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brain family

Marg I

New Member
i wonder if anyone has matilda brain in their tree ? born 1817 in birmingham . died 1860 . in aston . she married benjamin newham i think .her on;y daughter was alice . she went on to marry joseph vincent . they had many offspring including my gran . hope to hear from anyone about the brains . we live in new zealand .
 
The wife of Benjamin Newham and mother of Alice appears to be a Matilda Newhouse not Brain. daughter of William & Ann.

In 1851 there is listed another daughter Emma b1840 but as Benjamin & Matilda don't marry until 1844 it's not certain who are parents are.
 
There is a gravestone in St Peter and Paul churchyard Aston which has a death of Matilda Newham as the daughter of Ann Brain also on the same stone. gravestone
Tracing Ann Brain seems to show she was Ann Newhouse who married John Brain in 1820.
 
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Just realised that Matilda must have been born before Ann married John so perhaps she had the name Newhouse rather than Brain.
Typing as you posted
 
Ann Newhouse certainly appears to be Matilda's mother. Her father I don't know.

The Emma Newham b1840 with Benjamin & Matilda in 1851 appears to be a daughter of Benjamin's from a previous marriage. Registered as Sarah Emma.

Benjamin didn't have much luck with wives, widowed 3 times.
 
In 1820 when Ann Newhouse marries John Brain she is listed as a spinster. However, there is a baptism at St Martin's of Matilda Newhouse in December 1817 with Mother Ann and Father William Newhouse. So either the "spinster" entry is wrong or the name of the "Father" is there just for the record. Or there is more than one Matilda Newhouse.

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There is a baptism for an Ann Newhouse (1795) daughter of George & Ann that matches the records for Ann Brain. She also had a sister called Matilda.

So I would suspect that her being listed as a spinster when marrying John Brain is correct. The father's details on Matilda's baptism could be completely made up or forename and occupation could be real. I think we've seen both scenarios many times, no way to know which in this case unfortunately.
 
That is what I thought. As you say we don't really know which is correct but happens a lot of times.
 
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