BRISCO OF WESTWARD
Isabel Brisco married Edward Rowland at Westward in 1660. She was evidently a daughter of Robert Brisco of Cunningarth who died in 1648/49. Robert’s will does not mention his daughters, but the 1691 will of his son John Brisco of Cunningarth was witnessed (and apparently written out) by Edward Rowland and the testator left “unto Samuel and Jonathan Rowland ether of them one ewe & one lamb”. These were sons of Edward and Isabel. John also left a ewe and a lamb to William Harrison and the same to “John Briscoe sone of Anthony”. Robert Brisco’s will named a son Anthony and the Westward parish registers show the baptism of “Jane the dowghter of Robert Briskoe” in 1648, which fits with the marriage of Jane Brisco and John Harrison in 1668.
This family appears in pedigrees derived from the 1615 and 1665-66 visitations of Cumberland, in which several earlier generations are given.[1] However, a lack of confirmation from contemporary sources and inconsistencies in the pedigrees mean that the line is only firmly documented from Guy Brisco (d 1572) onwards, although it can be considered likely that his father was Edward Brisco of Westward[2] and contemporary probate records confirm the identities of three brothers of Guy.[3]
The visitation pedigrees show the Briscos of Westward, as well as those of Crofton, to descend from an Isold Brisco and his wife Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir John Crofton. It seems that this is a confused version of a marriage which took place in 1404 between Robert Brisco and Margaret, daughter and heir of John Crofton.[4] There is confirmation that Robert Brisco was associated with property in Crofton by 1407.[5]
Another ancestral marriage according to the pedigrees is that of a Robert Brisco and Isabel, daughter of William Dykes. It may be relevant to the dating of this marriage that in about 1474, a Robert Brisco and his brother Edward of the county of Cumberland complained of harassment by William Dykes.[6] Foster’s edition of the visitations shows the marriage in two different pedigrees but the children given for the couple in each do not match well. The two accounts also are not comfortably aligned in terms of the number of generations between Robert and Isabel and their descendants in the sixteenth century.[7] Guy Brisco (d 1572) may have been roughly contemporary with Robert Brisco who was killed in the battle of Solway Moss in 1542,[8] both being born probably in the period around 1500, Robert perhaps a little later, around 1510. However, Robert and Isabel (Dykes) Brisco are shown to be two generations before Guy, but four generations before Robert. Even if Robert (d 1542) was born in 1520, which is about as late as could plausibly be the case for his son John to be of age in 1561,[9] it is difficult to reconcile the number of generations in the different branches in the visitation pedigrees. It is not impossible that the connection is correct but it would involve long generations on one branch and consecutive short generations on the other. Another possibility is that Guy was a son of Edward, son of Robert, as the pedigrees suggest, but that Guy’s grandfather was Robert who married Katherine Skelton, a generation later than the Robert who married Isabel Dykes.[10]
Legal records corroborate the statements in the pedigrees that Robert Brisco (d 1542) was son of Richard, son of John, and that John’s mother was Katherine Skelton. A Star Chamber case of around 1532 concerning the heirs of Clement Skelton includes the answer of Rowland Glasters, son of Cicily, one of Clement’s sisters. Referring to Katherine, another of Clement’s sisters, it mentions “Robart Bryskoo as Cosyn and heyre of the body of the said Kateryn laufully begotton that ys to saye Son of Richard son of John son of the said Kateryn”.[11]
A later chancery case of 1565 relating to property in Thursby and Crofton provides additional support for the identity of the father and paternal grandfather of Robert (d 1542). John Brisco was the defendant and the rejoinder refers to “John Brisko greate grandfather of the said defendaunt and Richard Brisko his sonne and heire grandfather to the said defendant and Robert Brisco sun and heire to the said Richard and father to the said defendaunt”.[12]
In 1533, a commission was issued to Thomas Salkeld, Thomas Benkynsop and Richard a Bewley to make an inquisition post mortem on the Cumberland lands and heir of John a Briscoo and Richard a Briscoo,[13] but the inquisition has not been located. The order seems somewhat unusual in requiring an inquisition for two individuals, but could be explained by Richard being John’s heir and dying relatively soon after him.[14]
Katherine (Skelton) Brisco was a widow in 1518[15] and was still living in 1521 when she was a party in a quitclaim which was witnessed by her son John,[16] the grandfather of Robert (d 1542). John is stated to have married Jennet, daughter of Thomas Salkeld, and in 1527, Thomas Salkeld of Corby Castle and John Brisco of Crofton were parties together in a bond.[17]
Another record which may be relevant is a commission of 1547 to Thomas Salkeld, Robert Ellys, John Brisco and Stephen Skelton to enquire in Cumberland regarding the lands of Bartholomew Loder (Lowther), deceased.[18] All of these names appear in various generations of the 1665 Brisco visitation pedigree. It should be noted that Robert Brisco (d 1542) also had a brother called John who does not appear in the pedigrees but is recorded elsewhere.[19]
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BRISCO
1 EDWARD BRISCO of Westward, Cumberland.[20]
Children
of Edward Brisco:
2 i GUY BRISCO (d 1572); m AGNES.
