THE BROWNHILL FAMILY.
(ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE)
���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�
In common with the majority of surnames the family name of Brownhill has been spelt in a variety of different ways down the centuries. I am aware of eleven different spellings; the most common are Brownhill, Brownell and Brownill. However, there is no doubt that in its origin the name was pronounced as� Brownhill. Today the great majority of the 'English' Brownhills� use the Brownhill spelling but the 'Old American' Brownhills tend to use the Brownell spelling, whilst the 'New American' Brownhills� use the Brownhill form. For the sake of convenience, in most, but not all,� cases I propose to use the Brownhill spelling in this history, regardless of� which spellings were used in the records. In numerous cases the same individual would have his surname spelt first one way and then another!� It was mainly other people who mis-spelt the name, as is evidenced by the instance of Thomas Brownhill, the Beadle, of whom it was written in the History of the Sheffield Cutlers Company, 'In the spring following 1757 Thomas Brownell (or as he is often called with fine impartiality, Brownhill) joined the ranks of past Beadles and was succeeded by Thomas Wragg.' One imagines that he was often referred to as Brownell but maintained that his name was really Brownhill!
�
The name Brownhill is a place name and consequently the original Brownhills were associated with a place bearing that name. Most authorities on the origin of surnames agree that surnames derived from� place names came into existence in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.� For example, Sir Anthony Wagner� writes in English Genealogy� 'Between 1066 and 1400 most families in England adopted permanent surnames, but the process was a slow one, spreading by degrees from top to bottom and from South to North. The four main kinds are place names, names of relationship, occupational names and descriptive names. Local surnames may derive from lordship of a place, residence in it or origin from it.',� whilst L. G. Pine, in Trace Your Ancestors, says, 'English surnames are not very old, as I have already said, but many of them date back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries'.
�
It does not follow that the possession of� a locality surname means that the original ancestor was a lord, but if it can be shown that the early bearers of the name were land-holders then it is a reasonable assumption that they derived their surname from possession of� a place, rather than simple residence in it or origin from it!�� The earlier the name can be traced the greater the likelihood that the family were land-holders. At the same time, using Wagner as a guide, minor land-holders, e.g. knights, living in the northern counties, probably adopted their surnames in the middle to latter part of the thirteenth century.
�
The question also arises as to whether the Brownhills descend from one original ancestor or from a multitude of ancestors: people who separately and independently of each other adopted the same surname. On page 14 of her book� The Six Wives Of Henry VIII, Antonia Fraser, the eminent historian, says,' her (i.e. England's) population (in 1496AD), combined �with that of Wales, made up a mere two and a half million.'�It has been estimated that there are at least 100,000� English family names. If this is so then statistically the number of persons living and bearing the Brownhill surname, in all its forms, in 1500AD would have been no more than 25! Assuming that these were�spread over three generations we have, at most, four families, each consisting of approximately six individuals. And there were four Brownhill families known to have been� living at that time: Northenden, Cheshire; Edinburgh, Scotland; Coventry, Warwickshire; and Stannington, Yorkshire. Were these four separate families or four branches of one and the same family?
Since 1958 I have obtained a substantial amount of information on the Brownhills. Currently in my records for the period 1559 to 1659 I have recorded 212 Brownhill baptisms for the whole of England and Wales. In all probability I have about 80% of the total so that the actual number of� baptisms (births) for that period would have been about 265: half of these�would have been male, the other half female, and many would have died in infancy. Statistically, this gives an average birth rate of 2.65 per annum. Assuming that all the Brownhills lived to the biblical age of three score and ten and that female marriages into and out of the family balanced each other out then at any given point in time during this period the number of Brownhills living would have been about 180. But in the real world many people did not reach the age of 70 years whilst others exceeded it; e.g. Simon Brownhill of Bedfordshire died at the age of 72 in 1656 and this fact was recorded in the burial register. Consequently we may infer from the records that most people did not reach 70 but, as with today, some died at every age. Therefore, if we assume a statistically level mean age at death of 45 the number of Brownhills living at any one time during this period would have been nearer 100, four times the estimated number in 1500!
�
Is this feasible?� It must be remembered that in the centuries prior to 1500 the country was ravaged by war. First there were the wars with Scotland and then the Wars of the Roses. These took their toll of the warrior classes and the mortality rate was high, so that in many cases families struggled to stay in existence. But these wars came to an end with the accession of Henry VIII� and during his reign there was relative peace; this was built upon by Elizabeth I and then the Stuart Kings until the onset of the Civil War in the 1640s. The rise of the merchant classes during this period added to the relative stability and prosperity of the nation and the population began to expand. This can be clearly seen in the records. With the passing of time the rate of expansion increased, so if we work backwards through time and reverse the process it is not difficult to arrive at a figure of approximately� 25 individuals bearing the Brownhill name and living in England in the year 1500. The Scottish records that I have so far been able to obtain for this period show only a handful of individuals and confirms my view. There is no doubt that from these four families descend all the Brownhills, Brownells and Brownills�living today.
From these four families Brownhills, Brownells and Brownills have spread to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand et cetera. Having started as a white English family seven hundred years ago the Brownhill Family today is both multi-national and multi-racial.
What follows is my interpretation, based on the balance of probabilities,� of the information currently in my possession and I freely accept that further research, which is necessary, may either confirm my conclusions or inspire revision.
It is my intention to transfer to this website all the information that I currently have in my records in paper form. This may take me some months. I propose to check all the family trees that I constructed forty plus years ago before uploading them. I will continue to search for more information and, if necessary, correct and update family trees and histories, so what appears in this website may change from time to time. I will be pleased to receive constructive criticism and further information. So if you know something, tell me . It does not matter if I already know it.
As far as this website is concerned people still living will appear as 'Living', because this is a public website. However, in due course, a private version will be produced in paper form and eventually on CD. So if you are a Brownhill or have Brownhill ancestors and you want a copy of you family tree I should be able to provide it. 'Brownhill' naturally includes 'Brownell' and 'Brownill'.
I do not have any information on the Brownell family of America. For this you should refer to the Brownell website hosted by rootsweb. I have provided a link on this website at Brownhill or Brownell
Please note that I am still learning html and experimenting with it, so if some links appear strange I apologise. However, the true lineage should be apparent.
�
