1851 Malpas - Done

[sheikhalbadou]

Thanks Peter

I think I've got as far as I can get sat at my computer! Can't wait to get to the records office now!

Thanks again

Sue

[anjeyelf]

Hi Sue

It would appear that we have common Stevenson relatives.

I have read this thread with interest and wonder who was Sarah Done nee Brooke. Did you ever establish who her parents were?

cheers
Anje

[rnewfie]

Sue,
Did you ever get anywhere with this.
I know from previous exchanges that we have had, we appear to have common ancestors on the Brooke side.
Have a look at the pdf which I have uploaded here
www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/Thomas%20BROOKE.pdf
Note that around the 18th century, the Brooke family started using the name Brookes, eg. Ambrose 'Brooke' (Randle's son) was godson to Ambrose 'Brookes'.
I am not sure who your grand-father/mother was, so I have included him/her as an un-named Stevenson, but he/she is probably one of the 7 siblings born to your 'Ralph'.
Please correct whatever is wrong and let me know.

[Jo Harding]

Hello to all who have contributed,

I am also a Brooke descendant, my 5x Gt Grandmother was Sarah Brookes of Bickley.

I found a baptism for Ralph Stevenson on the Cheshire Parish Register Database. This reads as follows:

St Boniface, Bunbury, baptised 04/06/1790, Ralph, son of Ambrose Stevenson. Residence: Tilston.

I hope I have put the dates right as this site is not an easy one to use. The year is correct.

The link is here http://cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cprdb/

That puts the marriage of Ambrose Stevenson to Ann Palin in Bunbury in 1788 as the correct one.

Jo.

[Jo Harding]

Hello again,

Ralph Stevenson married Ann Davies in Marchwiel, Denbighshire on 13 October 1813. Both shown as of Marchwiel parish.

The details are available on FindMyPast.

Jo.

[Jo Harding]

I found the Will of Sarah Brooke Done and saw that she made bequests to some people by the name of Brookes. It mentions: William .... Brookes, John Henry Brookes, George Brookes and Thomas Brookes, who were said to have been, "sons of the late William .... Brookes of Whitchurch, Shropshire, Gentleman".

Have you ever tried to identify the link between Sarah and this line of Brookes? Do you hold any further information on them?

Jo.

[rnewfie]

I have never found a definite link between Sarah Brooke Done and the Malpas Brookes.
The added complication was that around the 18th century, some of the Brooke family started changing their name to Brookes, there were even cases where they were born Brooke and died Brookes.
The Brookes you mentioned were descendants of William Wycherley Brookes.
William Lee Brookes, mentioned in Sarah's will, was my GG Grand-father.
Here is how he fits into my family :-
www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/William%20Wycherley%20BROOKES.pdf
Here is the un-confirmed information relating to the Dones :-
www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/Thomas%20BROOKE.pdf

The Brooke family were originally from Whitchurch then spread out to Dodington, Malpas, Broughall, Tushingham and Steeple Aston.
Let me know if you find any common ground or any information on the PDFs which needs updating.

[sheikhalbadou]

I don't know if anyone is still following this thread but I thought I would bring it up to date with what I know...

Sarah Brooke Done before her marriage to John Done was Sarah Brooke Peers (1784 Malpas), daughter of Joseph Peers and Martha Brooke.

Martha Brooke (1743 Harthill) was the daughter of Ambrose Brooke and Eleanor Ollerhead. Ambrose Brooke was the brother of Susannah Brooke (who married Ralph Stevenson in 1734 St Michael, Chester). Their son Ambrose Stevenson was Martha Brooke's cousin. Ambrose Stevenson was Ralph's father and so that is the connection with Sarah Brooke Done.

Sarah refers to the portrait of Ralph's Great Grandfather, Randle Brooke. This is what has thrown me for some time as Ralph's great grandfather was George Brooke (Susannah's father). However, George died when his children were young, leaving them in the guardianship of his brothers Ambrose and Randle. I think this is where the confusion probably lies.

The portrait - which has survived! (I managed to track down to some distant relatives in the Malpas area) - is of an elderly man and so it cannot be of George who died relatively young.

That is the theory so far.... but if anyone has any more information I would love to hear it!

[rnewfie]

"Sarah refers to the portrait of Ralph's Great Grandfather, Randle Brooke. This is what has thrown me for some time as Ralph's great grandfather was George Brooke (Susannah's father). However, George died when his children were young, leaving them in the guardianship of his brothers Ambrose and Randle. I think this is where the confusion probably lies. The portrait - which has survived! (I managed to track down to some distant relatives in the Malpas area) - is of an elderly man and so it cannot be of George who died relatively young."

I found a link between the Brooke and Brookes families and the Malpas branch.
It was hidden because of the change in name from Brooke to Brookes, but not necessarily adopted by all branches.
Ralph Stevenson's Great Grandfather was indeed, George Brooke.
George died when his children were between 10 and 18.
George wasn't particularly young when he died (for those days), he was around 48, but he did have his children fairly late in life. He didn't marry until he was 28.
People in those days seemed to look older than their years. Maybe he was in his late 40s when the picture was painted.
Can you check when the painting was painted? Sometimes they are dated on the back along with an artist's name?
If it really is of an old man, then it could be either George's brother Ambrose (b:1671) or Randle (b:1676) who were 8 and 3 years older than George respectively.
It all depends on the date of the painting.
Have a look at the PDF here to see if it throws any light on it. I would appreciate any updates on its correctness.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/Sarah%20Brookes%20Done.pdf