Elizabeth BRUMBLEY

My Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother

There is an Elizabeth Brumbley mentioned in the will of Ann Brumbley, dated 1775. Ann is presumably the widow of Valentine Brumbley (1703-1774) and refers to Elizabeth as her granddaughter. However, there is no record of an Elizabeth being born to her only known son, William (1733-1773). There is also reference in the will to a grandson Valentine, a known son of William. So was Elizabeth a sister to Valentine (she mostly only inherited in the event of his early death)? The only other candidate was born in 1755 to John & Elizabeth Brumbley; John was the son of a sister of Valentine (1703), which would have made that Elizabeth a great niece (?) of Ann.

The will also refers to a daughter of Ann, also named Ann, with the married name of Darker. Meanwhile, the witnesses to Elizabeth's marriage to Edward Bent were named as Valentine Brumbley and Matthew Darker (husband of Ann).

It's not unreasonable to assume, then, that Valentine was her brother and Matthew her uncle – and that Elizabeth's baptism record is, for the moment at least, missing.