Mr Lewis Richard Braund, 29, was born in 1883, at Pigsdon Farm, Week St Mary, Cornwall, the son of James Braund (farmer) and Elizabeth Braund (née Harris). He was the eldest brother of Mary Jane (Janie), William James (Jim), Owen Harris and John Morcom (Jack). From about 1902 the family lived at Norton's Farm, Bridgerule, Devon.
Lewis' brother Jim had emigrated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada at the turn of the century and had been working a farm there. He subsequently returned to Devon to encourage other family members to accompany him back to Canada. Lewis, with his brother Owen, along with Samuel and William Dennis, John Henry Perkin (second cousins) and John Hall Lovell (a more distant cousin) subsequently travelled in a group together. Jim Braund for some reason decided to travel on a ship out of Liverpool. For their Atlantic crossing they chose the maiden voyage of Titanic. Their group also accompanied a near neighbour, Susan Webber from North Tamerton. They had a long train journey from Holsworthy, Devon on the London & South Western Railway with changes at Exeter and Salisbury. They arrived in Southampton in the evening of 9 April 1912 and spent that night at the Alliance Hotel, Southampton. They embarked Titanic the following morning, the group all travelling third class. Lewis' ticket was numbered 3460 and had cost £7 5s.
Lewis and the rest of his group were all lost in the sinking. Lewis body, if recovered,was never identified. In his will he left £260 to his father.
Susan Webber travelling in 2nd class survived the sinking. She later wrote a letter of sympathy to the Braund brother's parents.
Sometime following 1912 his parents moved to Truscott near Launceston, Cornwall.
Comment and discuss
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Can anyone help me? I believe that i am related to Owen and Lewis Braund (third class passengers.) My mum's family are Braunds, they come from the same place as Owen and Lewis and there has been a rumour for years that members of our family went down with the ship. However, i know very little about them. Has anyone got any information that could help? Thanks, Dawn.
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Dawn, you'd probably have to pursue your geneaology through public records. Get your family to give you as many names and dates as far back as they can remember, then search census, birth, marriage, and real estate records to see if you can dig back even further. Try places like ancestry.com which now includes records from the UK. Learn all you can about tracing your roots. 1912 isn't that far back as geneaology searches go. Good luck, and let us know what you find out. My own family thinks we lost a relative on the Titanic, but I was able to put that rumor to rest. The "M. Rowe" in our family is a female, while the "M. Rowe" on Titanic was a male. Kyrila
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Kyrila, Thanks for the advice. I've just found some info on the Braund Society and have emailed them. It's looking good. It seems all the Braunds in the Devon area are related somehow. Fingers crossed i'll have an answer soon. Dawn.
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Kyrila, The Braund Society got back to me and i now know that i'm not related to the Braund Brothers (same family, different line). They think we were probably related at one time but the records have gone. Still, they traced my family back to 1670 so i don't really mind. Thanks for the interest. Dawn
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