Note: See DNA project links at the end of this article.
The Bramhall story in North
America appears to have begun with
William Bramall / Bramhall, who arrived in Maryland from England in 1651. While other Bramhalls arrived in Maine three
decades later, it is unknown to what extent, if any, they relate to the
Bramhall of Maryland who is the subject of this article.
William Bramall made the long voyage
across the Atlantic with his wife Mary and his son Luke. It seems that they initially settled in St.
Mary’s County and later relocated across the Patuxent River to Calvert
Couny. A second son, Richard, was born
either during transit or shortly after the family’s arrival in Maryland. A third son, Charles, was born within their
first few years in Maryland. These are the only children of William and Mary mentioned in archived records.
Early Maryland records include a number of spelling variations in the surname, often using different variations within the same legal document. These variations include Bromwell, Bramwall, Bromall, Bramall, and Brumile, among others; but evidence exists to remove any doubt that these records refer to the same person and the same family.
Settlement of Maryland
Maryland was
originally established as one of just two proprietary
colonies in North America, the other being Pennsylvania, meaning it was owned
and governed by an individual. The first
proprietor was George Calvert, born in Yorkshire, England, about 1580, of a
family of some wealth and social position. His parents were probably Catholic, since
there were numerous recorded instances of summonses and fines against the
family for non-conformity to the Anglican religion. The Calverts appear to have abandoned Catholicism
around 1590, which enabled George Calvert to attend Trinity College, Oxford,
and to rise to a position of prominence in the court of James I. He was knighted in 1617, and in 1619 he became
principal Secretary of State.
In 1624 Calvert
announced that he had become a Catholic, which disallowed him from continuing
in public office. However, for his past services King James rewarded him with
the title of Baron of Baltimore. Calvert,
who had purchased land and financed the dispatch of a group of settlers to
Newfoundland in 1620, then turned his full efforts and resources toward the
colonization of America.
After receiving encouraging reports from the settlers, Lord
Baltimore took his wife and forty more settlers to Newfoundland in 1628. There he saw the hopeless condition of the
settlement
and the difficulties of farming in such a cold climate, and after
spending a brutal winter there he abandoned the project and returned to England
in 1629. On the return trip he stopped
in Virginia, which had sustained an English settlement since 1607, and where he
had hoped to resettle his colony. Their
refusal to submit to Protestant conformity made his group unwelcome there, but
Calvert was able to explore the Chesapeake Bay, where he found an abundance of
promising unsettled land. Back in
England he petitioned King Charles I for a land grant north of the Virginia
settlements.
Permission for the Chesapeake Bay settlement came two months after George Calvert's death in 1632, and leadership of the colonization effort passed to his son Cecilius Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore. The charter granted to Lord Baltimore gave him almost regal powers in the new colony, including the appointment of all officials, control of the courts, militia, feudal manors, trade, taxes and custom duties, and ownership of all the land, which was in turn used to attract colonists and investors.
The first Maryland settlers left England in 1633 on two ships, the
Ark and the Dove, led by Governor Leonard Calvert, who was
subsequently appointed Royal Governor of the new colony by his brother Cecilius
Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Passengers
included
both Catholic and Protestant settlers along with two Jesuit priests and two
Brothers. With stops in Barbados and
other Caribbean islands and at Point Comfort, Virginia, they sailed up the
Chesapeake and landed at St. Clements Island, about 25 miles up the Potomac
River. After negotiating with the local
Indians, who were friendly, and exploring the area, they decided on the
location of their first permanent settlement, St. Mary's City, on the St.
George River. They celebrated mass to
mark the formal possession of the colony on March 24, 1634. The area originally acquired from the Indians
correlated roughly with present day St. Mary's County, Maryland.
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| Leonard Calvert |
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| Replica of The Dove, St. Mary's City, Maryland |
By 1642, the taxable-age (12 and over) male population of St. Mary's County had reached 225, of which 173 were free and 53 indentured servants. Males outnumbered females by four to one. Most lived on manors or individual farms spread along the various navigable creeks and rivers emptying eventually into the Potomac River. The majority lived in one-room houses, maintained vegetable gardens and livestock for food, and raised a cash crop providing yearly incomes of two to three hogsheads of tobacco, valued at 8 to 15 pounds sterling. In the early years, farm animals were acquired from Virginia, but the Maryland settlers soon became self-sufficient in that regard. With few fences, livestock roamed free, and were identified by clipped ear marks. Livestock theft was a serious offense, possibly punishable by death.
