Re: Prunty/Bronte family history
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In reply to:
Re: Prunty/Bronte family history
Haslem Smith 6/24/01
Here they are:
Descendants of Alice McClory
Generation No. 1
1.Alice1 McClory was born in Ballnaskeagh, County Down, Ireland.She married Hugh(2) Prunty 1776 in At a church in Magherally, Ireland, son of Son#3 Prunty and Wife.He was born in Drogheda, Southern Ireland.
Notes for Hugh(2) Prunty:
Hugh Brunty (Prunty) was adopted by his Aunt Mary and adopted Uncle Welsh after his father died.He came from the South to the North of the island and settled in the parish of Ahadery, near Loughbrickland.All he remembered about his adoption by Welsh and Mary was a long journey by horse and cart, taking several days and nights.And he also remembered that very soon after he arrived at his new home he was the subject of trouble between his new parents.Finally it was a row between Welsh and a neighbor which directly led to Hugh's running away from home, when he was about sixteen years old.
-----------Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:
"Hugh Prunty (2) would have been a nephew of Hugh (1), a son of one of the dispersed brothers.He spent his early childhood in a comfortable home in Southern Ireland.About the middle of the century, his family was thrown into excitement by the arrival of an aunt and uncle whom they had never heard of.They stayed with the family for some time, and little Hugh became their favorite.After they had completely won his heart, they asked that he go with them since they had no children of their own, promising ponies, dogs, fishing, and family visits.Little Hugh pleaded with his father to let him go with them.In later years, little Hughbelieved that the whole thing had been arranged by his father and the uncle.His mother never seemed too happy about his going and held him on her lap with a lot of tears in her eyes.The night his father carried him out in the darkness and placed him between his Aunt Mary and Uncle Welsh on the seat of their cart as they prepared to leave his mother was not present to see him go.After leaving his bright, warm home, the night seemed cold so little Hugh crept close to his aunt.He began talking as he had become accustomed to doing with these new-found friends.Soon Uncle Welsh told him to keep quiet---that he didn't want to hear another word out of him.He was stunned, having never heard talk like that.His uncle slapped his face.Hurt and angry, Hugh shouted, "I won't go with you!Turn the horse around and take me home."As he saw the bright lights fading into the distance, he felt a heavy hand choking him.He felt blood coming from his nose and realized he was being shaken and knocked against the bottom and sides of the cart; being sworn at.He realized now that he could neither escape nor speak.He woke up hours later lying in the back of the cart with very little straw, damp from rain, between him and the bottom.He turned on his side, felt sick, sore and hungry.He watched the two on the seat, sitting in silence, caring nothing about him.A few hours earlier he had loved them both; now his world had changed and he hated them.He couldn't help but think of the comfortable home and kindness he had left behind.Suddenly he remembered he had forgot to say the prayers which his mother had taught him.He got on his knees, hands folded, and started the prayer.But when he got to "good uncle and aunt," the words stuck in his throat.Then he worried that God would not hear him; so he sobbed, "Oh God, if there be a God, let me die."Welsh, hearing the sobbing, grabbed the whip and hit the kneeling child, uttering oaths and threats.Hugh was badly hurt---the welt left by the whip stung like a line of fire.He lay quietly, thinking of his home and the caresses of his mother.He imagined he was safe in her arms and at last fell asleep.He awoke to broad daylight, but lay still while listening to an argument between Welsh and Mary over a 50-pound note.They traveled at night so Hugh could never find his home again.The journey took them 4 days so it was estimated they had gone about 100 to 125 miles.No further contact with the family ever occurred.The next morning, Welsh dragged him out early and little Hugh collapsed on the floor.Welsh thought at first he was pretending but discovered he had a high fever and was delirious.For weeks, he lay between life and death.Recovery was slow and he was not able to be up and about until spring.His only friends were the animals and he enjoyed them, especially the dog.He had a very difficult life, worked hard, and on every pretense took a beating from Welsh.As he grew older he was glad he didn't die, as he vowed to get revenge on Welsh hoping to give him a beating some day.Welsh came home often showing evidence that he had been in a fight.One day he got into a fight with a neighbor over the bog which was between the two places.Welsh was so badly beaten that he had to be carried home.Later, when he got better, he called Hugh in and asked why he had not helped him in the fight.This was Hugh's chance; he was a strong boy of 15 now.He replied that it would not be fair to help him, that he was in the wrong anyway.Then he reminded Welsh of the mistreatment and abuse he had taken from him all these years.Welsh threatened a beating as soon as he was able.Hugh went and talked to the neighbor, telling him how he had been treated over the years by Welsh.The neighbor already knew that.Hugh knew he had no future with them anyway, since they now had a baby boy of their own about a year old.He knew that he would get no inheritance.When the day for the beating arrived, Hugh worked in the field all morning and was to bring the cows home at noon.The beating was to follow.So, instead of going after the cows, he went down to the river, took off all his old rags, left them with the dog (as he could not escape with a dog), jumped into the river and swam down stream to the neighbor's.Here he was provided with a change of clothes with some money and food in the pockets, and some boots (which he had not owned in 7 years).Hugh too off fast and kept going.He didn't know where he was headed, but now he had a change to be free.He didn't always follow the road for fear that Welsh would be after him.After several days he had passed through several towns.He saw smoke rising to his left.As he turned inland from the sea, he came upon a lime kiln at a place called Mount Pleasant.People came from great distances to buy lime for agricultural and building purposes.There were long lines of carts waiting for lime, so Hugh found his first job with regular pay.In a short time he had enough money to buy a complete suit of clothes, the first he had had since he was six years old.Now he was 16.The people and the employers liked him.He enjoyed meeting the customers.Among them was a young man about his age named Patrick McClory.Hugh worked at the kiln about two years.The managers were so pleased with his work that they made him the overseer which gave him more pay.When asked by Patrick to spend Christmas at his home, Hugh accepted.The visit to McClory's in County Down was a great turning point in Hugh's life.He had shaken off his memory of cruelty and slavery, he liked his work out-of-doors, he was making good money, he ate well and dressed well.On Christmas Eve, he drove up to the McClory home in Ballnaskeagh in a new rig and went to the door.What a surprise when the door opened!He beheld a beautiful girl with dark eyelashes and golden hair with ringlets around her shoulders.Hugh had never seen such a beautiful girl and he stood awkwardly starting at her with his mouth open,fumbling with his hat, trying in vain to say something.At last he stammered something about Mr. McClory.The girl, Alice McClory, said her brother, Patrick (known as Red Paddy), would be home soon and invited him in.Having never been around girls, he felt uncomfortable and was blushing in her presence.Alice was gracious and made him feel more at ease.She began asking questions about him.Patrick had told her much about his rough life, so she was sympathetic towards him.They got along very well.Before he returned to the kiln, he realized he had fallen in love with her and hated to leave.Alice did tell him that since she was catholic and he was protestant there was an impossible barrier between them.This seemed strange to Hugh since he had never been inside a church since he was a child.So he told her that he had no religion.They did arrange to meet before he went back to the kiln.Hugh had lost all interest in his work at the kiln.He could not forget Alice.Apparently, the feeling was mutual as they enjoyed being together.Hugh finally asked that she arrange a meeting between her family and him at her place.He thought he could use his charms to win the family over.The meeting was arranged and they all came with much whiskey to pass around (Hugh did not drink).The more they drank, the uglier the meeting became.Finally they asked him to curse the King.He said he would---and also the Pope!That did it!They pounced on him and beat him up.Alice rescued him, got him out of the house and down the glen.He escaped and returned to the kiln; but, as the word spread that he was a protestant, that ended his job.Also, he was forbidden to see Alice again.The family also made the priest promise never to marry them.After Hugh left the kiln and they thought he was gone forever, Alice was permitted to ride her horse again.Their last night together after the fight, they had expressed their great love for each other and managed to send notes back and forth.but when a catholic servant revealed this, these communications ceased.After he left the kiln, he traveled some distance and became a servant to a family named Hargrave, who recognized in him something different from other servants to he was treated very well. He became a companion to their children who taught him to read.He took them to church.This place was closed to the McClory's so when Alice was out riding she made contact, and they again arranged secret meetings.After learning to read, one of the things he read was the BibleHe became a staunch protestant and was very anti-catholic after the fight.The McClory's arranged for Alice to marry a neighbor by the name of Burns, a wealthy man. In due time, all the arrangements were made for the wedding, all the food prepared, and guests arriving.But for some reason there was delay after delay with no explanation.Finally, they admitted that Alice had gone for an early horseback ride and had not returned.They scattered in every direction to find her.Later, a boy arrived on Alice's horse telling them that Alice and Hugh had been married at the church at Magherally, and she wished them happiness at the wedding feast.This was in 1776.The priest now realized that she was bring forced to marry Burns and she really loved Hugh instead.Her brother Patrick let her know that she was welcome to home.After their brief honeymoon, she did come back while Hugh went back to Hargrave's at Longhorne to finish his term of service.Hugh and Alice lived in a little cottage at Elmdale; later they moved to a larger house in Lisnacreevy.After some time they moved to live with Alice's brother, Red Paddy, in the McClory family home where they family continued to prosper and eventually were in very comfortable circumstance.Alice was not only a beautiful woman, but intelligent as well, and she passed both her beauty and intelligence on to her children.Writers tell us that the boys were tall and handsome men and very agile.Only one of the girls ever married---they were outstanding women and men seemed to be afraid of them.The neighbors were never very close to the family as they seemed to prefer to be alone."
