Our Maternal

BRACKEN

Family Ancestors

An Introduction

Origins of the Surname

Variations of the Surname

Family Name Index

Family Location Information

Surname Source Documents

Family Information Websites

Family Images Gallery

Contact Information

OUR BRACKEN FAMILY

An Introduction

     We have traced our Bracken family line back to William Bracken an Englishman who may have lived in Lancashire during the second half of the 16^th century.  Most of the information we’ve uncovered on this surname begins four generations later with William Bracken’s great-grandson also a William.

    This William Bracken is recognized as the ancestor who migrated to the New World.  William was born 1671 in the village of Melling, Lancashire.  The Bracken surname is prominent in the Lancashire region of England, especially in the villages of Chipping and Melling as well as the rural area known as the Forest of Bowland.  Around the year 1699 William and his young family immigrated to America landing in Philadelphia aboard the "Brittannia" of Liverpool.  The first known record of him in America is his purchase, in 1702, of one hundred acres of land in Delaware.  While it is evident that William made his home in New Castle County, Delaware, he did acquired much land in Pennsylvania because he believed that Lancaster County was a desirable place for his children to settle.  Our line continues on through William’s eldest son Thomas Bracken.  Thomas was born in the county

of  Yorkshire  in  England  and  was christened on April 4, 1695 in the village of Clapham.  Thomas evidently lived in Delaware for the first thirty years or more of his married life, but sometime previous to 1759 he moved to a part of York County, Pennsylvania that was to later become a part of Adams County in 1800.    Thomas and his family were members of the Episcopal Church as shown by their relation ship to Christ Church located in Huntington Twp., York county.  He was one of the Vestrymen of Church in 1760 and 1761.

     Thomas’s daughter Hannah born about 1728 in New Castle County, Delaware is our 6^th great-grandmother.  She married Nicholas Bishop, II around 1750.  Sometime around 1765-66 Hannah and her husband joined the throng of Pennsylvania Scots-Irish that migrated to the uplands of western South Carolina along the Catawba River.  They settled in an area in the Camden District that would in 1785 become Chester County South Carolina. Hannah lived in this location until after 1800 when she moved, with her son James, to Hopkins County, Kentucky.  She produced seven known children of which each of her five sons fought in the American Revolution.

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BRACKEN

Origins Of The Surname

The English Bracken surname originated as a topographic name from Middle English braken ‘bracken’ (from Old English bræcen or Old Norse brakni), or a habitational name from a place named with this word, such as Bracken in East Yorkshire or Bracon Ash in Norfolk.

SOURCE:

1) Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4 Family Facts (Ancestry.com)

2) Historical Names.com

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BRACKEN

Variations of the Surname*

The complexity of researching records is compounded by the fact that in many cases an ancestors surname may have been misspelled.  This is especially true when searching census documents.  Spelling variations include: Bracken, Braken and others.

The Soundex system was developed in an effort to assist with identifying spelling variations for a given surname. Soundex is a method of indexing names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Census, and can aid genealogists in their research.  Soundex Code for Bracken is B625.   Other surnames sharing the B625 Soundex code: BARKMAN | BERGANDINE | BERGEN | BERGIN | BERGMAN | BERGMANN | BERKHEIMER | BIRKENHEAD | BRACKENBURY | BRACKHONGE | BRASINGTON | BRASSINGTON | BRECKENRIDGE | BRECKON | BRESNER | BRICKENDEN | BRICKMAN | BRIGANCE | BRIGHAM | BRIGMAN | BRIZENDINE | BROCKMAN | BROGAN | BROKINS | BROOKMAN | BROSNAN | BRYSON | BURCHAM | BURGAN | BURGIN | BURGOYNE | BURKAN | BURKHAMMER | BURKMAN | BURSON | BURZYNSKI |

* The spelling of the Bracken surname is not at all uniform in the early records. It would appear that the nationality and learning of the scribe might be responsible to some extent for this fact. In William Bracken’s 1749 will the name is spelled Brackon. In the record of Old Swede's Church (Wilmington) it is spelled Bracken, Brackin, Brakin, Braken, Brachen, and Brochon, while some of the records add to this Brakyn. The oldest son, Thomas, and most of his descendants, spelled the name Bracken, so too did John and some at least of his descendants while the descendants of the third son, Henry, after wavering for a time, finally settled down to Brackin. Bracken is the spelling for the name in Scotland, England and to some extent in Ireland. Brackin is quite generally an Irish spelling of the name.

Source: Surname Resources at ROOTSWEB

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Contact Information

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Retiree@rogers.com

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Tom
27 Christopher Dr.
Burton, NB E2V3H4
Canada

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Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA