Find My Dead

Genealogy of Sharon & Scotty

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

Turner and Rigby

Happy Dancing

The joy and sorrow of genealogy is that just when you find the most exciting things… you run into the reality that you may not find anything else for that family due to the lack of extant records. There just aren’t that many things from the 1700s. The other reality is that there are even fewer if your people were poor. About the best you can hope for is christening and marriage records from the local church. These are all I’m working with right now.

Based on the records in Wigans All Saints we know that the mother of our immigrant ancestor William Bromilow (1800-1873) was Jane/Jenny Turner. The baptism record for her first child George stated the family’s abode was Shevington, a small town near Standish. Through the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project, I was able to locate Jenny’s christening record (as shown in the previous post) in St. Wilfrid’s in Standish. I can’t tell you how excited I was and how much giggling ensued. The name William Turner got to me immediately. I had visions of Orlando Bloom as Will Turner in The Pirates of the Caribbean. I immediately downloaded a picture of him and made it his profile picture on Ancestry. I’ll eventually replace it with an image of one of his records, but just allow me my moment…
Orlando-Bloom-Out-of-Fourth-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Film-2

[Read more…] about Turner and Rigby

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

Brimlow/Bromilow & Chaddock & Turner

Reaching Back

We always hope that a marriage in a specific church will lead to the baptism records of those individuals in the church. If William Bromilow and Ann Chaddock married in All Saints than it made sense to look for their records there. I used the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project (did I mention how much I love this site) and found two Ann Chaddocks – one born/christened in All Saints in 1801, the daughter of Matthew and Peggy (Chisnall) Chaddock of Hindley,1 and the other christened in St Aidan in 1799 the illegitimate daughter of Betty Chaddock of Billinge.2 Both records lead to more questions than answers.
Ann 1801 With one of William and Ann’s daughters named Margaret, I could easily have just accepted Matthew and Peggy, since Peggy is a pet name for Margaret. However, William and Ann have 3 sons after this and none of them are named Matthew, nor is there a grandchild named Matthew or Margaret. The other problem is that the few records we have for Ann show her as being older than William with ages that equate to a birth year of 1797 or 98. The Ann in All Saints is born and baptized in 1801. While age variant isn’t unusual, this one seems a little big. I’m not saying it isn’t them, I’m just saying it doesn’t feel right.
Ann 1799 As for the Ann born in Billinge, we get no help with a birth date so the child could be anywhere from 1 week to 3 years. I find I’m much more comfortable with the age of this Ann baptized in 1799 over the Ann born/baptized in 1801. Also, the fact that Ann’s daughters Margaret and Jane are born in Billinge could lend meaning to this location/relationship – perhaps they had moved closer to Ann’s family for the birth of their second/third child. There are many Elizabeths in the tree below this level, but it’s such a common name and Ann’s son George married an Elizabeth that we can’t take any specific meaning from the name. As much as I’d like to accept this record, I can’t.

There simply isn’t enough evidence at this time to declare a parent for Ann Chaddock. The most we can say comfortably (based on the available records) is that she was from Wigan Parish in Lancashire. I’m not done researching, but I am setting her aside for now.

There was much better luck in locating a matching record for William. I was fairly certain that William was born in January or February of 1800 based on the multitude of records, including his New York death record, so I began with that date in mind and quickly located the following:3
1800 William Baptism While I was excited to find William’s birth and baptism, I was ecstatic to see the additional information with the name of his mother’s parents. There was a whole bunch of genealogical happy dancing going on when I found this. These names were confirmed through several more records. Once again the Bishop’s Transcripts found on Ancestry were not as good, since they erroneously state William’s mother’s name is Mary and said nothing about Jenny’s parents.