As the settlements spread, they were divided into regions called "hundreds," originally intended to incorporate about one hundred families. In the early years the colonists were concentrated mainly in St. George's, St. Michael's, St. Clement's and Mattapanient Hundreds. St. Mary's City, the site of the provincial government, consisted of about 10 residences, a mill, a forge, and a Catholic chapel. Government and court functions were carried out in the Governor's or Secretary's residences until the 1660's, when the first state house was built.
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| Cary Carson's Drawing of St. Mary's City 1634 |
Bramall Plantation
William Bramall was apparently a man of some means. During the decade of the 1650’s, he sponsored a number of immigrants who could not afford the trip from England to America. Those who were initially sponsored by William include Francis Douglas, Thomas Bouges, Joseph Delvines, and John Cassell. Additionally, no fewer than four men were sponsored between 1652 and 1656, and at least a few more before 1660. These men agreed to work for William as payment for transportation to the new colony, a practice known as indentured servitude.
To promote the settlement of the Colony, English citizens who agreed to relocate to the Province of Maryland were granted free land there, and those who paid the way for others qualified for even more land. Lots of 100 acres were assigned to individual colonists paying their own way, and for those financing groups of colonists, manor lots of 1000 acres were given for each five men transported and equipped. Annual rents were paid to the Lord Baltimore, proprietor for the Colony. The land grant system continued until 1684, after which land was purchased directly.
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| Original Land Grant from Maryland State Archives |
William Bramwall appeared before the Provincial Court in Saint Mary’s on November 20, 1656 to enter his rights to land. A parcel of approximately 500 acres was surveyed by Robert Clark along the Patuxent River on the north side of Hunting Creek. This would become the plantation known simply as Bramall (or Bromall in some records). Annual rent of ten shillings sterling in silver or gold or commodity would be paid in St. Mary’s to the Proprietor, either in full or in two equal installments during the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and at the Feast of St. Michael the Arch Angel. This area, a peninsula between the Chesapeake Bay and east of the Patuxent River, did not become known as Calvert County until 1658. From 1654 to 1658, it was called Patuxent County, and it was originally settled in 1650 as Charles County, not to be confused with the present-day Charles County on the western banks the Patuxent River.
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| Site of the Bramall Plantation, Calvert County, Maryland |
Life for early settlers was difficult and laborious. Those who came as indentured servants were bound in service for a specified number of years, typically five. Six days per week of 10 to 14 hours work were required. Corporal punishment was allowed, although mistreated servants were entitled to a hearing in court. Upon completion of the indenture, many of the servants worked on for wages or by sharecropping to acquire additional capital in the form of tools and supplies needed to farm the 50 acres to which they were entitled.
For those who made the voyage to America, the trip was long and miserable, with crowded conditions and frequent outbreaks of various diseases. One of Bramall’s sponsored men, referred to in Provincial Court records as simply Bramhall’s servant, became a key figure in a trial resulting from a bizarre set of circumstances during his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Gravely ill and possibly delirious, he suggested that during the rocky voyage over to Maryland another servant committed a variety of heinous acts, including infant murder. He accused Judith Catchpole of murdering her newborn child, secretly wounding people so that they might suffer from an incurable blood loss and committing untraceable surgical procedures that similarly resulted in the death of others while on board ship. Whatever motivations drove the servant to suggest that Catchpole had engaged in such dubious activity, by the time the verdict was delivered that too little evidence existed to indict her, the unnamed servant was dead and virtually forgotten. (Source: Archives of Maryland Online, Judicial and Testamentary Business of the Provincial Court, 1649/50-1657, volume 10, page 456)
Violent crime was rare in colonial Maryland, and yet a case was heard in 1663 over the shooting of Richard Morton by Patrick Due, overseer of William Bromall’s plantation, on the Bromall land. Morton, a resident of Wapping, England in Middlesex County, east of London, was a crew member on a ship captained by Ralph Storye. On March 14, 1662, Storye and his crew sailed up the Patuxent River and into the mouth of Hunting Creek. They landed at a cove on the Bromall property, having been instructed to pick up a hogshead of tobacco for a Mr. Cooke. One of the crew, Tobias Dunkin, went ashore to the plantation and approached a woman there. She verified that it was the Bromall plantation and that Patrick Due was overseeing the operation.
Dunkin then approached Mr. Due, who confirmed that there was a hogshead of tobacco for Mr. Cooke. Due asked where they had landed, and he became agitated to learn that the crew was near the canoe, as he had worked all morning collecting oysters, which were now housed within the canoe. He feared that the crew would help themselves to the oysters. Dunkin assured him the crew would not disturb the oysters and went to the tobacco house to roll the hogshead to the shore. Due sent a boy who was working for him, sixteen year-old Robert Hobbs, to the shore to warn the crew not to take the oysters.