"A man by the name of J.A. Erskine Stuart was the first one to challenge the groundless assumption that Patrick changed the name from Prunty to Bronte when he went to England.It seems that when Patrick was teaching at Drumballyroney School in 1789, many of the stories told were so similar to the ones told by others and by a man named Yates, coming from different sources, that it left questions as to who, when, or where they name was changed.After reading both books, there is reason to believe the name was changed, either by Hugh(2) or Patrick.Hugh(2) certainly could have been bitter---given away by his own father.No wonder his mother shed tears over him leaving as a little boy of six years.One statement does say, "The family name has been variously known as Prunty, Brunty, and Bronte.Hugh Prunty probably changed the name to Bronte."Later in the article he says, "He sent him away from home in Drogheda to live with an aunt and uncle at Ahaberg where he grew up in misery."The bitterness and resentment Hugh Prunty must have felt as a result of such injustice undoubtedly affected his character adversely in some ways, but it may have been responsible fro making him a man of strong will and ambitious dreams.Another place in Dr. Wright's book he does say that since there is so little history as to Patrick's earlier life, he is led to believe the name had been Prunty.Hugh Prunty's life story is interesting.He had strong convictions which he expressed all his life, and he left impressions on all who knew him.The fight at McClory's made a strong protestant out of him, and he had a lot of influence on the Hargraves and another neighbor, the Martines.The seeds of injustice which he fought for had an influence on the rights of tenants in Ireland for years after he was gone.He lectured on his tenant-right doctrines asserting both negative and positive on religious, political and economic questions such as "The Church is not Christ's"; it is involved in greed, violence, immorality and cruelty, and crime in high places."The world is not God's"' God made all things good and loved the world, but a number of people had gotten between God and the world and made it very bad and hateful."
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He travelled on, and after a night spent in a hayrick, made another day's journey.Coming to the town of Carlingford, he passed quickly though as he thought Welsh might have tired to find him.A few miles further on Hugh came to some lime-kilns, owned at that time by acompany known as Swift McNeill's.There he found refuge.The owners needed labor, so Hugh applied and was accepted with no questions asked.He was given a place to sleep and after a couple of days he found a good lodging.He could read and write, thanks to his Aunt Mary, and had a head for simple arithmetic.These qualities, added to his ability to work simple arithmetic.These qualities, added to his ability to work hard and a cheerful disposition, led to success in the lime-kilns.Within a year he was an overseer, with the special responsibility of dealing with the farmers who came to buy lime.One of his customers, who came regularly from County Down, was Patrick McClory, a red-haired lad of about Hugh's age, and a friendship was struck up between them.Patrick McClory, who was known as Red Paddy McClory, lived near the village of Ballynaskeagh, about eight miles north-east of Newry.Over the course of a couple of years the friendship deepened.Hugh told Red Paddy the story of his life with Welsh and Mary; Red Paddy told Hugh that his own parents were dead, and that he farmed in a small way with his sister to help him.Paddy McClory was a Catholic, but this was of no consequence to the two lads at this stage of their lives.
It was about the year 1774 when Hugh Brunty met Alice McClory.When his love and proposal of marriage was opposed by the relatives and townsmen, Hugh Brunty's work suffered.Eventually he was let go.Out of a job, and out of his lodgings, Hugh went to the nearby town of Newry, where there was a hiring ground for labor on the market.He was engaged by James Harshaw, a gentlemen who owned land near Donoughmore, which is only tow of three miles from Ballynaskeagh.At the Harshaw house, Hugh was treated very well.Although hired as a farm laborer he soon became a house-servant, and much of his time was spent with the children of the Harshaws.Alice became engaged to Joe Burns, a prominent man in their town.However, on the day of their wedding she changed her mind and Alice McClory married Hugh Brunty in the church at Magherally.It was a Protestant church a few miles out of Banbridge, and at the time, the vicar was a friend of the Harshaw family.
There is no record we can look at to verify the wedding of Hugh and Alice.All we know is that they married in the early summer of 1776 at Magherally Church.Today the church has no roof, but there is enough of the building left standing for us to be able to picture quite clearly what it looked like at the time.If the lost records are ever found it is most probable that the names will read Hugh Brunty and Elinor McClory, for that is how the couple were named in registers dating from 1779.The name of Hugh's wife is spelled as Elinor or Eleaner: the name Alice is never recorded although she was always known by that name.After the honeymoon the bride returned to the McClory cottage at Ballynaskeagh, while Hugh worked the harvest for his employer at Donoughmore, and went regularly to seen his new wife.Hugh and Alice were a popular couple, and now they were married it didn't seem to matter that one was Catholic and the other not.In September Alice knew for sure that She was expecting a child, making the search for a home more urgent.Eventually one was found, less than a mile from the McClory cottage, in a village called Imdel or Emdale.The child who would become the father of the Bronte sisters and no simpler birthplace could be imagined than the cottage at Imdel.The ruins of the first home of the parents of Patrick Bronte can be seen today.
Hugh married Elinor Alice McClory on early summer of 1776 in Magherally Church 3 miles (5 km) NE of Banbridge.They reared and educated ten children on the proceeds of a few acres of land which Hugh farmed.
Children of Alice McClory and Hugh(2) Prunty are:
+ 2 i. Patrick2 Prunty, born March 17, 1777 in Imdel, five miles north-west of Rathfriland on the Banbridge Road, near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles north east of Newry, County Down, Ireland; died June 07, 1861.
