ESTABLISHING THE ANCESTRY
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ESTABLISHING THE ANCESTRY
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ESTABLISHING THE ANCESTRY
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ESTABLISHING THE ANCESTRY
ENGLISH FAMILY SURNAMES
Until the late Middle Ages most Europeans possessed only a given name. As the
propensity of similar Christian names increased in a growing population, individuals
began to develop second, or surnames. The four primary sources of surnames were
father’s name (Johnson, Samuelson), location (Atwater, Fields), occupation (Tanner,
Miller), or personal characteristic (Stout, Tallman).
In 1066 the French Normans under William the Conqueror invaded, subdued, and
eventually settled in with the Germanic Anglo-Saxons in England. As generations passed
an assimilation of cultures took place and a common speech developed. Sounds were
blended, new words were introduced, and new spellings emerged that formed the oral and
written English language.
With an absence of standard rules for grammar and spelling, early recordings of surnames
varied extensively. Parish priests, court clerks, and local officials were charged with
record keeping and their writing skills were often lacking by modern standards. Names
were spelled phonetically while being given orally, and dialect contributed to variant
spellings of the same surname.
A COMPILATION OF THE FAMILY SURNAME IN EYTOMOLOGY TEXTS
From Smith. New Dictionary of American Family Names
Brundage (Eng.) one who came from Brundish (edisc on stream) in Suffolk; or
from Brownedge (brown hill) in Lancashire.
From Rule and Hammond. What’s In A Name?
Brundage, Brundidge (Eng.) r.w. Brun-edisc (O.E.) brown pasture
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BRUNDISH, COUNTY SUFFOLK, ENGLAND
The location of Brundish in the old Anglo-Saxon territory of East Anglia indicates that
the origin of the surname Brundish was likely the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) ‘brunedisc’, or “brown-stream”. And the consensus of surname etymological books previously
cited supports the conclusion of Anglo-Saxon origins. Whether this indicates some
degree of human settlement or simply a geographic locator is certainly debatable. But it
seems probable to assume that there was enough presence of Angles and Anglo culture
following their 6th invasion of Britain that the location name of Brun-edisc (Brundish)
designated a specific location in what is today County Suffolk.
Dr. Amos Brundage’s “An Outline History of the Brundage Family” states, “It is
probable that originally the name was De Brondig or De Brondige and was Norman
French” and “Brundish, in Suffolk County, England, probably derived its name from the
family settlement”. Mr. Alan Brundish of Australia states that the Hamlet of Brundish,
“was given to a knight Guy de Brundische by William the Conqueror in 1066. This is
found in the Village Church.”
Further references to Brundish and de Burndish from the work of Dr. Amos Brundage
(appointment to a judicial bench, the acquisition of a manor, and the use of the ‘de’
prefix) could indicate a titled Norman French association, but the references are from the
14th century. By that time, over three hundred years after the French Norman conquest,
an assimilation of the separate Anglo-Saxon and Norman cultures had evolved into the
medieval English culture.
Further, in 1086 William the Conqueror ordered the first census to be conducted in
England, recorded in a document known as the Domesday Book or Domesday Survey.
In The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland by The British Academy
and Ron Baxter it states, “Brundish does not occur in the Domesday Survey. References
to a family taking their name from the manor, called Burndish or Brundish, first occur at
the beginning of the 14th c, … ”. And the Church of St. Laurence at Brundish contains no
such reference as asserted by Mr. Alan Brundish.
The previously cited work indicates of the church bell tower “A date around 1070 is
suggested for the bell-opening, but the tower arch is probably half a century or more
earlier, …”. This demonstrates that a church was in existence by the beginning of the
11th century and thus preceded the Norman invasion by a full half-century or more. This
fact apparently strengthens the assertion that a hamlet or area known as Brundish from
which the family surname originated, has to have “Old English” (Anglo-Saxon) origins.
Martin’s The Ipswich Recognizance Rolls 1294-1327 (A Calendar, Pg. 61) clearly
establishes that the hamlet of Brundish was in existence by 22 May 1315. And
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The Parish of Brundish was established in 1562 and parish records commenced shortly
thereafter as evidenced in A Genealogical Gazetteer of England by Smith.
Certainly at some point during the late 13th or early 14th century individuals from the
hamlet of Brundish began to be referred to as “de Brundish”, literally “from/of
Brundish”. The sources also appear to indicate that one or more individuals from/of
Brundish were issued titles of nobility during the same time period. The research of a
British genealogist cited in Dr. Amos Brundage’s An Outline History of the Brundage
Family, the pamphlet The Parish of St. Laurence – Brundish, and The Corpus of
Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland by The British Academy and Ron Baxter
support this.
