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The Ancestry of Cometan
Cometanic ancestry is a major component of Cometanology and the study of the ancestry of Cometan is split across nine major maternal and paternal ancestral lines, some of which are traceable back to medieval and ancient times. Ancestors of Cometan are classified as any individuals born before his grandparents. The classification 'notable ancestor of Cometan' is given to individuals of noteworthiness in the public sphere to whom Cometan is blood-related.
The history of Cometan's study of his ancestry is split into distinct phases, called ancestral investigation phases. The first of these began in March 2019 and ended around July 2020 when Cometan was twenty until he was twenty-two. At the beginning of Phase One, a much greater deal more was known about Cometan's maternal ancestry than his paternal ancestry. However, by the end of Phase One, the knowledge of his paternal ancestry balanced out with his maternal ancestry. In the modern era, Cometan's ancestors held a variety of occupations, most notably wheelwrights, farmers, builders, undertakers, firefighters, and WW1 infantry. From Phase One, Cometan discovered some notable ancestors including poets, a long series of Welsh monarchs, English knights, and members of the British aristocracy. Phase One also included Cometan's investigation of his genealogical background.
Cometanica was established by Cometan during Phase One as the publisher that would handle the publication of all Cometanic ancestral materials, including documents and photographs. Cometan's Ancestral Investigation Phase Two officially commenced in October 2020 when Cometan discovered that a portion of his maternal ancestors in the Moon family had emigrated to the United States of America after converting to the Latter-day Saint movement. Other key themes of Phase Two are expected to include the revelation of more details about the notable ancestors of Cometan as well as the identification of more of Cometan's medieval and ancient ancestors.
Paternal ancestry
Once the lesser known branch of Cometanic ancestry, knowledge of Cometan's paternal ancestry has expanded so that it can be traced back through to medieval and even into ancient times. The four major paternal ancestral lines include the Hardacre family, the Taylor family, the McKearney family, and the Stringfellow family. The Taylor family is the one to which Cometan owes his birth name of Brandon Reece Taylor.
Maternal ancestry
The maternal ancestry of Cometan is also split across four major ancestral lines including the Cottam family, the Turner family the Prescott family and the Warbrick family. It is the Warbrick family to which Cometan directly belongs maternally due to his mother's birth name being Janet Louise Warbrick. Greater details are known of the lives of Cometan's less closer maternal ancestors due to Cometan's access more records, particularly his grandfather's lineage.
Cottam family
The Cottam family was a working class family originating from the county of Lancashire, specifically in and around the City of Preston, before settling in the village of Higher Walton. This is where Richard Cottam met and married Jane Turner; these were one of two of Cometan's maternal great-grandparents. The Cottam family suffered a tragedy in 1942 when Jane Cottam died of tubercluosis when her daughter Hilda (Cometan's grandmother) was just four years old. Richard Cottam also passed away when Hilda was twenty, leaving her grandmother to care for Hilda's wellbeing.
Hardacre family
The Hardacres were an English working class family with a clear lineage tracing back to the mid-16th century. Although the Hardacres would come to settle in the county of Lancashire, their ancestors originate from the village of Kildwick in North Yorkshire. Richard Hardacre, a member of this family, married Edith McKerney in the early 20th century. In Higher Walton village, the Hardacres were in frequent contact with the Cottam family although they did not know then that they would one day share a single common descendant in Cometan.
Lancaster family
The Lancasters were an English family of landlords with a clear lineage tracing back to the early 19th century and to the village of Whittle-le-Woods. When John Lancaster, the head of the family, died his daughter, Elizabeth, took over the running of the Royal Oak pub in Brindle. She went on to marry wheelwright, William Warbrick, from the nearby village of Clayton Green. They then had children together, one of whom was Henry Warbrick, Cometan's great grandfather.
McKearney family
The McKearneys were a working class family of Irish immigrants who travelled from Dublin sometime during the mid-19th century and settled in Preston in Lancashire. Hugh McKerney (1789 - 1863), who originated from county Fermanagh in what is now Northern Ireland, lead the move from Ireland to England due to the Irish Potato Famine that took place between 1845-1849. His great granddaughter, Edith McKerney, settled in Higher Walton and later married Richard Hardacre. They had two daughters together, one of whom was Irene Hardacre, Cometan's paternal grandmother.
Moon family
The Moon family were a family of English farmers and landowners whose lineage can be traced back to the very late 17th century with Henry Moone. Based in and around the village of Eccleston, by the early 1800s, the family had amassed 21 acres of land and owned Daisy Hill Farm in Euxton. The oldest picture of Cometan's ancestors features Ralph Moon, Cometan's 4th great-grandfather just one year before his death alongside his wife, Agnes. It was taken in 1858, just twenty years after the invention of photography which demonstrates the wealth they must have accumulated for that time to be able to afford such a photograph.
