Robert Rix, of Brancaster

Robert Rix, of Brancaster

• Birth: Robert Rix was born circa 1592 at Canning Hall, England.6 (sic: probably not)
• Parents: John Rix
• Marriage: He married Margaret (--------).6 

Family

1. Margaret (--------) b. circa 1592

Children

1. William Rix1,2,5 d. 13 Nov 1657
2. Thomas Rix+6,5 b. 1622, d. 1684
3. Richard Rix5

Notes

From the Rix 1911 book:

The English line of Brancaster Castle, Norfolk County, England.

• (1) Sir John Rix, Earl of Offord. Beheaded by order of Henry VIII.
• (2) Sir John Thomas Rix, Earl of Offord. Married Margaret Bruce.
• (3) John Rix.
• (4) Robert Rix, of Canninghall, England, father of William and Thomas, the first in America.

From http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.rix/162.9.1/mb.ashx

The persons who work at Westminster Abbey informed me that they consulted the standard register of the Knights of England and there is no Sir John Rix listed. I consulted the book Armorial Families by Charles Fox-Davies, Vol. 2 published in 1970 by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont. It states that there was a Henry William Rix of The Grove, Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, England. Norwich is the county seat of Norfolk County. Brancaster is located in Norfolk County, England. He had a son, Reginald George Bertram Rix, Gentleman, born 1883 who lived at Pembroke Crescent, Hove, Sussex County, England. The rank of gentleman was one rank below the rank of nobility in the English class system. This Rix family is extinct.

I believe that John Rix could be the great-great grandfather of Thomas Rix as it is shown in Mr. Guy S. Rix's book, even though John Rix was not a member of the nobility.

Brancaster is a very small, picturesque village of old stone houses. A Romano-British Cemetery in the area has graves of Christians from the 4th to 5th centuries A.D. It is near the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. Its population in 1999 was 935. There is an inn, a small grocery store and a post office, but no public library. During the time of King Henry VIII (King of England 1509-1547) Frenchmen and Scotsmen came in boats and raided Brancaster. In the 17th century Spanish marauders came by sea from the Netherlands (It was then part of Spain.) and raided Brancaster.

In order to avoid paying the English government taxes (customs duties) on imported items, people smuggled these items (brought them in by sea illegally). This smuggling continued in the Brancaster area up until the 1860s. Brancaster is mostly a farming community. Wheat, barley, oats, and root crops like potatoes and turnips are grown. Some fishing is done. Large boats used to go in the summer and fish off the coast of Iceland. The village of Brancaster exported wheat, barley, malt, wool from sheep and salted fish. The village imported fir, pine and oak planks, iron, pottery, wine, figs, raisins, spices, olive oil, soap, leather, and furs.

Citations

1. [S320] Interview, Georgia (Ewing) Morgan, "Rix Family" 26 May 1999 ref "Tracy Genealogy, Ancestors and Descs. of Thomas Tracy of Lenox, Mass", compiled by Mattie Liston-Griswold, Printed by Doubleday Bros. & Co., Kalamazoo, Mich., 1900.
2. [S888] Mattie Liston-Griswold, Tracy Genealogy by Liston-Griswold, page 26.
3. [S962] Robert Rix AFN:BP9Q-6R, "Robert Rix Descendants", Ancestral File, AFN:BP9Q-8R.
4. [S1162] Guy S Rix, Rix Family of America, page xiii, 1.
5. [S1162] Guy S Rix, Rix Family of America, page xiii.
6. [S962] Robert Rix AFN:BP9Q-6R, "Robert Rix Descendants", Ancestral File.

Sources 

1. History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America: Containing Biographical Sketches and Genealogies of Both Males and Females (Google eBook) Grafton Press, 1906 - 240 pages

Links

• http://www.jackandpatt.com/freeman/p1327.htm#i26538