The last source states “Brundish Hall was demolished in the 1920s, and reputedly shipped
to the USA to be rebuilt there, …” showing that during the late 13th or early 14th century
Brundish was indeed a feudalistic manor. A Sir Edmund de Brundish was undoubtedly
the lord of that manor during the 14th century.
Numerous sources show that at least by the late 16th century Brundish had developed into
a more specific family surname, as witnessed by the references to Thomas Brundish at
Rattlesden Parish. It can be logically assumed that the appellation of Brundish as family
surname was in usage prior to the late 16th century based on the general evolution of
English family surnames during the preceding centuries.
SYNTHESIS
The following can therefore be assumed to be true; the English family surname Brundish
evolved from reference to a specific location in County Suffolk, England which was
based on an Anglo-Saxon word ‘brun-edisc’ likely meaning “brown pasture by the
stream”.
The next section, The Colonial Ancestry, will present evidence of the evolution of the
English surname Brundish into the American surname Brundage (and its variant
spellings).
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A COMPILATION OF HISTORICAL RECORDS
From Smith, Frank. A Genealogical Gazetteer of England.
Brundish Parish, 1562 Suffolk County, 4 ½ miles NW of Framlingham.
Population 478 [1968 – sic]. Archdiocese of Suffolk, Diocese of Norwich.
From The Parish of St. Laurence – Brundish.
Brundish is a scattered parish, about five miles north of Framlingham and in
the heart of the Suffolk countryside. It seems a far cry from the rush of the
busy world of the twentieth century. A few farms and cottages and the fine old
church are scattered amongst the fields and lanes, miles from the nearest railway
station, dual carriageway, or industrial town.
In medieval times there was a chantry at Brundish. It stood not far from the
church and was built for the prayers and masses for the soul of Sir Robert de
Ufford, Earl of Suffolk. This building was dissolved by King Henry VIII and
has entirely disappeared. The chantry, the Chantry Farm and the Parish Church
were all once enclosed by a moat, of which a small part still remains.
The parish church is dedicated to SAINT LAURENCE. It stands away from the
main centre of population, with only the farmhouse for company. It is a fine
building and contains much which is of beauty and antiquity.
There was a church here in Norman times and the lower three quarters of the
tower dates from the early Norman period (late 11th century). The tower was
heightened and the body of the church rebuilt shortly after 1385, in the
Perpendicular style of architecture. …
… The most interesting of these brasses is that to Sir Edmund de Brundish,
which can be seen under the recess of the founder’s Tomb. It dates from about
1380 and consists of the effigy of a priest in Eucharistic vestments (28” x 7 ½ “)
and an inscription (20 ¾ “ x 3”), which reads ‘Sire Esmound de Burnedissh iadys
person del esglise de caster gist icy dieu salme eit m’ ‘.
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ENGLISH SURNAME REFERENCES
The surname Brundish appears in known records from the late 13th or early 14th Centuries
in connection with sites in County Suffolk, England and its neighbor to the south, County
Essex. It is likely that the surname was assigned as identifying the location from which
the individual or his/her ancestor came and therefore may or may not indicate direct
familial connections among the referenced except as noted.
From Brundage, Dr. Amos. An Outline History of the Brundage Family
It is probable that originally the name was De Brondig or De Brondige and was
Norman French.
The earliest ancestor probably came to England soon after the conquest of the
country in 1066 and its settlement by the Normans, probably his countrymen.
It is believed that the name underwent various changes in the new country, the
English people not being familiar with the Norman names and spellings. And the
descendants of this ancestor may also have tried to better suit the name to English
tongues and ears by modifying it some. The name seems to have become
corrupted into Brundish and even Burndish. Brundish, in Suffolk County,
England, probably derived its name from the family settlement.
Probably some of the descendants endeavored to preserve the original spelling of
the name, or at least some semblance of it, but dropped the De- in the same way
many Germans in this country dropped the ancestral von- before their family
name.
If, as seems probable, the name of the earliest Norman ancestor was De Brondig
or De Brondige, we are now nearer the true form than the first or early ancestors
who tried to simplify the name by making it end in –sh or –she.
Foss’ “History of the Judges of England with Sketches of Their Lives” (London,
1848) states that: Robert Brundish was made a judge of the King’s Bench on
April 4, 1338.
Another record declares that: John de Burndish acquired the Manor of Morton,
near Angar, Essex in the reign of Edward I (1274-1327). He died about 1336 and
was succeeded by his son Nicholas, of whom it is thought the Judge abovementioned was a younger brother.
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From Weis, Magna Carta Surreties, line 32.
Thomas Bendish, Esquire. died 1477, married Jane Fitzwilliam He was of
Browse Hall in Stephen Bumstead, Essex (?) County.
