Peter Brownscombe's Page

Hi Peter,
Yes, thanks for the information. I have seen photos that my grandmother took on a visit there in the 50's. Also, my brother mentioned he went there back in the 80's, but I haven't had a chance to ask him about his visit. There's a website set up by Ronald Branscombe, who is a filmmaker from UK, with a lot of genealogy information and some historical notes. Perhaps you have run into him on your travels.
Best,
Roger Phenix

Hi Peter Brownscombe,
Interesting how families get around the globe, over time. My maternal grandmother's family name was Branscombe. She was a composer (Gena Branscombe 1881-1977). The family came over to Canada from Devon as seafarers, fairly early on. That branch of her family was Quaker for many generations,m at least in Ontario and New Brunswick. The English town of Branscombe goes back pretty far into history. My brother and parents have visited there but I have not yet been to Devon. I think perhaps my grandmother met Jennie Augusta Brownscombe in New York because they had similar names and were both artists. Jennie was at least twenty years older than she, but they became very close, (my mother remembered her vividly) and Jennie painted members of our family--my great grandmother and my aunt both had portraits painted by Brownscombe, and I have some of her sketches and studies that got passed to me when my parents died. She was descended from a family that travelled to Massachusetts on the Mayflower, and my grandmother composed an orchestral piece with libretto called "Pilgrims of Destiny", commemorating the difficulties of that passage. One of Brownscombe's most famous and widely reproduced paintings is a depiction of the first Thanksgiving, which I presume her ancestors had participated in. So in a way, Brownscombe and Branscombe were documentarians in sound and picture long before our time.
Best,
Roger Branscombe Phenix