Brookes-Witherly Alias?

[Mary C]

Hope someone can help me with this confusion! I am researching the Witherly family from Henbury, Bristol. For several generations Family Search gives the middle name as Brooke which I had assumed was possibly the name of a mother/grandmother,etc. However, another family tree (on Ancestry.com) has them named as Witherly alias Brooke.

The Gloucestershire Parish Registers has the following -

Margaret Witherly dob 1590 father John Witherly

Thomas Witherly dob 1590 father Robert Witherly

marriage of a John Witherby als Brooke on 19 June 1615.
Robert Brooke Witherly dob 1618 father John Brooke Witherly

marriage of Richard Wytherlie 1655

marriage of Thos Brookes and Martha Peetree 1678. I cannot find a record of his dob but another tree has it about 1656. His father is Thomas Brooke Witherly dob 1608 and his father Robert Brooke Witherly obviously not the same one as the 1618 one above but possibly the brother of Thomas (above dob 1590)

The children of Thomas and Martha are all named Brookes Witherly apart from the youngest who is just named Witherly.

Although at this stage I cannot say all of the above are of the same family I would think they were related and if that is the case I am wondering why in 1590 the name used was Witherly and Brookes only introduced in 1618 (as far as I can tell).

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Thanks
Mary

[Megan Roberts]

Why not contact the owner of the tree on Ancestry and ask them about it? - you can then decide whether or not it makes sense and if they are the same family

[Coromandel]

Here are a couple of examples of the alias in use in Henbury:

Bristol Record Officce document ref. AC/AS/39/2 (8 Oct. 1649) is a 'Lease for 99 yrs. on 2 lives - 1) Raphe Sadleir of Stondon, Herts., esq. 2) Robert Brooke als. Witherley of Henbury, yeo. - mess. with yard, garden and lands belonging being one quarter of a yard of land lying in the tithing and parish of Henbury. Rent.8s. Heriot. Suit of court. Consid. £3.'

From 'The deposition books of Bristol' (only a snippet visible on Google Books)*
'...from seuerall persons in the County about that tyme. And from that tyme this deponent never saw his mare vntill a moneth nowe past he sawe her in one Thomas Witherly alias Brookes keeping in Henbury parish aforesaid...'

*I can't get it to show me full details of the publication but it does say 'printed for the Bristol Record Society 1935' so I think this must be the volume covering 1643-1647.

Also one from Rangeworthy:

Oswald Brooke alias Witherly buried 23 Dec 1621 at Rangeworthy, Gloucs, according to

https://www.
genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Rangeworthy/RangeworthyBTs.html

I've come across an example in Oxfordshire of an alias persisting for generations: the people were sometimes recorded as Druce, sometimes as White, sometimes as 'Druce alias White' and sometimes as 'White alias Druce'. There is a 1583 will for a Thomas Whyte alias Druse, husbandman of Emmington. Then nearly two centuries later, in 1765, there is a probate bond for Samuel Druce otherwise White the elder, gentleman, of Witney. There are numerous other examples in between.

Many aliases would have arisen as a result of an illegitimate birth followed by the mother's marriage, or the remarriage of a widow, so that a child takes on the stepfather's surname. The ones that last for generations are harder to explain.

It sounds like you will need to look at anyone with variations on the names Witherley and Brooks in the right area at the right time. Have you looked at wills? These may provide clues to kinship that aren't spelled out in the parish registers.

[lesleys]

Have you looked at the Witherlys in neighbouring parishes?
Gloucester Records Office has wills of Thomas Witherley of Tormarton 1728 and Thomas Witherly of Doddington in 1762. I also found a reference to Oswald Brooke alias Witherly who was buried at Rangeworthy 23 Dec 1621, with a daughter Joan baptised that January. (Rangeworthy BTs 1575-1640)

My interest is in the Brooke family who lived at Henbury later and how they might connect to these earlier families.

Coromandel - you beat me to it again!

