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Delaying consideration of the material on the South West until section 9 is a clear indication of my Gloucscentric outlook on BRUSH history. To those readers who descend from the BRUSH families of Devon and Cornwall I apologise.
The early story of the Brush family in Cornwall is in the south-east corner of the county centred on the parish of St Germans which is on the west bank of the Tamar, the river separating Cornwall and Devon. Although St Germans, and nearby parishes, seems to be the focal point there are scattered entries across much of Cornwall, some of which are directly linked. There are also a couple of earlier references to BRUSH in Devon but with no obvious connection. Most Devon material is a bit later and is covered in chapter xx.
The first references appear in the 1544 subsidy rolls for St Germans and at Quethiock a little north and west towards Liskeard. Roger BRUSHE and a Roger BRYSHE are listed at Quethiock but the St Germans entries are for William and Richard BRUSSE. Roger BRUSHE of Quethiock is assessed on goods valued at five pounds and Roger BRYSHE on one pound of goods. As adults, these men will have been born no later than 1523 and quite possibly earlier, which makes them contemporaries of the earliest Gloucestershire entries - John of Compton Abdale, Richard of Tewkesbury and the hidden parents of Anthony of Painswick and Giles of Brockworth. William, Richard, Roger and Roger of Cornwall might all be the same generation but could also be a pair of fathers and sons.
There is then a series of entries from 1551 to 1616 within the court books and rolls at Cuttenbeak , which is variously referred to as a borough, barton or manor within the parish of St Germans. They provide clear evidence of an established family
.Thomas BRUSHE, a tithingman, appears in 1551 and again in 1574. Tithingman appears to be some sort of parish officer (either involved in collecting tithes or in some sort of constable public order role) not simply someone subject to tithes.
c.1560 we have a marriage of a John BRASHE at St Breward to Joanna BONESANT (ref PMI? Phillimore marriage index?) - which would give a formula birth date c.1532. Breward sits to the west of Bodmin Moor between Bodmin and Camelford in North Cornwall. It is about 25 miles north west of St Germans.
An earlier, offline, draft of this section includes the folowing " 66 Richard BRASSHE v. John DYER and others. Messuage in St. Germans. Cornw." The source forthis seems to be the Index of Chancery proceedings. Does '66' signify 1566?
Thomas BRUSCH of St Germans is also recorded in a document as granting [a lease?] of " a messuage" at Trespearne in the parish of "Lanease" in 1567 to John PHILIPE and family. The hamlet of Trespearne is in Laneast which is an inland parish about 25 miles northwest of St Germans, to the north of Bodmin Moor. Thomas is quite possibly the tithingman noted in 1551 and 1574. The source for this is noted as "Quoted from doft7r - cornwall records" which I think refers to the US study "Dececendants of Thomas and Richard Brush"
Within this period, the 1569 Muster roll lists John and Hugh BRUSHE at St Germans and Walter BRUSH at the parish of St Johns, 6 miles southeast of St Germans on the Rame peninsula.
The next, isolated, reference to the BRUSH name in Cornwall is of John BRUSH buried in 1570 at Stephen in Brannel, to the west of St Austell. Ref to BRS list of PCC wills??? This is also some 25 miles away from St Germans.
In 1577 the Cuttenbeak records record a sale of a tenement in the borough of Cuttenbeak by Richard BRUSH, yeoman of St Germans, to Thomas HODGE of Pelynt, husbandman.
Sometime in the period 1558 to 1603 there are legal proceedings between Richard Brusshe and [-] Avery about "certain messuages and gardens in the borough of Cuttambecke" , ... The National Archives | The Catalogue | Full Details
There is also a burial of a John Brush at Madron, near Penzance, in 1579. Despite the later presence of a BRUSH family in the adjoining parish of Gulval from 1719 (chapter xx), this does seem to be a genuinely isolated instance with no other evidence of an early settled location this far west.