Re: BRAZEE/BRESSE/BRUSY
-
In reply to:
Re: BRAZEE/BRESSE/BRUSY
Eleanor Winters 2/23/00
About the different spellings. Because most of them refer to people living in a very small area at a time when the population was quite small and because the name is so uncommon, it is logical to suppose that only one family was involved. Exception could be made for Bras, a family from Oldenberg, Germany and Bries/Brees etc., who came to New Amsterdam from Wessel, Germany. The Brazees, Brazies and Brusies et. al. arrived slightly later and settled in a few setlement around Fort Orange (Albany). They were probably from Gelderland or Waloons from southern Holland. Spelling was phonetic and surviving information was probably written by persons other than the subjects. The record is rife with instances where the same person was referred to by several different names. Then again, about all of the above: Maybe Not.
It is interesting to note that some time around 1710-12 the British established a sizeable colony of people from the Palatinate at Rhinebeck to harvest pitch from the local pine froest to be used in caulking of ships of the British Navy. It was soon found that that particular brand of pitch was unsuitable and the colonists were abandoned. Left to their own devices they apparently became a successful farming community.