3 ii. William Prunty, born March 16, 1779 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.He married Mrs. Prunty.
Notes for William Prunty:
Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:"William had six sons and they all did well."
4 iii. Hugh Prunty (3), born 1781 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
Notes for Hugh Prunty (3):
Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:"Hugh and Welsh were known as great fiddlers and also made a lot of money later on the macadamizing of roads.Hugh #3 was known as "The Giant"
5 iv. James Prunty, born 1783 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
Notes for James Prunty:
Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:"James was a shoemaker"
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Emma Prunty of Australia is of the impression that James Prunty, Patrick (Prunty) Bronte's brother, was the James Prunty of her family.However, the James Prunty of her family is the son of a Hugh Prunty and Anne Connolly who married Bridget Coghlan in 1857.James, the brother of Patrick Bronte was born in 1783 - If this were the same individual, they would have been married when he was 74 not 24 as listed below.It is very doubtful that these are the same individual.However, Patrick & James (Prunty) Bronte had a brother Hugh who was born in 1781.Could he have had a son James born in 1843?The name of his wife is also not recorded in Ardyth Wassenaar's book of the Brontes in Ireland.
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PRUNTY FAMILY HISTORY OVERVIEW by Emma Prunty of Australia ([email protected])
The name Prunty has a Brazon of Arms, this is Green, on a mount in base proper a boar passant ermine. This translated is The boar, a symbol of Courage, Fertility, Bravery and Perseverance. The fur ermine was considered the perfect emblem of dignity. The green symbolizes the Planet mercury and indicates hope and joy. The family crest is a lizard displayed green.It is of Irish origin.
The Prunty family has been linked to the famous Brontë family through various name changes over several years. The name Prunty is from Ireland, before then it was suggested to have been O’Prunty. This change to Prunty was common at the time, as many people were only semi-literate or illiterate. We can see this from Shakespeare who spelt his own name in 12 different ways.
The Prunty Family came to Australia by Patrick’s (son of Hugh Prunty) brother James. The family’s name stayed as Prunty as the change to Bronte was not made through James, only through Patrick.Some Methodist ministers who foreshadowed his talent gave Patrick Prunty a small sum of money and he used this, and the money he had saved to go to Cainbridge, this is where on the list of admissions he spelt his name Branty. Hugh Prunty then changed his own last name to Brontë because he thought this was more scholarly as he was studying to be a teacher.Patrick later fell in love at the age of 18 with a young woman called Mary Burder, it is unknown why, but he jilted her and later fell in love with a woman, Maria Branwell. He married Maria and she bore him 6 children: Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick, Emily and Anne. The most famous of these being Emily, the author of Wuthering Heights.
Patrick’s brother James kept the name Prunty and when he migrated here (date unknown) the name Prunty finally reached our shores.The Prunty name has continued from James Prunty (1857) through to the current generation and will continue through my brother and my two male cousins.
ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION CONTAINED IN A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
The information contained in the marriage certificate attached is as follows.
Date of Marriage:14th April 1857
Place of Marriage: Brighton
Name of MarryingParties:Groom-James Prunty, Bride-Bridget Coghlan
Conditions:Groom-Batchelor, Bride-Spinster
Birth Place:Groom-County Monaghon, Southern Ireland, Bride-County Clare, Northern Ireland
Rank or Profession:Groom-Labourer
Age:Groom-24, Bride-23
Residence (Present and Usual):Brighton, Melbourne
Names (mothers maiden name):Groom father-Hugh Prunty, Groom mother-Anne Connolly; Bride father-Thomas Coghlan, Bride mother-Mary White
Fathers Rank or Profession:Groom-Farmer, Bride-Farmer
James Prunty do hereby declare that I am a member of the R.C.C Married in the R.C.C (Insert Church, Religious Society, or Denomination as the case may be) R.C.C = Roman Catholic Church This Marriage was solemnized between us James Prunty & Bridget Coghlan.In the presence of us David _____ & Mrs _____Pyke According to the R.C. Priest By (or before) me _____ Officiating minister of Deputy Registrar
All of the above information would need to be shown for a reason, Firstly to prove that marriage had indeed taken place and where and when. Also as a legal binding documentation to hold both married parties to in the case of some sort of disagreement.
In the certificate it shows that the place of residence is Brighton, Melbourne, In 1834 Brighton was settled and only 27 years later James and Bridget lived there. This shows that they were relatively early settlers and helped shape the future of Brighton. Who knows, without their touch it may not be like it is today.
There is a lot of information shown on the certificate, but, the thing I find as the single most important factor in this certificate is the fact that the Church in the certificate is Roman Catholic. The denomination shows a lot about someone’s culture, upbringing and life in general. I have found a lot about the Roman Catholic Church, which I have outlined below to make my analysis clearer.It is the largest single Christian body, composed of those Christians who acknowledge the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome, the pope, in
matters of faith.The minister for the sacrament of marriage is not the officiating priest, as are usually thought, but the bride and grooms him or herself. The bond this sacrament creates between two baptized persons cannot be dissolved.Numerous conditions exist for a valid bond, however, so that it is sometimes possible for the church to declare, after scrutiny, that a marriage was from the beginning. Often viewed as the Catholic equivalent of divorce, annulment is based on different principles. The church teaches that the purpose of marriage is to raise balanced love and bear children.It is also interesting to note that County Clare is in the North of Ireland and that North Ireland was Protestant and County Monaghon is in the South and is Catholic. This may have been the reason for the couple leaving Ireland as there is no way a Catholic and a Protestant could marry then.Unfortunately I have tried but am unable to confirm this, this is an
interesting part considering the troubles that still exist in Ireland today.
6 v. Welsh Prunty, born 1786 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
Notes for Welsh Prunty:
Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:"Hugh and Welsh were known as great fiddlers and also made a lot of money later on the macadamizing of roads"
7 vi. Jane Prunty, born 1789 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
8 vii. Mary Prunty, born 1791 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
9 viii. Rose Prunty, born 1793 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
10 ix. Sarah Prunty, born 1793 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
11 x. Alice Prunty, born 1794 in Near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles northeast of Newry.
Generation No. 2
2.Patrick2 Prunty (Alice1 McClory) was born March 17, 1777 in Imdel, five miles north-west of Rathfriland on the Banbridge Road, near the village of Ballynaskeagh eight miles north east of Newry, County Down, Ireland, and died June 07, 1861.He married Maria Branwell December 29, 1812 in Uncle's house in Yorkshire, England.She was born 1783 in Penzance, England, and died September 25, 1821 in Haworth, England.
Notes for Patrick Prunty:
This Rev. Patrick (Prunty) Bronte, father of the novelist Charlotte Bronte was the son of Sir Hugh Prunty of County Down, Ireland.Patrick was one of a large family and not satisfied with the prospects he saw in following the inherited occupation, his forefathers, of farming.He cut away from home at an early age, made his way by teaching and tutoring, finally to England where by making friends and embracing the church of English religion he became a minister of that church and was then given a "Living" in Yorkshire.In 1812 he married Maria Branwell.By the time he finished Cambridge, Oxford he was Rev. Patrick Bronte.Prunty became Rev. Brunte.Maria and Patrick had six children --- 5 girls and 1 boy.The boy's name was Patrick Branwell Prunty (Brunte).The first two daughter Maria & Elizabeth died young.Charlotte the third child as did that entire family developed high intellectually.Her sister "Emily Bronte" is known from her famous novel "Wuthering Heights" which is now being seen on movies and TV.
