The Nugents: My Genealogical Connection to the Brandon Family
When I began researching the Brandon family I traced their line all the way back to Gerard Brandon, born 1750, who traveled to the United States from his native Ireland. He married a woman whose name immediately struck me - Dorothy Nugent - born 1757 in South Carolina.
My great-grandmother's maiden name was Nugent (interestingly, her daughter, my grandmother, was named Dorothy), and I had traced her line back to a Matthew Nugent, born 1724, in Brunswick, North Carolina.
Dorothy Nugent Brandon was the sister to my ancestor Matthew Nugent, named for his father, born 1754 and marrying Zylpha Kemp. Dorothy and Matthew's parents were Matthew and Isabel Elizabeth (née MacBray) Nugent. Matthew was the son of a Christopher Nugent, though all we know about him is that he came from Ireland and was born in 1605.
And so, not only a coincidence of names - my Nugent great-grandmother and grandmother named Dorothy - but an actual bloodline connection makes the Brandons and the Brandon children my distant cousins. Perhaps it was this, along with their beautiful and poignant final resting places, that drew me to them so intensely!