A Brickey-Britts Family Story

I'm looking for prior info for the people discussed below, or branches of their subsequent families. (See my questions at the end.)

Jarrad Brickey (a descendent of Jean Bricquet, born in Artois, France) married Mary Hall, Craig County, Virginia, had a baby girl named Jailey (Many family trees spell her name "Jaiby", but I have a copy of her marriage license with her signature, and it says "Jailey" in every in blank. I also knew several of her children who said her name was Jailey. I can't account for such a widespread error in spellng her name with a b.) in 1862. They nicknamed her Dixie. They had other sons and daughters, including Philmore and John Monte (Ray). Most of that generation ramained in Craig County (Roanoke Valley). Jailey/Dixie grew up and married a boy one year older than she. His name was John William Britts, the son of Samuel Britts (descendent of Adam Britz and Margaret Stover). They started a family when Jailey was about 20. Altogether they had 14 children. She was 42 years old for number 14, Raymond, and was always weak and sick after he was born. The older daughters ran the household from then on.

Jarred Brickey served in the Civil War as a guard at a salt mine, an important resource to the armies. After his tour of duty, he walked home, having been in the same state, about 80-100 miles away. No one recognized him in the family, except for one person. He announced on arriving home that he was "all tuckered out" and went to sleep. I was also told, that in addition to farming, they all farmed, his occupation was blacksmithing. He had failing eyesight in his 60's and died of 'dropsy'. Dropsy is the old term for swelling caused by heart failure.

John and Jailey Britts moved to Louisa County when the children were teens. Legend has it that they moved because one of the younger sons, Jesse, shot a man during a poker game. He wasn’t charged, but Jailey and John were embarrassed. They wanted a fresh start for their family without the bad reputation, so they bought a farm with many acres, but left a lot of relatives in Craig, near New Castle. (Craig, Bedford, and Botetourt Counties were all one county of Botetourt at one time, so records may show that even though the physical location may be one of the others today.)

On this new farm, with its fresh springs and acres of pine trees, they raised apples and horses, chickens and vegetables. The children grew strong and healthy. Some of the sons took jobs traveling around the country building bridges, mostly in the midwest. Two of them, John and Edgar, died from fatal falls in Missouri while in their 20’s. Neither had married.

One of the boys, Sydney, at age 14 ran away, supposedly to Oregon, and was never seen again. One of the sisters, Irene, went to the capitol and got a job in a large bakery, married, and settled there. She was beautiful with an upswept hairdo. She had one daughter.

An older sister, Effie, married a farmer, Mr. Spencer, who bought the neighboring dairy farm. He died early and left her alone with a lot of hard work and few luxuries. She milked the cows and sold cream to the local dairy until she died way before her time, too. She also raised hogs, but just for their own use. Despite being a dairy farm, they had no refrigeration and no motorized vehicles. Even in the late 30's, they still used mules and carts to haul the milk in big galvanized cans out to the road for dairy pick up.

Jesse married and had three sons. One, Calvin, swore like a sailor at age 10. But he did a great job of plowing with the mules. He grew up and married Eleanor. Jesse's other son, Mason, as an adult was the religious one in the extended family. Mason is still living. The third one was Tom.

Another sister, Maggie married a farmer, Russell. She learned to shoot and hunt and fish. She farmed, cooked on a wood stove, heated with a pot-bellied stove in the bedroom/living room. She was a great cook and generous to a fault. They raised turkeys, pigs, chickens, and farmed a huge garden, canning all they could on the wood stove, where she also washed dishes until she died. They ate deer meat, squirrel, and whatever they grew. He was the caretaker of the Episcopal church just off the property. They had two sons and two grandchildren. She died first. Three months later Russell died, inseparable to the end. He always carried a picture of Maggie at 18 in his wallet.

Another sister, Bessie, who did not hunt or fish, married a farmer, Harry Gordon Gooch, raised animals, gardened and cooked. She made the best lemon meringue pies and pineapple upside down cake. Her voice was raspy, but children loved her. Her children went to college and were all successful. One daughter became an RN and married a minister, one was a piano teacher and married a school administrator. The son married a beautiful redhead.