This branch of the Prunty is extinct as no one was married but Charlotte, who married her father's curate.She died at 39.There is a tradition that humble as circumstances were, he was the descendent of an ancient family.He was left an orphan at an early age.He made an early marriage and reared and educated then children on the proceeds of the few acres of land which he farmed.This large family was remarkable for great physical strength and much personal beauty.Even in his old age Hugh Pronty was a striking looking man above the common height, with nobly shaped head and erect carriage.In his youth he was considered handsome.His son Patrick, nee Patrick Kronte was born on Patrickmus day, March 17, 1777 (Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte).
The Prunty's who came to America in 1848 told of a Padna Prunty"(Bronte) Strongest man in all Ireland - tradition.Names are similar - connection?
Probably written by Aunt Anna Cummings who searched for the connection
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Patrick Bronte (Prunty) As a boy in Ireland, he had been put into the local weaving trade and had struggled out of that to become a teacher in the little Protestant parish school of Drumballyroney where he taught both himself and others until he was 25 years old.Then he went to Cambridge where he made his own way.The name of this crofter was Prunty of Bruntee and he had been entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, as Patrick Branty.The improvement of the name to Bronte had nothing to do with the myth of an ancient family and was most probably suggested by Lord Nelson being created Duke of Bronte.At 29, Patrick Brunty/Branty/Prunty/Bronte took his B.A. degree and had been ordained into a curacy in Essex.He almost married Miss Mary Burder but didn't.It has been said that her guardian forbade it and removed her from the neighborhood.He left Essex and went as far away as possible and in 1812 (35 years, then) and after a brief curacy in Shropshire we find him at Hartshead near Dewsbury in Yorkshire newly married to Miss Maria Branwell, a native of Penzance and a member of a pious Methodist family.The journey from Penzance to Leeds was long and expensive; Miss Branwell was married at 29 from her uncle's house in Yorkshire on December 29, 1812; the same day was also the wedding day of her younger sister Charlotte Branwell.
Mr. Bronte's next curacy at Thornton.Here they shared in a good deal of parish social life, frequenting the usual amount of teas and modern visiting.But is was not too long before Mr. Bronte was going out to tea with his parishioners alone, while his wife set about serving her quietly accepted sentence of continuous pregnancies.She was born in 1783 and died on 25 September 1821.Prior to his marriage, Patrick Bronte wrote some poetry.The Cottage poems and The Rural Minstrel.Patrick Bronte was 84 when he died, having outlived all the children.He died 7 June 1861.
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Ardyth Wassenaar writes of the Brontes in Ireland:
"Patrick was born March 17, 1777.He became the minister of Haworth, and later a teacher.He was married to Maria Branwell, but Maria died young leaving six children---the oldest eight years of age.Two of the girls died at 11 and 12 years of age, leaving three girls and one boy, Branwell.The girls became well-known novelists, Charlotte (author of Jane Eyre), Emilie (author of Wuthering Heights), and Anne."
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The Bronte Story by Margaret Lane - A Reconsideration of Mrs. Gaskells Life of Charlotte Bronte:
"The Rev. Patrick Bronte was a native of the County Down in Ireland.His father, Hugh Bronte was left an orphan at an early age.He came from the S. to the N. of the island and settled in the parish of Ahadery, near Loughbrickland.Hugh married young an reared and educated ten children on the proceeds of the few acres of land which he farmed.The name of this crofter family was Prunty or Bruntee and he had been entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, as Patrick Branty.The improvement of the name to Bronte had nothing to do with the myth of an ancient family and was most probably suggested by Lord Nelson being created Duke of Bronte.As a boy in Ireland he had been put into the local weaving trade and had struggled out of that to become a teach in the little Protestant parish school of Drumballyroney where he taught both himself and others until he was25 years old.Then he went to Cambridge where he made his own way.At 29 he took his B.A. degree and had been ordained to a curacy in Essex.He almost married Miss Mary Burder but didn't.It has been said that her guardian forbade it and re3moved her from the neighborhood.He left Essex and went as far away as possible and in 1812 (35 yrs, then) and after a brief curacy in Shropshire, we find him at Harshead near Dewsbury in Yorkshire newly married to Miss Maria Branwell, a native of Penzance and a member of a pious Methodist family.The journey from Penzance to Leeds was long and expensive; Miss Branwell was married, at 29, from her uncle's house in Yorkshire on Dec 29, 1812; the same day was also the wedding day of her younger sister Charlotte Branwell.Mr. and Mrs. Bronte seem to have been sufficiently in love for their married life to have started full of gaiety and hope, despite the mean little square brick parsonage where they set up house at Hartshead, and the almost sordid street-faced dwelling which went with Mr. Brontes next curacy at Thornton.Here they shared in a good deal of the parish social life, frequenting the usual amount of teas and modern visiting.But it was not too long before Mr. Bronte was going out to tea with his parishioners alone, while his wife set about serving her quietly accepted sentence of continuous pregnancies.Maria was born a year after the marriage and Elizabeth about eighteen months later.The next three came so fast that she can hardly have risen from her lying-in before she had conceived afresh and then there was a pause of only seventeen months before the birth of the last daughter."Pray much that I may be made a blessing and not a hindrance to you.Let me know interrupt your studies not intrude on that time which ought to be dedicated to better purposes", Poor Mrs. Bronte! (written Yes indeed, poor Maria Prunty).Charlotte B. was born at Thornton on April 21, 1816.Patrick, the brother, followed fast, Emily Jane and Anne.Maria was the oldest and she was only six when Mr. B. removed to Haworth on February 25, 1820.She was delicate and small in appearance.Mr. B. was not naturally found of children and so he was not intimate with his family nor did he establish a personal intimacy with his flock.Mr. B. wrote some poetry, "The Cottage Poems" published the year before his marriage and "The Rural Minstrel" a year later.Mr. Bronte was guilty very often of unconscious selfishness but capable never-the-less of strong self-denials, imposed as a matter of course and without drama.He did not speak when annoyed or displeased but worked off his volcanic wrath by firing pistols out of the back door in rapid succession.He never gave Mrs. B. an angry word.They had roasts like other people not only potatoes as some believed and Charlotte in her younger days seems to have been by preference a vegetarian.Mrs. B. had only 18 ailing months at Haworth.She died in September 1821.Charlotte tired hard, in after years to recall the remembrance of her mother.One was when, sometime in the evening light, she had been playing with her little boy Patrick Branwell in the parlor of Haworth Parsonage.These were hard times for Mr. Bronte.Three children were taken ill with scarlet fever and the day after the remaining three were in the same plight.Miss Branwell, Mrs. B.'s elder sister came from Penzance.After an interval Mr. B. wrote to Miss Mary Burder, whom he had courted years ago during his first curacy at Essex.But she writes him: "The Lord can supply all your and their needs".She married a non-conformist minister of the name of Sibree.Mr. B. next proposed to Miss Elizabeth Firth of Thornton.But she refused.Miss Branwell remained at Haworth.Took possession of her best bedroom and shouldered all the female responsibilities of the house, enabling it to settle down once more to its quite and rhythm.Life as the parsonage was quiet and in a sense solitary but not unhappy.The children did not want society.When they were able to read and write Charlotte and her brothers and sisters used to invent and act little plays of their own in which the Duke of Wellington, Charlotte's hero, was sure to come off conqueror.When the youngest child was asked what she most wanted she answered "Age and experience".What Charlotte was asked to name the best book in the world, she answered, "The Bible" and the next best was "The Book of Nature".And the best mode of education for a woman is "That which would make her rule her house well".And the best mode of spending time was "By laying it out in preparation for a happy eternity."The Bronte's knew no other children.They knew no