After a few days of digging through the parish records, this is the family as I now know it:
William Bromilow and Jenny/Jane Turner had the following children:
1. George Bromilow/Brimalow born 3 May 1791, Shevington, baptized 21 May 1791 All Saints Wigan, 1st son. He died Jun 1857 Orrell and was buried 11 Jun 1857 at St Thomas the Martyr, Upholland. George married Mary Knowles (2 Apr 1784 – Aug 1851), daughter of Thomas and Margaret Knowles on 4 Feb 1808 in All Saints. They had 9 known children together. They lived their life in Orrell and all the children were baptized in All Saints. They along with many of their children are buried in St Thomas the Martyr in Upholland near Orrell.
2. Unknown 1st daughter – I have not yet found any baptism or burial records, but daughter Betty is listed as the 2nd daughter. It is probable daughter #1 died shortly after birth and prior to being baptized.
3. Betty Bromilow born 3 Mar 1797, Wigan, baptized 18 Mar 1797 All Saints Wigan 2nd dau., died May 1804 Orrell, buried 6 May 1804 St Thomas the Martyr, Upholland.
4. William Bromilow/Brimlow, born 16 Jan 1800 Wigan, baptized 8 Feb 1800 All Saints Wigan, 2nd son. Married Ann Chaddock 5 Sep 1819 All Saints Wigan.
I have found no other records of children for William and Jenny/Jane, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more out there. Nor have I found a birth/baptism record for William Bromilow born between 1850-1875.
*Note – All sources are up in the BurgraffScott tree on Ancestry and also in FamilySearch.

However I did locate the 18 Jun 1758 baptism record for Jenny Turner thanks to having the name of her parents from her children’s baptism records.4
Jenny Turner 1758 - Copy
I’ll post more on William and Eleanor Turner later. But, yeah… I was doing a lot of happy dancing. **Note – Jenny/Jinny are pet names for Jane.

I have not yet found a marriage record for William and Jenny. What I can prove is that they are NOT the William Brimilow and Jane Turner who married in Saint Helens on 6 Sep 1790 for the following reasons:
1. The St Helens Jane Turner was a widow so her maiden name would not be Turner. Our Jenny/Jane Turner’s parents were named as William and Eleanor Turner in Jenny’s children’s baptismal records.
2. Our William and Jenny/Jane had a son George Bromilow born 3 May 1791 and baptized 21 May 1791 in Wigan. That William and Jane Brimilow had a son named John Brimelow born 26 Dec 1791 and baptized on 13 Jan 1792. Seven months is possible, but they continue to have children at the same time our William and Jenny/Jane are having children.
3. Our Jenny/Jane was born in Shevington (as was her first son George) and she was baptized in St Wilfrid, Standish. Her children were all baptized in Wigan, which is only 4 miles away while Saint Helens is almost 20 miles from her known home. It is southwest of Billinge in the map below – it’s in the Parish of Precot.
Lancashire Parish map


1. All Saints, Wigan, Lancashire, Baptismal Registers 1799-1812, p.51, Ann Chaddock, born 8 Mar, bap 29 Mar 1801, parents Matthew and Peggy [Chisnall] Chaddock, Hindley, Weaver, wife parents William & Betty Chisnall, Original registers.
2. Christening records (accessed 28 Nov 2015), St Aidan Billinge, Lancashire, Baptismal Register 1787-1812, p24, Ann Chaddock, bap 2 Jun 1799, illigitimate daughter of Betty Chaddock, abode Billinge.
3. Christening records (accessed 27 Nov 2015), Wigan All Saints, Lancashire, Register of Baptisms 1799-1812, Page 20. Baptism 8 Feb 1800, Born 16 Jan, William Bromilow 2nd son of William Bromilow & Jinney Turner (dau of Wm & Elnor Turner).
4. Christening records (accessed 3 Dec 2015), St Wilfrid, Standish, Lancashire, Baptismal Registers 1733-1771 p107, Jenny Turner, 18 Jun 1758, William & Eleanor Turner, Shevington, FHL Film 1526140.

McLean/Frith/Brimlow/Brown

The Children of William Brimlow

Two Wives – Nine Known Children

Children with Ann Chaddock.

