Brockman

The Brockman surname is not common, but has spread to several countries around the world. The name can be a topism combining "wet/water" and "man". However, in Old English and in heraldry a "brock" is also a badger, and some have claimed it to mean "broker". Thus, there may be multiple meanings of the name. The name originated within populations speaking germanic languages amongst the Germanic tribes that settled in what is now England, the Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere. The name appears to be particularly well-documented in England and the anglosphere, due to a fascination with a royalist knight who was defeated by the forces of Cromwell. It is unlikely that people carrying the surname in England, Germany, Holland, or elsewhere share a common ancestor in a genealogical sense, though they may have similar ancient origins. As described below, the name is diverse with regard to origins.

The English Brockmans

The surname has been in use in the county of Kent in England for at least five centuries, and probably longer. The English surname has been well characterized over the last five to six decades in several privately published family scrapbooks and subsequently into various history volumes and biographical dictionaries. Several notable Brockmans have contributed to the biographical and genealogical interest in the family. It is a common misconception in the anglosphere amongst those carrying the surname that they are related to Sir William or that his armigerous descendants were knights. This is of great consternation, particularly to anglophile Australians and distant descendants of Sir William living today as it is factually inaccurate, or at least cannot be proven.

The surname has a long history in the county of Kent, England, and probably elsewhere in the UK. From a perspective of ancient origins, Kent and other eastern areas in England are thought to have been convenient landing points where germanic groups from the North Sea Bight settled during the various germanic migrations to the island during the first millennium AD. [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/presentations/ASdemo/AS-26-11-03b.html 1] Since the surname is germanic in its linguistic origins, and the use of surnames appeared at various points in history, there are probably unrelated families of Brockmans in the UK today. The gentry of such manors as Broadgate, Newington and Beachborough were notable. More information is available regarding the squires of Beachborough and the manor house here . A web page dedicated to the genealogy and history of the English Brockmans can be found [http://www.brockmanofkent.net/ here] .

Notable English Brockmans:
*Sir William Brockman, English Cavalier
*Brig. General David H. Drake-Brockman C.M.G., UK
*Sir Ronald Brockman, Vice Admiral, UK
*Henry Stafford Brockman, Engineer Rear Admiral, UK
*Sir Edward Lewis Brockman, UK chief secretary to the Federated Malay States 1911-1920
*Tallulah Brockman Bankhead, U.S. and UK, actress and "bonne vivante"

USA Brockmans

English American Brockmans

An English line of the Brockman family in America was founded by Henry Brockman, born in 1647. Henry was born during the Commonwealth period in England. Some sources assert that he was exiled by Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads, as a result of his closest relatives' royalist activities. But there is no 'hard evidence' of Henry's origins, sources detail oral traditions passed down by distant branches of the family and recorded in scrapbooks. These sources further suggest that he either fled or was sent to the "Barbadoes", a British possession embracing not only the present island nation of Barbados, but also other possessions now known as Aruba and Surinam among others that were transferred to the Dutch in or about 1667. However, various genealogists disagree with these theories and discount them as speculative. In the end, Henry's exact origins are unclear, but he is widely regarded to have been English in origin.

The Anglo-American Brockmans are often referred to as 'Greenway' Brockmans after a farm that was build by Henry's son Samuell in Orange County Virginia. Various descendants are notable including a number of revolutionary war, civil war, and world war II veterans. The actress Tallulah Brockman Bankhead, and her politician father William Brockman Bankhead are both descended from this line.

German American Brockmans

German Brockmans also immigrated to the USA primarily through the northeast. In the USA and elsewhere a blurring of heritage and names occurred via the immigration procedure was particularly prevalent around and after 1900. Particularly in New York most of the Brochmans were written in the lists (shiplist or census) as Brockmann! But if they came from Russia/Poland or speaking Yiddish they aren't Brockmanns they were Brochman, so it is difficult for many people with the Brockman or Brockmann last name to easily determine their heritage or ancestry. People with names such as Wilhelm (William) Brochman born in Germany were like to have been a Wilhelm Brockmann and so on.

Jewish American Brockmans

Brockman and Brockmann is also a Jewish surname. In the US this surname is often carried by Jews emigrating from Germany or Poland whose names were changed from Brochman during the immigration process. In addition, some Brockmans from Germany intermarried with Jewish families creating Jewish descendancies with the Brockman surname. Various families with the surname emigrated from Germany to the northeastern United States.

Notable USA Brockmans

*Henry Brockman b.1647, Royalist who fled England and founded a widespread family of English American Brockmans
*John Brockman Jr., Colonel, and other Brockmans of the American Revolutionary War, English American
*Col. Thomas Patterson Brockman, South Carolina Senator, English American
*Tallulah Brockman Bankhead, U.S. and UK, Actress and "bonne vivante", English American
*William Brockman Bankhead, U.S. Congressman, English American
*Col. Benjamin T. Brockman, CSA (American Civil War) English American
* Rear Admiral William H. Brockman, Jr., U.S. Navy Origins Unknown
*Charlie Brockman, broadcaster and former president of the United States Auto Club
*John Brockman, literary agent, author, and host of "The Edge" website is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
*James Brockman, an American songwriter who wrote the theme song for Happy Days.
*Kent Brockman, The Simpsons, The writers of the American cartoon series "The Simpsons" created a character named "Kenny Brocklestein" who anglicized his name to "Brockman" in the hopes that he would enjoy greater success as a TV journalist.
* Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann will preside over the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Australian Brockmans

The Australian Branch consists primarily of three sub-branches. The first two branches originated from two brothers William Locke Brockman (5^th son) and Robert James Drake-Brockman (9^th son) being the sons of Rev. Julius Drake-Brockman and Harriet Drake-Brockman (nee Locke). The third branch of the Australian family originated from James Groves Birdwood Drake-Brockman who was a nephew of William and Robert.

William Locke Brockman arrived at the Swan River Colony on the ship "Minstrel" in January 1830. He arrived with his wife Ann Hamersley and first-born son Edmund Ralph, a prefabricated house, seven servants and his livestock (sheep), which included three rams and 46 pure merino ewes. He was the ninth landowner of the new colony to be granted land (Lot 9 Swan River Colony) by Surveyor General John Septimus Roe.

His younger brother Robert Brockman arrived on the ship "Egyptian" on December 1831 and their nephew James Groves Birdwood Drake-Brockman arrived many years later in 1872 after serving in the Indian Police. Web pages detailing the genealogy and history of the Drake-Brockmans in Australia can be found [http://www.brockman.net.au/ here] .

The Brockman family have a long history in Western Australia, including:
* William Locke Brockman, pastoralist and MLC;
* Edmund Ralph Brockman, pastoralist and MLC;
* Henry Brockman, pastoralist and MLC;
* Edmund Vernon Brockman, MLA;
* explorer Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman.
* Slade Drake-Brockman, organiser of the WAY 1979 sesquicentennial celebrations;
* Grace Drake-Brockman nee Bussell, of "SS Georgette" shipwreck fame;
* Western Australian author and historian Henrietta Drake-Brockman.
*Major General Edmund Alfred Drake-Brockman, Australia WWI & WW2 Veteran, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., M.I.D.
*Sir Thomas Charles Drake-Brockman K.B., D.F.C. - Long serving Australian Senator (politician), former minister in the Fraser Government.

Additional Background Regarding Swedish, Dutch, Jewish, and German Brockmans

In the Netherlands the name tends to be spelled Broekman, Broeksma, or Broekstra and in Germany it tends to be spelled Brockmann, and that is the closest to the spelling that seems to have predominated in the UK (Brockman). Genetic testing to date has yielded multiple results tracing UK Brockmans as R1a and R1b decent to various ancient Germanic origins of arguably Frisian and Norwegian haplotypes.

