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Section 17 ; Brush Families in and from Ireland
Introduction
In addition to the BRUSH families of England there are other BRUSH lines. One of the more interesting is an extended family group in Ireland.
One of the problems with Irish research is that large amounts of original documentation were lost when the Four Courts, Dublin, was destroyed on 30 June 1922 during Ireland's battle for independence. The old Four Courts building was Ireland's main court building. The west wing of the building was obliterated in a huge explosion, destroying the Irish Public Record Office at the rear of the building. Nearly a thousand years of archives were destroyed by this. Which makes tracing the Irish Brush families particularly challenging.
The 'standard' version of events is that the Irish families all descend from a single individual - John BRUSH. Who, at least for now, I am designating as [Ir10]. A single source for all Brush residents in Ireland may not be strictly true but it appears to be the root for most of those bearing the Brush name - especially the more prominent ones. That group, first documented in and around Omagh, County Tyrone in what is now Northern Ireland, are considered in 17.A2. Other early Brush families, mostly in Dublin, are considered in section 17.C .
The standard version of events appears in four secondary sources:- Blackwood, Burke, Coyle & Duffy, and (with some variation) in a family tree provided by 'AHB'. All these versions identify John [IR10] as an officer in the Williamite army of 1689 to 1691. It is with some hesitation that I suggest that this may simply be family legend. The issue is fully discussed in section 17.A . The alternative AHB version of how and when John came to Ireland is in Section 17.B .
The 'standard' tree identifies Crean (senior) as a son of John. He, four of his children and others from the same period (around 1730 to 1770) are considered in 17.D
17.E James the Jeweller
17.F Richard of Madeira
17.G Generation 5, from 1784, children of Oliver, George and Crane
17.H John Ramsey
17.I Crane & Ann Skelton and their children
17.J J.E.Ramsey
17.K Richard of Virginia
17.K The infamous Crean Brush of America