Another Britts sister, Clara, had a sixth grade education, but in the early 1900’s, that qualified her to be a teacher and so she taught. She never married. She worked hard all her life, tending to other people’s children, keeping house, and ironing clothes after the school systems changed. She died in her 60’s, while living with her baby sister in Charlottesville.

One son never married, Hubert, but remained on the “home place” all his life, finishing out his years as a guide for riders. He was a heavy drinker. He hunted, worked mules, or whatever dirty work was needed. He helped with the yearly apple butter makings, after they all grew up. The apple butter was distributed amongst themselves and not sold. He ended up living in the “kitchen”, a separate building from the main house, the old way of keeping odors and heat out of the main house. This main house remained empty most of their adult years.

One sister, number 13 in the group, Kathleen, but nicknamed Dixie after her mother, married a man 10 years her senior, Harry Smith, an electrician. They lived in town, and had 3 children, one of whom became a lawyer. He had three children. Dixie's oldest son became a butcher and had four children; the daughter was a bookkeeper who had 4 children of her own.

The baby, Raymond, married a pretty woman, had two children, and died while the children were very young. Frank was one of the younger sons of Jailey and John Britts. He was slightly incapacitated and led a quiet adulthood before dying.

Inquiry:

1_Does anyone have data on Jarrad Brickey or Mary Hall Brickey? Court records, old family Bible records?

2_I have background on John William Britts if anyone needs it. There seems to be a lot of data on Britts and Brickeys.

3_Anyone know more of brothers or sisters to Jailey (Dixie) Brickey?

4_Anyone know of Sydney Britts, early 1900's Oregon?

5_Any accounts of a shooting in Craig County over a card game between 1903 and 1917?

6_How about the Hall family? To share or exchange info, contact: Harry at [e-mail]

7_How about Shrewsbury, Roda daughter of Ruel Shrewsbury? She married John Brickey.

Also looking for Henry and Catherine Campbell, parents of Mary Campbell, born in 1858 in Craig County or thereabout. One old man, a grandson of Mary Campbell, heard that she was Indian, but knew no more than that, no tribe or which of her parents or grandparents. Any stories on that would be helpful.

Looking for family of Mary Catherine Frantz, circa 1800, married to Henry Britts (PA or VA).

And parents of Bertie Brickey Abbott; her father is Jailey's brother, Ray Brickey. Litha Brickey Abbott, niece to Bertie, is daughter of Coley Brickey, all from Craig County. I have a snapshot of Bertie Abbot, Coeman Brickey, and Allie Carper. I believe they are all Brickey siblings. Ella Britts, age 91, is also in the photo, taken about 1961. Is Ella also a Brickey and which Britts did she marry?

Jean Brickey (Bricquet) is an enigma. There must be a generation missing between him and son Peter or he did not start siring children until he was an old man, only years before his death. Was there a second wife? Alce Crabbe, the mother of his first children, would have been way beyond child-bearing years for Perter and the others. Those first American Brickey's are confusing, because names are similar. Uncles, nephews, brothers, all have same names, and it's hard to tell, who belongs in which order. There are a lot of apparent mistakes in some researchers' reports.

Other names marrying into jarrad's direct ancestors: Hutchinson, Letchworth, Smith, Crawford, Ledgerwood, Sinclair (or St. Clair), Crabbe, Poindexter, Lucas, Batzenschlager, and D'Aubigne (Dabney). If our trees share a few branches, please share what you can.

I do feel it's safe to say Jean Brickey (de Bricquet) was a Hugenot who came here for religious freedom, and the safety of his family, since they would not submit to the French Catholic powers of the time. They were a part of the historic evacuation from France.

I also have phots of Stella Lee and husband from the 1930's. Was there a Brickey or Abbot connection there?

To share info or make inquery, write to (email address stolen). Check MyHeritage for futher data.