Mrs. Brinley's grandfather Nathaniel Byfield (1653–1733) was the twenty-first child of Reverend Richard Byfield of Long Ditton, Surrey, England. He arrived in Boston in 1674 and the next year married Deborah Clarke, the daughter of Captain Thomas Clarke. Byfield settled in Bristol, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Court and served repeatedly as first judge of the vice-admiralty court. He was strongly opposed to the Salem witch trials.

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