Then Mr. Due went to secure a shotgun, gunpowder, and buckshot and made his way to the shore, along with his two dogs. Meanwhile, some of the crew members, including Elias Chandler and John Addams, had indeed noticed the oysters in the canoe and decided to help themselves to a snack. The boy, Hobbs, came down the hill from the plantation and asked them what they were doing. Chandler told him not to be angry, that the oysters had not cost anything. The boy replied that it had cost him his labor all morning in collecting them. The crew offered to pay for the oysters they had eaten, Addams tossing a coin to the shore.
Then Mr. Due appeared with the dogs and his shotgun, cursing at the men in the canoe, calling them “sea dogs,” and threatening to kill them. He said he did not want their money and fired at the men, wounding Morton in the arm and chest, and striking Chandler in the cheek. Due then sent his dogs onto the men, chasing them hip deep into the water.
Morton was treated by Stephen Clifton, a surgeon from Calvert County, on the day of the shooting. Clifton testified that Morton had been mortally wounded with buckshot having pierced his lung through the rib cage. Three days later, on March 17th, Morton was pronounced dead.
A petite jury of the Provincial Court found Patrick Due guilty not of murder, but rather of manslaughter. The key witnesses in the case were interviewed by John Bateman and William Turner. Turner was a neighbor and good friend to William Bramall and his family, and he and his son would become a key figures in the Bramall story.
Bramall Court Records
Early records document several appearances by William Bramhall before the Provincial Court (Source: Judicial and Testamentary Business of the Provincial Court, 1649/50-1657):
Page 424, Court and Testamentary Business, 1655: William Bramhall having been formerly Convicted of Subscribing to a Rebellious Petition, and now againe hath Subscribed another to that effect, It is ordered that the Sd Bramhall Shall be at the Charge of building a pair of Stocks and See it finished within one Month, And that the Sheriffe Shall Cause this order to be performed.
Page 432, Court and Testamentary Business, 1655: John Boone acknowledgeth in Court to Serve William Bramale two yeares.
Page 476, Court and Testamentary Business, 1656/7:The differrence depending between William Bramaell plant and mr John Potts defendt is referred to the next Provll Court.
Page 478, Court and Testamentary Business, 1656/7:Timothy Gunton Sworne and Examined in open Court Saith that mr John Potts was to give William Brammaell 7 barrells of Corne a Share for 4 Shares, and the Said mr Potts did give the aforesaid Brammaell Earnest to bind the game when he bought the Corne and farther Saith not timothy Gunton.
John Merthe Sworne and Examined in open Court Saith that mr Iohn Potts was to give William Bramaell 7 barrells of Corne a Share for 4 Shares and that the Said mr Potts was to Come downe the Munday following to See the Corne; and the Said Brammaell Said he had no accomodation for him, whereupon mr Potts Said he would Send down his man, and gave the Said Brammaell Charge of his hogs which were in the Corn field to the Number of fifteen or Sixteen, and the Said Brammaell replyed he would be more Carefull then formerly he had been, And further Saith not Signum John 0 Merthe.
The Death of Bramall
The three sons of William and Mary became orphaned at a young age. William died in 1660, Mary having preceded him in death. In his last will and testament, dated December 1660, William names all three children as heirs, leaving them his entire estate. Further, he entrusted his “beloved friends William Turner and William Parrott” to settle his estate.
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| Will of William Brumale from Maryland State Archive |
William
Brumale his will
In the name of God amen. I William Brumale being sick and weak in body do first
bequeath my soul unto God that gave it and my body to the earth from whence it
came knowing assuredly that I shall arise to meet him and his glory and to my
comfort. And having a desire to dispose of my earthly goods I first of all give
unto my three sons, Luke Brumale, Richard Brumale and Charles Brumale unto
these my three children I do give my whole Estate and land cattle and Premises
hereunto and all manner of Household goods and other goods as tobacco now and
made or housed or shall be made. Also all manner of debts whatsoever I have a
desire that my children may have my Estate divided into three parts unto every
child his portion equally and that these my three children may have education
it is my desire also. I make and ordain my well beloved neighbors William
Parrott and William Turner my true and trusty friends the executors of this my
last will and testament and that they may do all and everything according as
God shall guide them and that my beloved friends William Turner and William
Parrott do pay all debts and of my Estate that can justly be made apart. I
William Brumale do freely give unto Joseph Dawkins at the expiration of his
servitude one two year old heifer. My will and desire is that my last will and
testament may stand in full aforesaid and Vortuo and all other and do be void
and of no effect. To the true purpose named where of I set my hand and seal the
mark of W. William Brumale.