ii EDWARD
BRISCO of Aldenham, Hertfordshire, yeoman, d 1555;[21] m
KATHERINE HUDDARD.[22]
iii THOMAS
BRISCO of Aldenham, d ca 1531;[23] m
ISABEL HUDDARD.[24]
iv CUTHBERT
BRISCO.[25]
2 GUY BRISCO of Westward died in 1572. He married AGNES.[26]
Children
of Guy Brisco:[27]
i EDWARD
BRISCO of Crosscanonby, d ca 1613.[28]
3 ii ANTHONY
BRISCO (d ca 1591); m ELIZABETH.
iii CUTHBERT
BRISCO of Wigton, bur 2 May 1609, Wigton;[29] m
ISABEL.[30]
3 ANTHONY BRISCO of Westward died ca 1591.[31] He married ELIZABETH who was buried on 23 September 1622 at Westward.[32]
Child
of Anthony Brisco:[33]
4 i GUY BRISCO (d 1630/31); m AGNES.
4 GUY BRISCO of Cunningarth, Westward, died in February 1630/31.[34] He married AGNES.[35] She died ca 1658.[36]
Children
of Guy and Agnes Brisco:
5 i ROBERT
BRISCO (bur 1648/49); m JANE.
ii JANE BRISCO, bur 23 Jun 1655,
Wigton;[37] m 31 Jan
1625/26, Westward, JOHN SANDERSON.[38]
iii AGNES BRISCO.[39]
iv JOHN BRISCO, bap 22 Dec 1611,
Westward.[40]
v MARY BRISCO, bap 9 Jan 1615/16,
Westward.[41]
vi GUY BRISCO, bur 18 May 1621,
Westward.[42]
vii KATHERINE BRISCO, bur 25 May 1621,
Westward.[43]
viii MARY BRISCO, bap 2 Feb 1622/23,
Westward;[44] m THOMAS
STOCKDALE.[45]
ix ANTHONY BRISCO.[46]
5 ROBERT BRISCO of Cunningarth, Westward, was buried on 20 March 1648/49 at Westward.[47] He married JANE.[48] She was buried on 1 June 1682 at Westward.[49]
Children
of Robert Brisco:
i JOHN
BRISCO of Cunningarth, Westward, bur 21 Sep 1691,
Westward;[50]
m(1) ;[51] m(2) 10 Jul 1678, Wigton, JANET SCOTT.[52]
ii ISABEL
BRISCO, bur 2 May 1722, Dalston;[53] m
12 Nov 1660, Westward, EDWARD ROWLAND[54]
(see here).
iii ANTHONY
BRISCO of Brackenthwaite, Westward, bur 19 Apr 1696,
Westward.[55]
iv JANE
BRISCO, bap 1648, Westward;[56] m
21 Apr 1668, Westward, JOHN HARRISON.[57]
[1] Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 20-21; John Fetherston, ed., The Visitation of the County of Cumberland in the Year 1615 (London, 1872), 11-12.
