We know much more about Edith Alice Brougham (1867-1916) and where she came from going back many generations, starting with public records.

Edith Alice Brougham was born on July 14th, 1867 to Rev. Henry Brougham (1827-1913) and Lucy Alleyne Beecher. who were married in 1851 at Abbeystrewry church in Skibbereen, Ireland.

Edith Alice also appears in A Gathering of Broughams in Their Family Trees, published by Peter Brougham Wylie in 1998. She’s there on Chart 6, Brougham of Ballyhaise, at the head of which stands Henry Brougham the Elder (1719-1782) and Mary Freeman (ca. 1715-1807).

The Brougham family may have lost track of poor Edith Alice but they did not completely erase her. She’s there, my great grandmother, named and placed in the Brougham family records. Credit to the Brougham cousins mentioned in previous posts who managed to name if not entirely locate poor Edith Alice. 

To be fair, we in turn not only lost track of Edith Alice’s brothers and sisters we also forgot our extended Brougham family including our very distant English cousins. I heard no stories about them other than knowing the name Brougham and an automobile brand with the same name. As it turns out the Brougham family left a huge footprint in public records and in many secondary sources, too much to entirely comprehend, but it seems worth starting to know them.

One starting place is names. Here is a reliable list of Edith Alice’s father’s ancestors, her paternal line of descent starting with a man named Peter Brougham who lived in England in the village of Eamont Bridge when Henry VIII was King of England.

Peter Brougham of Eamont Bridge
1520-1581


Henry Brougham
1560-1622


Thomas Brougham
1619-1648


Henry Brougham of Scales
1638-1698


Samuel Brougham
1681-1745


Henry Brougham the Elder of Brougham Hall
1719-1782


Rev. John Brougham, rector of Ballyhaise and Balleborough
1748-1811


Rev. Henry William Brougham
1797-1831


Rev. Henry William Brougham, Dean of Lismore
1827-1913


Edith Alice Brougham
1867-1916

Our paternal Brougham line all lived in England before Rev. John Brougham (1748-1811) branched out to Ireland.

Edith Alice’s family were English before they were Irish.

Another way to start is with places. The Broughams came from a place named Brougham.