In the years following the death of William Bramhall of Calvert County, the guardianship of his sons was addressed several times by the Provincial Court. William Turner apparently died before 1665, and his children, along with Bramhall’s sons, were placed under the guardianship of Dr. John Stanesby. It seems that one of the sons, Charles, died sometime between 1660 and 1662, as he is not mentioned in any of the recorded proceedings of the Court. Whoever had guardianship of the boys also held control over the plantation. At the request of the boys, guardianship was later transferred to Demetrius Cartwright.
Provincial Court Proceedings, 1665-66, Page 159: Att a Court held 10th June 1665 Luke Bromall Choseth for his Guardian Mr Demetrius Cartwright
Att a Court held 24th Aug 1665 att William Turners by the Appointmt of Mr John Stanesby Guardian of Wm Turners Children, and Thomas Bowdell as Administrator of Docter Cliftens Estate and Demetrius Cartwright Guardian of Bromhals Children
Ordered that the Orphants of Wm Bromall and theire estate be deliuered unto John Stanesby (Guardian of Wm Turners Children) for the use of Wm Turner, prouided that hee put's in security the next County Court to performe a uoluntary Order wch Docter Cliften engaged to performe in the Court for Bromalls Vse att a Court held the 26th August 1664
Provincial Court Proceedings, 1665, Page 135: (Dec) 18th Demetrius Cartwright desires summons for John Stanesby to appeare next Prouinall Court to answere the sd Cartwrights Complaint Concerning Luke & Richard the orphants of William Bromall
Page 162: To The Right Honnble the Gouernor And Councell
The humble petn of Dem: Cartwright Sheweth
That whereas Luke Bromall was by Order of the County Court the 20th day of June last past, Ordered to Remaine dwell & abide wth yor petr as his Guardian together wth his Brother Richard Bromall, Now soe it is that the said Court an uertue of an Order bearing date the 24th Aug° last past, hath Ordered the Orphants that they shall be under the Guardianship of John Stanesby Chirurgeon and the orphants being thereunto unwilling and hauing a desire that both there Estates and prsons may be under the Guardianship Charge managemt & tuition of yor petr especially the eldest by name Luke being of Capable age of Eleccon in that Case hauing unto yor petr addressed himselfe and made request that he would Vouchsafe the Guardianship and Charge aforesaid, hee therefore doth humble pray that this honnble Court will please to take the premisses into theire serious Consideracons and giue such further Judgmt and determinacon uppon the sd orphants desire and request as may be sutable to law in that Case, And yor petr shall euer pray &c [p. 163] Demetrius Cartwright plt The foregoeing petn wth the Coppyes of John Stanesby defendant the Orders of the County Court entred in fo: 159 being read It is Ordered That the Orphant Luke Broniall doth remaine undr the Guardianship of Demetrius Cartwright and the Estate remaine where it is according to those two foresaid Orders of the said County Court of Caluert John Stanesby preferrs his Bill of Charge being for 300lb tobacco, which was Ordered to be paid out the said Orphants Estate
Bramall / Bramhall / Bramel Lineage
Richard Bramall lived to adulthood, but not
much past that, and his older brother Luke preceded him in death. Richard’s last will and testament is dated
April 16, 1676, and the date of his death was recorded as May 3, 1676. In it, he bequeaths 500 acres of land to his wife,
Joyce Bramall. In 1679, Joyce remarried
to William Turner, probably a son of the William Turner mentioned in William
Bramhall’s will. Thus, ownership of the Bramall Plantation went to the Turners.
The fate of this line of Bramhall genealogy is
unclear. There is no mention of any offspring in the wills of Luke and Richard, so it is possible that this line ended with
their deaths. Still, some researchers have theorized that prior to his death, Richard may have fathered a son with his wife Joyce, possibly named James, and that this is the missing link in our Bramel lineage.
The "Bramel" variation of the surname appears in some early 1700's records in nearby Prince Georges County. Then in 1755, another William Bramhall, my sixth great grandfather, purchased land next to the town of Benedict in Charles County, on the banks of the
Patuxent River just across from the site of the Bramall Plantation in Calvert County. No records have been discovered that would
definitively link my Benedict line with the William Bramhall who was
granted land in Calvert County by the Lord Baltimore in 1656. Could it simply be a coincidence?
Links:
Some of William Bramhall's descendants relocated from Charles County, Maryland to Mason County, Kentucky in 1812: The Church That Bramel Built
UPDATE January 2021: A DNA project has connected the Bramhall line of Charles County to the Bromwell line of Dorchester County. We now have a Y-DNA group for testing male descendants with one of these (or similar) surnames. You can help by joining the project here: Bramhall Y-DNA Project
For general information about our DNA findings to date, check out this article: Bramel DNA - Our Link to Medieval Times