[2] Austin W. Spencer, Maureen Markt Dearborn and David Curtis Dearborn, “William1 Briscoe of Boston, Massachusetts, His English Origin, and the Brisko and Wilson Families of Cumberland”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 178(2024):5-51. As well as the Cumberland visitation, Guy Brisco of Westward appears in a pedigree in George John Armytage, ed., The Visitation of the County of Rutland in the Year 1618-19 (London, 1870), 33-34.
[3] The 1530 will of Thomas “Brusco” of Aldenham mentions “Gye my brother”, “Cuthberte my brothere” and “Edwarde Brusco my brothere” as well as “yche one of my sisters” (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/4). The 1554/55 will of Edward Brisco requests burial at Aldenham near where “Thomas Briscoo my late brother liethe buryed” (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/10).
[4] Heather M. Warne, ed., The Duke of Norfolk's Deeds at Arundel Castle: Catalogue 1 (Chichester, 2006), 19-20; biography of Robert Bristowe (member for Carlisle between 1386 and 1401) in The History of Parliament. These give Robert’s surname as “Bristowe” but in the relevant entries in the assize rolls (National Archives, JUST 1/1500 here and JUST 1/1517 here, here and here) it appears to be “Briscowe”, although both would look similar in the kind of script involved. An annotation in the visitation pedigree refers to a deed from the reign of Richard II which would perhaps, if genuine, relate to the marriage of Margaret’s parents John Crofton and Margaret Whinno.
[5] Mapping the Medieval Countryside, inquisition post mortem for Eleanor, widow of John Broun.
[6] National Archives, C 1/48/13. It may also be noted that a Robert Brisco served on a jury with William Dykes junior, John Dykes, Thomas Dykes and others in 1440: Mapping the Medieval Countryside, inquisition post mortem for Richard Kirkebryde.
[7] Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 20-21.
[8] Mark Alan Briscoe, “Historic Ancestors: Sir Thomas Dacre, Lord Dacre”, The Genealogist, 18(2004):56-58.
[9] Alan Fenwick Radcliffe, “Roger Bertram's Lands in Brenkley and Benwell”, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, 7(1930):68-76. Robert Brisco is said in the visitation pedigree to have had a son and daughter by his first wife Barbara Coldale, and then married Mabel Carlisle with whom he had another daughter. After Robert’s death, Mabel appears to have married Thomas Carleton: Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 21, 24; Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn, The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, 2 vols (London, 1777), 1:xlv-xlvi; C. Roy Hudleston, “The Dalstons of Acornbank”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 58(1958):140-79; B.C. Jones, “Before Tullie House”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 2nd series, 88(1988):125-48.
[10] There is some confusion in the pedigrees about the children of Robert and Katherine (Skelton) Brisco as they are assigned a son Roger (father of Anthony, who was father of Thomas and others) and a son Christopher (father of Richard), but these are near duplicates of men who are also shown in the following generation as sons of John: Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 21; John Fetherston, ed., The Visitation of the County of Cumberland in the Year 1615 (London, 1872), 12.
[11] National Archives, STAC 2/21/183. See also National Archives, STAC 2/6/95, where Robert Brisco of Crofton mentions his father Richard.
[12] National Archives, C 3/57/22. The 1572 will of Simon Brisco, shown in the visitation pedigree as a son of John and Jennet (Salkeld) Brisco, refers to John Brisco of Crofton (son of Robert) as “my Cosyn” (Cumbria Archives, PROB/1572/WINVX32). This was an imprecise term but was often used for a nephew.
[13] James Gairdner, ed., Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. 6 (London, 1882), 552.
[14] Robert Brisco’s father and paternal grandfather were apparently dead by about 1532 when Robert held property which had been inherited by the Brisco family from the Skeltons (National Archives, STAC 2/6/38, STAC 2/21/183). John Brisco and Richard Brisco of Crofton are mentioned in a document which refers to the date 10 Jan in the twentieth year of the king’s reign but does not name the king in question (Cumbria Archives, DX 2334/14). If Henry VIII was intended, it would be 1528/29.
[16] Heather M. Warne, ed., The Duke of Norfolk's Deeds at Arundel Castle: Catalogue 1 (Chichester, 2006), 78.