1. George – previously discussed.

2. Jane E., born 31 Jan 1823 Winstanley, baptized 9 Mar 1823, St Aidan, Billinge. Jane married William C. Austin (1818-27 Feb 1860) in about 1843/44 in New York. William’s death record stated he was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, however he was not found in their burial records. They had two know children: Josephine (Austin) Wilson (Nov 1845-2 Jul 1893) and William F. Austin (abt 1849-Nov 1854) both of whom are buried in the Brimlow family plot of Cypress Hills. Jane is last found at the age of 47 on the 1870 Census. I have not found a death record or notice for her, nor have I found a second marriage record. The search continues.

3. Margaret, born 31 Jan 1823 Winstanley, died 2 Feb 1823, Winstanley, buried 3 Feb 1823, St Aidan, Billinge.

4. William, born 8 Jul 1825, Ashton in Makerfield, baptized 19 Jul 1825 St Thomas, Aston in Makerfield. He appears to have worked for his father in the coffee and spice trade for some time. On 11 Nov 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. F, 87th N.Y. Inf., “Brooklyn Rifles” 11 Nov 1861 and participated in the Peninsular Campaign, including the Seige of Yorktown (5 Apr-4 May 1862) and Battle of Williamsburg, where on 5 May 1862, he was wounded in action. According to his compiled service record, Pvt Brimlow remained at Camp Pitcher in a field hospital and was then transferred to the division hospital near Falmouth, where he eventually died as a result of his wounds and disease. (*Note- his CSR states Falmouth, but the History of the NY Volunteers by Sergeant Fred Flood states Alexandria.) Remains from both those areas were transferred to Fredericksburg National Cemetery. On 3 May 1846, he married Sophia Emeline Barker in New York, the daughter of John Barker. They had at least 6 known children together: Mary Alice Brimlow (1847-1914) – m. Jacob Coutieri (Feb 1842-27 Nov 1903), Henry Brimlow (23 May 1849-2 Feb 1904) m. Henrietta Sophia Pieman (1848-1939), Elizabeth Ann Brimlow (17 May 1851-Mar 1854), Sophia Emeline Brimlow (13 Apr 1853-17 Feb 1880) m. John Day Smith (1850-?), and John L. Brimlow (27 Feb 1857-30 Sep 1935) m1.& div. Elen Harkin (1854-bef 1900) m2 Jennie Scheffler (1878-?). Fredericka (abt 1863- bef 1870). Fredericka appears only on the 1865 New York state census as age 1, so her birth could be anytime between June 1863 and June 1864. She is not in the death records, nor is she in the Brimlow family plot.

Sophia remained in Brooklyn near William’s family and did not remarry. Throughout the rest of her life she appears in the Brooklyn city directories and in the census records as a tailoress. In 1872, she had a son named William Lewis Brimlow (10 Nov 1872-17 Oct 1930). His death certificate states his father was William Brimlow of England. This has caused some confusion for some people, but it’s simply a case of Sophia naming a child born out of wedlock for her late husband. Young William no doubt knew that William had died in the Civil War but the informant on his death certificate still named him as father. William Lewis Brimlow m. Catherine E. Hans (Feb 1871-29 Sep 1946). On the 1900 census she stated she had a total of 9 children (I can account for 7) with 4 still living – Mary, Henry, John, and William. She was with William’s family and they were residing next door to John and his children after his divorce from Ellen. Sophia died 12 Dec 1905 and was buried in the Brimlow family plot.

5. Henry, born about 1826 was not found in any records or by any other name in Lancashire. I swear to you that I have one in every family who doesn’t make it into the church records and isn’t counted, but they appear later on passenger lists and in census records. I don’t know why. It is possible that he’s not their child, but was being raised by William and Ann and named by them. Henry can last be accounted for on his William’s 1840 census records (age 14-15), but even that’s iffy as it’s not a by-name census. He is not found on the 1850 census, in any city directory, or in the family plot. It is possible that he died prior to the plot acquisition and was not moved into the plot with the family. I believe he died quite young, but it is also possible that as a young man of 18 or so, he simply went west with the thousands of other young men from New York. I’m still looking.

