Overseas Sources

Important Warning:

Extreme care needs to be taken when using non-Irish sources to ensure that the subject is a genuine Irish Brazil, (under various spellings), since it has been found that a number of bearers of the name have originated from other than Ireland and are corruptions of names totally unconnected with the Irish name of Brazil or who have dropped their original names and adopted that of Brazil. This is particularly true in the case of the United States, but it also applies to Australia, Canada and England.

In England at least one Jewish family which originated in Eastern Europe in the early years of this century changed their name to Brazil! Members of this family also appear in Australian records.

In the Canadian province of Newfoundland the name Brazil is common among the Micmac Indian tribe.

In the US a family of Bracewell or Braswell appears to have been corrupted at some date to Brasell and subsequently to Brazil!

David Brazzeal writing to Genforum on September 17, 1998 quotes from an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published around 1984."The French surnames Brassal, Brassel(l), Brazeal, Braz(z)el, etc. can have two meanings which are now impossible to separate. One denotes an official measurer who checked the merchants' scales and the various liquid and dry measuring vessels, and the second is a maker of leather gauntlets and leather or metal covering for use as body armour. BRASSELL and BRASSILL may also be variant spelling of the French surname Brassall or Brassell which denote either a maker of seller or bracelets. The Old Irish surnames O'Brassail was anglicized to O'Brasil and O'Brazil and then shortened to Brassil, Bressil, Brazel and Brazil. The meaning could be "heir, descendant of the contentious one."

The following variant spellings are found in the US IGI but not found in Ireland:
Bracells, Braezeale, Brasel, Brazeal, Brazell (although Brazel is found), Brazzell, Braziel, Brazieel, Brazzel, Breazeal(e), Braseal, Brasell, Brasil (although Brassil and Brassill are found), Bresell

According to David Brazzeal the 1782-87 Virginia Tax Rolls lists the spelling Brazeal. The 1790 United States Census lists the spellings:
Brasil(l), Brassel(l), Brassil(l), Braz(z)el(l) and Brazil in North Carolina and Brazeal, Brassal, Brazeel and Brazel in South Carolina.

Braezeale and Breazeal(e) appear very similar to the Gaelic version of the Brazil name, O'Breasail. However Carey Bracewell tells me:

"The BREAZEALE family of the American South derive from a French Huguenot émigré, HENRI BRAZEEL, who arrived in Virginia c.1670. One of his grandsons by the same name migrated to South Carolina c.1764 where he founded the principal branch of this family on Long Cane Creek in Abbeville County, SC."

The above would suggest that Braezeale, Breazeal(e) and Brazeel can be ignored when researching US sources.

In the US (California) a number of Brazil families trace their ancestry to the Azores and appear to have no connection with Ireland. However to further muddy the waters Phil Brazil writing to Genforum on September 17, 1998 says:" My direct ancestor, James Brazil, came over from Ireland, Waterford County, in 1861. His immediate family had scattered to New Zealand, Azores, Chicago and Kansas".

In the US (Florida and perhaps other states) a number of negro families have been found with the name Brazil. It is understood that after the War Between the States numbers of slaves adopted the name of their owners or the plantation manager.

I am grateful to Carey Bracewell for permission to print the following details of how to separate the various migrations of Brazils.

The problem of distinguishing between the various nationalities that use this spelling is not all that difficult. The key is to trace the family in question to their earliest appearance in American records, then apply something like the following checklist:

1. Did they come from the South?

If so, they were probably descendants of Rev. ROBERT BRACEWELL (1611-1668) or some later English Braswell emigrant. If the Reverend's, you will probably find them bearing such common Braswell Christian names as RICHARD, WILLIAM, ROBERT, JOHN, JAMES, or VALENTINE. With few exceptions, Celtic Brazils avoided the South because they had no wish to compete with slave labour. A Braswell family using the Brazil spelling was usually illiterate to start with and will be found in the early records under any one of 56 other known misspellings of Braswell, all phonetic attempts at "brazul".

2.  Were they in America before 1800?

Then almost certainly they were Braswells or Breazeales, since few Irish Brazils arrived before the Potato Famine of the 1840's. The Breazeales, with whom Southern Brazils are most often confused, derived mainly from South Carolina and can usually be distinguished by such favourite names as DRURY, ELIJAH, WILLIS, ENOCH, JOEL, KENNON (or CANNON), ARCHIBALD, and KINSMAN.

3.  Did they come from New England?

If so, they were probably originally Portuguese from the Azores. Boston was the port of entry for hundreds of these Brazils in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Most were fishermen working the Grand Banks for cod. Their Iberian Christian names make them easy to spot.

4. Did they live in New York City or in one of the great Pennsylvania mining towns?

Probably Irish then, and of course their use of Irish given names makes them easy to identify. There were other major Irish immigrant centres in North America.

There are also French, German and Swiss Brazils but by careful attention to period, place, given names, and lifestyle, ethnicity isn't all that hard to determine.

Webmaster's Note

While the above suggests a number of names being corrupted into a common one, the researcher must also be aware of the facts of Irish history.

There has always been contact between Ireland and mainland Europe. The possibility of Irish merchants or seamen founding families abroad is not fanciful.

During the period of the Tudor conquest of Ireland (1534-1603) a number of what were called Plantations took place - these would now be called "ethnic cleansings". In 1556 the Leinster territories of Laois and Ui Failghe were shirred as Queens and Kings counties and the eastern two-thirds granted to English and Welsh settlers. In 1569 Sir James Fitzmaurice, cousin of the Earl of Desmond, raised a revolt which was crushed in 1573. Fitzmaurice left for the continent. It is probable that among his retainers were a number of O'Breasails. Fitzmaurice was back and again in rebellion. This was put down with particular savagery especially in Munster where a scorched earth policy was pursued by the government. Ethnic cleansing then took place.

Further ethnic cleansing took place after the Nine Years War ended with the Act of Oblivion and Pardon in 1604.

A further rebellion took place in 1641 during the period of the English Civil War. When this ended in 1652 the Irish leaders and troops were permitted to leave the country. However, ethnic cleansing again took place and thousands of peasants were shipped to the West Indies.

After the restoration of Charles II (1660) some of the Catholic Irish exiles who had supported Charles were given compensation in New England.

Further ethnic cleansing took place after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 which ended the second English Civil War.

The next great impetus for Irish emigration was the potato famine of 1845-7. Hundreds of thousands fled to England and America. It is estimated that the population fell from 8 ½ to 6 ½ million between 1845 and 1850. This emigration continued until recent times.

Numbers of Irish were employed in England during the era of canal and railway building. It is not known how many of these were permanent emigrants.

It is probable that among these hordes of forced exiles there were some O'Breasails who founded families abroad under various spelling.

[ Return ]