other modes of thought than what were suggested to them by the fragments of clerical conversation which they overhead in the parlor or the subjects of village and local interest which they heard discussed in the kitchen.Maria B. died at 11 and her dad used to say he could converse with her on any of the leading topics of the day with as much freedom and pleasure as with any grown up person. III.COWAN BRIDGE.How was such a family to be educated?Mr. B. with his 200 pounds a year had no choice but to bring them up as cheaply as possible.With his early teaching experience and his Cambridge degree, he was equipped to each his only son.For the female side there was Miss Branwell.But Mr. B. heard of a school established by Rev. Carus Wilson at Cowan Ridge.So he took his four daughters there in 1824 keeping only Branwell at home and five year old Anne.Maria was 10 years, Elizabeth 9, Charlotte 8, and Emily not yet 7.This school had provided Charlotte with some of the deepest emotional experience of her childhood:and in writing Jane Eyre, she had drawn on her memory of the misery of eight year olds.Lowood, the orphan asylum in Jane Eyre, administered by a "black marble clergyman" who admonishes the children with stories of death-beds and hell, and who is so attentive to frugal detail that he chooses the daring needles himself and inspects the holes in stockings hanging on a line is a cold hungry comfortless place, where the girls suffer much from severity and privation, and where numbers of them die.My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age.Our clothing was insufficient, we had no boots, and the snow got into our shoes and melted there.Then the scanty supply was distressing; with the keen appetites of growing children, we had scarcely enough to keep alive a delicate invalid.Charlotte was open to criticism.She did not know that Lowood would be so immediately identified from her description in The cook was careless, dirty and wasteful.Odors of rancid fat steamed out of the oven where much of their food was prepared.And on Saturdays a kind of pie was served up which was made of all the fragments accumulated during the week.After many a meal the little Brontes went without food.The path from Cowan Bridge to Tunstall Church where Mr. Wilson preached is more than two miles in length.It was not warmed.The girls took their cold dinner, ate it in between the services.Maria B had ill health.The old cough lingered about her.She was far superior in mind to any of her playfellows and companions and was lonely among them from that very cause.Before Maria Brontes death that strange low fever broke out (1825).Mr. Wilson became alarmed at this.The bad management of the cook was chiefly to be blamed for this; and the woman serving as head nurse took the place of housekeeper.Maria was delicate, unusually clever and thoughtful for her age, gentle and untidy.She bore her sufferings very patiently.Charlotte was the most talkative of the sisters - a bright clever little child.Her friend was Mellany Hane, a West Indian, whose brother paid for her schooling and who had no remarkable talent except for music.She was older than Charlotte.Maria became rapidly worse (1825) and Mr. Bronte was summoned to take her home by Leeds coach.She died a few days after her arrival home.Charlotte took her place as the head of the motherless home. Elizabeth followed her sister to the grave.Charlotte and Emily returned to school but they did not remain as the damp situation did not agree with them.
IV.THE SECRET WORLD.It is autumn 1825.Maria and Elizabeth are now dead and the four remaining children Charlotte now 9 the eldest were all at home at the parsonage.The next five years they did not go to school.They played highly elaborate creative games.And their happiest hours are spent with the servant Tabitha (Tabby) Aykroyd in the kitchen.Miss Branwell, the aunt, instructed the children at regular hours.Their father was in the habit of relating interesting news.Patrick Branwell was a boy of remarkable promise.He was regarded by the whole family as the one marked out for achievement and success.Charlotte's early writing lights up from time to time with color and mockery; her Byronic villainess in their usual attire of crimson velvet robe and black plumes have a theatrical brilliance that at least beguiles the eye and the ear is often startled into attention by the oddly compelling rhythm of scattered sentences.When Charlotte almost fifteen in January 1831 went to Miss Woolers school in Roe Head (25miles from Haworth), Emily and Anne established their independent games and this left young Branwell to chronicle the wars and rebellions of the young men by himself.Miss Firth was a kind friend of the Brontes and it is thought that she had offered to bear the expense of sending one of the girls to school.She was now married to the vicar of Huddersfield and is invery comfortable circumstances.Charlotte made the trip to Roe Head in a covered cart.
V.MISS WOOLERS.The school was about 20 miles from Haworth.It did not have many pupils only about ten.And the teachers did not have degrees or diplomas, since this was long before the day of higher education for women.There were small classes and formal manners.There were no organized games.They took their exercise in country walks and games of ball in the fields and garden.Charlotte was remarkably neat in her personal attire, dainty as to the fit of her shoes and gloves.Her body was fragile.Her reddish brown eyes were peculiar.Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor were Charlottes close friend.Mary came of a radical family and was a natural rebel.She was outspoken.Ellen was tactful.Charlotte had an idea of self-improvement.It ruled her at school.She picked up every scrap of information concerning painting, sculpture, poetry, music etc. as if it were gold.She always felt a deep responsibility resting upon her.She must use every moment to attain the purpose for which she was sent to school i.e. to fit herself for governess life.Miss Wooler was like a lady abbess.She wore white, well fitting dresses, embroidered.She had long hair.Shew as not pretty.She had a knack of making the pupils feel interested in whatever they had to learn.They had a healthy desire and thirst for knowledge.They were taught how to think, analyze reject and appreciate.Miss Wooler had lived all of her life in that part of Yorkshire.She remembered well the troubled times of the Luditte riots when mills were attached.She could tell exciting stories and point to the very field where an armed rising had taken place.These stories told by the girls impressed Charlotte's imagination.
VI.GROWING UP.The next three years were spent quitely at Haworth.The four children at home.From nine to twelve I instruct my sisters and draw; then we walk till dinner time.After dinner I sew till tea time and after tea I either write, read or do a little fancy work or draw as I please.Charlotte went out to visit Ellen.She went in a two-wheeled gig.Branwell was her escort; a very dear brother; they were in perfect accord of taste and feeling.Branwell probably had not been far from home before; he was in wild ecstasy with everything.He was between fifteen and sixteen years.Charlotte liked to pace the plantations or seek seclusion in the fruit garden.She was very shy.But she won the respect and affection of all who had opportunity enough to become acquainted with her.Mr. Bronte was 84 when he died having outlived all the children.In the summer Miss Branwell spent part of her afternoons reading to Mr. B.Anne was her aunts favorite.She pursued her studies and especially her sewing under the surveillance of her aunt.Emily was having piano lessons and doing her share of the housework.Branwell studied with his father and used to paint in oils.Emily, Anne and Branwell used to ramble over the moors, weather permitting.They used to ford the streams.Emily loved nooks of beauty.Mr. Bronte did not have curtains.He was afraid of first but Charlotte ventured-- it did not please her father but it was not forbidden.A little later they got a piano.Emily played with precision and brilliancy.Anne also played.They are in love with the black tom, the tabby.They made use of the lending library which had a wide range of books to choose form.At home they had Sir Walter Scott's writings, Wordsworth and Southeys poems along with some ladies magazines.The Methodist church left is mark on all their poetry.It exerted its influence on the whole Bronte family.Branwell was the brilliant darling of the family.Very unlike his sisters he was very sociable.He belonged to a boxing club.He was well-read.His father tutored him in classical studies.Some of his poetry is concerned with the classical and Roman themes.He liked to execute church music.Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote Charlotte from Italy describing a hat- a round peanut hat for which I should be pelted in Manchester.Branwell went to London.He wrote to the Secretary of the Royal Academy but did not enroll.He spent time sight-seeing and visited Westminster Abbey.
