More Williams & Johns Than You Can Shake a Stick At
This is a familiar topic to genealogists – multiple given names that occur over close generations in families. So confusing. The “name confusion” problem made me crazy until I took control of the situation in my Ancestry trees. I made my own rules. I have taken to adding qualifiers to the confusing names in Ancestry trees. Sometimes I give assign (Jr.) or (Sr.) and or (I), (II) and (III) even if the actual names don’t have those qualifiers. I add parentheses to “label my labels” for my personal sanity in figuring out these genealogical puzzles.
I also had fun with location qualifiers. An example is “William Branch of Chowan” versus “William Branch of Southampton”. A person that moved between states might be “Benjamin Branch of TN & VA” as opposed to “Benjamin Branch of Duplin NC”. Often times the dates of birth/death are still being sorted out so you need a way to distinguish between persons in a developing family tree. Or an occupation might be added to“George Branch, the Carpenter.” Another helpful technique is to insert a father: “Francis Branch of George I” versus “Francis Branch of Benjamin”. I also have taken to adding to their name qualifiers like “unmarried” or “childless” to help distinguish people without opening up their profile on the family tree. In some families it was helpful to add the term “headship” when only one man out of multiple sons carried on the family name with subsequent descendants.
For one unfortunate bunch, I added the moniker, “Fugitive” because that’s what the whole family of 8 or so people had become after killing a son-in-law. The incident out of Northampton County NC was in the newspapers of the late 1800’s and somehow they fled the state without prosecution. And I found the entire lot of them in a census in South Carolina or Georgia where they fled under the exact given names and ages, changing their names from Branch to Bell but that’s a story for another post.
Same confusing name thing happens with women and maiden or married names. Susan, Elizabeth, Mary, and Ann are just a few of the maddeningly identical names within even a generation – all with the same surname. So my format has become Ann Branch (Smith Hodges Jetson) so I can distinguish what is going on with these women in married names. Actually in the 1600’s in Virginia, I came across a family with a Mary Branch Sr. and a Mary Branch Jr. in a court document but that use of Jr./Sr. among women is exceedingly rare.
Why is this necessary? Well when you are looking at Ancestry trees and perhaps choosing someone from your “search a tree” list, sometimes they all look alike except for the birth/death dates (if you have all those dates. Adding qualifiers to your ancestor’s names also helps your sanity.
And as you might imagine, surname searches can pose a problem for someone with the Branch surname. Many a document I have searched in for “Branch” and been given deeds with streams. I feel for you Jones and Smiths as well.
Conversely, an unusual name can be golden for a search. I have a Branch woman who married into the family in 1785. Her name was Hepsibeth Weston. Each generation in multiple families seem to have a Hepsie, Hepsie Ann, or Hessie and that was a sure clue to dig deep because I would find a connection to these particular NC Branches. Her husband? Archelaus Branch. Some say Ark-ka-loss, me Ar-ka-laus. In addition, in the census it was sometimes noted as the easier “Archibald”. Descendants were often named Arch, Archie, A.B, or one of any number of spellings. However if you found a family with a girl name Hepsie and a boy named Archie in the same family, odds are the genealogical thread led back to Duplin County, NC and this Branch couple Hepsibeth and Archelaus.
Some names that repeat and repeat…
Pre-1860 naming patterns in Branch families of the South.
George Branch:
- George Branch Sr. of Isle of Wight
- George Branch Jr. of Chowan (in one document as “George the younger”.
- George Branch – descendant in Perquimans, descendant of Issachar
- George Branch of Southampton VA pre-Civil Ware descendant of Francis Branch
Francis Branch:
- Francis Branch son of George Branch Sr. and namesake of Francis England, of Southampton Virginia
- Francis Branch son of George Branch Jr. in Chowan
- Francis Branch son of William Branch Jr. of Edenton, grandson of William Branch Sr.
- Francis Branch of Northampton NC and apparent son of Benjamin Branch. Grandson of Francis of Southampton Virginia.
- 1863 Civil War map of Northampton NC has a “Francistown” near their family land.
Issachar Branch:
- Unknown namesake but suspect honors his mother, Margaret Thomas Branch of Chowan, – her father or ancestor.
- Issachar Branch Sr. son of William Branch Sr. of Chowan, master carpenter of Perquimans.
- Issachar Branch Jr. son of Issachar Sr., again a master carpenter of Perquimans.
- Transcriptions in census or deeds often butcher this name: “Thatcher”,
Benjamin Branch:
- Benjamin Branch son of Francis Branch Sr. of Isle of Wight Virginia.
- Benjamin Branch son of Archelaus Branch of Duplin NC
John Branch:
- John Branch, cabin boy, arrived 1635 on ship Abraham at age 13. Eliz. City County Virginia.
- John Branch, son of George Branch Sr. of Isle of Wight, wife Katherine.
- John Branch, Jr. son of John Branch Sr.
- John Branch of Edgecombe/Halifax County m. Anne Brown.
