RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Shropshire => Topic started by: wonkiewidge on Wednesday 01 December 04 18:53 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help to solve a puzzle?
There was a family of Brecknocks around the Wheathill area of Shropshire that in the late 1600's and early 1700's splintered and changed their names.
The alias' given from the IGI were Colton/Coulton, Breakwell & Cotton amongst others.
I noted from the IGI that there were other families that also gave alias'.
Can anybody come up with any ideas as to what might have caused these family rifts.
I think it would have been too late to be anything to do with the civil war.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Linda ???
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Hi just wondered if you ever found out My grandmother was a break well from the brecknockes so of interest to me too.
helen
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Hi Helen,
Sorry, no, I never did find out. :-[
Linda
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thanks for letting me know. I am wondering whether in 1700'as it was a reaction to jewish persecution...I have a feeling the brecknockes were jewish...lots of very biblical names. and it would make sense at that time.
we will probably never know!
Happy New Year.
Helen
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http://www.melocki.org.uk/salop/LudlowPart1.html Brecknock 25 Listed
http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/search/?q=Brecknock&cb_submit=Search
http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/search/?q=Breakwell&cb_submit=Search
http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/search/?q=Coulton&cb_submit=Search
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There is a very good explanation of the use of Alias names at "familysearch.org/wiki/en/Use_of_Aliases_-_an_Overview".
Just why the Colton/Brecknock/Breakwell divisions originated is not clear, and perhaps we will never know, but it certainly makes entering data in computerised family trees challenging :)
Maec (a Colton descendant)
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I'm a Breakwell descendant (from Israel Breakwell of Coreley) and I've never solved the mystery of the Colton alias. It all gets a bit murky, so I've abandoned it for a while to work on other parts of the tree. Must get back to it though! I get the feeling we may never understand why there was a change in name, but we may be able to narrow it down to a particular timeframe.
I have another "alias" in my tree - it's become clear through parish records that it is a result of illegitimacy. The reputed father's name is mentioned on the baptism record, and the child continues to use both surnames.
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Just came across this post as my mother-in-law is a Breakwell Descendant. Going through some of my notes, I came across some Breakwell Research Interests that were put out by one Russell Robinson, but the website that came along with it (December 2011) is no longer valid. Would be interested if this person has any further info.
allan
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Hi Allan,
If all else fails I have a print copy of Russell's pages which I have now scanned into PDF format. If you'd like to send me your e-mail address by PM I can send you copies. ( We can't send attachments on this site, and there are several pages ).
In the meantime I'll refresh my memory and check my data as there is much more information on line than there was in 2000 when I was looking at this ;D
Maec
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PM received and data sent.
Maec
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Hi, I am also researching a line of Breakwell's and have got back to a Brecknock, Would you mind sharing that information with me also?
Thanks
Mark
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Welcome to Rootschat, Mark.
I have some of these families in my records, there are a lot of them !
If you could give me the name(s) of the Brecknock / Breakwell you've linked to I'll see if I can give you any leads.
Maec
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Great thanks, I will send them on shortly ;D
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Nothing received. Are you still there ?
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Can anyone help to solve a puzzle?
There was a family of Brecknocks around the Wheathill area of Shropshire that in the late 1600's and early 1700's splintered and changed their names.
The alias' given from the IGI were Colton/Coulton, Breakwell & Cotton amongst others.
I noted from the IGI that there were other families that also gave alias'.
Can anybody come up with any ideas as to what might have caused these family rifts.
I think it would have been too late to be anything to do with the civil war.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Linda ???
English Civil War finished in 1651 - familes were hounded by Cromwells Troops for many years - hunted down - especially if they thought there may be a family connection to the Royal Family of Charles I.....1642-1646 there were many battles in Shropshire - check it out on Wiki ..
could this be the reason for changed names ? who knows - but it is a possible reason - I know you think it is too late after the Civil War - but I don't - persecution went on for many years :)
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A possibility we have considered but the families concerned all lived in a fairly small area and would have been known to others in the locality. In any case there is little evidence of ordinary families being hounded for political reasons after the Civil War, and these families were tradespeople and agricultural workers, not gentry and certainly not connected to royalty !
Also note that the families often baptised their children under both names, which they would hardly have done if trying to escape the attention of the authorities.
The use of aliases during the period up to the mid-1700s was relatively common and seems to have been more to do with avoiding confusion between branches of the same family with the same Christian names living in the same locality. One branch would adopt an alias surname in addition to their original surname much as in later years people started using hyphenated surnames to distinguish different branches of the same family.
Maec