[19] John Roche Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council, 1542-1547 (London, 1890), 439. The 1580 will of another brother, Gabriel Brisco, rector of Abbots Ripton, mentions “my sister Elizabeth Hanstone wydowe” (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/2/2).
[20] Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 20; John Fetherston, ed., The Visitation of the County of Cumberland in the Year 1615 (London, 1872), 11; George John Armytage, ed., The Visitation of the County of Rutland in the Year 1618-19 (London, 1870), 33. The place of Edward in the pedigree has not been confirmed by contemporary evidence but the children given here for him are confirmed to be siblings by the 1530 will of Thomas Brisco. The parents of Thomas were evidently dead by that date as the will includes provision “to synge and pray for my soull my father and mother soullis and all xpian soulls for the space of halff a yere”.
[21] Will dated 18 Mar 1554[/55], proved 25 Jun 1555 (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/10).
[22] Will of Edward Brisco, dated 18 Mar 1554[/55], proved 25 Jun 1555 (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/10); George John Armytage, ed., The Visitation of the County of Rutland in the Year 1618-19 (London, 1870), 33.
[23] Will dated 6 Dec 1530, proved 28 Apr 1531 (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/4).
[24] Will of Thomas Brisco, dated 6 Dec 1530, proved 28 Apr 1531 (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/4); George John Armytage, ed., The Visitation of the County of Rutland in the Year 1618-19 (London, 1870), 33.
[25] The 1530 will of Thomas Brisco mentions “Cuthberte my brothere” (Huntingdonshire Archives, KAH/15/1/4).
[26] Austin W. Spencer, Maureen Markt Dearborn and David Curtis Dearborn, “William1 Briscoe of Boston, Massachusetts, His English Origin, and the Brisko and Wilson Families of Cumberland”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 178(2024):5-51. A John Brisco was a witness to Guy’s will. Guy’s wife Agnes (named in his will) was probably the Annas Brysco of Westward whose will was written and proved in 1576. However, the will does not name any of Guy’s sons as her own (although Anthony Brisco was a witness), so she was probably not their mother. There was a “Phelyp wyf to … Bryscoo”, a daughter of Cuthbert Musgrave, of a Cumberland family but recorded in the 1563-64 visitation of Yorkshire. The chronology would allow her to be an earlier wife of Guy but so far no other details of Phillip have been located. Perhaps a more likely husband for her would be John Brisco who had some association with Mungo Musgrave, a name used in the family of Cuthbert Musgrave. The use of the name Cuthbert for a son of Guy does not offer any significant support for the suggestion that Guy married a daughter of Cuthbert Musgrave because Guy is known to have had a brother called Cuthbert.
[27] Guy may have also had a daughter married to a Barne as several Barnes received lambs in his will and a Simon Barne was a witness.
[28] Austin W. Spencer, Maureen Markt Dearborn and David Curtis Dearborn, “William1 Briscoe of Boston, Massachusetts, His English Origin, and the Brisko and Wilson Families of Cumberland”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 178(2024):5-51.
[30] Austin W. Spencer, Maureen Markt Dearborn and David Curtis Dearborn, “William1 Briscoe of Boston, Massachusetts, His English Origin, and the Brisko and Wilson Families of Cumberland”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 178(2024):5-51.
[31] Austin W. Spencer, Maureen Markt Dearborn and David Curtis Dearborn, “William1 Briscoe of Boston, Massachusetts, His English Origin, and the Brisko and Wilson Families of Cumberland”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 178(2024):5-51; Cumbria Archives, PROB/1591/INVX5.