- Col. John Branch of Enfield/Halifax County NC
- Gov. John Branch, son of Col. John Branch, Enfield NC and Tallahassee FL
- John Branch of Nashville TN, son of Gov Branch
- John Branch son of Joseph Branch, died 1827 age 13 in Nashville TN
William Branch:
- William Branch Sr. of Edenton/Chowan NC, son of George Sr, namesake William Corker.
- William Branch Jr. of Edenton NC, Son of William Sr. of Edenton.
- William Branch of Wayne/Dobbs NC, Son of Arthur (ca 1747-18??)
- William Branch
- William Henry Branch of Tallahasee FL and south Georgia. Son of Gov John Branch.
- William Branch, brother of Levi, Son of Levi Branch
Arthur Branch:
- Arthur Branch of Southampton Virginia and Dobbs/Wayne NC
- Arthur Branch of Duplin County NC and Pender County NC
- Arthur Branch of Wake County NC
Rueben Branch:
- Rueben Branch, son of Archelaus Branch, grandson of Reuben Weston, Duplin County, moved to Mississippi and died around 1825. Obit was in newspaper of Wilmington NC.
- Reuben Branch of Duplin County, Civil War veteran
Levi or Leavy Branch
- Levi Branch of Duplin County NC, married 1811, died 1823.
- Levi Branch Jr. of NC, TN, and Missouri.
- Levi Branch of Alabama (unknown)
Archelaus Branch, “Archie”:
- Unsure of name origins or namesake for this family name. Generally indicative in Branch family of ties to Duplin County NC.
- Archelaus Branch of Duplin, married 1785 Hepsibeth Weston.
- Archelaus Branch, Jr. of Duplin, married Easter Grimes.
- Archelaus “Archie” Bright of Duplin.
Ann Branch:
- Ann England Branch, wife of George Branch, Sr. of Isle of Wight VA
- Ann Branch Hodge, daughter of George Branch, Sr. of Isle of Wight VA
- Ann Wheatley Branch, wife of Francis Branch, Edenton, NC
- Ann Browne Branch, wife of John Branch of Halifax NC, m. 1720.
Hepisbeth Branch:
- Hepsibeth Weston married Archelaus Branch in 1785.
- Hepibeth
Sarah Branch:
- Sarah Branch Phillips of Wayne County NC, daughter of Aaron Branch who moved from NC to TN.
Susan Branch:
- Susannah Blackmore Corker Branch, wife of George Branch Jr.
- Susan Branch – Susannah O’Bryan Simpson Branch mother of Lawrence O’Bryan Branch, CW General and wife of Joseph Branch.
- Susan Branch —-, her daughter.
- Susannah Massey Branch, Cumberland, wife of Benjamin Branch.
- Susan Branch Rucker, of Missouri, Kansas, wife of LeGrand Rucker, sister to Levi Branch, born in Duplin NC.
Mary Branch:
- Mary Eliza Branch Reade of Leon Co Florida, daughter of Gov Branch.
- Mary Branch Sr, Mary Branch Jr. in 1600’s Northampton County VIRGINIA, wife and daughter of John Branch.
- Mary Branch Brockett Smith of Goldsboro NC born in 1830’s. Father Aaron Branch who moved from NC to TN.
Nancy Branch:
- Nancy Branch, married to Levi Branch 1811. Duplin NC. Unsure if this is a married name or maiden name.
- Nancy Branch, married to Jesse Branch. Duplin
Elizabeth Branch: Three in colonial Edenton alone.
- Elizabeth Branch Howcott (daughter of George Branch Jr.) of Edenton NC
- Elizabeth Branch Robinson (daughter of William Branch Sr.) of Edenton NC
- Elizabeth Branch Underhill Green (daughter of William Branch Jr.) and likely Edenton Tea Party participant of Edenton NC
- Elizabeth Branch Massey, Duplin NC
- Elizabeth Fort Branch, wife of Gov John Branch
- Elizabeth Norwood Branch, wife of Col. John Branch, Halifax NC
- Elizabeth Norwood Branch, wife of Francis Branch from Southampton NC (not same person).
- Mary Eliza Branch Reade Bailey, daughter of Gov John Branch
- Eliza Branch, sister of Levi Branch.
- Elizabeth Branch, sister of Levi Branch.
“One Offs” and Fairly Unique Names
….that are only seen once or twice in southern family trees of the Branch family before 1860.
Levy, Lucian, Robert, Arthur Bryant, James G., Simon, Dennis, James, Alfred, Alpheus, Samuel, Job, Thomas, Matthew.
Lawrence, Henry, Nicholas, Etheldred (Dred), Stephen, Needham, Burrell, Burwell, Burl.
Patience, Patsy, Mourning (Jackson), Laney, Civil (not Sybil),
Unlikely:
- unlikely to see “Christopher” in any of these George Branch lines before 1860.
- unlikely to see “David” or “Michael” before 1860.
- Written by Dawn Branch King, and complied from a variety of sources over many years. June 24, 2022. This article will be updated as new information is discovered or my memory re-remembers.
