BRANWHITE family, Chelsea / Kensington

[JacobeaM]

Hello Susie,

From the little research I have done for myself, the Lavenham Branwhites (from whom I descend via an Essex line) are related to the London Branwhites without a doubt, but I haven't yet worked out a clear line of descent. Many of the records on IGI are user submissions and thus have to be taken with a pinch of salt, although some may well be correct.  

It seems though, as smudwisk deduced, that the London Branwhites descend via Edward Branwhite of Lavenham, who was born circa 1723, and his wife Susan(na) Dansie, whom he married circa 1749, also in Lavenham. If this is the correct line, their son Thomas, born circa 1753 in Bocking, Essex, gave rise to the London Branwhites.

As said though, these records are all user submitted and I haven't personally had the opportunity to hunt down and verify these dates and links

[afmed]

I believe Thomas Branwhite and Mary Polley (nee Garrett) were my 4x gt grandparents.  I am a descendant of their daughter Mary Ann who married William Shave in Bocking in 1813. 

Mary Garrett's first husband may have been the Isaac Polley who died in Bocking in 1775.

I was delighted to read that Thomas Branwhite probably came from Lavenham as I could find no earlier trace of him in Essex although, being a beginner, I thought I might have missed something!

[JacobeaM]

afmed,

You'll find that pretty much every Branwhite comes from Lavenham somewhere along the line The earliest Branwhite who was born in Lavenham of which I have record is Rowland, born circa 1629. He and his two (and maybe more) brothers established the family in the village until the early 20th C or thereabouts, since when they seemed to have died out in Lavenham. 

[smudwhisk]

The earliest Branwhite who was born in Lavenham of which I have record is Rowland, born circa 1629. He and his two (and maybe more) brothers established the family in the village  

There is I am afraid no evidence that any of the original Rowland's siblings ever lived in Lavenham, all later Branwhites are descended from Rowland and his two wives, Sarah probably nee Dogget (as Rowland refers to his brother in law Dogget in his Will) and Ann Munnings.  There is the use of the names Branwhite, Bran(th)w(h)ite and Branford/Bramford in the early generations with the descendents of the first marriage ultimately settling on Branwhite and the descendents of the second marriage using Branford/Bramford.  Rowland had two brothers but one died in Thrapston in Northamptonshire aged 27 and the other died in Molesworth in neigbouring Huntingdonshire! 

Afmed, I do think your Thomas in Bocking is most likely the son of Edward Branwhite and Susan Dansie born in Lavenham around 1756.  There are no Branwhites in the Bocking registers prior to Thomas' 1778 marriage.  Thomas son of Edward and Susan nee Dansie had a brother Edward who died in London in 1802 and left a PCC Will.  In it he left his brother Thomas £100 and after other bequests the residue was left to his nephew William son of brother Thomas.  While this doesn't confirm it is your Bocking family, Thomas did not die until 1811 and what looks likely to be his eldest son Thomas Edward Branwhite was baptised at Lavenham.  Having been through most of the parish registers in the Lavenham area of Suffolk and many below the border in Essex, I'm fairly happy I have most of the Branwhite descendent lines correct.  Thankfully a number of Branwhites left Wills which does tend to sort out a lot of the different lines!

Nicola

[JacobeaM]

smudwhisk - may I ask which brother died where ? I still only have the barest bones (for the foreseable future), so I wasn't aware that they had no affect and it was only Rowland who had children in Lavenham.

I really wish I could get to Ipswich - all these Branwhites are maddening