From New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vol. XXVIII.
William Ruggle (Nicholas, Thomas, …) of Sudbury, Suffolk County, England
married first on October 6, 1577 Mary Brundish. She died before 1585 …
From New England Genealogical and Historical Register (October, 1932) P. 427.
Robert Bundishe (Bundiche) – copyholder and witness to the will of George
Fiske, Aldeburgh, County Suffolk; dated 25 January 1584/5; proved 26 February
1584/85 – Ipswich Probate Registry, Book 30, FO, 305.
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ESTABLISHING THE ANCESTRY
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THE FIRST GENERATION – THE ENGLISH ANCESTOR
A.
THOMAS BRUNDISH. b. c. 1560, undoubtedly in County Suffolk, England.
d. prob. btw. 29 September and the end of November 1645 at Rattlesden Parish,
County Suffolk, England. m. 30 August 1584 ANNE AGNES TOMPSON, dau.
of Robert and Agnes Raynolde Tompson. She b. c. 1560 christened 22 December
1560 at Rattlesden Parish, County Suffolk, England. d. btw. 23 May 1647 and
1 June 1647, buried 1 June 1647 at Rattlesden Parish, County Suffolk, England.
Thomas listed as Church Warden in 1593, 1595, and 1605; Constable in 1608;
assessed 1 shilling as a “rate made by church wardens and overseers of the said
town of the inhabitants and landowners there toward the relief of the poor of said
town… “; tax abated 1 pence for lands in Michaelmas 29 September 1645; widow
Anne Brundish received 1 shilling from town relief in November 1645 and again
in March 1646; she was awarded 2 shillings for relief on 23 April 1647 and the
same amount on 23 May 1647; “Anne Brundish, widow, an ancient, gracious, and
comfortable Christian” at burial.
Children: (all christened at Rattlesden Parish, County Suffolk, England)
A-a.
A-b.
A-c.
A-d.
A-e.
A-f.
A-g.
A-h.
Anna
Thomas
Elizabeth
Thomas
Mary
John
Robert
Anne
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b. ? christened 8 April 1585
b. ? christened 15 July 1586
b. ? christened 30 July 1589
b. ? christened 25 May 1591
b. ? christened 27 June 1592
b. ? christened 5 June 1593
b. ? christened 6 August 1594
b. ? christened 24 August 1597
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THE FIRST GENERATION – ADDENDUM
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The English monarch Henry VIII (1509-1547) of the House of Tudor is credited for
instituting Protestantism in England. However, this is not exactly true. Henry’s attempt
to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon was thwarted by the Roman Catholic Church
when the Pope refused to issue a Papal annulment. Henry VIII simply had the English
Parliament declare that the king, not the Pope, was the supreme head of the Roman
Catholic Church in England. The Church of England (Anglican Church) still conducted
ceremonies in Latin, practiced the seven sacraments, and in every other way retained
Roman Catholic practices. Many Roman Catholics who opposed the separation of the
Anglican Church from Rome were beheaded by Henry.
Within the Church of England there were individuals who wished to rid the Church of all
elements of Roman Catholicism by “purifying” the Anglican Church, and who became
known as Puritans. Several Puritan leaders were put to death by Henry VIII and his son
and successor Edward VI (1547-1553), but those not openly challenging the Church were
afforded a degree of religious toleration.
When Edward VI died he was succeeded by his sister Mary (1553-1558), a devout
Roman Catholic. Mary re-installed Roman Catholicism as the official religion of
England and tried to eliminate Puritan religious practices. Many Puritan leaders and
adherents were beheaded or burned at the stake.
Mary’s death installed her half-sister Elizabeth I (1558-1603) as Queen. Elizabeth reestablished the Church of England as the official state religion and again allowed a
degree of religious toleration towards the Puritans. Thus, in the late 16th Century,
English Puritanism began grow.
Elizabeth I died childless and was succeeded by James I (1603-1625) of the House of
Stuart, a Roman Catholic Scot. James had frequent conflicts with the English Parliament
over his desire to rule as an absolute monarch, and an assassination was even attempted
in the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot. Those most opposed to the rule of James I were the
Puritans, who James wanted to “harry out of the land”. The conflict between the
monarchy and the Puritans would eventually erupt into the English Civil War and the
Puritan Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell.
The English ancestor Thomas Brundish had to have been born circa 1560 or perhaps a
little before, at or near the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I . Thomas owned land,
served as constable, and was a church warden on three separate occasions (undoubtedly
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as an adherent of the Church of England). However, he likely was not a wealthy man as
his wife Anne received monies from town relief after Thomas’ demise. More likely he
was of the yeoman (lower middle) class, and lived a comfortable life as a respected
member of the community.
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