to this family history profile.  

Postscript 

I have come across four public trees on Ancestry that  have the Rev. John Bryning as the son of John Bryning and Jennet Danson (my ancestor) - wrong, wrong, wrong!  

 

I have the marriage bond of John and Jennet,  dated 1786, when the Reverend was already  16 years old.  Jennet’s son John was born 1801 and  lived all his life in the Fylde region of Lancashire.  He remained unmarried, making his home with his two sisters Margaret and Betty. He died in 1874 aged 72; his life, verified by statutory BMD records, census returns and monumental inscriptions. 

 

 A case of "Researcher,  Beware" 

 when you have namesakes in your family

 

 

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