Christopher & Mary Branch, Jamestown Immigrants - Our 9th Great-grandparents

Old doorway into St. Helen's Church, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, where our Branch ancestors worshiped and were buried.

I recall visiting London when I was 18, and how thrilled I was to be there . . . and yet, I didn't realize our ancestors had trod those same lanes and byways. In later years I visited other parts of Great Britain, still unaware of my heritage, but feeling a sense of returning to the familiar. Since discovering from whence our ancestors came, I've thought it would be satisfying to visit their specific birthplaces. But didn't they leave those towns and cities, mostly in the 17th century, to begin new lives in Maryland and Virginia? Few made voyages home. "We never returned," most would have said. "Why should you care where we came from?"  

Below is the story of Christopher Branch (c1599-1681) and his wife, MaryAddy/Addie (c1599-1630), who arrived in Jamestown about 1619, our 9th great-grandparents.

Our ascent: Grandfather Frank Whitman Raney (1888 Gibson Co., IN -1969 Spokane, WA); Great-grandfather James Samuel Raney (1868 Pike Co., IN -1954 Spokane, WA);Great-great grandfather Everett Rainey/Raney (1844 Pulaski Co., KY-1899, Blodgett, Scott Co., MO ); 3rd Great-grandfather James Rainey (1814 Pulaski Co., KY-1860/70 Pike Co., IN); 4th Great-grandfather James Rainey (c1778 Sussex Co., VA -1838/40,White Co., TN), who married in 1800 Martha Parham (c1784 Sussex Co., VA-1817-20 Pulaski Co., KY) in Sussex Co., Virginia. Our 4th great-grandmother Martha Parham's father was Ephraim Stith Parham (1732 VA-1793 Sussex Co, VA), who married Lucretia Sturdivant in 1771, widow of a Parham cousin. 5th great-grandfather Ephraim Stith Parham's father was William Parham (1696 Surry Co., VA-1758 Sussex Co., VA), who married in 1723 Anne Stith (1700 VA-after 1758 VA), our 6th great-grandparents. William Parham's father was Thomas Parham (1665 Gloucester Co.,VA-1717 Prince George Co.,VA), who married Elizabeth Branch (c1667 Henrico Co.,VA-1717 Henrico Co.). Elizabeth's father, I believe, might have been George Branch (1630 Henrico Co., VA-1688 near the Blackwater in Isle of Wight Co.), who married Ann England, and were our 8th great-grandparents. George Branch was the 4th son of Christopher and Mary (Addy) Branch, the Immigrants. 

You might think the surname Branch would be common in Colonial Virginia, but most Branches in the southern United States trace their roots to the five sons of Christopher Branch. We have numerous DNA matches to their descendants. 

We also have numerous DNA matches to the descendants of Peter Branch, who died on shipboard in 1636, a second cousin to Christopher Branch, leaving to settle in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, his only son John (b1626), who had many descendants. Our mutual ancestor with Peter's descendants was Richard Branch of Abingdon, England (b. c1503) (our 12th great-grandfather). This connection proves that DNA can be traced back 12 generations and more to a mutual ancestor.

St. Helen's parish church in Abingdon and its almshouse would have been a familiar sight to our Branch ancestors. View from across the Thames River

Some claim the name Branch/Braunche is of Norman origin and that the Braunche ancestor was brought to England in the train of a knight in the service of William the Conqueror. 

It's helpful that others have already done my research. From the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society:

The [Branches] Braunches were a leading family in Abingdon [in Berkshire County until 1973, when it became a part of Oxfordshire] through several generations. A John Branch/Braunche (d. 1488), [our 14th great-grandfather] worked from 1438 as a master carpenter on the building of All Souls College in Oxford. He was responsible for selecting and preparing the timber to be felled, and he may have been the designer of the hammer-beam roof in the chapel. Although his pay was only fractionally above that of the more skilled of the half dozen or so other carpenters employed, he was paid by the week and they by the day, so his income was probably more steady than theirs. [I recommend reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, or watch the mini-series, to understand the role of a master carpenter in early England.]

All Souls College, Oxford, where our ancestor, John Bruanche, was a master carpenter.

Note ceiling of All Souls College Chapel, Oxford, designed  by our ancestor John Braunche in the mid-15th century.

He was almost certainly the John Braunche who leased property in 1438 from men whom we can recognize as leaders of the Fraternity or Guild of the Holy Cross, at that time not yet a chartered corporation. In 1440, John Braunche and his wife Avise (died 1490) [our 14th great-grandmother] took a house in West St Helen Street. The family’s connection with the Fraternity continued. Their son John (died 1521) carried on the carpentry business and was a Fraternity member. 

