Braswell, Seward, and Phillips connections
There is tremendous information on the internet about these families,
much contradictory, but enough for a researcher to get plenty of leads.
I started my first major research on the Braswell line. I am proud to say that
I have over 90 Braswells listed that were not documented, that I could find, before
I started hunting. A new book (see below) more than doubles what I had.
During this research I have found cousins from Virginia to Texas to California. And there
are my relatives still in Grant county Arkansas.
I am still searching for more info on all families.
Our Braswell line was at a 'wall' with Jesse and Lucy Braswell in mid 1700's Virginia.
I needed to get the connection to the Rev. Richard Bracewell, immigrant from England.
From Virginia, all three families moved west to Tennessee, many to near Memphis.
These families, and others like James, Nanney, Lanier, Wickham, and Moore were
connected by marriages.
My Braswell line veered slightly south into Mississippi, then to Arkansas, and
some on to Texas.
The Seward line is well documented, as are the Phillips.
Alana's mom, Sandy, was born in Madison county, Tn., right where our ancestors
went through some 130 years earlier. For a couple of years, my job had me
traveling west Tn, northern Ms, and eastern Ar. All the areas our roots had lived in.
How I wish I had known that then!
But now good news... In late 2001, another Braswell descendant,
Ray Sasser published a book covering a tremendous amount of research he has done.
His book covers the Braswells and associated families of Brunswick county, Virginia,
and gives his theory of how they connect back to the root family of Rev. Bracewell.
He gives a quite convincing argument, with the most documentation that I have seen
in the few years I have been hunting for the connection myself. Most researchers
seem to connect and concentrate on the Braswells that went south to North Carolina and on,
but Ray has given great new insight to our 'radical' line that either stayed in
Brunswick county, or headed straight west to Tennessee.
I suggest that anyone from this line get a copy of the book:
THE BRASWELLS OF BRUNSWICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA
being the Descendants and Ancestors of
Jesse Braswell, Sr.
(ca. 1741 - 1827)
Ray can currently
be contacted at:
Ray Sasser
2134 Skippers Rd.
Emporia, VA 23847
raysasser@telpage.net
The name Braswell, and many variations, evolved from Bracewell.
The most commonly accepted meaning of Bracewell is "well at the hill" from Gaelic
"Braes", meaning hill. This feature is said to have once existed at our ancestral home, Bracewell
village in Yorkshire, England. The family name predates the Norman Invasion of
1066 A.D. There are some other theories about its origin.
At a later date, I will cover the Seward and Phillips lines. The tree connections
with them are actually traced back as far, if not farther, than the Braswells.