Welcome to the Brogden Family History Website
The
aim is to forge links with Brogdens, Brogdons, Brogdans and Brogdins
worldwide
and to gather
information about how these branches relate.
There are Brogd*ns in England, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, South Africa and the USA.
Brogden (and its variants) seems to be a relatively unusual surname and therefore ripe for a one-name study...
- Brogden
was (and continues to be) a rural place name, near Barnoldswick, in
the old West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is now in the county of
Lancashire. The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names (Ekwall; 1966) lists
Brogden and its first documented mention as Brokden (1307 in the Pudsay
Deeds). Brogden = brook dene = the valley of the brook. In the Yorkshire
West Riding edition of Phillimore's English Surnames Series (George
Redmonds; 1973) Brogden is identified as a distinctive local surname,
which "flourished in the rural north of the Riding" and can be found
in the 1379 poll tax records. It's not to be confused with "Brockden"
which relates to badgers. George Redmonds believes that geographical
surnames such as Brogden originate in one family. In that case, we are
all related. Only DNA can establish this relationship.
- A search
of the 1999 UK electoral registers reveals nearly 1000 Brogdens of voting
age (see the Brogden
Ancestry section of this website). In addition, some 25 people in
the UK who spell the name with don rather than den are
listed. Brogden family history researchers in the USA, however, find
as many Brogdons as Brogdens. Interestingly,
Brogdon prevails in South Carolina and Brogden
in North Carolina. In Australia and New Zealand, the den
spelling prevails.
- Variations
of spelling are problematic. Some may be Brogdens but some may be other
surnames; for example, Brogan, a Scottish surname, is not related to
the Brogdens. Nor are surnames beginning with Brock, which has a different
origin.
- Elsewhere
on this website are snippets of information, articles and stories about
Brogdens who have shown talent as pioneers, traders, engineers, educators,
entrepreneurs, performers and politicians. Some of them have towns,
buildings or streets named in their honour. Some, on the other hand,
are noted for being teenage tearaways or the sort of criminal who was
transported from England for stealing a loaf of bread. And many Brogdens
perished in two world wars, especially in the first.
Mike Brogden's researches into the Brogden surname are registered with the Guild of One-name Studies and, along with some other Brogden relatives, he is a member of the Oxfordshire Family History Society. This website is interested in the social history of our ancestors as well as their genealagy and tries to relate the generations to their times.
Many thanks to all our emailers and letter writers. As the Brogden data grows, it is becoming possible to find information for various branches of the family. For example, as a result of the painstaking collection of information by John Brogden who now lives in York (and who generously shared all of his researches), we were able to fill in a missing link for a family in Australia and to find out what happened to a grandson of the John Brogden, of railways, iron and coal mines fame. This grandson, Duncan Dunbar Brogden was thought to have been lost in India; he in fact died in Brighton, a couple of years after losing both his daughter and his wife in childbirth.
It is so pleasing that this website encourages Brogdens from around the world to make contact. Messages also arrive from people who are not actively researching Brogdens but who have found information that they hope will be useful. It always is!
If you have information or queries about any Brogdens/dons/dans/dins
please email Mike Brogden.
For news about a proposed DNA testing scheme: Click Here
For information about a self-catering holiday flat in South Shropshire, UK, please
click here: HOLIDAY FLAT
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Site content: Mike Brogden
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Web site design and hosting: Iain Brogden
Updated 30/12/2010