Their grandson Richard Braunche (about 1503−1544), [our 12th great-grandfather], who prospered as a woolen draper [a merchant of wool cloth] was a master of the Guild. [This area  was noted for its wool trade, weaving and the manufacture of clothing, with the Thames available for shipping to London.] Richard was buried in 1544 at St. Helen's church in Abingdon. [His wife was Elizabeth Beauforest, perhaps our 12th great-grandmother, but he'd had two previous wives.] At the time of Amyce’s survey in 1554, Richard’s widow Elizabeth (about 1507−1556) was living in the Bury near the end of Lombard Street and deriving income from three adjoining properties in East St Helen Street, two of which, the present Nos. 55 and 51, still exist.
 

No.55 with its neighbor No.51 (on right) are part of a timber framed row of rental properties built some time around 1500. They belonged to the Braunche family. Photo from 1880s

The same properties owned by our ancestor in 2008 from across the street

You may find Richard's will of interest, including the spelling.

Will of Richard Branch 27 August 1544

In the name off god Amen the 27 daye of August yn the yere off our lorde god 1544 and in the yere of our soveren and most drade [dread] lorde Henry the viij by the grace of god of England fraunce & Irelande kinge of the faithe defensor and in the erthe next under god of the church of England & Ireland supreme hede the xxxvj

y [I] Richarde Branche of Abendon in the dyocese of Sarum wollen draper being hole of mynde and perfyt of memorye (thankes be unto Jhesu) never the lesse sycke in bodye do ordeyne and make this to be my last will and testament as hereafter foloweth that is to saye I bequethe my solle unto almighty god my only Saviour and redemer desirynge my soll to be assosiat and in cumpenye withe the virgyn marye and all thelect [the elect] people of god and my bodye to be buryede in Saynct Elens churche of Abendon in Saynct Kateryns yle [aisle] nyghe unto the bodyes of my late wyves Julyan and Margrett.

Item y bequeth unto the highe awlter in Saynct Elens Churche ijs [2 shillings] to be prayed for.

Item y bequeth unto Thomas Branche my eldest sonne a federbed [featherbed] bolster a coverynge with a myter upon it [edges turned up and doubled] and a peyre [pair] off scheetes and xs [ten shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto my sonne William Branche [our 11th great-grandfather] my gowne that hadde off [made by] Mastre Wodwarde and xs [10 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Thomas Branche my yongest sonne xxs [20 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto my sunne John Branche a black gown lyned with saynct Thomas wolsted [St. Thomas worsted might be a type of warm lining] and xs [10 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Mergerye my dowghter a gyrdell with a dymycent [inlay?] of sylver and gyelt [gilt] a sylverne [silver] spone withall her graunfathers [grandfather's] bequest unto her a great brasse pott a platter a pottenger [bowl] and a sawcer [saucer] of the new fassyon [fashion] a bell candlestycke & xxs [20 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Maryon my dowghter a great brasse potte a brasse pan a peyre [pair] of Jett bedis [beads] with sylver gandes a sylverne spone besydes the spone that Wodwarde gave unto her a platter a potenger a sawcer of the new facyon a bell candlestycke & xxs in moneye.

And yff [if] it shall cum to passe by godes provysyon [God's provision] that anye off my fore named chyldern shall departe this transitorye lyeff [transitory life] before they cum unto yeris [years] of dyscretion then y will that his or their partes of the bequestes above mentioned so discessed shalbe [discussed shall be] indifferently distrybuted amongst my chyldern that then shalbe on lyve.

Item the residew of all mye goodes unbequethed (my detes [debts] payed my funeralls dishcarged and my legaces fulfylled) I geve and bequethe unto Elysabeth Braunche my wyffe she to pay all the dettes that ye owe and to receve all such dettes as be owinge unto me whom also y make my full and sole executrice she to cause my soll to be prayed for as god shall put her in mynd.

Item y do make Humffrey Bostocke and Thomas Erle the overseers of this my last will and testament to be performed in whome y putt my full trust above all other mortall men to se unto the gydynge [guardianship] of my wyffe and my childern untyll the tyme that god provyde for them unto whome also y do geve for the paynes takynge vjs viijd equallye betwyxt them to be devydyd.

Witnesses hereunto Sir William Druet brotherhed preist Richard Mayot Humffreye Bostocke and Thomas Erle with other moe.

The Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society continues: Richard’s elder son Thomas owned the Bull Inn [now demolished] on the corner of Littlebury Street, but he died in 1565 and left it to his brother William (before 1538−1602) [our 11th Great-grandfather, who married Katherine Jennings], a woolen draper like his father, but also a maltster [beer maker]. William continued the family tradition, becoming a governor of Christ’s Hospital, which had been established in 1553 to replace the old Fraternity, which had built the almshouse in 1446. [It appears that when William's daughter Martha married Robert Payne, the Bull Inn was made over to Payne as part of Martha's marriage portion, perhaps at that time only as a lease. This act would plague the Branch family for generations.]

The Christ's Hospital Almshouse, well-known to our ancestors, built in 1446, still used for meetings of this oldest charity in Oxfordshire, which now supports 32 free senior living units, among other good works.

The main obligation of the charity, which was not a hospital, but a hospitiam - a place for giving help to the poor - was to care for the Long Alley [above] almspeople who were to receive 8 pence per week, 1 shilling at Easter and 5 shillings a year for clothing: gown and hoods for the women and gown and hats for the men. In addition, the charity shouldered the maintenance of the town’s bridges, including those constructed by the Fraternity of the Holy Cross – a medieval religious guild. They also maintained the bridge over the River Ock to the west and the medieval arched stone bridge at the confluence of the Thames and Ock known as St. Helen’s Bridge.

Older photo of the almshouse from the front. Note that the ivy and chimneys have been removed.

William was master [similar to a burgess] four times between 1572 and 1593, as well as being mayor of Abingdon four times between 1563 and 1588. He also represented the town in the short-lived parliament of 1593.
It was in William’s time that factional conflict broke out in both the Corporation and in Christ’s Hospital, and he played a major role in it. This resulted in his oldest son Thomas (1557−1603) having his entry to these bodies delayed, so that he never achieved great distinction in them. Another son, Richard (1560−before 1602), became a clergyman and was rector of Hinton Waldrist and Longworth, while a third, Lionel (1566-1605) [our 10th great-grandfather], moved to London [after studying at Magdelene College, Oxford University]. 

In the next generation, the name of Braunche no longer appears among Corporation members and Hospital governors. Their position in Abingdon politics was taken up by a son-in-law, Robert Payne, [who upon marrying Martha Branch, was granted the Bull Inn as part of the marriage settlement]. Lionel’s offspring emigrated to Virginia and started an American branch of the family.

So, ends the account by the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society, but it's not the end of the English part of our story. William was buried within in St. Helen's Church, as had been Richard. His family paid two shillings for the tolling of the knell with the great Belle at his funeral and six shillings and eight pence for his grave. In recent photos on St. Helen's Facebook page, I see a new floor covers everything, including our ancestors' graves and maybe their flat gravestones.

Follow the zigzagging River Thames up from center bottom and Abingdon is located where the River Ock joins the Thames. Wool and clothing was shipped from the town to London.

Lionel (b. 1568 in Abingdon), our 10th great-grandfather, was the seventh child, third son of William and Katherine (Jennings) Branch (1532-1597). On 02 Jul 1585 he matriculated at Magdalen College of Oxford University as a 17 year-old commoner and graduated on 11 Feb 1590; afterwhich, he was able to place the title "gentleman" after his name.

Magdelene College, Oxford University, attended by our 10th great-grandfather, Lionel Branch.

Lionel and his wife, Valentina Sparke, were married on 08 July 1596 at St. Martin, Ludgate, in the city of London (destroyed in the Great London Fire in 1666). ["Leonell Branch of London gent. and Valentia Sparke of St. Martin Ludgate said city, spinster, daughter of "__?__" Sparke late of said city, draper, deceased, gen. lic., 7 Jul 1596."]  Valentina Sparke was born circa 1575 in London and died in 1600 of unspecified causes, shortly after only child Christopher's birth.

St. Margaret's, Westminster, Greater London, built from 1486 to 1523, where our 10th great-grandparents, Lionel and Valentina Branch are buried.

Our 10th great-grandmother, Valentina, was buried on 04 Aug 1600 at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London. Lionel  died intestate in London in 1605, and was buried at St. Margaret's, also. We don't know who reared our 9th great-grandfather, Christopher Branch (b.1699), but since Lionel had four sisters, possibly one of them had his care, or perhaps by Valentina's family. Was he reared up in Abingdon or in London? We don't know.

It appears that Lionel was the "black sheep" of the family. Called "my unthrifty and disobedient son" in his father's [William Branch (1524-1601)] will and bequeathed merely "my black gown." No love was lost between Lionel and his older brother, Thomas, either. When Thomas made his will in 1603, he bequeathed nothing to Lionel, but willed the valuable Bull Inn property of Abingdon to his brother-in-law, Robert Payne, which had earlier been settled on his sister Martha as part of her marriage settlement. Whatever revision in it that had passed down from the father William to Thomas, now was bequeathed to Payne.  William Branch, the younger brother of Lionel, still at Oxford University, must have felt the natural male heirs of their father, William Branch, should inherit the Bull Inn and accordingly brought suit to upset the will, the cause being decided in favor of Robert Payne in February of 1603-4. We will hear more of the Bull Inn later.

