lostdove Here's a lot of information from the "Bray Nostalgia" book. I can't believe that all of this would not be hard to confirm using documents like census, etc.

It doesn't matter what one can proove or what is logical once a genealogical book is written it becomes the truth for example many continue to attribute Edward Bray that married Sarah Maynard to Henry Bray that died in 1790. this despite the fact that Henry mentions a Edward in his will in 1790 ( or 1793) and fact is Edward died in 1760 (why would he be mentioned in Henrys will if already dead ) Patricia Caviness Perkins ----- Original Message ----- From: <CABWEBB@aol.com> To: <BRAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 12:12 AM Subject: [BRAY-L] Check out lostdove > lostdove > Here's a lot of information from the "Bray Nostalgia" book. I can't believe > that all of this would not be hard to confirm using documents like census, etc. > > > ==== BRAY Mailing List ==== > > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >

Carol, In response to your several messages about the veracity of and reliability of sources of information for early Bray history. There are generally several types of sources from which we draw our information about our line of Brays: Primary sources - These are original documents such as wills, land records, legal proceedings, ships' manifests, etc. Secondary sources - Books, journals, newsletters, etc. that cite primary sources. Other sources - Family bibles, letters, and family oral histories. These are often very unreliable particularly the oral histories. "Bray Nostalgia" is not a book but a newsletter that circulated a number of years ago and relied mainly, from the issues I've read, on secondary and other sources. It was well written and well received. One of the main problems of our current genealogical research is a heavy reliance on the internet as a source of family history information. Very few researchers, myself included, do not have the time, money, or other resources to do research in primary sources. To travel to distant cities/countries and spend hours, days, and months poking through archives searching for needles in village hay stacks. A number of years ago, I took a careful look at a secondary source of ships passengers sailing from England to the American colonies. I was interested in seeking information about Henry Brays heading for Virginia or Maryland during the period 1650 to 1700. Here is what I found in P.W. Coldham's "Complete Book of Emigrants", Genealogy Publishing, Baltimore, MD, 1990: 25 June 1677, Henry Bray, passenger aboard the ship "Increase", London for New England. 20 August 1684, Henry Bray, passenger aboard the ship "Hound", London for Maryland. 30 September 1684, Henry Bray, passenger aboard the ship "Love", London for Maryland. 26 September 1685, Henry Bray, passenger aboard the ship "Love", London for Maryland. 9 July 1685, Henry Bray, passenger aboard the ship "Hinde", London for Virginia. There are several issues with the above information: 1. Did Mr. Coldham get his information from a primary source - the ship's manifest of cargo and passengers? 2. Can we safely say that any of these Henry Brays are the ancestor of our Henry Bray who died in Chatham CO, NC, circa 1794? Where is the source of information that clearly identifies his father's given name? We do not know when he was born or where he was born; there is no primary source or secondary source of information that indicates his ancestry. None. 3. There were other Henry Brays in the colonies prior to 1677: 10 October 1652, Bray, Henry, Lancaster Co., VA Indentured servant to Elias Edmund(?) From "Abstract of VA Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666". Well, I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that there are few documents that help us to identify our Bray ancestry. As far as I know, there is a bill of sale for some cows sold by a Henry Bray in Frederick County, MD in 1752 where the signature of this Henry Bray is similar to the signature on the will of Henry Bray, died circa 1794 in Chatham County, MD. (We have Jacquie Hoggard to thank for her research to uncover this valuable piece of information.) There is a land deed signed by a Henry Bray for some property secured in Orange County, NC in the early 1760s. The surveyors were: Henry Bray and Edward Bray. This property remained in the family when Chatham County was formed from Orange County. And, maybe the site of the Bray Family Cemetery near Siler City, NC which contains the headstone of Henry Bray, d. circa 1812, son of Henry Bray, d. Chatham County, NC circa 1794. Jim -----Original Message----- From: CABWEBB@aol.com [mailto:CABWEBB@aol.com] Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 9:13 PM To: BRAY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [BRAY-L] Check out lostdove lostdove Here's a lot of information from the "Bray Nostalgia" book. I can't believe that all of this would not be hard to confirm using documents like census, etc. ==== BRAY Mailing List ==== ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237