6. John, born 25 Oct 1829 Pemberton, baptized 2 Nov 1829 All Saints, Wigan. John was still with his parents on the 1850 census and then appeared in the 1853 New York City directory with his father and brother George at the same home and business addresses. In about 1852 he married Sarah Mariah McGowan (Jul 1835-?). About 1855/56 when his family was relocating to Brooklyn, John moved to Connecticut, where Sarah was from. John died 16 Sep 1869 in Grenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut and was interred in the Stanwich Congregational Church Cemetery. His will was entered into probate on 13 Oct 1869. John and Sarah had four known children together: Anna J. “Jennie” (Mar 1853 NY – ?) m. William B. Hubbard; William F. Brimlow (16 May 1855 Manhattan – 12 May 1882 Fairfield, Connecticut) listed as divorced on the 1880 census. He’s buried with his father. Sarah Brimlow (abt 1857 Conn – ?). John Howard Brimlow (Mar 1866 Conn – 17 Oct 1902 Bronx, NY) m. Catharine Carroll (Mar 1870 – 12 Dec 1909).

Children with Deborah Gedney:
7. Arthur W. born about 1853 New York, died 22 Aug 1896, buried 25 Aug 1896 in the Brimlow family plot. He was a printer by trade. On 5 Dec 1877, Arthur married Ella F. Vail (1860-?). Together they had 2 known children: Edith G. Brimlow (1880-?) 1 Edward Gorman Barker (1872-?) m2 Edward Everett Markes (1869-1939) and Florence Ella Brimlow (16 Aug 1893-10 Feb 1960) m. Lawrence Wolcott Markes (1893-1957). Sometime between 1910-1920, Ella (Vail) Brimlow married Albert P. Whitman (1858-?).

8. Frederick Austin born 9 Mar 1855, died 27 Jul 1922, Kings, buried 29 Jul 1922 Cypress Hills Cemetery. Frederick was also a printer by trade. On 18 Jun 1879, he married Caroline Hobson (1858 Ireland – 5 Jun 1947 Brooklyn, New York). Together they had 13 known children: Frederick Hobson Brimlow (1880-1880); Robert Hobson Brimlow (9 Oct 1881 – 29 Nov 1962) m Anna Alida Tryon (25 Sep 1889 – 13 Jul 1973); Joseph Arthur Brimlow (23 Jul 1883 – Jun 1975) m. Grace Nancy Potter (26 Apr 1890 – Dec 1975); Leander Woodhull Brimlow (24 Jun 1885 – Dec 1973); Ella Deborah Brimlow (30 Jan 1887 – Mar 1975) partner Frances Reafler (1907 – ?); William John Brimlow (19 Oct 1888 – aft 1953); Rebecca Alice Brimlow (5 Feb 1892 – 8 Feb 1892); Frederick Austin Brimlow Jr. (3 Apr 1893 – 12 Jan 1957) m. Anna Louise (Lulu) Grant (12 Oct 1896 – 30 Aug 1963); Sarah (Sadie) Abigail Brimlow (12 Dec 1894 – Nov 1972) m. Joseph McCrum (2 Mar 1895 – 30 Apr 1967); Henry Howard Brimlow (29 Sep 1896 – 15 Dec 1896); Eugene Brimlow (25 Jan 1898 – ?); Howard Brimlow (24 May 1899 – 26 Oct 1899); Irene Caroline Brimlow (19 Apr 1901 – 25 Oct 1942) m. John Phillip Yrizarry (1 May 1896 – 20 Nov 1939).

9. Ella Helen, born about 1858, died 29 Aug 1916. Married Governor K. Desmond (1857 – 21 Oct 1883) on 30 Jun 1880. Both are in the Brimlow family plot in Cypress Hills Cemetery.

There are simply too many sources to include here – all of William’s children and grandchildren are fully sourced on the BurgraffScott family tree on Ancestry and in Family Search