But now we arrive at our 9th great-grandfather, Christopher Branche, gentleman (1599-1682), who married Mary Addie (1602-1630) in 1619 at St. Peter's, Westcheap, London, which burned in the Great London fire of 1666.

Marriage bonds of "Xtofer Braunche" and "Marie Addie", daughter of Francis Addie, 2 September 1619

 She was the daughter of Francis Addie of Darton, Yorkshire, supposedly a husbandman, which seems a rather lowly occupation for Christopher to marry into. But, if his father had been a wastrel, and both grandfathers dead, he may not have had much to offer a bride. Of course, there's the possiblility Francis Addie was a prosperous merchant, dealing in Yorkshire cattle and sheep for the London market, else how did Mary end up in London?

Darton Church, Yorkshire, was built in 1150. Our ancestor Mary Addie and her own ancestors attended services there.

Christopher and Mary voyaged four months to Virginia on the ship London Merchant, a 300 ton vessel, with 198 other passengers, mostly men, sent by the Virginia Company, arriving in the summer of 1620, with the loss of only one soul. It must have been a miserable journey, leaving them weak and malnourished.

London Merchant may have resembled this replica of the original ship that brought colonists to Jamestown in 1609, although probably larger.

Living on what was called the College Land, half of the sale of its produce intended  to "educate the infidel," they were among a scant 60 settlers there who survived the Indian massacre of 1622, which nearly ended Virginia Colony. By 1623 they were living in Henrico County with their nine-month old son Thomas, the only Henrico County born child at that time. Besides Thomas, they had William, Christopher, John, and George Branch, and one of those sons was our 8th great-grandfather. For the moment, I'm going with George, born 1630.

In 1619, the Great Charter gave the colony self-governance, which led to the establishment of a Council of State, appointed by the Governor, an elected General Assembly ( House of Burgesses), and provided that the colony would no longer be financed by shares, but by the commodity of tobacco, which had established itself as profitable.The birth of representative government in the United States can be traced from this “Great Charter.” And Christopher Branch would participate in America's infancy of self-governing. He patented 100 acres in 1634 north of the James River at a place called Arrowhattocks. His wife Mary had died in 1630, probably after giving birth to George, and in 1632 he had returned to England.

 His purpose in going back to Abingdon, in retrospect, doesn't seem worth the candle. He began a lawsuit in an attempt to gain ownership of the Bull Inn in Abingdon after the deaths of his aunt Martha and her husband, Robert Payne, who had died about 1628. Having lost his wife, Christopher must have been discontented living in Virginia and believed the Bull Inn belonged to him by right of promigentitor (descent down the surviving male line), and viewed the inn as having a lucrative income. It indicates, too, that there was an ongoing correspondence between Christopher and members of his Branch family, that he would discover Robert Payne's death. He lost the lawsuit to Robert Payne's son.

Chesterfield County

Christopher returned to Virginia and in 1634 and patented that 100 acres called Arrowhattocks north of the James River. In 1636 he patented 350 acres south of the James River, opposite Arrowhattocks,  in what was then Henrico County, but would eventually become Chesterfield County. He named his plantation Kingsland. In 1639 he was a tobacco inspector, responsible for determining the quality of the tobacco from certain plantations before shipment to England. In 1640 he represented Henrico County in the House of Burgesses. That year they dealt with an over-supply of tobacco by ordering the burning of all the bad tobacco and half the good, thus containing production to 1½ million pounds. By 1650 he was a justice in Henrico County. He continued to accumulate land - about 1250 acres in all. A man who lived longer than most, he prudently made his will in 1678, but it wasn't probated until February, 1681/2, shortly after he died. 

By his death, two sons, William (1625-1666) and Christopher (1628-1665) had passed on. Christopher Jr's sons remained living at Kingsland, and so were the main concern in Christopher Sr.'s will. We must assume he had made earlier arrangements for sons John and George.

Christopher the Immigant was rich only in land it seems. The inventory of his estate contained the bare necessities of life. Three books, two being Bibles, two cows, two oxen, two bulls, a yearling calf, five barrows (gelded pigs), 2 sows, a boar, "a parcel of pyggs", tobacco and one slave.

