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Note: The Philadelphia Monthly Meeting lists three burials of children of Thomas & Elizabeth Broom, under "Persons not Friends", page 441:  John, son, 25-12-1730; Margrett, daughter, 10-7-1719; Thomas, son, 27-7-1716

This raises the question of whether the John listed as father of "Lady" (b. 1766) is a second John. Thomas does name a living son John in his will in 1749, and if there was a second John born just after 1731, this would fit better than the first John, who was born in 1713 and would have been 53 when Lady was born.

Second, the reference to William as son of Thomas is taken from another researcher but not verified yet by records I have seen. There is no William  mentioned in Thomas' will, although this William would have been alive at the time of Thomas' death. This same researcher lists William as having a first son William in 1739, and then three other children starting 12 years later by wife Phoebe. I have found records of the last three, with their mother listed as Phoebe, but not of the first son, William. This and the gap of 12 years raise the question of whether Phoebe was a second wife.

I also found a record for children of a William and Agnes Broom: Phoebe, born in 1768 and Margaret. The researcher mentioned above suggests that Agnes is a second wife. It would seem unusual that a second wife would name her child after the first wife (although this supposition may say more about our times than theirs!) and I would think it more likely that if there was a William born in 1739, he could have been the husband of Agnes and named his daughter after his mother or stepmother, if Wm Sr. did indeed have two wives.

To confuse things even more, both a Thomas Broom and a William Broom appear on a list of "Persons admitted as Freemen of the City of Philadelphia" in 1717. Thomas is listed as felt maker and William as Cooper. This William could also be the father of the William born in 1739, removing all the Williams to another branch of the family. Since Thomas does not name a William in his will, I tend to think the Williams are from another branch of the family.

Another questionable assertion is that the Bush grandchildren in Thomas' will were the children of his daughter Elizabeth. Although this would be possible, he lists Elizabeth as Elizabeth Broom, while he refers to his other daughters by their married names.

Last, there is a record for the marriage of Ann Broom to Nathaniel Tucker at the same church where Thomas was also married six years later. It is a reasonable assumption that she was his sister. A James Broom, son of Francis, came from England in 1717, the same year that the William and Thomas above show up in the Philadelphia list. There is also a Daniel around this time that I have been unable to connect. Some researchers think James & Thomas are related. It is quite probable that there is some connection between all of these persons.

 Lots more research to do here!

 Updated: 14-Jul-2006