Thomas Brasseur (abt. 1626)

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Thomas Brasseur was a Huguenot.

Biography

Thomas was born about 1626.^[1]

Most of the following Information quoted from profile of Robert Brassuer.

Biography The Brasseur family were French Huguenots, dissidents against the Catholic Church, searching for freedom from religious persecution by immigration to Holland, England, then America before 1635. They eventually settled in Calvert County, Maryland, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Their surname has been spelled Brasseur, Brasher, Brashear(s), Boshears, Brashier, Brasier, Brazier, Basher, Bashier and even Bradshaw. The original is thought to have come from the French word "Bras" meaning arm (a part of the body) and "Sieur" meaning Lord or Knight. Another, less noble, interpretation of the name's origin is that a "brasseur" in France is someone who brews beer and ale.

Most American Brashears and variants of the name descend from Benois Brasseur's sons Robert, Benjamin and John. However, there appears to be another branch that entered the American Colonies through the New England area.

During the 1630s, the Anglican Church was the dominant religion in colonial Virginia. That colony was hardly more tolerant of Puritan Dissenters or Calvinist Huguenots than had been the Roman Catholics in France (from which the Brasseur family fled, seeking religious freedom). So immigrant Robert moved his family, including son Benois, from Isle of Wight County, Virginia, to less-populated Nansemond Co. and patented 600 acres in Nansemond Co. in 1636 and 1638. At least two of Robert's children became Quakers - John and Margaret. Eventually, in 1658, the family left Virginia for the much-more open and tolerant colony of Maryland...

...Robert and his son Benois Brasseur arrived in Virginia in about 1635, when Robert already had seven children, the oldest being Benois. Some were born in France before 1628, when the family is thought to have fled to Kent, England; others were born at the Isle of Thanet, in Kent. The remainder were born in Virginia. Within a few generations their French surname "Brasseur" had been Anglicized to "Brashear". ..

Notes for THOMAS BRASSEUR:

Thomas "Brassie" was probably born about 1626. He is identified as a son of Robert Brasseur in Isle of Wight Co., VA records in 1649. (Virkus Compendium of American Genealogy, p. 604). Thomas Braser appears in land records in Isle of Wight Co, VA. This is possibly Thomas , the son of Robert Brasseur the Hugenot Immigrant. Thomas, or possibly a son, Thomas, Jr., moved to Cecil Co, MD and is found in records about 1677.

Observations/ Confirming Sources needed for citation.

As shown by other researchers, Thomas Brasseur was born about 1626 and was the son of Robert Brasseur (and brother to Benoit), he would have been about 10 when his father came to Virginia:

A Brashear(s) Family History, Vol. 1 The First 200 Years of Brashear(s) in America, by Charles Brashear and Shirley Brasher McCoy: pg 3; "Apparently to escape religious persecutions and seeing an opportunity, Robert Brasseur left his home in France, some time during the 1620s, possibly in 1629. Several family historians say he made his way to Isle of Thanet parish, Kent Co., England, where he was known as Robert Brashear, but we have no clear documentation." He immigrated to Virginia sometime after that with 7 children.

Cavaliers and Pioneers, by Nugent: Vol. 1, pg. 41; The first known record of Robert in Virginia is a renewal of a promissory note in Warrisquicke Co., VA on 1 June 1636.

Robert and family later moved to Maryland, Thomas is not named in Robert's claims for headrights at that time. Thomas would have been about 27 years old and likely out of his father's household at that time. Therefore it is reasonable that Thomas may not have moved along with the rest of the family.

Book 975.5 G864 Greer, Early Virginia Immigrants 1622-1666: Listing for Katherine, Bennet, Persie and Mary as 1653 immigrants by Robt. Brasseur of Nansemond County

Sources

1. ↑ Consolidated Update to the Register of Qualified Huguenot Ancestors of The National Huguenot Society. Fifth Edition. San Antonio, Texas: the National Huguenot Society, Inc., 2012. Page 17.