Prescott family
Our knowledge of the Prescott family is limited in comparison to the other families of Cometanic ancestry. David Prescott was born in 1819 in Chorley, Lancashire and had a son, Joseph Prescott. Joseph was an English cashier and teacher who married Elizabeth Moon and with whom they had a daughter named Mary, one of the maternal great grandmothers of Cometan. Various documents involving Joseph have been kept in tact and these can be viewed in the Cometanic Archives. There are also a couple of pictures of Joseph in the early 1900s before his death in 1930.
Taylor / Stringfellow family
The Taylor family was a working class family who originated from the village of Coppull in Lancashire which was were Derrick Taylor, Cometan's grandfather, came from. Virtually nothing is known about the Taylor family beyond Derrick Taylor himself other than that his parents were killed in a car crash. Derrick, joined by his wife Irene, settled at 222 Longmeanygate in the 1950s and raised ten children there, one of which was Cometan's father, Sean. Derrick Taylor's mother, Ellen, had a maiden name of Stringfellow and her family originate from within Lancashire.
Turner family
The Turner family's lineage can be traced back to the early 19th century with Thomas Turner born in Walton-le-Dale. The family remained stationary in this village all the way up to recent times. Cometan's 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Turner (née Farnworth) would have three children with Joseph Turner, one of whom was named Jane. Although the Turner name would live on through Jane's brother Edward, the family's direct connection to Cometan was broken with Jane Turner's death in 1942 when her daughter Hilda was just four years old.
Warbrick family
The Warbrick family is the ancestral family of Cometan that we perhaps know the most about. They were a large family with extensive connections in villages surrounding Preston. Their lineage traces back to the late 17th century with Richard Warbrick who was born in the coastal town of Blackpool. With James Warbrick in the mid 18th century, they moved north-eastward to the village of Garstang where they alternated in residence with the village of Clayton Green for about 100 years across generations. In the mid 1800s however, the family settled in Clayton Green (now Clayton-le-Woods) where William Warbrick established his wheelwright business and married and had children with a local landlady called Elizabeth Lancaster.
Noteworthy photographs
All images distributed by Cometanica.
© 2021 Millettarian Photographic Institute.
 The paternal grandparents of Cometan, Irene Mary & Derrick Taylor taken in around 1953. |  Frederick and Ellen Taylor (née Stringfellow) with their children Derrick, Jimmy and Alma taken in circa 1934 |  Derrick Taylor and Irene Mary Hardacre, the paternal grandparents of Cometan in around 1953. |
|---|---|---|
 Portrait of Margaret Jane McKerney (née Hope), great-great-grandmother of Cometan. |  William McKerney with wife Margaret Jane, the paternal great-great-grandparents of Cometan. |  Edith McKerney (right) with her husband Richard Hardacre (left), the paternal great-grandparents of Cometan, and two relatives sitting between them. |
 Irene Mary Hardacre and her dog Judy taken in around 1940. |  Warbrick family picture. |  Prescott family wedding |
 Harry Prescott in World War Two |  Ralph & Agnes Moon - The oldest picture of Cometanic ancestry taken of Cometan's 4th great grandparents in 1858 |  Cometan's great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Moon, alongside her daughter. |
 Cometan's great grandmother, Mary Warbrick (right) with her sister. |  Mary Warbrick (centre) alongside her two sisters. |  John Prescott and Elizabeth Prescott (née Moon), the great-great grandparents of Cometan. |
 Richard Hardacre and Edith Hardacre (née McKerney) with their daughter Irene and son-in-law Derrick Taylor and their daughter, Marie-Therese. |  Richard Cottam, the great grandfather of Cometan. Photo taken in the 1950s. |  The only surviving photograph of Jane Cottam, Cometan's great grandmother. Cometan's grandmother, Hilda, is the little girl standing on the left. |
 Cometan grandmother, Hilda Warbrick, with her grandmother, Elizabeth Alice Turner. |  Harry Prescott in his infantry soldier uniform during World War Two. |
Some ancestors of Cometan
Family: Warbrick
Year of birth: 1863
Date of death: 1933
Occupation: Wheelwright
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great grandfather
William Warbrick
Cometan's maternal great-grandfather, William Warbrick was a wheelwright for the majority of his life. He married Elizabeth Lancaster sometime in the latter half of the 19th century and fathered seven children.
Family: Prescott
Date of birth: 1887
Date of death: January 15, 1939
Occupation: World War Two infantry
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-uncle
Harry Prescott
Harry Prescott was one of the great great-uncles of Cometan on his maternal grandfather's side. He served as a soldier during World War One and although he survived the war, he was terribly ill after returning home due to gas poisoning from the war.
Family: In-law to the Turner family
Date of birth: 1915
Date of death: 23rd February 1998
Occupation: Poet
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-uncle
Edwin Southworth
Edwin "Ted" Southworth was one of the great great-uncles of Cometan on his maternal grandmother's side. One of Ted's passions was writing poetry and many of his works are planned to be published posthumously by Cometan. He married Elizabeth "Lily" Turner (1914 - 1996).
Family: Hardacre
Date of birth: 27th December 1905
Date of death: April 1962
Occupation: World War Two firefighter
Relation to Cometan: great grandfather
Richard Hardacre
Richard Hardacre was the great grandfather of Cometan on his paternal grandmother's side. What was known of Richard has largely been lost to history, but we do know he was a firefighter during World War Two. Married Edith McKerney in April 1930.
Family: Warbrick
Date of birth: unknown
Date of death: unknown
Occupation: Cotton weaver & policeman
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great uncle
Thomas E Warbrick
Thomas Warbrick was one of the 2nd great uncles of Cometan in the Warbrick family in which he was a brother to Henry Warbrick, Cometan's great grandfather. Thomas was a Ministry of Defense policeman.
Family: In-law of the Warbrick family
Date of birth: 1924
Date of death: 22nd March 1999
Occupation: Draughtsman
Relation to Cometan: Great uncle
Stephen Conway
Steven Conway was one of the maternal great uncles of Cometan who actually died before Cometan's birth. A very creative individual, Steven drew a multitude of pictures throughout his life, built a model of the Golden Hinde, an excellent photographer and designing and making stained glass.
Family: Warbrick
Date of birth: 1895, Royal Oak Inn, Brindle
Date of death: 1929, Mount Street Hosp. Preston
Occupation: Mill worker
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-aunt
Anastasia Arrowsmith
Married Jack Arrowsmith, a descendent of Saint Edmund Arrowsmith, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Died of asyphyxiation in Mount Street Hospital in Preston at the age of just 32.
Family: Warbrick
Date of birth: 14th May 1896
Date of death: 24th August 1972
Occupation: Soldier
Relation to Cometan: great grandfather
Henry Warbrick
Henry Warbrick was the maternal great grandfather of Cometan and is remembered for his service as a solider in World War One. He retracted gout from the trenches, but lived until 1972.
Family: Warbrick (née Prescott)
Date of birth: 24th August 1898
Date of death: 7th June 1967
Occupation: Weaver
Relation to Cometan: great grandmother
Mary Warbrick
Mary Warbrick was the great grandmother of Cometan on his maternal grandfather's side. There are some images of Mary collected and published by Cometanica depicting her alongside her family.
Family: Warbrick
Date of birth: Unknown
Date of death: 1944, Salerno Beach, Italy
Occupation: World War Two sapper
Relation to Cometan: 1st cousin twice removed
Thomas Warbrick
Thomas Warbrick (depicted here as a young boy at a wedding) was a sapper during World War Two who died towards the end of the war in 1944 on Salerno Beach in Italy whilst sapping buried mines.
Family: Warbrick
Date of birth: 1884
Date of death: 17th November 1953
Occupation: Wheelwright and undertaker
Relation to Cometan: 2nd great uncle
John James Warbrick
John James Warbrick was part of the Warbrick family as the son of William Warbrick, Cometan's great great-grandfather. John James had taken over his father's wheelwright business, but switched to being an undertaker in the early 1900s.
Family: Cottam
Date of birth: 7th May 1936
Date of death: 6th June 2010
Occupation: Plumbing and heating engineer
Relation to Cometan: Great uncle
Kevin Cottam
The brother of Hilda Warbrick, Cometan's grandmother, Kevin and his young sister were often mistaken for twins when growing up as they were so close in size. Kevin had an entrepreneurial spirit and set up his own business in the village of Longridge.
Earliest known ancestors of Cometan
Richard Warbrecke (1570 – Jan 1598), Great Marton
John Hull (1565 – Apr 1631), Poulton-le-Fylde
Henry Moone (1527 – 1580), Hollowforth
Sir Robert Moone (Jan 1555 – Jan 1615), Woodplumpton
Lady Alice Dilworth (1557 – Aug 1625), Woodplumpton
Thomas Stringfellow (1670 – 1717), Welch Whittle
John Hardiker (1665 – 1730), Croston
Elizabeth Hardiker (née Tomlinson; 1670 – 1742), Croston
Gyles Farnworth (1532 – 1598), Bolton