[Mary C]

Thank you all for your advice. The person with the other tree obtained information years ago from a paid researcher but does not know why an alias was adopted. It seems that after the initial 'Alias' the family sometimes used Brooke and sometimes Witherly. Thanks to Coromandal - your information was particularly helpful. Apparently there are wills for 3 of the family and I need to try and obtain them from the Bristol RO. The problem is they do not accept credit cards or cheques and being in Australia it means having to organise some acceptable form of payment but I would like to get to the bottom of this!
Thanks again
Mary

[janbooth]

A bit more information on the WITHERLEY family although at a later date. Biglands Memorial Inscriptions of Henbury lists under Benefactions "Mrs Grace JAYNE gave by will dated 3 December 1728 a Rent Charge of 20s a year for ever, to the poor of the Tything of Lawrenceweston, to be paid out of lands there now in the possession of Susannah WITHERLEY of Bristol".

There are the following Memorial Inscriptions at Henbury from the same source:

In the Churchyard on Tombs:

Here lyeth the body of Thomas WITHERLEY of Charlton in this parish, Yeoman, who departed this life the 26 February Anno Domini 1725, aged 69 years Also here lyeth the body of Martha, the wife of Thomas WITHERLEY, daughter of George PETRE, Gent, who changed this mortal life for a life of Immortality ..... day of March 1722, aged 73 years

In memory of Robert WITHERLEY, Shipwright, late resident of the city of Bristol who departed this life the 18 January 1782, aged 47 years

Hope this helps

Janet

[Mary C]

Hi Janet

You have certainly 'knocked down a brick wall' for me here. I have been trying to discover the name of Martha's father/parents but cannot find a Martha on any of the sites for the Petre family. Now at least I know her father was George. Also, it is interesting that Martha and her husband were buried under the name of Witherly.

Thanks for your help (as in the past as well)
Regards
Mary

[Coromandel]

Have you looked at the Witherlys in neighbouring parishes?
Gloucester Records Office has wills of Thomas Witherley of Tormarton 1728 and Thomas Witherly of Doddington in 1762. I also found a reference to Oswald Brooke alias Witherly who was buried at Rangeworthy 23 Dec 1621, with a daughter Joan baptised that January. (Rangeworthy BTs 1575-1640) . . . Coromandel - you beat me to it again!

But I didn't check the Gloucester wills or find the bit about Oswald's daughter, which could all be crucial bits of the jigsaw. So well done to you.

Besides the wills at Gloucester and Bristol there are a couple of PCC wills which may be of interest:

• William Brooks alias Wetherley, yeoman of Henbury (1650)
• Mary Witherly, widow of Bristol (1670)

which are available through Documents Online for GBP 3.50 each.

[janbooth]

Hi again Mary,

Sorry, didn't realise it was you when answering your post. Hope you are keeping well. So Martha PETRE would have been born c1649. Looking at Phillimore's Marriages for Henbury, there is a marriage on 29 June 1635 of a Devorex CASTRELL, parish of Luckington, gent & Grace PETRE by licence. Could this perhaps be George's sister? The next PETRE marriage is on 22 September 1690 of an Eliza PETRE & Richard CROOME, so not much help there.

I'll have a look for George on my Gloucestershire discs and see if I can discover anything further. Speak to you soon

Janet

[Mary C]

Hi Janet

According to her age on her marriage record Martha's dob would have been 1653 but her age on her burial makes her dob 1649. Her husband Thomas's dob also varies between marriage and death. Another tree gives her baptism as 1653 but I can find no record. I think the George Petre of Charlton, Gent, who died 1698 age 81 (so dob 1617) and his wife Elizabeth who died 1705 age 86, so dob 1619 were probably her parents as their age would be right. There is another George with wife Eleanor but their dates don't fit.

Grace Petre could well have been George's sister. The surname of the man she married is I think Gastrell, not Castrell.

I have now downloaded the Will of William Brookes alias Wetherly dated 1650 which might give me some clues. I suspect the alias comes from one of the Witherlys being illegitimate and I would like to find out which one and whether the name Witherly was that of the mother or the father. Might just be wishful thinking here.

Hope all is well with you.

Kind regards
Mary