Will of Christopher Branch 20 June 1678

In the name of God Amen. The twentieth of June 1678. I Christopher Branch, of Kingsland, in the County of Henrico being in years and memory, praised be to God, do make this my Last Will and Testament as follows:

Item. I give my body unto the Earth from whence it came and my Soul unto my Savior Jesus Christ, who has bought it with his most precious blood.

Item. I give unto my son Thomas Branch [1623-1693] my great copper kettle and a book called Ursinis Catucis and I do confirm the two hundred and forty acres of land that I have given him by deed gift formerly.

Item. I give unto my grandson Christopher Branch [oldest son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] all the land between the river and the long slash, beginning at Proctors Creek mouth, and run upward on the river to the pine tree that parts my land and my son Thomas, and from Proctors Creek at the lower end of long slash on the inside of the slash [waste land] running upward to my son Thomas’ land unto him and his heirs male forever, provided that he shall help to build for his brother, Samuel Branch [son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] a house [with] four lengths of board every length to be five foot with help of the Negro and Job [an indentured servant]. If they live until Samuel be of ability to help and to seat it, and to help him to clear a cornfield sufficiently fenced to keep out hogs and cattle.

Item. I give unto my grandson Samuel Branch [son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] all the land that lies between the long slash and the bottom called by the name Jacks Bottom, beginning at Proctors Creek and running upwards to my son Thomas’ land to him and his heirs male forever provided that he, with the help of Christopher and the Negro and Job, if it pleased God they live, do build Benjamin one house of four lengths of board every length of board to be five foot long, clear and fence him a cornfield so much as they do for Samuel, with his help when he shall be able to seat it.

Item. I give unto my grandson Benjamin Branch [another son of Christopher, Jr.] all the land that lies between Jacks Bottom and Proctors Creek beginning at Proctors Creek and running upwards to my son Thomas’ land to him and his heirs male forever. It is my will that Christopher do give unto Samuel and Benjamin six locust posts and two elm posts a piece when they shall build them their dwelling houses if they can find none on their own ground. It is my will that any of these—Christopher, Samuel, or Benjamin—do die before they come to the age of one and twenty years then their land shall return to the next brother and the goods that they shall have out of my estate after my decease. It is my will that after my decease, my son Thomas shall pay unto Christopher the rent that shall be due unto his Majesty yearly for his two hundred and forty acres of land when it shall be demanded. Likewise, Mr. Gower [Abell Gower married son William Branch's widow], Samuel, and Benjamin when they shall seat their land.

Item. It is my will that neither Samuel nor Benjamin go off the plantation but to live with Christopher and to have housing and ground and to work together until they be able to seat their own land unless they be willing to go off themselves. It is my will that my part of my Job’s labor, so long as he has to serve, shall go to maintain Samuel, Benjamin, and Sarah [their sister], and the half of the Negro’s labor go to maintain them.

Item. It is my will that the cart way be not stopped up nor altered that now is to go into the woods for timber or for firewood but to have a clear passage. It is my will that William and John Branch [sons of the deceased son William] shall have liberty to fish or fowl in the creeks or swamp. If Christopher shall refuse to help to build and clear for Samuel and Benjamin as I have set down in this my will, then he shall pay to Benjamin six hundred pounds of tobacco.

Item: I give unto Thomas Jefferson [1629-1697] [who married deceased son Christopher's daughter Mary in 1678] one hogshead of tobacco of four hundred pounds weight whom I make[,] with my grandson Christopher Branch[,] my full and sole executors of this my last will and testament and I desire them to see my will truly performed, my debts and legacies being paid and burial discharged, all the rest of my estate I give unto my grandson Christopher Branch and Samuel and Benjamin and Sarah and Mary Branch, the wife of Thomas Jefferson to be equally divided among them [they apparently were the total of Christopher Jr.'s children]. Witness my hand and seal the day and year above written.

Christopher Branch

Witnessed: Abel Gower Richard Ward

My research on Christopher's granddaughter Elizabeth Branch (c1666-1717), our 7th great-grandmother, is ongoing in establishing which of Christopher's sons was her father - Thomas, William, Christopher or George? We have the most DNA matches with Thomas and George, but that only means their descendants are interested in their lineage, too.  Elizabeth Branch married Thomas Parham (1765-1713)  about 1685 . . . and the rest is our family history, which I'll get to at a future date.
You may find this of interest:  Christopher Branch's lineage is proven to Charlemagne, by a female ancestor, through King William I (the Conqueror) and his descendants qualify for membership in the "Jamestowne Society" and the "Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America." Christopher and Mary (Addie) Branch were the 3rd great-grandparents of Thomas Jefferson through their son Christopher, Jr., which makes him our distant cousin through two of our family lines. 

Cousin Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale