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Previous: Chapter 17.A:
A single Irish source?
Section 03
Tewkesbury roots
Chapter 03.E : Ripple
This text is derived from FWB(1) notes "The Brushes of Tewkesbury" beginning at "The Ninth Generation". I may be contacted concerning Brush families in the UK at brushdw@gmail.com
The Ripple story begins with Benjamin[T114], the son of William [T103]. He was baptised in Tewkesbury on 20 April 1753 and on 24 December 1792 married Sarah HARRIS at Ripple. Ripple is a village in the south of Worcestershire near the boundary with Gloucestershire. It is only four miles north of Tewkesbury and a couple of miles south of Upton on Severn. So Benjamin did not move far.
Benjamin and Sarah had six children in the period 1793 to 1811. Benjamin died in 1826 and was buried at Ripple on 9 September. Sarah was buried at Ripple on 14 May 1854.
Benjamin and Sarah have been entered in Wikitree as Brush-1357 and Harris-57520
The children of Benjamin - generation 10
Elizabeth[T129] baptised at Ripple on 5 January 1794 so maybe born in 1793. On 25 December 1821 she baptised Thomas BRUSH [T135], with no father being named. Seventeen years later she married John CLIFFORD, a labourer, at Ripple on 24 December 1838. FWB comments "The entry in the Register of Marriages gives 'none' in the space for the names and professions of the fathers which is unusual. Probably the incumbent had not realised that the new method of recording marriages (only introduced fifteen months earlier) required the details even if the parents were not alive."
William [T130] baptised at Ripple 19 May 1799. Married Jane BARNES 5 Febrary 1835 at Ripple. They had eight children - see below. William was buried at Ripple on 24 June 1868.
Ann [T131] baptised at Ripple 19 May 1799. A twin of William? Nothing more is known.
John [T132] is known only from his burial at Ripple on 11 May 1811 at Ripple. Putting him at this point in the sequence of children is wholly arbitrary.
George [T133] baptised at Ripple 11 May 1806 and buried there on 24 August 1806.
James [T134] baptised at Ripple 3 January 1808. In the 'Poor Accounts and Vestry Minutes 1836-94' there is an entry in the period 24 June to 29 September 1836: "Received of James Brush for his illegitimate child 19s.6d".
James married Elizabeth BEST on 21 April 1853 at Ripple. They had one daughter, Kate [T143], who was baptised on 18 May 1854 at Ripple. Nothing more is known of her.
During the period 1849 to 1865 the Churchwardens Accounts (which run from Easter to Easter) contain many entries for payments to James. At his marriage, and at the baptism of Kate, James was described as a mason and there are many entries in the Vestry Minutes referring to work done by him at the church between 1849 and 1865.
FWB's typed extracts
The 1881 census shows James age 72 as an unemployed bricklayer and Elizabeth as age 58. This age does not exactly tally with his baptism. He should be at least 73. It places Elizabeth's birth date as 1822/3. FWB suggests 1821 or 1822 at Wilton in Wiltshire. James is buried at Ripple on 9 January 1886.
The grandchildren of Benjamin - Generation 11
Child of Elizabeth
Thomas [T135], the illegitimate child of Elizabeth [T129] baptised 25 December 1821 at Ripple. He married Sarah SMITH (born 1827 at Bidford on Avon, Warwickshire) at Bidford on Avon on 7 December 1848. They had seven children between 1849 and 1867, considered in chapter 03.F.
At the 1851 census they were living at Brockeridge, Twyning, Gloucestershire. He was an agricultural labourer age 28 and she was a gloveress age 24. His age is inconsistent (understated) with his baptism date. Brockeridge is no more than a hamlet in the north west of Twyning which seems to centre on Brockeridge Farm (now an Industrial park) though several farms had grazing rights on Brockeridge Common.
Brockeridge Farm, an 18th century listed building
From the information about births and baptisms of their children there appears to have been quite a lot of movement between Twyning, Bidford, Kempsey in Worcestershire and, later on, West Bromwich to the north west of Birmingham.
At the 1881 census they had moved to 164 Oak Road,West Bromwich, Staffordshire. He is listed as a Labourer, age 55 - which is even more understated. She is listed as age 49.
Children of William[T130] and Jane (Barnes)
Judith [T136] baptised 3 July 1835 at Ripple. She married John WILKINS in Tewkesbury in 1860.
Benjamin [T137] baptised 25 March 1837 at Ripple. The 81 census specifically gives Naunton, just north of Ripple (within the parish?), as his place of birth. He married Eliza TOUNLEY at Ripple on 27 October 1858. They had six children considered in chapter 03.F. At the 1871 census he is an Agricultural labourer and they are living at Naunton. He died on 21 February 1908 at Naunton and was buried at Ripple on 27 February. Eliza was born in 1834 in the Tewkesbury RD and died on 7 December 1906 at Ripple where she was buried on 13 December. Benjamin and Eliza have (had?) a tombstone in the churchyard at Ripple:
William [T138] was born at Ripple on 5 March 1839 and buried there on 19 June 1899.
John [T139] was baptised at Ripple on 29 October 1841. At 1861 he is a gamekeeper, boarding at Longdon. He married three times. First to Martha Morgan in 1863 at Kidderminster. In the 1871 census they are living in Scotland (his occupation as gamekeeper seems to provide confirmation of this). In Q1 of 1878 a Martha Brush dies in the Tewkesbury RD.
His second marriage was to Annie BAGGETT on 30 July 1878 at Mitcheldean (Westbury on Severn RD), which is in south Gloucestershire. Banns were called at Twyning in July 1878 referring to John Brush widower of this parish. Annie is noted as a spinster of the parish of Mitcheldean. Banns record also at Mitcheldean. The marriage register shows him as a game keeper. In 1880 when son James is baptised he is a gamekeeper and their address is given as Twyning near Arbour Woods (which I can find no trace of). In the 1881 census they are living at Llanvihangel Crucorney near Abergavenny, just over the England/Wales border. He is still listed as a gaekeeper when John is baptised in 1883. By 1891 they back in Twyning and he is listed only as a general labourer.
At 1901 he is living at Churchend (next to the vicarage) in Twyning age 58, a widower and agricultural labourer. With Mary Coleman age 28 described as neice and housekeeper. Three of his children with Annie are still at home plus Lizzie W Coleman age 5, Ernest H Coleman age 3 and Mabel W Coleman described as his daughters and son. The 1900 baptism record for Mabel confirms his status as her father. Eventually, age 55, he marries Margaret Elizabeth Mary Coleman (listed simply as Mary Coleman age 35) at Pershore Registry office on 9 August 1902. He continues to be listed as an agricultural labourer. I cannot decipher their address.
John's children are considered in chapter 03.F. John died on 7 October 1909 at Uckinghall, Ripple and was buried at Ripple on 12 October. The death certificate notes R coleman as his brother in law.
Thomas [T140] born in 1844 in the Upton-on-Severn RD. He married Elizabeth ?? in 1884 in the Upton-on-Severn RD. They had four children considered in chapter 03.F. He was buried on 6 January 1914 at Ripple.
Jane [T141] was baptised at Ripple on 30 April 1848 and was buried there on 5May 1850.
James [T142] was baptised at Ripple on 8 June 1851 and was buried there on 2 April 1852.
Child of James[T134] and Elizabeth (Best)
Kate [T143] was baptised at Ripple on 18 May 1854 at Ripple.
(1) back to text FWB was my father Fred Wallis Brush who carried out an extensive one name study of the Brush family in the British Isles - in the hard days before internet research. These pages are not a direct transcript of his typewritten notes but do seek to include all his information and comments.
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