Thomas Brewster

Thomas was a master cordwainer in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire in 1770.

Events

Date of Birth: about 1737.

His age at death was recorded as 78 in his burial registration.

Date of Burial: 22 September 1815.

Place of Burial: Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England (Saint Thomas).

The burial is recorded in the parish register.

Relationships

Father: Charles Brewster.

Mother: unknown.

Thomas and his siblings are named in the will of his father, Charles Brewster.

Spouse: Ann Lilly (about 1749 - 1804). Married 23 July 1766 in Market Rasen.

The marriage is recorded in the parish register.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. The birth dates come from their mother’s prayer book.)

Joseph Brewster (born 23 July 1767 - died 1846).

Charles Brewster (born 29 August 1768).

Francis Willoughby Brewster (born 11 December 1770 - died 11 January 1849). A Catholic priest. The last Carmelite in England.

John Brewster (born 19 August 1772).

George Brewster (born 8 September 1774 - died 1850) married Mary Craigs 11 November 1805 in Market Rasen.

Thomas Brewster (born 14 August 1776 - died 1852) married Jane Clark 16 February 1803 in Hull, Yorkshire.

Edward Brewster (born 15 July 1780 - probably buried 10 September 1780 in Market Rasen "Brewster, a Popish Infant").

Evidence

Thomas Brewster - Ann Lilly marriage registration

Banns of Marriage between Thomas Brewster & Ann Lilly both of this Parish were published the 6th, 13th, 20th of July be me Hy: Blennerhassett Curate the said Thomas Brewster of this Parish and Ann Lilly of the same Parish were Married in this Church by Banns this 23 Day of July in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and sixtysix by me Hy: Blennerhassett Curate

This Marriage was solemnized between Us Thos Brewster Ann Bruster

In the Presence of Stephn Willoughby Ann Young

Thomas Brewster's burial (Market Rasen, 1815):

Name: Thomas Brewster

Abode: M^t. Rasen

When buried: Sept:^r 22.

Age: 78 yrs.

By whom the Ceremony was performed: Matt^w. Barnett Curate

A transcription of the will of Thomas Brewster

In the name of God amen I Thomas Brewster of Market Rasen in the County of Lincoln Lincoln yeoman being weak in body but of sound mind and memory thanks be to God for it do hereby make and ordain this my last will and Testament in the manner and form following That is first I give and bequeath to my Sons Joseph Brewster, Charles Brewster and Thomas Brewster to each of them one Pound sterling, all the rest of my goods chattels and effects of what kind or nature soever after paying all my just debts and demands and my funeral expences I give bequeath and devise hereby to my son George Brewster whom I hereby constitute and appoint Sole Executor and residuary Legatee to this my last will and Testament revoking all wills by be heretofore made In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal this sixth day of September one Thousand Eight hundred and Fifteen

Thos Brewster

Sign’d seal’d Publish’d and declared the day and year above written by us who are witnesses to the signing and sealing of the same

Alex’r Knight

Anthony Wright

[On the thirteenth Day of February 1816 George Brewster of Mt Rasen in the County of Lincoln, Executor in this will named was duly sworn & also made oath that the said Thomas Brewster did not die possessed of Goods, Chattels, & Credits to the amount or value of fifty pounds, before me, Jno Robinson Surrogate]

A biographic note on Thomas's son Francis (Engelbach, p. 196-197):

Fr. Francis Willoughy Brewster, O.C.D., a native of Market Rasen, having been born there on 11 Dec. 1770. He received his early education at the institute of Dr. Shuttleworth, and entering the Carmelite Order was sent to Belgium to study divinity at Tongres, but the Revolution caused him to seek a refuge, first at Heidelberg, and then at Cologne, until the French troops sweeping over Rhenish Prussia and the Low Countries forced the English student to return to England. They arrived safely at Harwich after a stormy and difficult passage, and not long after his return in 1796, Fr. Brewster was appointed to Market Rasen, which mission he served for the long period of fifty-one years, thereby more than covering the Register here printed, which is entirely his own. He is said to have been a pious and zealous priest, and it was owing to his energy that the presbytery and chapel built by Fr. Knight in 1782 were replaced by new buildings in 1824, as related above. He also, when the old Chapel House at West Rasen was pulled down in 1838, opened a new chapel there to take its place. We are told that in order to increase his very inadequate income, Fr. Brewster kept forty or fifty beehives, and cultivated some small fields at a distance of about a mile and a half from the town. Every morning he was at work by five o’clock in the fields or at the hives; after which, returning to the presbytery, he prepared for Mass, which was always punctually said at the appointed hour.

He was the last surviving member of the old English Carmelites, and at the time when preparations were being made for the Catholic Emancipation Act (passed in March 1829), a Parliamentary paper being circulated amond the heads of the Religious Orders to ascertain the number of religious, he filled up his paper as follows: “No superior, no inferior, being the last man.” In 1845 owing to his age and infirmity, the Rev. John Gosford, of Preston, came to help him as assistant priest, and remained with him in that capacity until the autumn of 1847, when Fr. Brewster, being unable to carry on the work any longer, retired to a cottage near the presbytery where in November 1848 he became seriously ill, and on 11 Jan. 1849 calmly passed away. His body lies in the sanctuary of the church where a monument was erected to his memory.

References

Engelbach, George Frederick. “The Register Book of the Catholic Chapel, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, 1797-1840” in Records Volume 22: Miscellanea 12 (Catholic Record Society, 1920).

Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811; digital image Ancestry.com (accessed 29 March 2014), citing Board of Stamps: Apprenticeship Books, Series IR 1; piece 57.

Thomas Brewster - Ann Lilly marriage registration No. 80, Market Rasen, parish registers - marriages; digital image Findmypast.co.uk (accessed 29 March 2014).

Thomas Brewster burial registration, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, parish registers - burials.

Will of Charles Brewster (proved 3 August 1779), Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. Digital image on FamilySearch, accessed 13 January 2018.

Will of Thomas Brewster (proved 13 February 1816), Lincoln Consistory Court.