VII.AMBITIONS AND FRUSTRATIONS.Branwell though if he would not be an artist he would write.So he was buoyed up by a torrent of verse and prose which had poured form his pen ever since he could remember.He wrote to Blackwoods but his letters were not answered.So then he was thinking of an interview (300 miles).He wrote to Wordsworth-- no answer.Southeys answer was discouraging.Charlotte and Emily returned to Miss Woolers.But Emily was homesick and returned home.Emily went to teach at Miss Patchett's Academy at Law Hill.But she suffered here and she returned to Haworth place after six months.At home she cooked and ironed.She studied German while kneading bread.Charlotte was now 20.She had been writing prodigiously for years.She was teaching at Miss Woolers.She left Roe Head to the far less health surroundings of Dewesbury Moor.She sank here to a nervous degree of nervous debility.Branwell was at home.His closest literary alliance was Charlotte.Charlotte returned to Dewsbury alone.From that time Mary Taylor told Miss Gaskell "her imagination became gloomy or frightful; she could not help it; she could not forget the gloom she could not sleep at night, nor attend in the day.Back at her work she would turn sick and tremble at any sudden noise.Back at Haworth they were in a last peaceful and happy lull before they were separated by the necessity of earning a living.Branwell persuaded his father to set him up a studio in Bradford where he would earn his living as a portrait painter.But it was unprofitable and so he returned home.Marriage did not enter into the scheme of Charlotte's life.At 23 she had rejected two offers.One was Henry Nussey, Ellen's brother (St;. John Rivers in Jane Eyre).Charlotte dearly loved Ellen and had kindly leaning toward her brother.The name Henry Nussey suggested a frigid and sententious prize.The second proposal came from Mr. Hodgson a vicar.He came, made himself at home.He was witty, lively, ardent and clever; but deficient in dignity and discretion of an Englishman.She (Charlotte) and Anne arrived at independence by going out as governess.They were not naturally fond of children.
VIII.THE GOVERNESS.Charlotte has shown that she was a difficult governess, constrained, melancholy, ill at ease and always on the defensive.She is a solitary-in the family but not of it.She wrote to Emily "I have striven hard to be pleased with my new situation.The country, the house and the grounds are divine; but alack-a-day; there is such a thing as seeing all beautiful around you-pleasant woods, winding white paths, green lawns; and blue sunshiny skies and not having a free moment or free thought left to enjoy them in.The children are constantly with me.They do as they like.Mrs. S. does not know, or odes not intent to know me.Mr. S. walked out with his children one afternoon, I followed behind.His beautiful Newfoundland dog followed at his side.He indulged his children and allowed them to tease him far too much.Anne was a more successful governess than her sister.She is with Mrs. Ingram a very kind woman with the two older children under her care.These children are dunces.She scolds, coaxes, and threatens them and gets on as well as she can.Branwell is tutoring now for six months at a family of Mr. Postlewaite at Broughton- in Furness.B is now 23 and had a reputation as a drinker.He likes to write and sends poems to Hartley and Coleridge.Char. submits the plan of a story to Coleridge.Mrs. Gaskell is told that he sent a favorable answer.Charlotte had a kind and candid letter from Wordsworth when he returned her story.Charlotte and Ellen spent a month at Easton with Ellen's friends Mr and Mrs Hudson.Charlotte painted a charming water color of the long low farmhouse with her host and hostess sitting on a rustic seat, in a romantic profusion of flowers.Char loved the sea- it always brought a pleasant recollection to her.Charlotte had to find another situation.All three sisters were at home.Charlotte looked with disfavor on the run of curates; however, the Rev Wm Weightman was gay and agreeable and charming creature from a different world.Charlotte says she knows many of his faulty actions, many of his weak points.Branwell took the job of booking clerk at the Sowerby Bridge RR Station.It is near Halifax where the Leylands lived.He found renewed opportunities in drinking and soon he was transferred to Luddenden Fort.
X.CHARLOTTE AND BRANWELL IN LOVE.Mr. B's eyesight was failing.Branwell had been very strange of late.He had been drinking much and he was unaccountably irritable and quarrelsome, sometimes in noisy high spirits and sometimes in suicidal gloom.Anne and Branwell came home (July 1845) while the Robinson family took their holidays at Scarborough.Charlotte was away with Ellen at Hathersage in Derbyshire.Ellen came home and found Branwell ill.He received a note from Mr. Robinson dismissing him.Branwell felt very bad.He was in the throes of a passionate love affair with Mrs. Robinson.She was nearly 20 years older than himself.She began the first advances.She was bold and hardened.The man became the victim.The man's life was blighted and crushed out of him by suffering.The woman goes flaunting about to this day in respectable society!It lasted three years.Mr. R's death occurred about twelve months after Branwell's dismissal.Her husbands will forbade her to remarry.Charlotte has been much blamed for her evident lack of sympathy with Branwell's woe.Mrs. R. became the wife of Sir Edward Scott and was reported by her daughters to be in the highest spirits. CURRER, ELLIS AND ACTION BELL.Chamber's Journal had printed one of Anne's poems.Charlotte came across a little M.S. Volume of verses by Emily.She had not thought of publication.Her poetry was a part of her day dream life and intensely private.Charlotte's enthusiasm prevailed. And when it was suggested they should conceal their own names under pseudonyms she finally won.They chose Currer, Ellis and Action Bell.Charlotte's and Anne's novels were making progress.Charlotte was writing "The Professor", Anne, "Agnes Grey" and Emily "Wurthering Heights" in the spring of 1846.In the summer Mr. B. developed a cataract.He was very patient at the operation.He had to stay in bed in a dark room for four days.Charlotte began to write "Jane Eyre".The winter of 1846 was bitter cold.Everyone at the parsonage suffered with colds and the flu.Anne's health was poor and Branwell was troublesome.He had given up all thought of looking for employment.Here comes a heartening letter about "The Professor"."Jane Eyre" was all but finished.She made haste to finish it."Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" had been accepted by the firm of T.C. Newby.Recommendations flew by word of mouth and there was a rush for copies.Charlotte was the author of a "best seller".She read some of the reviews to her father and gave him a copy of "Jane Eyre" to read.
XII.THE TASTE OF FAME. Mr. B was so pleased over Charlotte's fame.He eagerly gathered up every crumb of praise, Charlotte liked Thackery and wanted to dedicate the second edition to him.But there was "talk" as Thackery's wife had been kept under restraint for some years.Charlotte was horrified by the thought.But Thackery exonerated her from any knowledge of his concerns.He did not complain.
XIII. DEATH OF BRANWELL, EMILY AND ANNE.Charlotte found herself feverish and exhausted after the London visit.Branwell was worse.Branwell had tuberculosis.His old friend Francis Grundy came occasionally to Haworth.He died after a brief and painful struggle.Mr. B. offered prayers at his bedside and he would murmur a quiet "Amen".Emily caught a cold at Branwell's funeral and soon her hard obstinate cough, her loss of appetite and restless nights and feverish days caused Charlotte and Anne painful anxiety.Charlotte was not well.Her deep uneasiness about Emily drained her vitality."Sherley" the new novel was laid aside.Emily never went outdoors after the Sunday succeeding Branwell's death.She made no complaints; she rejected sympathy.At Mr. Williams suggestion Charlotte wrote for advice to a homeopathic surgeon giving him an exact description of Emily's symptoms.The answer was too later.The parsonage was now sad and quiet.Weather was bitterly cold.My father says often "Charlotte you must bear up--I shall sink if you fail me".Anne had an examination by a physician of Leeds and both her lungs were affected.Charlotte summoned what patience and fortitude she could."This is not the time to regret, dread, or weep.What I have and ought to do is very distinctly laid out for me; what I want and pray for is strength to perform it".(continued in Charlotte Bronte narrative).
Children of Patrick Prunty and Maria Branwell are:
12 i. Maria3 Bronte, born 1813 in Hartshead near Bradford, Yorkshire, England/Yorkshire Co., England; died May 06, 1825.
Notes for Maria Bronte:
Maria Bronte was delicate and small in appearance.At 10 years old, Maria was sent to a school established by Reverend Carus Wilson at Cowan Ridge in 1824.A strange low fever broke out in 1825.Mr. Bronte was summoned to take her home by Leeds coach.She died a few days after her arrival home.She died at age 12 after only a few months at Cowan Bridge School.
13 ii. Elizabeth Bronte, born February 1815 in Hartshead near Bradford, Yorkshire, England/Yorkshire Co., England; died June 15, 1825.
Notes for Elizabeth Bronte:
Elizabeth Bronte at age 9 was sent to Reverend Carus Wilson's School at Cowan Ridge in 1824 also.She died soon after Maria after only a few month at Cowan Bridge School.Elizabeth was 11 when she died.
14 iii. Charlotte Bronte, born April 21, 1816 in Market Street, Thornton, England; died March 31, 1855 in Haworth, England.She married Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls June 29, 1854.
Notes for Charlotte Bronte:
Charlotte Bronte was also sent to Reverend Carus Wilson's School at Cowan Ridge in 1824.She was eight at the time.Charlotte and her sister Emily returned to school after Maria and Elizabeth's death but they did not remain as the damp situation did not agree with them.In January 1831, Charlotte, almost fifteen went to Miss Woolers school in Roe Head (25 miles from Haworth).Her schooling was paid for by Miss Firth, a fine friend of the Brontes who was married to the vicar of Huddersfield and in a very comfortable circumstance.Charlotte taught at Miss Woolers and, at 20, had written prodigiously for years.At 23 Charlotte had rejected two offers of marriage.One from Henry Nussey, Ellen's brother and the other from Mr. Hodgson, a vicar.Charlotte arrived at independence by going out as a governess (1839-41).She did not like children or the work.Charlotte went to study at M. Heger's School in Brussels (Feb-Nov 1842).She returned in January 1843 for a further year.Charlotte wrote "The Professor" in the spring of 1848 but it was not published until after her death in 1857.In the summer she began to write "Jane Eyre".It was published in October 1847.During the death of her brother and sisters, Charlotte was working on her book "Shirley".It was published in October 1849.Between 1849-53, Charlotte made four visits to London; became acquainted with literary figures including Thackeracy, Harriet Martineau and G.H. Lewes.She sat to George Richmond for her portrait in June of 1850.In 1852 (December), Charlotte published "Villette".The Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, curate at Haworth, proposed to Charlotte, but after her father's objections he resigned the curacy.Charlotte kept in touch and on 29 June 1854, Charlotte Bronte married Mr. Nicholls at Haworth Church, her father's opposition overcome.Charlotte started and wrote "Emma".Her health improved but it was not to last long.She died 31 March 1855.She had been married barely a year.Charlotte was only 39 when she died.
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The Bronte Story by Margaret Lane - A Reconsideration of Mrs. Gaskells Life of Charlotte Bronte:
"Charlotte Bronte was the daughter of the Rev. Patrick Bronte.She was only 39 when she died.Rev. Patrick Bronte (Prunty) wrote to Mrs. Gaskell asking her to write Charlotte's biography.He wanted it published under her own name so that the work might obtain a wide circulation and be handed down to the latest times.Charlotte Bronte's life was on of reclusive quiet.She had shrunk, herself, even from the personal recognition which was a fruit of her fame; and the circumstances of her death had been so painful.She was still young, newly famous, married but nine months, pregnant with her first child (last line here is scratched out).Charlotte married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls who was a man of extreme reticence.He did not particularly care for his wife's renoun.Charlotte told Mrs. Gaskell before her marriage that "He is not intellectual".He is a Puseyite and very stiff; I fear it will stand in the way of my intercourse with some of my friends.Mrs. Gaskell knew Charlotte B. for five years.They had met at Windemere in 1850.She was six years younger than Mrs. Gaskell.The servant taught the Bronte children to read and write.At twelve years Charlotte asked her father if they might go to school so they were sent to Cowan Ridge, a new school for daughters of clergymen.The two elder children died of fever.Miss B. said the pain she suffered from hunger was not to be told and her two younger sisters laid the foundation of the consumption of which they are now dead.At 15 (nineteen is crossed off) she obtained a teachers place in a school and thus saved up enough to pay for her journey to a school in Brussels, on the continent.She had never been out of Yorkshire before.; and was so frightened when she got to London she took a cab; it was night, and drove down to the Tower Stairs and went to Ostend Packet and they refused to take her in; but at last they did. (after; lined out)She was in this school at Brussels for two years without a holiday except one week with one of her Belgain school fellows.Then she came home and her sisters were ill, and her father was going blind.She stayed at home and tried drawing with no success and at sixteen she had sent some of her poems to Southey and had kind stringent answers from him.So Charlotte and her sisters tried again.They read to each other-their father was not aware of their efforts in this.He had never heard of Jane Eyre.Three months after publication, she promised her sisters one day at dinner she would tell him before tea-so she marched into his study with a copy wrapped up and the reviews.He read it later.Following the success of Jane Eyre her sisters died of consumption unattended by any doctor.Charlotte spent a few days with Mrs. Gaskell in Manchester and in 1853 Mrs. Gaskell went to Haworth for a few days with Charlotte and she saw what life at the parsonage was like.She wrote that the wind goes piping and wailing and sobbing round the square unsheltered house in a very strange unearthly way.She wondered what Mr. Bronte did with himself through the day.Handwritten: "(He taught Patrick and prepared sermons, beinga Rev.)"Charlotte B. had a dear friend Ellen Nussey.Ellen wrote an article for Sharpe's magazine which created an interest.Mr. Bronte became Mrs. Gaskells ally and overrode Mr. Nickolls objections.Arthur Nickolls, Mr. Bronte's curate, thought she wrote too freely.Ellen was loyal and affectionate.She possessed those scrupulous Victorian virtues of truthfulness and delicacy which remain the most serviceable foundations of enduring friendship.II. Haworth Parsonage.In 1856 (summer) Mrs. Gaskell made a number of journeys connected with Charlotte Bronte's life.She went to Haworth (Black Bull).She went to London.George Smith was there.He was Charlotte's publisher and friend.He published the biography.She also went to Brussels.The parsonage was a very rich field for research.It was very thorny too, uninviting and surrounded by wild a bleak moor.Mrs. Gaskell saw Haworth as a Yorkshire village in a manufacturing district.The inhabitants had strong and independent tempers somewhat surely and unattractive.They had their virtues but she could not fail to remark the gritty surface.The people are strong religionists.Revenge was handed down from father to son as a hereditary duty.Into the midst of this lawless yet not unkindly population Mr. Bronte brought his wife and six little children in February 1820.There are those yet alive who remember seven laden carts bringing household goods to the future abode.The parsonage was modest, it was Spartan, not unhomely.When Mrs. Gaskell visited Mr. Bronte she had turned him into an eccentric, domineering, selfish, irascible old man.Charlotte confided in Mrs. Gaskill the painful time before her father consented to her marriage.He did not like children and with the noise of his own he was positively annoyed by it....."(continued in the Rev. Patrick Bronte Section)
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The Bronte Story by Margaret Lane - A Reconsideration of Mrs. Gaskells Life of Charlotte Bronte:
XIV. CHARLOTTE ALONE.Shirley is her least attractive work.It is her school-girl days at Roe Head.She took most of her characters from life although incidents and situations were fictitious.The three curates were real living mean.Mrs. Pryor was well known to many who loved the original dearly.Charlotte's physical vitality is low.A Mr. James Taylor took the manuscript of "Shirley" back to London.Her publishers sent a favorable report."Shirley" was published in October 1849.She then went to London to see about her health.She was a guest of George Smith's mother in Westbourne Place.She me Thackery; she was overwhelmed by his personality, celebrity and by her own admiration for his genius and found herself "fearfully stupid".Mr. B. was a great age now.He dined alone-a portion of Charlotte's dinner and after dinner she read to him an hour or so.He had a strong will-a weak body.Charlotte went to London to hear lectures by Thackery.She went via Manchester on her way home.Here she was visited by Mrs. Gaskell.
