Notes about the surname
Although I remember hearing that the Brays were descendants of William the Conquerer, I suspect this came from those fanciful post-Roots days of the 1970s when everyone was searching for their ancestors in lofty places. According to Ancestry.com, the surname Bray is probably a “habitational name from places in Berkshire and Devon. The former is probably named with Old French bray ‘marsh’, the latter from the Cornish element bre ‘hill’.” I’m more inclined to believe this version.
Surname distribution
The Cornish origins of the name are evident in the 1891 English census:
Bray Surname Distribution in England
Important branches on my tree
- John Bray and Mary Lobb
I haven’t fully completed the research on this branch yet, but it is the farthest back that I can get at this point. The trail gets difficult to follow before John Bray as he is listed as “not of this parish” on the marriage record, and there is conflicting information about his home parish. - William Bray and Elizabeth Pethick
Much on the research has been done on the descendants of William Bray and Elizabeth Pethick. Two of their six sons emigrated to Canada. The other four sons settled in Pennsylvania with varying degrees of success. - William Bray and Betsey Bath
This family has been well researched. A tree of their descendants was created in the 1950s and I have built upon it. Note, however, that two illegitimate children were missing from the earlier tree.
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