BRASWELL-BRACEWELL-L Archives

From: Susan Buckley <>
Subject: [Braswell List] Re: Early GA-prt 2
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:52:06 -0700

To continue in the discussion about the Braswells, et.
al. of early GA, lets look at the first resident with
a name that could be considered Braswell and indeed,
whose descendants spell Breazeale as Braswell. From
what I can gather, it is pronounced by both families
pretty much the same.

Now, we have been told over and over again these two
are different families. We believe that. We buy that.
But, no one has ever told us that we may be researching
in the wrong family.

How many of you have a blank wall? I suspect your wall
is because you are in the wrong family...looking. I've
only been working this Braswell list several weeks. I
can almost tell from location, name, land owned, allied families, etc
which family you may need to chase.

Dr. Roy's book, due to be published soon, is full of
Braswells who have no known connection to anyone else.
We now suspect it's because many of them are of the
Breazeale line.

Did anyone ever say to you...for instance, Mary Jane
Jones is not in our family, but another family? No.
That was certainly not said to me. Quite a bit was said
to me, unhappily, and to other Overstreets who have been members of your
list, but never that. And, our Overstreets use the name Braswell. I had
no idea we might be dealing with more than one family. I did know we had
20 different spellings of the name Braswell here. And, that one born
Brazil was now a Bracewell. In other words, I knew the
name in itself was a mess to have to deal with in research!

So, I'm going to go through some of these names and places
in hopes that some of you with a blank wall may see you
are chasing the wrong family. Watch for the allied names.
They are a clue. I don't have these referenced or any
other number of tidy research things. I've only been
into the Braswell family several weeks. You are on your
own to find out more....and I'm sure there is plenty
more!

The first on my previous list was Elijah Brazeale b 1718 Henrico Co VA d
1790 GA mar Patty Wynn b abt 1718, father: Peter Wynn b abt 1692 d Dec
1770 Burke Co GA. He lived
in the area west of Millen, GA, on any GA map. He lived
next door practically to Peter Wynn who might have been
his father-in-law, brother-in-law?

Elijah was the son of Henry Breazeale b abt 1681 VA
who came to Granville Co SC.

The above Henry was the son of Henry b 1651 Charles City
Co VA d 1720 Henrico Co VA m Elizabeth Drury b abt 1670
Chas City Co VA d 1735.

And, the third Henry of the line was Henry Breazeale b
abt 1621 Charles City Co VA d abt 1708, and the best I
can tell, the original Breazeale.

One of Elijah's children was Henry Breazeale b abt 1740
d 1780 Granville,SC mar Elizabeth Woods b abt 1740 d 1810 Roane Co TN.

The spelling of these names ranged from Brashall, Brassall,
Brazeel, Breezeel to Braswell. So, you can't go by the
spelling as to which family your ancestor may have come
from.

There was a Willis Breazeale, and I mention him because
it seems a Willis Braswell died in Burke Co around the
turn of the century. Willis BREAZEALE, son of Henry, was born about 1712
in either Abbeville SC or VA. His first marriage was to Sarah Wood. His
second marriage was to
Sarah (?). More information is needed to decided which is the mother of
this line. Some of Willis's children are
(and I'm not guaranteeing they aren't Elijah's...the two
at this point are very difficult to separate):

A. Benjamin Franklin BREAZEALE
B. George Washington BREAZEALE
C. Archibald BREAZEALE
D. Kindred BREAZEALE


Next on the GA deed list is Kindred:

<> writes:

The Kindred I have was one of six brothers, all born
around the end of the 1700's and early 1800's, originally
out of Jefferson County, GA. The father was named
Nathan.

I tend to think there was a Nathan Breazeale and a Nathan
Braswell, Nathans from the two different families we
are calling Braswell.


