Me again, David in Oxford, I have been working in France from Monday to Tuesday. What a rough crossing on the ferry :-( In reply to the info Dan sent. This info is also in Here There & Yonder a Brinson Genealogy by Robert W Brinson, 1982 In the Essex Pipe Rolls of 1308, Perceval de Braunesoun is shown owning a manor at the parish of Colchester. In 1410 William de Brinnsone built a wooden castle at Dunmow, Essex, later destroyed by fire. (I found nothing in the record office in Colchester Essex about him & a local historian said nobody in their right mind would build a castle made of wood, they are all stone. They are for protection from assault from invader's. The Pipe Roll's are still in Latin & to my knowlege have not been transcribed to English. They are kept in the Public Record's Office, London.) By 1500 the Brinsons owned 600 acres of land in Essex: Thomas Branson, 60 acres; Henry Brynson, 100 acres; Arthur Brinsonn, 140 acres; Sir John Brynson 220 acres; and Edward Branson, 80 acres. ( No record of a Brinson landowner in Essex exist's after 1364 & no Brinson's are listed in the Victoria History of the County of Essex, which is in 8 volumes & is located in most library's here. There is also no mention of the Brinson's as landowner's in the Rev Philip Morant's History of Essex.) The first coat of arms was granted to Philip Brinson, landowner of Audley Hall, Essex, in 1600. This is the oldest Brinson Coat of Arms and is used by modern Brinsons to establish their cultural identity and to preserve tradition. (There is neither a copy of the arms nor a blazon decribing it in their book!) [I was shown a bogus coat years ago Gules a fesse or between 6 martlet's argent. & told this was the Brimson arm's. I did research & found it was registered to the name of Brim, which is Scottish. There is nothing in Burke's General Armory under Brinson/Brimson] (Audley Hall is in Staffordshire in the North of England & no Brinson's owned this. If a coat of arms was granted to the early family it's passed down from generation to generation, father to son. It doesn't have to be re-granted if proof of descent is shown. I have a letter from the governing body, the College of Arm's in London if anyone would like it shown. There are no arm's registered to any Brinson in modern times eg from the 1500's. I'm not surprised it wasn't in the book. I guess this was used to sell the book. Look for history book's on Essex as I did in our library in Oxford & the Bodleian Library which is part of the University of Oxford.) This is just a general comment on the history of Essex which I have done some research on. Books on Essex are more easily to obtain here than in the USA. Though you may find books in a larger library. I'm off now but will send some more IGI's at the weekend. Cheers. David Brimson, Oxford, England. New subscribers may like to visit my web page, if they havn't done it yet. http://freespace.virgin.net/d.brimson/d.brimson/ ==== BRINSON Mailing List ==== Invite your online BRINSON cousins to use the handy subscription form at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5248/