William Brewster, of Hatfield

William Brewster

• b. 1510, Bentley cum Arksey, South Yorkshire, England
• d. Unknown, Presumably Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mann-95

Nothing is known about the birth or death dates of Maude Mann and William Brewster of Doncaster. Nor do we know who their parents were.

William Brewster first appears in 1524 when he was taxed in Bentley cum Arksey, South Yorkshire, England. William Brewster is next taxed Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.[1]; Doncaster is seven miles North of Scrooby. It is in Doncaster where we find him as witness to a will although that might have been his son of the same name. We find no evidence of him in Scrooby. By about 1534 he married Maude Mann; that date is based on the approximate birth date of her child.

Maude Mann was the sister of Chistopher Mann,[1] William Mann, Annis Mann and Isabel Mann. This was in a followup article to his previous article published in 1965 in TAG Volume 41 p 1-5 and there is no evidence that her father was named John Mann. We do know Maude was living when she was named in her brother's will dated 11 OCT 1558. A William Brewster was witness to the same instrument on 13 Jan 1558 but it isn't clear if this was William Brewster of Doncaster or his son William Brewster of Scrooby. John G Hunt believes it was the son.

The children of William Brewster of Doncaster and his wife Maude Mann were published by John G Hunt in NEHGR Volume 124 p 253 in 1970.[1]

Only two children are listed:

1. William Brewster of Scrooby b ?1535 d 1590; witnessed the will of his uncle Christopher Man on 13 Jan 1558 with Thomas and John Simkinson of Doncaster. He was named in the will of Bartholomew Bryan of Scrooby dated 6 May 1564 as William Brewster "dwelling in Scrooby."[1][4] He married first Mary Smythe daughter William Smythe of Stainforth parish in Hatfield. She was sister of John Smythe of Hull and widow of John Simkinson of Doncaster. She was the mother of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. He married second to Prudence and had James, Prudence and John.[1][2]
2. Henry Brewster b ?1537 d ?1600, vicar at Sutton on Lound, Nottinghamshire, England from 1565-1594. His wife Agnes was buried 15 Mar 1597/8 at Sutton on Loud. He had no known children.[1][5]

John G Hunt lists no sons named James Brewster or Benjamin Brewster. In 2014 the General Society of Mayflower Descendants published the latest research on Elder William Brewster and they called these two articles the current state of research on this topic.[3] They did presumably have a grandson named James Brewster.[5][1] Although it has not been decisively proven that this grandson James is identical to the man of the same name who was vicar.[3] However, the evidence is fairly strong that he was.

Disputed origins

“Parents - according to NEHGR 124:250 his father is Robert Brewster and Mother is Mary Harvey”

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brewster-128

There are a number of unsourced/unsubstantiated genealogies linking this William Brewster's famous grandson, Elder William Brewster, 1566-1644, emigrant aboard the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to New Plymouth, Massachusetts to Galfridus Brewster (c 1350 - c 1410), son of John Brewster (born c. 1325), son of John Brewster (born c.1299). As these connections have not been proved, they are not treated as ancestors of Elder William Brewster on WikiTree.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brewster-47

There are a number of on-line genealogies that have linked Galfridus/Geoffrey Brewster with John Brewster b: c.1299, and John Brewster b: c.1325 to create an ancestry for the William Brewster 1566-1644 who emigrated in the ship Mayflower from Plymouth, England to New Plymouth, Massachusetts. Although no sources have been offered to support this descent line, we can find many unsubstantiated genealogies by descendants of William Brewster claiming their Brewster story to start with "John I in 1279, who lived in Rushmere, Suffolk, England followed by John II and III; then Galfridus, John IV" etc. [5]

Notes

In 1970 John G Hunt published an account of the family of William Brewster of Duncaster in NEHGR Volume 124 p 253 in 1970.[1] This was a follow-up article to his previously published treatment of this family published in 1965 in TAG Volume 41 p 1-5[2] In 2014 the General Society of Mayflower Descendants published the latest research on Elder William Brewster and the authors call these two articles the current state of research on this topic.[3]

The will of Maude's brother Christopher is not only helpful in determining her maiden name it also helps us elucidate the identity of the mother of William Brewster the Mayflower passenger, Mary Smythe. Christopher's will was witnessed by John Symkinson who was the first husband of Mary Smythe, the mother of Thomas Sinkinson of Hull by her first husband and the mother of William Brewster the Mayflower passenger by her second husband William Brewster of Scrooby.[2] In 1609 William Brewster of the Mayflower while living in Leiden gave power of attorney to his half-brother Thomas Simkinson of Hull to receive money that Anne Pecke had left in England. Ann Peck and her brother Robert Pecke were ward's of William Brewster. They have been identified as the children of William Brewster's half-sister Prudence Brewster and her husband Robert Pecke of Everton.[2] These two records link William Brewster of Leiden to his grandfather William Brewster of Doncaster just seven miles North of Scrooby. The will of Thomas Symkinson Alderman of Doncaster dated 29 Jan 1558 proved 2 May 1560 names John Simkinson and his two children Dorothy and Thomas Simkinson as well as Thomas Smythe, John Smythe of Hull, William Smythe and Alice widow of Chirstopher Mann among others.[1][7] The will of John Smythe of Hull dated 8 Aug 1592 proved the following October made it evident that Elder William Brewster and the younger Thomas Smythe of Hull were maternal half-brothers when he named "my nephews" William Brewster, John Smythe and Thomas Simkinson executors of his estate.[1] For an in depth discussion of the will of Christopher Mann please see the profile of Maude Mann.

Sources

1. Hunt, John G. "The Mother of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), Vol. 124:250, 1970 link to source
2. John G Hunt, "New Light on the Brewsters of Scrooby and New England" in The American Genealogist Vol 41 p 1-5 link to source
3. Barbara Merrick and Scott Barley, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations Descendants of the Pilgrams Who Landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts 1620: The Descendants of Elder William Brewster (Plymouth, MA: GSMD, 2014) Vol 24 Part 1 Generations 1-4 p 1-2 "Silver Book"
4. The Brewster genealogy, 1566-1907 a record of the descendants of William Brewster of the "Mayflower." ruling elder of the Pilgrim church which founded Plymouth colony in 1620 comp. and ed. by Emma C. Brewster Jones ....Published 1908 by The Grafton press in New York . Written in English.
5. York P&E, 17:389
6. Nottingham Parish registers, vol 21, Marriages at "Sutton on Lound," p 11, 12. See also, will of Richard Ellis, made there in March 1586 (York P&E 23:227) which was witnessed by Henry Brewster, clerk, and James Brewster, clerk, presumably his nephew and his successor as vicar.
7. George F. Willison, Saints and Strangers - Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers & Their Families, with Their Friends & Foes: & and Account of Their Posthumous Wanderings in Limbo, Their Final Resurrection & Rise to Glory, & the Strange Pilgrimages of Plymouth Rock (New York, New York : Reynal & Hitchcock, 1983) p 462-3 link
8. York P&E court, vol. 16 f. 46
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135379052/william-Brewster
   
10. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135379152/maude-brewster
11. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brewster-4383
12. . https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/William_Brewster_(1510-1558)
13. https://mckaystevens.us/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I33270&tree=1