This is the first of the family newsletters to be produced. Hopefully we will be able to produce one each month to keep you all up to date with what is going on in the family.

What will the newsletter cover? Good question.

Firstly, it will deal with new parts of the family that have been found since the previous edition. This month we will look at the family of Thomas Dreweatt Brangwin also known as Thomas Druitt Brangwynne. This has been an area of discovery during January. For the record, Thomas was born on September 4, 1832 at Mill End, Hambleden, Bucks, England. He was the son of Thomas Brangwin and Mary Dreweatt. More about this family later.

Secondly, the Newsletter will provide background into matters that are expected to be of interest to family members. This month will cover the name variation from Brangwin to ... Next month will spotlight Sir Frank Brangwyn or Francois Guillaume Brangwyn as he was registered at the time of his birth. Sir Frank? Well, if you have not come across him before, next months Newsletter will fill you in on our most famous family member.

A getting to know you segment will be included in each Newsletter. This month I have featured myself on the basis that it will let you know why I got involved in the family thing and who I am. Each month we will have another family member in the spotlight. If you would like to volunteer please contact me.

Other things to be included in the Newsletter will be new directions to search. Often someone will get a bit of information about a family members who has gone "missing in action". Details will be provided so that anyone who may have access to records can check and see if we can make contact. For instance, if someone is believed to have moved to New Zealand some of our kiwi cousins may be able to assist in the search.

Ad hoc items are also welcome. If anyone has anything to contribute please send them to me.

To get in contact with me please send an email to lwuth@hups.net

Welcome to this first Newsletter

Lorraine Wuth

Editor

Berks Berkshire, a county in England

Bucks Buckinghamshire, a county in England

Oxon Oxfordshire, another county in England

Vic Victoria, Australia

The early recorded instances of the name Brangwin show a number of variations: Brangwin, Brangwen and Branguin being the most common. There is surprisingly little variation to the spelling probably due to the educated state of the Brangwin family as a whole.

A number of early Brangwins appear to have been in the clergy with a John being the incumbent at Kingsey, Bucks, in the early 1600s. The Brangwin men were known to be Will writers in Haddenham, Bucks and most Wills written in that parish over a period of almost fifty years were produced by the hand of a Brangwin man.

During the 17^th, 18^th and early 19^th centuries the Brangwins were predominantly farmers. They appeared in three main areas: around Haddenham, Long Crendon (also in Bucks) and then at Hambleden a parish a short distance from Henley on Thames and the river of that name. Hambleden is centred on a pretty village in a valley that provided rich farming opportunities. It, too, is in the county of Bucks.

During the 1860s a number of family members varied the name from the Brangwin spelling in use at the time. Thomas Dreweatt Brangwin moved from Hambleden across to Wales and adopted the form of the name Brangwynne which many of you have today. All instances of this form of the name can be traced to descendants of Thomas Dreweatt Brangwin.

William Curtis Brangwin was born in Long Crendon on August 10, 1837. He was the son of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. William C took up with a Eleanor Griffiths who had been born in Llanstephan, Radnorshire, Wales. Their first child, Editha Maud was born on June 19, 1864. When her birth was registered the spelling used for the family name was Brangwyn. This is the first instance in the public records of its use. A number of other family lines also adopted this spelling around the same time which explains the number of people using that variation. Today, most instances of the spelling Brangwyn point to relatives of William Curtis Brangwin or the Castle Brangwin group. There are a couple of known exceptions where individuals have changed their name by deed poll to this form of the spelling.

So, generally, you can pick which branch of the family the person comes from by the spelling used.

Lorraine was born on May 2, 1950 in Morwell, Victoria, Australia the daughter of William Donald Barnett and Irene Gray, the third of their six children. Don was a farmer and Lorraine grew up on farms, firstly at Hazelwood, a short distance from Morwell and later at Denison which lies about 200k (130 miles) east of Melbourne.

Sport played a large part in family activities and summers saw the children participating in swimming, usually in the irrigation channel than ran along one boundary of the farm, or at one of the nearby beaches, but mostly in the channel. Don and eldest son John built a tennis court for the family and many hours were spent belting balls and playing friendly and, sometimes, not so friendly games with other family members and friends. Hockey was her winter sport although this was only played as part of a school team. The family focus during the winter was football. Most weekends would see the entire family out supporting John as he built up an impressive array of awards.

Lorraine was educated at the Wandocka and Nambrok Primary Schools, both small rural schools, before going on to St Anne's CEGGS, Sale where she undertook her secondary education. She gained a Commonwealth Scholarship which allowed her to undertake tertiary studies being awarded a Bachelor of Science from Monash University (Melbourne) in 1972.

Lorraine was baptised by the Rev Thomas R Collis on 19 November 1962 at Nambrok, Vic.