[32] The probate clause on the inventory of Anthony Brisco’s estate names his widow. There is some damage where her name is written but it appears to be Elizabeth (Cumbria Archives, PROB/1591/INVX5) and “Elizabeth Briskoe wedowe of Cunning garth” was buried at Westward in 1622: James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[33] Guy is named as a son of Anthony in the 1572 will of Anthony’s father and in the visitation pedigree in Joseph Foster, ed., Pedigrees Recorded at the Heralds' Visitations of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Carlisle and Kendal, ca 1891), 20. Other probable or possible children of Anthony are (1) Mabel Brisco who married, on 20 Oct 1605 at Westward, Henry Williamson (“Henrie Willimson younger” and “John Willimson” being witnesses to the will of Guy Brisco in 1630/31); (2) Steven Brisco, a witness to the will of Guy Brisco in 1630/31; (3) John Brisco of Cunningarth who married Mary and had children baptised at Westward in 1618-21; (4) Richard Brisco of Westward, yeoman, whose 1637 will shows him to be a brother of John (Cumbria Archives, PROB/1637/WX21). Alternatively, despite their connection with Cunningarth, the latter two may be the sons of those names assigned in the visitation pedigree to Thomas, son of Robert Brisco of Eamont Bridge.
[34] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1631/WINVX4.
[35] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1631/WINVX4. In 1648/49, the will of Robert Brisco left to his son John “one bed now standing in his grandmothers house” and to his son Anthony property “that is in his grandmothers house”.
[36] National Archives, C 5/39/8.
[38] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113; Cumbria Archives, PROB/1631/WINVX4.
[39] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1631/WINVX4.
[40] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[41] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[42] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113: “Guy Briskoe of Cunningegarth younger buryed”. His parentage is not explicitly stated but most probably he was a son of the older Guy.
[43] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[44] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[45] National Archives, C 5/39/8.
[46] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113: “Anthony the sonne of Guy Briskoe Buryed (?) 1627”.
[47] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 114; will dated 9 Mar 1648/49, proved 28 May 1652 (Borthwick Institute).
[48] The will of Robert Brisco names “Jane Briscoe now my wife”.
[49] James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 114.
[50] Cumbria Archives, PROB/1691/WX17; England, Cumbria Parish Registers, 1538-1990 (www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4YNP-4MPZ). He may be the “sonne of Robert Briskoe of Cunning garth” (child’s forename not clear) baptised at Westward in 1634: James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 113.
[51] It is evident from the ages of his children that John Brisco had been married before his 1678 wedding with Janet Scott. C.M. Lowther Bouch, “The Jeffersons of Westward, Part I”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archæological Society, n.s. 41(1941):181-96, indicates that John’s wife was Mary Dodgson who was of Bromfield in 1656. John Brisco and Mary Dodgson were married at Carlisle on 31 Jan 1656/57: F.B. Swift, The Registers of Wigton, Part I (Penrith, 1950), 80. It is doubtful, though, that this was John Brisco of Cunningarth because an indenture of 1667 (Cumbria Archives, DX 748/25) and a quitclaim of 1669 both refer to the John Brisco who married Mary Dodgson as being a blacksmith of Blencogo (in Bromfield).
[52] F.B. Swift, The Registers of Wigton, Part I (Penrith, 1950), 195; Cumbria Archives, PROB/1691/WX17, PROB/1713/WINVX13.
[53] James Wilson, ed., The Parish Registers of Dalston, 2 vols (Dalston, 1893-95), 2:241. The entry describes her as “Isabel the wife of Edward Rowland of Buckhowbank” although Edward had died some years earlier. Isabel may be the “daughter of Robert Briskoe of Cunning garth” (child’s forename not clear) baptised at Westward in 1640: James Wilson, “The Early Registers of the Parish of Westward”, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 13(1895):103-17, at 114.
[54] Westward parish registers (Cumbria Archives). The will of Edward Rowland names his wife Isabel (Cumbria Archives, PROB/1710/WX55). It is apparent that they were nonconformists, at least for some time. Presentments of 1674 for Dalston include “Edward Rowland for refuseing to have his Child baptised by the minister” and “Isabellam Rowland, for refuseing to make her publicq thanksgiving to god after her safe deliverance from Child birth”: B. Nightingale, The Ejected of 1662 in Cumberland & Westmorland, 2 vols (Manchester, 1911), 2:1332-1333.
[55] England, Cumbria Parish Registers, 1538-1990 (www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4YS8-GTW2). Anthony was a defendant in a chancery case of 1678 which names “Robert Briscoe this def[endan]ts Late father deceased” (National Archives, C 8/217/8).