XV. MR. NICHOLLS. Mr. Nicholls sat in his little dark stone-floored study (once the store room). Charlotte had papered and curtained it in white and green.He was the curate at Haworth now for almost eight years.He proposed to Charlotte just a few days before Christmas.On Monday eve he was in for tea.After tea he sat with Papa.That he cared something for me and wanted me to care for him, I have long suspected but I did not know the degree or strength of his feelings.The next few days were indeed miserable.Mr. Nicholls took sanctuary in his lodgings and alarmed his landlady by rejectinghis meals.But he stayed in Haworth in a state of gloom, uncertainty and discomfort.Villette was published in January 1853 and was received with universal praise.Charlotte welcomed Dr. Longley, later to become Archbishop of Canterbury.Mr. Nicholls was asked to go to London for an Interview. But he had not made up his mind to leave the country and if he did he would communicate with them.Mr. Bronte said that he could remain at Haworth if he signed an undertaking never again to mention the subject of marriage.He retired to his own rooms in silence and misery.Charlotte said "silent pity" is all I can give him.Charlotte went to Manchester.Mrs. Gaskell was there.One evening two sisters sang "Scotch Ballads".They sang "The House of Airlie" and Carlisle Yetts".Charlotte liked their singing.After returning to Haworth the weeks went by and soon it was Mr. Nicholls last Sunday.HE gave Charlotte Communion and when he did he struggled, faltered and lost command.Mr. Bronte was not there.It was very painful.Mr. Nicholls went to the south of England for a few weeks and then to the curacy of Kirk Smeaton near Pontefract.A Mr. de Renzy succeeded him at Haworth.Gradually an exhausted peace settled on the place.Summer came.Charlotte caught a cold and was ill with the flu.Mrs. Gaskell's visit was postponed.Charlotte does little beside knitting.Mrs. Gaskell came in the fall.Mr. Bronte was a most courteous host.And Mrs. Gaskell learned the story of Mr. Nicholls.Charlotte was in secrete communication with Mr. Nicholls.She worried about him.She finally decided that she could make him happy and Mr. Bronte consented to an engagement.AT last she told Papa all.He was hostile.The marriage date was June 29.Mr. Nicholls blossoms and improves.After the wedding they left by train for North Wales.They went to Dublin and sight seeing on to Banagher.She saw Dr. Bells house where Mr. Nicholls had been raised.It had lofty and spacious rooms.Charlotte tells Miss Wooler "I like my new relations".They went to Killarny.This was very much to her delight.They saw the Atlantic.He was changing into something she hardly believed possible.Mr. Bronte accepted his son-in-law.Mr. Nicholls shouldered the whole work of the parish.Charlotte started and wrote "Emma".Her health was improved, But it was not to last.She went to her eternal reward March 31, 1855.
15 iv. Patrick Branwell Bronte, born June 26, 1817 in Market Street, Thornton, England; died September 24, 1848.
Notes for Patrick Branwell Bronte:
(Patrick) Branwell Bronte remained at home and was educated by his father.He studied with his father and used to paint in oils.Branwell went to London to prepare for study at the Royal Academy Schools, but returned almost immediately (1835).Branwell thought if he would not be an artist, he would write.Branwell persuaded his father to set him up in a studio in Bradford where he would earn his living as a portrait painter.But it was unprofitable and so he returned home.Branwell tutored for six months at a family of Mr. Postlewaite at Broughton in Furness.At 23 he had a reputation as a drinker.(1840-2) Later he took the job of booking clerk at the Sowerby Bridge Railroad Station.He continued to drink.He was transferred to Luddenden Fort.Branwell had a passionate love affair with Mrs. Robinson who was nearly 20 years older then himself.She dismissed him and he felt very bad.His life was blighted and crushed out of him by suffering.Mr. Robinson died about twelve months after Branwell's dismissal.Her husband's will forbade her to remarry.24 September 1848 after, Branwell developed tuberculosis he died after a brief and painful struggle.Branwell was 31 years old.
16 v. Emily Bronte, born July 30, 1818 in Market Street, Thornton, England; died December 19, 1848.
Notes for Emily Bronte:
Emily Jane Bronte was also sent to Reverend Carus Wilson's School at Cowan Ridge in 1824 when she was not yet 7 years old.She returned to the school with Charlotte after the death of her sisters Elizabeth and Maria but soon left.She lived at home receiving instructions from Charlotte, having piano lessons and doing her share of the housework.Emily returned to Miss Woolers Roe Head School (1835) with Charlotte but was homesick and returned home.She taught 8 months at Miss Patchett's Academy at Law Hill.She returned back home and she cooked and ironed.She studied German while kneading bread.Emily went to study at M. Heger's School in Brussels Feb-Nov 1842.Charlotte convinced her to publish "Poems" under the names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (pseudonyms of Charlotte, Emily and Anne)."Wuthering Heights" was published in December of 1847.19 December 1848 Emily died.She had caught a cold at Branwell's funeral and soon had a hard and obstinate cough.She was 30 years old.
17 vi. Anne Bronte, born January 17, 1820 in Market Street, Thornton, England; died May 28, 1849.
Notes for Anne Bronte:
Anne Bronte was her aunts favorite.She pursued her studies and especially her sewing under the surveillance of her aunt.She briefly attended Roe Head School in 1835.Anne arrived at independence by going out as a governess (1839-41).Anne wrote "Agnes
Grey" in December 1847.In July 1848 she published "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".After the death of her brother and sister.Anne had an examination by a physician of Leeds and both her lungs were affected.She died 28 May 1849 at 29.Anne was buried at the Old Church Scarborough.