In the 1840 Census, there were 41 Branch households that were documents in Tennessee many from North Carolina or Virginia. This was up from 20 households in 1830.
Most of the families were lured by cheap land. Indian lands opened by Pres. Andrew Jackson or lands earned by their fathers or grandfathers in Bounty Lands from Revolutionary War service. Some had large families and they wanted to provide lands for 8, 10 or more children. Others like Joseph Branch were lured by very large bounty lands – in his case 10,000 acres on the Duck River south of Nashville earned by his officer father, Col. John Branch and uncle, William Branch.
(to be continued)