Leonard Anthony Bracken III takes his name from his grandfather, Leonard Anthony Bracken Sr. (Dec. 25, 1900–Dec. 3, 1961), also known as Len, who was the proprietor of a gas station and auto repair garage in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
The author’s father, Leonard Anthony Bracken, Jr. (Oct. 4, 1933–Sept. 25, 2018; bio), known as Tony, was a U.S. Navy pilot and diplomat, whose mother, Anna Rose Collins (Oct. 29, 1904–Nov. 10, 1949), the bookkeeper of the of the family business, died when he was only 16 years old—she was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Dealy (Oct. 16, 1873–March 3, 1945) and Thomas Joseph Collins (Oct. 21, 1869–Sept. 16, 1917).
The previous generation of Bracken and Collins families were born in Philadelphia, but earlier generations immigrated to the United States from Ireland and Scotland. Andrew J. Bracken (July 1852–Jan. 23, 1909), for example, was the first Bracken in the family born in the United States and his Irish-born mother, Ellen Higgins Bracken (1837–Aug. 23, 1894), was a member of the noble O’Higgins family that originated in the Kingdom of Meath.
According to family records, Ellen was directly related to Bernardo O’Higgins (Aug. 20, 1778–Oct. 24, 1842), the Chilean independence leader who was the first head of a fully independent Chilean state—he was her paternal uncle. Ellen’s husband, Michael Bracken (1817–May 28, 1880), hailed from the Ballinabrackey area of Meath. He would live in Scotland before immigrating to the United States.
Andrew Bracken, Len Bracken’s great grandfather, built roads and lived very simply, like a Quaker—he was married to Mary Ann Bayles (Feb. 19, 1858–Jan. 3, 1953), whose father was a sculptor from England and whose mother was an American of English background.
The author’s mother, Martha Ella Dobarzynski (Dec. 11, 1934–Aug. 3, 2018; bio), was the daughter of Martha Hester Ryals (Sept. 10, 1906–Jan. 28, 1999) and Walter Ignatius Dobarzynski (June 27, 1900–May 8, 1972).
Born in Newark, New Jersey to Polish immigrant parents, Walter Dobarzynski was stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station when he met and later married Martha Ryals in nearby Century, Florida—they would eventually settle down in Jacksonville.
Not much is known about the elder Dobarzynskis, Sophia and Vincent, who returned to their native Poland while leaving their children behind in the United States. They may have given their son Walter the middle name Ignatius to indicate a line of descent from the Ignacy Dobrzyński family of pianists and composers, or simply as a homage to them.
The Ryals ancestry can be traced back from Alabama to South Carolina and is believed to originate either in Northumberland County northeast England, along the Scottish border, as indicated by heraldry records, or Wales, as indicated by their Baptist religion.
According to family records, Joseph Benjamin Ryals (May 17, 1874–Aug. 28, 1938), a great grandfather to Len Bracken, was the first postmaster of Lenox, Alabama and owner of the town’s general store—he is said to have named the town, in order for the post office to be authorized, after a bar of Lenox soap on one of the store shelves. His first wife, Sarah Elizabeth Pierce (June 23, 1881–Oct. 13, 1911), was the mother of Martha Ryals, who was born in Lenox.
The mother of Joseph Ryals, Frances Hester Ann Ruth Porter Davison (Aug. 13, 1845–Jan. 15, 1925), has a family line through the Porters going back to some of the first immigrants in Colonial Virginia, namely Henry Dedman (born before 1600 and died in June 1655) and Robert Taliaferro (1626–1682). A maternal cousin of Len Bracken has traced their heritage back to members of the Powhatan tribe.