A Richard Brush (perhaps also known as Archibald and born 1695-1715) died in Augusta County Virginia in 1762/3, leaving known children Blakely and Elizabeth and suspected children Ann, Crane, James, and William.Elizabeth married Samuel Norwood and moved to South Carolina by 1790.Blakely moved to Shelby County Kentucky after 1800.Crane and James moved to Kentucky by the 1790s - where they appear on tax lists in Lincoln/Jefferson and Bourbon counties, respectively. (Nothing more is known of Ann and William.)Several male decendants used the given names of Blakely, Crane and/or Richard, this being a clue that these estimated siblings may be related.In 1738 a Richard Brush (perhaps the man who died c1763) baptized two daughters (twins?) Elizabeth and Annie in Neshaminy Church in Bucks County Pennsylania; these baptisms appear in the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.Before that I am not certain where this family was; but after searching for several years, I have come to believe that they likely came from Ireland (counties Tyrone, Armagh, or Down) where the surnames Brush, Crane, and Blakely were relatively frequent before 1850 in the area between the towns of Omagh, Armagh, and Belfast.Several other Richard and Crane Brush men certainly lived in this area since the 1600s.(Blakely could well have been Richard's wife's maiden name.) Other possible origins are counties Dublin (esp St Michans Parish) and Longford in Ireland.I would like to hear from anyone with information that could support or refute these origins.
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/brush/505/
