Hi to all on the mailing list, Regarding my web site & names on it. Or name's not on it Names BRINSON, BRIMSON, BRENSON, BREMSON, BRANSON, BRAMSON, BRAMSTON, BRUNSON, BROWNSON, BRIMSTON, BRONSON, BRUNSTON, I didn't include the name of Brunson/ Brownson or some of the above names because when writing & designing my web page some weeks ago & before joining this news group had never come across the name in my research. I was primarily interested in the names of Brimson, Brinson then Brenson. I then included Bremson which was listed on the IGI for Devon in the 1600's. I did find some in the USA on e-mail but on contacting them it seems the family changed their name slightly & they were Jewish & from Poland. The name of Bremson does not exist as far as I know in this country. The Brenson's in this country have lived in London & as my research has shown originate from a Jacob Brenson as in the 1851 census for Surrey. He is listed as being born in Dorset, where the Brinson's lived at that time. There seems to be a connection with Brinson. There are some Brinson's in the USA & on e-mail. I have e-mailed all that I could find & so far only 1 has e-mailed me back :-( He told me that his grandfathers name was Gramples from Germany & he was being teased when at school & called Grampa. He married a Benson & decided to put an r in the name to make it Brenson. I don't know if all the Brenson's stem from this line. I know of one family who emigrated within the last 5 years or so from London & now live in the Chicago area, so this is a genuine Brenson. How far does one go in researching a surname origin to include all known variant's from an ancient surname to a modern surname !?. I only did the ones I knew of, Brimson & Brinson. I know I have had letters sent to me from advertiser's sending junk mail & been called Brinson, Brimstone etc. Indeed I went into Tandy/Radio Shack on Saturday & they put me onto a mailing list. I told him my name & he put me down as Brinson until he saw my credit card when he amended to Brimson. It just shows how even today how names are spelt wrongly & this happens to other Brimson/ Brinson's that I have been in touch with. It's only phonetically how are names were passed down as the majority of our ancestors may have been illiterate & left their X mark. As far as Brownson is concerned in my book of surnames by Bardsley, English & Welsh Surnames with special instances to American surnames, the name means son of Brown. There maybe other variation's that came from the same early family from Brienson, such as Branson, Branston, Brianson, Brymstone, Bramson. I have done no research into these as they are not grouped into the same geographical areas as Brimson or Brinson in Dorset or Devon, Somerset & Wiltshire this being the "West Country" of England. I found none whilst searching the parish registers looking for Brimson's & Brinson's. The names have since separated & may require research as a unique surname on their own. However the Soundex surname will group all of these surnames under the same code, so this cannot be overlooked. In searching the US census's a family of Brunson's maybe actually Brinson's & vice versa. This depending on who indexed the census & what he thought he heard when the person told him their names. I know the census index's that I have looked at have mistakes & people that were listed as Brimson/Brinson's but are not. Hence this is why I am researching these names which are so rare in England & Wales. The names I am researching was taken from "Dr, P.H Reaney's Dictionary of English Surnames" & the family of Brinson is mentioned in the " Victoria History of the County of Essex, vol 8 under Brinson, family of. There is no other modern day variant of the name listed in it, not even Brimson. My late father said when I enquired about our surname origin that his aunt, my great aunt Louise had traced our family tree to Normandy. He knew little about this as he was about 10 or so 1930. He said it was something to do with will in Chicago but knew nothing else. Why on earth would my great aunt try to benefit from a will in Chicago, who did she know !?. It was only when I started to research the Brimson's in my family's home town, Tiverton, Devon that I found out. William George Brimson had emigrated with his parents & family in the 1860's. He worked his way up in the railroad, becoming vice president of the Quincy Omaha & Kansas City Rail Road. He died in 1930 in Chicago & is buried in Worth cemetery & there is a large monolith to the family there (Bob Brenson gave me a photo of this). This is, it seems is why my aunt was taking a keen interest in his will, which I have a copy of. She didn't obtain anything from the will but had a tree drawn up through a lawyer back to Normandy. What she did with this is unknown. If it was in the Devon Record's Office it was probably destroyed on a bombing raid by the German's on Exeter in 1942 ?. Most of the record's there were destroyed including Brimson will's that had been indexed & are gone forever. A sad loss of our heritage that cannot be claimed back. It was a good job that at the time the parish register's were still in the church in Tiverton. Ah, well I have gone on too long about the surname's I am researching. More info soon :-) David Brimson, Oxford, England. ==== BRINSON Mailing List ==== Have you invited your online cousins to subscribe to the BRINSON list?