There has also been some research on the Brockman and Brockmanns surname in Northern Germany and Northern Europe. Several of the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Brockmanns can be traced back to their German roots. In the kingdom of Denmark-Norway around the 16-17th centuries approximately two thirds of the soldiers had Germanic roots. Sweden also had a lot of Germans in their army. Most regiments were enlisted in Germany. In Denmark the name changed from Brockmann to Brochmann or Brochmand (see also the German name Brückner got Brøchner). That differs from the Jewish name Brochman. For example, Brockmans who immigrated to the USA and elsewhere with the name Israel or Isaak Brochmann/Brockmann often originally had the name Brochman. In Holstein many Brockmann families immigrated from Lower Saxony or Westphalia and in later from Mecklenburg (The Mecklenburger Brockmanns probably also came from Lower Saxony or Westphalia). In Probstei (Holstein) it is noted that Brockmanns came around 12. century to Holstein. On the edge of Holstein (River Elbe) several Brockmann-families also appear to have come from Lower Saxony. There were no Brockman families in the middle of Holstein and Duchy Schleswig (besides one or two persons/families without long standing or harbour cities ) prior to 1780.

The English Brockmans may also have emigrated to England from the Lower Saxony area in ancient times. In addition, many Brockmanns in Scandinavia are thought to have come from the North of Germany (The old language of Norway, Sweden and Holstein were nearly the same - low Germans in their different forms). Low German is nearer to English than to high German. [http://www.plattmaster.de/language.htm Low German Article]

International Y-DNA Testing

A Y-DNA testing effort was undertaken with anonymous volunteers with the surname Brockman from around the globe. Thus far samples have been acquired from the UK, USA, and Germany. A presentation describing such genetic genealogy tests with regard to the UK can be found [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/presentations/ASdemo/AS-26-11-03b.html here] , and an article on the Y-DNA results as of 2007 can be found [http://www.brockmanfamily.org here] .

Geographical Brockman Names

*Brockman National Park, Western Australia
*Brockman River, Western Australia
*Mount Brockman, Australia

External links

* [http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Generals/drake_brockman.html Major General Edmund Alfred Drake-Brockman, Australia WWI & WW2 Veteran, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., M.I.D.]
* [http://genforum.genealogy.com/brockman/ Genforum Brockman Geneaology Discussion Group]
* [http://www.brockman.net.au/ An Australian Drake-Brockman Page]
* [http://www.brockmanofkent.net/ An English Whitfield Brockman Page]
* [http://www.brockmanfamily.org An American Greenway Brockman Page]
* [http://www.ingobrockmann.de/index.php/homepage0/index.php?id=90&L=1 A German Brockman Page]
* [http://www.brockman.nu/brockman/index.htm A Swedish Brockman Page]

References

*Burke’s "Landed Gentry" Burke's peerage Ltd; Jubilee edition, Mr. Bernard Burke, Mr. Gordon Pirrie (Author/Compiler)
*Hasted's History of Kent,: Corrected, enlarged, and continued to the present time, from the manuscript collection of the late Rev. Thomas Streatfeild and ... the public records, and other sources, ASIN: B000874L4G
*Harris's History of Kent.
*The history and antiquities of the county of Essex,: Compiled from the best and most ancient historians; Philip Morant, Reprinted and sold by Meggy and Chalk (January 1, 1816), ISBN 0-7158-1301-3, Another republishing, 1978.
*The Brockman Papers, (Records in the British Museum).
*The Brockman scrapbook;: Bell, Bledsoe, Brockman, Burrus, Dickson, James, Pedan, Putman, Sims, Tatum, Woolfolk, and related families (Unknown Binding) by William Everett Brockman, ASIN: B0007E8Y48 (Out of Print), this information provided courtesy of Paul Brockman (Virginia)
*Record of the Brockman and Drake-Brockman family (Privately Published) by BRIG.-GEN David Henry Drake-Brockman C.M.G. 1936 provided courtesy of Hugh-Drake Brockman (UK), ASIN: B00089U71U (Out of Print)
*Brockman & Drake-Brockman Family Tree : the Australian Branch 1830-1993. (Menora, Western Australia : Alan Jackson, 1993) ISBN 0-646-18200-5
*Orange County Virginia families: Volume III (Unknown Binding) by William Everett Brockman, Publisher: W.E. Brockman (January 1, 1959), English, ASIN: B0007G5G0Q