This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Branch, Bradford, Pace Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3YF.2ACIB/2022 Message Board Post: Becky— I’ll share what I have. I am not disputing the Bradford/Pace marriage, or that the couple had a son John Bradford. If you say the male line DNA supports Pace ancestry for descendants of Col. John Bradford, that’s OK with me. >From “Marriage Licenses Granted in Halifax County, NC—1790” in the records of the NC State Archives, there is a marriage bond dated 1790 (no specific date in that year given) of Nancy Bradford to William Branch. According to a newspaper record, William Branch Jr. died 30 Sep 1793 after a brief illness. That this marriage actually took place is proved by the following: >From Bradley’s abstracts of Halifax Co. deeds, in book 17 p. 1540/789, “John Warren and his wife Nancy to William Gainer of Halifax Co. 13 Mar 1795. $600. 800 acres on north side of Elk Marsh (swamp) which had been owned by William Branch dec’d and which sd Nancy Warren is entitled to as her dower. John Warren (X), Nancy Warren. Wit: Eppy Tillery, William Hill. May Ct 1795.” This deed makes it clear that Nancy Bradford, widow of William Branch Jr. had remarried to John Warren. There is another deed on p. 1509/762 which records that Lt. Col. John Branch was the guardian of “John Branch the younger minor son of William Branch dec’d….” John Branch, “minor son of William Branch dec’d” as noted inherited 5000 acres of land on the Duck River in Bedford Co., TN; John lost this land and it was sold at auction for a token amount to John Warren, second husband of Nancy Bradford. The land was initially granted to William Branch Sr., brother of Lt. Col. John Branch; William Branch Sr. was a JP during the RW and was briefly detained by the British; his son William Jr. came into possession of the 5000 acres, and from thence it came into the hands of John Branch, his son. Another deed on p. 1568/865 shows that the William Branch under discussion above was in fact William Branch Jr. Since Ann/Nancy Bradford, daughter of Col. John was born in 1772, a marriage date of sometime in 1790 is a perfect fit (we don’t know why the licenses were numbered as they were, and there is no specific marriage date given, although as I have shown, the marriage did take place), and she had a half-sister married to Lt. Col. John Branch (who was evidently younger than his brother William Branch Sr.; they are nonetheless proved to be brothers by Lt. Col. John Branch’s will, in which he mentions this 5000 acre tract in TN), who became the guardian to William Jr.’s son John Branch. (This John son of William Branch Jr. is my ancestor; but I know of no male line descendants of him; my ancestress was his daughter Ann Bradford Branch Kimbrow; another daughter of his named Frances m. Thomas Ham.) John had a sister, Dorothy Myra Branch Benton, b. ca. 1793; John and Dorothy moved to Dyer Co., TN and were quite litigious. According to Boddie, Henry Bradford, son of John and Patience, married Sarah Crowel and d. in 1838 in Halifax Co., NC. Evidently he was a minister. During this period “Nancy” was considered to be a nickname for “Ann.” Some care should be taken with the use of common kinship terms in these old records. Sometimes “brother-in-law” means “step-brother.” John Warren was living when William Bradford made his will in 1822. As I understand your website, the parents of this Henry B. Bradford were Philemon and Suzanne (Clopton) Bradford, who married 25 Apr 1779; so you meant that Henry B. Bradford was b. 20 Dec 1781. Don’t you see a problem in that this Henry B. Bradford would have been 9 years younger than the Nancy Bradford who was the daughter of John and Dorothea (Burgess) Bradford? Since you say most people think his wife’s maiden name was Hunt, why do you think she was really Nancy Bradford? According to a letter I received 25 Jan 1994 from Frances M. Roye of the Halifax Co. Hist. Soc.: “William Branch Jr. died a few months before his father and left a widow Nancy who was a daughter of John Bradford. They applied for a marriage license 1790. She married 2nd John Warren. This William had a minor son John. He and Nancy were heirs to 800 acres of land on Beech Swamp, most of which William Branch, Sr. had deeded to William Branch, Jr. by 1793.” This letter corresponds exactly with my interpretation of the records. If this woman married 3rd Henry B. Bradford, they don’t know about it in Halifax Co. A descendant of John Warren told me that my John Branch was raised by that John’s grand-uncle Lt. Col. John Branch, who was a man of some note in Halifax Co., having been recorded as throwing gala July 4th celebrations at his home. I would prefer no further correspondence concerning this matter; please correct your website as to the marriages of Col. John Bradford’s daughter Ann. Sorry I didn’t get this to you sooner, but my DSL went down. Jeff Chipman [Becky Mosely operates the “Bradford Immigrants” website at http://www.bradfordgenealogy.org/BradfordImmigrants.html] {cross-posted to Rootsweb’s Bradford board}