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please indicate Norfolk (Bramerton Hall) Corys line of the family.

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Norfolk (Bramerton Hall) Corys (Ancestry Tree)

The Norfolk database is based the The English Corys by Vernon and Michael Cory

Robert Corie

The earliest Cory on the Bramerton tree is Robert Corie who may have "emigrated" from Launceston, Cornwall, about 350 miles, and settled at Bramerton, Norfolk circa 1398 and died there in 1444. Norfolk, at that time, was one of the most important towns in England, being the center of the weaving trade. He purchased land in 1399 and in 1403 he bought an estate in the village of Bramerton. Robert had two sons; John; William, priest of Norton; and three daughters, Alice, Blyth and Matilda.  Robert Cory, who died on 17 August 1629 after long and tedious sickness of above four years continuance, which he endured with patience. He was 56 years of age and left a second wife, 6 sons and 2 daughters which he had by his first wife.  No other memorial remains from those early Corys and the only Cory grave in the churchyard today is that of a more recent Cory who chose to rest in the village of his ancestors.

The Corys remained at Bramerton for more than 250 years in which time the family spread widely into Norfolk and Suffolk.  However, the direct line came to an end in 1678 when Thomas (NL/2), son of Francis (NK/1) and Anne Cory, died a bachelor age 27.  As Thomas died without issue,  the Bramerton estate was left to his second wife’s nephew. The succession and occupation of the Hall then passed by devise on the female side to John Houghton, son of Anne Cory's sister Elizabeth Corbett.  She married Robert Houghton, son of Sir Robert Houghton, Kent.

Over the years, Robert Corie’s house was redesigned by the new owners of Bramerton Hall  so the church is the place where all people interested in the name of Cory visit on coming to Norfolk.

Michael and Vernon Cory have done extensive research on this line of Corys and present their findings in two publications, The English Corys, 1994, and The Norfolk Corys, 1999.  Both publications are available from the The Cory Society. Chapter 13 of The English Corys is suggested for further reading.

False Genealogies

There has been much written about the Bramerton Hall Corys and many false genealogies generated and presented in print and on the various forums.  A great number of Corys in America "trace" their line back to Bramerton Hall.  This is a result of two things, the wishful thinking of "researchers" that want to be related to someone that had been knighted and thus bore a coat-of-arms, an American dream, and of a publication  "Some chronicles of the Cory family relating to Eliakim and Sarah Sayre Cory and their descendants, Westfield, N.J., Ballston Spa, N.Y., with others from John of Southold" (1914) by Harriet Cory Dickinson, pages 96-103.  This book is an excellent early work on the John of Southold line and is an example of the work that it took to do genealogy by using existing records and oral history at the turn of the previous century. In this book, she traces the ancestor of John of Southold back to many noblemen of Scotland through the Bramerton Corys.  DNA has shown that this is not true. 

The ancestors of John of Southold have not been linked to a specific Cory family in the UK.  Further DNA data is required from UK Cory families to make this connection. 

There is some preliminary evidence that the Bramerton Corys are actually related to the Northampton/Harpole Corys.  Again, further DNA data is required to make this connection.  All male Corys are welcome to participate in our joint DNA project.  Please refer to our DNA page for further information.

The information and genealogies of the Norfolk (Bramerton Hall) Corys is from The English Corys by Michael and Vernon Cory and from The Norfolk Corys by Michael Cory.

The following notes are helpful:

• Sadly no Norfolk Cory was ever knighted;
  
• there is no record of Robert Corie’s wife’s name or death;
  
• Robert Corie built Bramerton Hall;
• Robert’s first born son, William, remained at Bramerton;
  
• Robert’s second son, John, went into the church, and as a Catholic priest did not marry and therefore had no issue;
  
• DNA testing has proved that there is no match between Norfolk and Devon and Cornwall DNA samples.