Mary (Addie) Branch (bef. 1593 - abt. 1630)

Born before 16 Aug 1593 in Darton, Yorkshire, England

Wife of Christopher Branch Sr. — married 2 Sep 1619 in St Peter Westcheap, London, England

Descendants

Died about 1630 after about age 36 in Henrico County, Colony of Virginia

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Biography

Mary (Addie) Branch was a Jamestown colonist.

Mary (Addie) Branch is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

GrGrGrGrandmother of Thomas Jefferson 3rd US President

Mary/Marie was the daughter of Francis Addy/Addie and Margaret Leigh/Lee and was baptized at All Hallows Church in Darton, Yorkshire on 16 Aug 1593.^[1] She married Christopher Branch on September 02, 1619 in St. Peters Church, Westcheap, London Greater London County, England. The marriage record reads as follows:

"September 2, 1619 - Christopher Branche, Gentlemen, and Mary Addie, spinster, daughter of Francis Addie of Darton, County York, husbandman; at St. Peter's, Westcheap, London." ^[2][3].

The following year, Christopher and Mary sailed to Virginia on the "London Merchant."^[4][5]

"The Must (census) of the Inhabvitants of the Colledge: Land in Virginia taken the 23th of Janery 1624 (1625)" stated "Christopher Branch came in the London Marchannt, Mary, his wife in the same shipp, Thomas his sonne was aged 9 months;"^{[citation needed][6]}

They settled on "Ye Colledge Land."

The "Colledge Land" was the designation for the acreage obtained in 1619 for the benefit of the proposed University at Henrico. "On the northerly side of James River, from the falls down to Henrico (about 14 miles below the present city of Richmond) . . . are the public lands reserved and laid out, whereof ten thousand are for the University lands, three thousand are for the company's lands, with other lands belonging to the Colledge" (Date: 1625 or '6). ^[7]

Christopher and Mary Branch survived the Indian Massacre of 1622:

"A List of the Names of the Dead in Virginia since April Last [April

1623] Feby 16th 1623 [1624]" included Christopher and Mary Branch as "living".

In 1623, they returned briefly to Abingdon, Royal County of Berkshire, England for the purpose, amongst other things no doubt, of trying to gain possession of the Bull Inn, which Christopher claimed ought, by rights, to be his, but of which he had been cheated by his uncle, Robert Payne.^[8]

Christopher was a member of the House of Burgesses from Henrico County in 1629.^{[citation needed]}

(click three times for maximum enlargement)

On October 20, 1634, Christopher Branch patented one hundred acres of land on the south side of the Appomattox River. In September, 1636, he patented land in the same section as the first patent, and on December 18, 1636, he patented 250 acres he called Kingsland Plantation. "Kingsland", just west of "Farrar's Island", was also near "Osborne", home of the Jeffersons. He acquired another 1,380 acre plantation where today's "Kingsland Road" on Proctor Creek got its name. The present Kingsland Creek ran through his property.^{[citation needed]}

Christopher Branch wrote his will in Henrico County, Virginia, in 1678, and he named his son, Thomas, and grandchildren, Christopher, Samuel, and Benjamin, sons of his son Christopher "and Sarah and Mary Branch, the wife of Thomas Jefferson to be equally divided among them".^[9]

According to Adventures of Purse and Person, page 134, "Christopher Branch, born about 1628, removed from Henrico to Charles City County where, in 1657 at the age of 29, he was appointed justice. The inventory of his estate was made 24 Nov 1665 by William Farrar."

An "Item" from the 20 Jun 1678 will of Christopher Branch, Sr. probated 20 Sep 1681/82 in Henrico Co. states, "Item: I give unto Thomas Jefferson (I), one hogshead of tobacco of four hundred pounds weight whom I made with my grandson Christopher Branch

There is some doubt as to the father of Mary Branch (b. 1657), wife of Thomas Jefferson, but all sources agree that she was the granddaughter of Christopher Branch and Mary Addie. Most sources say her father was Christopher, but at least one says it was William.^[10]

Will of Christopher Branch

Mary and Christopher were the parents of:

1. Thomas (1623-1694)
2. William (1625-1676)

Sources

1. ↑ Yorkshire Parish Records. Leeds, England: West Yorkshire Archive Service. Reference Number: WDP62/1/1. Darton, All Saints 1594
   • View Ancestry Record 2256 #5952137, Image 3/4
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2. ↑ Marriage Licenses, London, Harleian Publications, Volume XXVI, Part 2, page 78
3. ↑ Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Reference Number: MS10091/7. 1619 Jul-Sep
   • View Ancestry Record 2056 #594379, Image 14/21
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4. ↑ http://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/londonmerchant.htm
5. ↑ Ancestry.com. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Original Source: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. Virginia, 1619, p. 5. Original Source: JESTER, ANNIE LASH, and MARTHA WOODROOF HIDEN. "Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia 1624/1625." In Adventurers of Purse and Person; Virginia, 1607-1625. N.p.: Order of First Families of Virginia, 1607-1620 [Princeton University Press], 1956, pp. 5-69.
6. ↑ Ancestry.com. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Original Source: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. Virginia, 1624, p. 201. Original Source: HOTTEN, JOHN CAMDEN, editor. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. With Their Ages, the Localities Where They Formerly Lived in the Mother Country, the Names of the Ships in Which They Embarked, and Other Interesting Particulars. From MSS. Preserved in the State.
7. ↑ Senate Doc. Colonial Records of Virginia . . . p. 37.
8. ↑ Genealogies of Virginia Families I, Branch of Abingdon: A Revision, was written by Peter Walne. Mr. Walne is Berkshire County Archivist, Reading, England
9. ↑ Henrico County, Virginia, Wills & Administrations, Part 1, 1677-1692 Will & Deed Book, page 209
10. ↑ http://www.rockystrickland.com/branch.htm

The following all require an Ancestry.com subscription to access:

• Notes on Christopher Branch (Ancestry.com)
• Ancestor of Thomas Jefferson
• List of Names (Ancestry.com)
• Early Records in Virginia (Ancestry.com)
• Jamestown sign about the 1622 Indian Massacre
• College Lands
• Deeds

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q96199938

• Filby, P. William, ed.. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2009.

• Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp., Virginia Census, 1607-1890; from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes.

• William Clayton Torrence, Thomas and William Branch of Henrico and some of their descendants, pg 61

• Search results for "William Branch" in Richard Lee Morton, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Volume 25

• "Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5", 4th Ed., 2004, p367.

• Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635" by Martha W. McCartney, 2007, p154.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #115974776

• Brayton, John Anderson. "Notes on the Ancestry of Mary (Addy) Branch, Wife of Christopher Branch," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 2002):299-305. Digital version at American Ancestors

• https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L52F-3T8/mary-frances-standing-addy-1593-1630, accessed 6 May 2021

• Adventurers of Purse and Person: The Musters