Another Kindred descendant <> writes:

Descendants of Kindred Braswell
1 Kindred Braswell 1740 - 1821
. +Ricey Roberts
*2nd Wife of Kindred Braswell:
. +Rhoda - 1795
.......... 2 Robert Braswell 1765 -
.......... 2 Charity Braswell 1775 -
.............. +Charles Griffis
.......... 2 Kindred Braswell, Jr. 1784 - 1853
.............. +Zilpha Inman
.......... 2 Samuel Braswell 1794 - 1864
.............. +Sabra Brinson 1796 - 1864
...................... 3 William Brinson Braswell 1821 - 1876
.......................... +Almira Elivira Carlisle 1842 -
1889
...................... 3 Thomas Heidelberg Braswell 1823 -
...................... 3 Sarah Ann Braswell 1819 - 1903
.......................... +John Clewis
...................... 3 Martha America Braswell 1837 - 1915
.......................... +Seaborn A. Roddenbery
...................... 3 Jane Eliz. Braswell 1829 - 1895
.......................... +David Lunsford Pitts 1825 - 1899
...................... 3 Fanny ELmira Braswell 1831 - 1906
...................... 3 Eliza Ann Braswell 1834 -
...................... 3 Sabra Ann Braswell 1826 -
.......................... +Caswell Braswell


I found this in the Braswell Archives:

>Besides the usual dearth of key Eighteenth Century
>records, the problem as I see it is that you had
>Braswells dropping into Georgia in several ways: those >Revolutionary
War vets who moved there directly from
>all over the Carolinas, turning in their bounty
>certificates for former Cherokee land. (This group
>includes a FREDERICK "BRAZIL" formerly of Wilkes Co,
>NC, who I'm beginning to think was German.)

I see no reason to think that at this time. Incidentally,
the Braswells were English. The Breazeales were French
Hugenots, reportedly originating as royalty from Ireland.
Can't back this up, but watch for it during the research.

>Then you had those that drifted in from South Carolina. >Most of these
seem to connect with those Braswell
>branches that were living closest to Georgia at the
>time of Independence. Among these apparently were scions >from my own
branch (VALENTINE 145), followers of Baptist
>pioneer Rev. PHILIP MULKEY who moved from Broad River
>to opposite Augusta during the 1760's when the South >Carolina Outback
got too dangerous. Others early into >Georgia would have to include
descendants of RICHARD >BRASWELL 141 (Anson County, NC) and WILLIAM
BRASWELL
>143 (Robeson County, NC) who got to Georgia first and
>thus have the most descendants.

This last sentence above, if one looks at the deed list
I sent in part 1, is in error. However, I don't say I
know everything either. I'm just going by the deed list.

>Perhaps the most reliable criterion for distinguishing
>among these families is first name preference, especially
>in the earlier generations. BRASWELLs were known to
>favor such English given names as RICHARD, ROBERT, WM,
>JOHN, JACOB, JAMES, and Biblical or family names like >SAMPSON,
SHADRACK, SOLOMON, and VALENTINE,

There are Robert, John, and Jacob Breazeales...in GA...
that I know of. So, I would not depend upon this without
further research into your own family line.

> whereas the BREAZEALEs fortunately chose such convenient >"marker"
names as DRURY, WILLIS, KINSMAN, ARCHIBALD, >ELIJAH, ELISHA, ENOCH, JOEL,
GRIFFIN, NEWTON, and WOOD.

I'm not sure what "convenient 'marker'" names means.
I think it's obvious the Breazeale's names were surnames
used as first names which has been the general trend
with the plantation class, which the Breazeals were,
for centuries in this country.

>Of course there was nothing to stop either family from
>choosing a name popular with the other, which they often >did.

There is simply no evidence to support this pipe dream.
I'm in contact with a descendant of, she knows not which
family, whose family has been in Lauren Co, GA, for 7
generations. Both of these families are in Lauren Co
and have been there generations. The families have never associated with
one another, and still don't.

>BREAZEALEs were also first to use middle names, a
>practice that became common among BRASWELLs only after
>1830.

And, which family do the Overstreets connect to? I don't
know. But, I'll tell you what...I'm not going to figure
it out by myself and tell everyone. They are all here,
and they can think as well or better than I can.

Stay tuned...there's more...

Susan


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• [Braswell List] Re: Early GA-prt 2 by Susan Buckley <>