Jamaica - Mary Ann Wynter Brandon

[dumbledore16]

I would like to find out more about this fascinating lady.  She was born about 1825, her parents being Moses Brandon and Susannah Andrews.  She had a private income and travelled extensively.

My interest is that I first encountered her in the 1871 Census when she was living with her household at 28 Russell Road, Kensington, London.  The house is still standing (although it is now divided into flats) and I have a photograph of it.  My great grandfather was her page boy Alfred Augustus Love.  I can find nothing about his family in Jamaica and if anyone could help with some information I would be so grateful.

Jackie

[ShaunJ]

There's this old post on another board:  https://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.brandon/845/mb.ashx

[ShaunJ]

This site is very useful for Jamaica http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/

[dumbledore16]

Thank you.  I'll certainly visit this website.

[chapers]

Hi

I ve been doing the Brandon tree for some years as my wife is a descendent of Mary Anne Winter Brandon.(MAWB) She married 1st cousin, David Brandon of Marble Hall, Kingston Jamaica. The Brandons originate from Portugal originally as being sephardic jews, they fled the inquisition. MAWB was the daughter of Susannah Andrews, a freed slave. Susannah is described in the slave registers as Negro/ Creleo, meaning that her parents were both black but she was born in Jamaica. She is registered under an Eliza Pearce, who had a number of slaves. Susannah married Moses Brandon (sephardic jewish) and MAWB was the daughter. The Brandons were wealthy merchant traders, trading between West Indies and London and you are right about 28 Russell Road. Its a big London terrace and bizarrely, when I lived in London I actually went to a party in the basement flat in the late 1980's...way before I knew anything about the family history!
Susannah Andrews was born 1788/89 and died in Melbourne Asylum aged 102. Her son George Bryron Brandon also went to Melbourne.The Illustrated Sydney News paper of the time has an interview with her and a sketch of her.
MAWB died in Cardiff 1898 but I believe she is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery...but can't recall if this is true.

I ve more info that I can send you etc if you need it

regards

andyc

[chapers]

by the way...I spelt Bryron wrong...its Brydon

[paulgb]

Hi,

Just wondering how your search is coming along.  Mary Ann Wynter Brandon is my 2nd great grandmother!  It has been a fascinating search and I'm still looking for more details.  About a dozen years ago, I sent an email to a lady in Jamaica who I found on the Internet.  She had retired in Kingston, Jamaica and commissioned someone to do her family history.  She send me her files.  While not having my branch of the family, it was my family and provided details of many parts of the family going back to the 1650s.

Looking forward to exchanging information.

Paul Gerald Brandon
Mississauga Ontario Canada

[juliank]

Hello!
Mary Ann Winter Brandon is my fourth great grandmother. i wonder if Chapers can send us more information, specifically what asylum in melbourne Susannah Andrews, her mother went to and what year the paper had an interview with her?

[GarryC]

Hi JulianK and PaulGB (my 4th cousin),

Susannah Andrews is my third great grandmother. She was in the Yarra Bend Asylum, which closed almost a century ago and was replaced by a new asylum just a few hundred metres away (Kew Asylum) which only closed in 1988 and is now a housing development. It's about a 20-minute drive from where I live in suburban Melbourne. Here's the link to the Yarra Bend Asylum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarra_Bend_Asylum

I've tagged mentions of Susannah on Australia's national archives website Trove. You should find the links here at https://trove.nla.gov.au/search?l-usertag=Susannah%20Andrews or you can probably just search the newspapers for Susannah Andrews or Susannah Brandon. There are some really interesting articles there about the asylum and about Susannah. You can find plenty about her son (my second great grandfather) George Brydon Brandon there too if you click on this link https://trove.nla.gov.au/search?l-usertag=George%20Brydon%20Brandon He was a pretty interesting man, one of Melbourne's first school teachers. When I was a young boy, I remember many visits to see his daughter, my great grandmother Ada, in her nursing home. A delightful old lady who was always giving me caramels that made my teeth stick together!

One thing that intrigues me is that an article at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63614966/5567804 is dated 1890 and tells of a meeting with 102 year old Susannah Brandon, yet her gravestone in Melbourne General Cemetery says she died in 1875!  I can't figure that one out, but if it is OUR Susannah, then there is a wonderful illustration of her on this page. The article at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87732655 claims Susannah died in 1891

Another Trove article includes this quote "There is, for example, an old lady with the blackest of skins and the whitest of teeth, of whom it is told that years ago, in Jamaica, she was the connubial partner of one who had wealth at command, and whose mansion was dignified with no less a title than that of " Marble Hall" If the story be true, she has seen changes in her time." You can find that one at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5737420

I hope these links help you answer some of your questions. I'm assuming they're also available to people who live outside Australia, but if they don't work for you, let me know as I can download PDFs of the articles on Trove and get them to you another way.

Regards,

Garry Chapman
Melbourne, Australia