In 1972 Lorraine moved to Canberra to take up a position with the Commonwealth Department of Health as a Programmer-in-Training. She also spent some time with the Department of Science before taking a career break (motherhood).

During this period she was active in the local playgroup association being elected as President in 1978 and again in 1979.

In 1980 Lorraine returned to full time employment taking up a position with the Health Insurance Commission spending the next 20 years as part of this organisation or its breakaway bit Medibank Private. It was from Medibank Private that she and all the information technology staff were made redundant during 2000. More on that later.

Lorraine has been involved in a number of community activities. She was a member of the Telopea Park School P & C Committee for two years.

In 1983 the family became involved with the Burley Griffin Swimming Club. Lorraine has served in a number of capacities over the years since, including sitting on the Board for a number of years. In 1995 she was honoured with Life Membership of the club.

Lorraine has been active in the support of swimming at the ACT level too. She has been Secretary of ACT Swimming and currently holds the position of Vice President and oversees many of the technical activities of the local swimming community. This is both a rewarding and time consuming activity. In April 1996 Lorraine gained her swimming Referee qualification from the NSW Swimming Association, a significant achievement. She is also a life member of ACT Swimming.

Lorraine has also played the odd bit of golf winning the Murrumbidgee Country Club women’s 1993 bronze 3 Championship and 1994 Division 3 Championship.

Hobbies: Travel, researching travel possibilities, reading and family history research.

Lorraine married Trevor Wuth on August 18, 1973 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sale in Victoria. They have two sons: Antony (24) and Michael (22). She still lives in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, having arrived there in 1972.

How did she become interested in family history? In the mid 1980s a family reunion was held for the descendants of Daniel Barnett (son of George Barnett and Mary Brangwin). Daniel and his wife, Elizabeth Dreweatt, had arrived in Australia, Victoria to be more specific, in November 1849. They went on to have eight children: four boys and four girls. Unfortunately, all the girls died very young. Because she lived interstate her part of the family did not tell her about the reunion so she never attended. Her father, Don, did pass on the copies of the family tree that had been given to him and Lorraine filed them away for a rainy day which was quite a few years in the coming. One miserable day she pulled out the charts and was struck by a lack of follow up on the female lines. This triggered something in her and the search began. Her first major breakthrough came with the discovery of the name of Daniel’s mother, Mary Brangwin, a family that has fascinated her ever since.

Lorraine has been writing a book "Thomas Barnett of Remenham, Berkshire, farmer c1717 to 26 December, 1803. An outline of his descendants". Thomas is Lorraine’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather. Version 3 was produced in August 2000 less than

a week before going to the US for a flying two week visit to family she had discovered in Ohio and Utah. By the time she left for the US it was already out of date as she had additional information on a line that was woefully thin: "Ann BARNETT b .. married Thomas DEANE". She now have a heap of data on this as well as another couple of twiggy lines. The Deane family are of interest to the Hambleden Brangwin lines as a number of marriages took place between the Brangwins and the Deanes.

Version 1 of her book was produced in June 1999 and ran to some 61 pages including the index. Version 2 was done just prior to Christmas 1999 and was 71 pages. Version 3, produced in August 2000, was 206 pages! The next version will be bigger again. All that family history!

The family have a cat or, more precisely, a cat adopted them and runs the house. His name is Smudge.

Thomas Dreweatt Brangwin was born at Mill End, Hambleden, Bucks on September 4, 1832. His parents were Thomas Brangwin and Mary Dreweatt. Mary was the first wife of Thomas and they had married on September 20, 1831 at Welford, Berks. She died at Hambleden on September 26, 1836.

Thomas then married Ann Curtis on December 4, 1838 at Great Marlow, Bucks. Thomas and Ann had two children: Lucy born in 1841 and Francis born on September 11, 1845 both at Mill End. Lucy went on to marry John Williams on July 28, 1863 and nothing further is recorded for her. Ann Curtis died at Mill End on October 24, 1851.

Thomas married a third time in 1852. This marriage, to Sarah Ann Drew, produced one son: Robert Hudson Beare Brangwin around 1856.

Thomas died on January 20, 1857 at Burford Farm, Great Marlow, Bucks aged 54 years.

Thomas was a farmer who lived at Mill End, Hambleden for most of his life. According to the 1851 census for England and Wales, his farm was 310 acres and he employed 7 labourers. He is buried in the Hambleden church yard and his tomb stone reads:

Thomas Dreweatt Brangwin, or Thomas D for short, married Elizabeth Clarke on May 1, 1864 at Westminster St Luke, London. Their children were:

1. Tom Benda Brangwynne who was born on February 13, 1865 at 12 Tichbourne St, Paddington, Middlesex (this is part of what we generally refer to as London). He died on January 21, 1906. His birth registration was the first use of the spelling Brangwynne.
2. Francis W Brangwynne, known as Frank. He was born on November 11, 1866, in Cambridgeshire and died on December 12, 1949.
3. Mary Jane Brangwynne was born at Padbury, Bucks on October 26, 1868 and died on October 15, 1962. She married William Jones on April 15, 1893 at Bethany Baptist Church, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. When her birth was registered the spelling used for the family name was Brangwyne.
4. Lucy Elizabeth Brangwynne was born on November 25, 1870 at Bethnal Green, Middlesex. She married Thomas John Giles on March 4, 1895 at the Llanwenarth Chapel, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. At the time of her marriage she was living at 8 Ross Road, Abergavenny and her father was listed as a draftsman. Lucy died on October 20, 1951.
5. William Dreweatt Brangwynne was born at Old Ford, Middlesex on February 26, 1872. He died in Wales on February 2, 1954.
6. Emma Goldsworth Brangwynne was born on June 16, 1874 at Streatham, Surrey. She married in 1896 and died on September 3, 1949.
7. Anne Gwendoline Brangwynne was the first of the children to be born in Wales. She was born on October 16, 1876 at Swansea. She married in 1901.
8. Frederick Henry Brangwynne was born on January 23, 1878 in Swansea and he died shortly after. His death is registered in the first quarter of 1878
9. Robert John Brangwynne was born on February 27, 1880 at Swansea and died on February 5, 1962 at Orono, Maine, USA.
10. Minnie Florence Brangwynne was born in 1883 in Swansea and died shortly after birth.

So, what is known of Thomas D beyond the "he was born, married and died"?

Having been born on September 4, 1832 at Mill End, Hambleden, Bucks, Thomas D was baptised on October 4 of that year at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Hambleden, Bucks. This is the church in which many of his forebears and relatives were baptised, married and buried. Many Brangwins and associated family members are buried in the churchyard at Hambleden as a number of tombstones attest.

The 1851 census had the 18 year old Thomas D living at Canal End, High Wycombe, Bucks. His occupation was given as grocer’s assistant.

In 1864 he married in London. Whether he was living there at that time is unknown and his occupation is also unknown. These details will be available on the marriage records. It would appear that he and Elizabeth were living in London when his first child, Tom Benda, was born in February 1865. By the time their second child was born it appears as if the family was living in Cambridgeshire as the birth of Francis in late 1866 was registered at St Neots. The family had moved to Bucks by 1868 when Mary Jane was born. They appear to have returned to London and then moved to Wales prior to the birth of Anne Gwendoline in October 1876. In 1881 the family was living at 83 St Helens Avenue, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Thomas D was 48 years old, married and his occupation was listed as civil engineer.

Thomas was a draftsman and appears to have been associated with the railways as he is listed as a railways draughtsman in 1893 when daughter Mary Jane married. When Lucy married in 1895 his occupation was given as draughtsman.

Thomas and Elizabeth, as well as a number of their children, saw out their lives in Wales.

Next month we will look at what happened to the children of Thomas D.

There is an email list for things genealogical for the Brangwin family group? This is a free service and comes under the Rootsweb banner. This is supported by the Ancestory.com organisation and is intended for the discussion of things genealogical. If you would like to join it send an email message to

that contains the word

and nothing else. If you prefer digest mode, you should send the command instead to BRANGWIN-D-request@rootsweb.com. To post to both BRANGWIN-L and BRANGWIN-D, messages should be sent to BRANGWIN-L@rootsweb.com. Messages sent there will appear both places.

Instructions on switching between modes and how to unsubscribe will be sent to you when you join the list. At present this is not a very active list although through it we have made contact with Alan Betts whose wife, Jean, is a descendent of Thomas D.

The other general Brangwin family site that is available is one set up on MyFamily.com. This is also a free service supported by Ancestory.com. They pay for the provision of the service by selling advertising that appears when you are in the site – something that you can easily choose to ignore. This site is a ‘by invitation only’ one. If anyone is interested in joining please send me an email at lwuth@hups.com and I will arrange to issue an invitation to you. The site will soon have an online family tree for the part of the family that I belong to, which includes Thomas D and his lot – as long as those impacted agree! Once loaded, the tree will be available to all registered ‘Brangwin family site’ members. This will allow us to update the data on line and have a single reference point. Yes, anyone who is registered for the site will be able to add and amend details so consider joining. There is a range of other services available through our Brangwin family site. These include the ability to store photos (I have quite a few for Hambleden, Long Crendon and Haddenham as well as Welford, home of the Dreweatt women) and other documents, set up chat sessions and record other happenings. It does not have to be used for genealogy per se but anything of interest to the members. How about an exchange of grandmother’s favourite recipes? What about recollections of childhood holidays? All these are possible. More about this next month.

Well, that’s it for this month.

I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I’m looking forward to learning more about the famous Sir Frank who will be a feature in the next edition. We will also explore what happened to the children of Thomas D.

So, until next month

Lorraine Wuth