Branscomb Genealogy - Virginia Anna Branscomb

Branscomb/Branscum Genealogy

The Genealogy of
Richard Branscomb
of Brunswick County, Virginia,
and a Number of his Descendants

by Fred Tubbs

The Children of Henry and Elizabeth Branscomb:
Virginia Anna Branscomb

Please check the Author's Notes for an explanation of the numbering system I use for identifying individuals within any family.
The line of descent for Virginia Anna Branscomb is:

Richard Branscomb, the immigrant (d. 1775 in Brunswick County, Va.) and Sarah Proctor, parents of:
John Branscomb (md. Olive E. ___; d. 1821 in Wayne County, Ky.) John and Olive were the (presumed) parents of:
Henry Branscomb (b. ca. 1809 in Patrick County, Va.; md. Elizabeth Burris, d. ca. 1855-1864 in Putnam County, Mo.) Henry and Elizabeth were the parents of:

B(=11) Virginia Anna Branscomb
The first mention of Anna in the records is from the 1870 census, where as V. A. Branchom, age 14, she was in the household of her stepfather Oliver Houghton. The 1900 census shows her DOB as December 1858, but all other known censuses for her support a DOB of 1856. Anna md. James Monroe Lewis probably ca. 1874 or earlier, judging from the ages of their children as shown in the 1880 census. The 1910 census states that they had been married 30 years. James’s mother was named as Unnisa [Eunice?] in 1900 and as Caroline in 1910. (The first granddaughter of James and Anna was named Ethel Eunice.) To date, most of the information known for Lewis and Anna comes from the census records. The 1880 census shows them in Prairie Township of Schuyler County, dwelling #205:

Age Where
born Pa
born Ma
born

Lewis, James 22 Mo. S.C. Mo. farmer

Virginia 24 Mo. Ky. Ky.

Addison M. 5 Mo. Mo. Mo.

Louise 1 Mo. Mo. Mo.

By 1900 the family had moved to Wyandotte County, Kan., where the census shows them in dwelling #198 of Quindaro Township

Age DOB Where
born Pa
born Ma
born

Lewis, James 40 August 1849 Mo. France Tenn. farmer

Anna 41 December 1858 Mo. - - 2 children, 1 living

Nancy 20 July 1879 Mo. Mo. Mo.

Unnisa 78 1832 Tenn. Tenn. Tenn. Mother, widow

Some elements in this census report are at odds with data reported in other censuses (Anna’s age, only one child living, birthplaces for James’s parents). Yet the presence of Aderson in Wyandotte County in 1920 is good evidence that these were his parents.
By the next decennial census James and Anna and James’s mother had moved a few miles south to Johnson County; the 1910 census shows them in dwelling 135 of Shawnee Township:

Age Where
born Pa
born Ma
born

Lewis, James M. 52 Mo. France Tenn Md. 30 years; farmer

Anna 54 Mo. Ky. Ky. 2 children, 2 living

Caroline 85 Tenn. Tenn. Tenn. mother, widow

James and Anna moved again during the next decade; the 1920 census finds them in Roaring River Township of Barry County, Mo., dwelling #51:

Age Where
born Pa
born Ma
born

Lewis, J. M. 64 Mo. S.C. S.C. laborer at summer resort

Virginia 64 Mo. Ky. Ky.

They were still in Barry County in 1930, by then in Sugar Creek Township, dwelling #81:

Age Where
born Pa
born Ma
born

Lewis, James M. 74 Mo. Mo. Tenn. farmer

Virginia 76 Mo. Ky. Ky.

James and Anna had only two children, Aderson and Nancy Louisa. Carolyn Canida found census data for both; other information about Aderson comes from a great-granddaughter Sheryl Hullings.

B1. Aderson or Adderson Monroe Lewis, b. 6 July 1873 in Putnam County, d. of cancer 16 February 1950 in Artesia, Los Angeles County, Calif.; bur. Inglewood Park Cem. The dates are from the California death records; however, Aderson’s application for a Social Security card gave his year of birth as 1876. Prior to his marriage Aderson worked for a railroad. He md. (in Mo.?) 31 July 1894 Jennie Minerva Pence (b. 25 July 1878 in Kearney, Clay County, Mo., d. in Los Angeles County, Calif., 29 March 1966. She was the d/o Jefferson Pence and Margaret Whitton. Aderson and Jennie moved from Kansas City, Mo., to Welborn just outside Kansas City, some time between the birth of their first child Lester (1895) and their second child Ethel (1898). The 1900 census for Wyandotte County, Kan. (E.D. 154, S 15), gives his occupation as “street paver.” At least by 1901 Aderson owned a strawberry farm in Welborn, and during the winters he worked as a bricklayer in the Kansas City stockyards. Circa 1917 the family moved into Kansas City, Kan. Eventually, (as shown by his obituary) Aderson became construction boss at the stock yards. He and Jennie had seven children: Lester, Ethel, Joy, Oroville, Addie, Norman and Emogene. Circa 1923 Joy moved to Los Angeles County, California, and Ethel and her husband followed soon thereafter. A year or so later 14-year-old Norman ran away from home to live with his siblings in Calif.. Then Addie soon followed (see below). Some time thereafter Jennie moved (with Emogene?) to Calif. in order to be nearer to her children; She lived in Rosemead in Los Angeles County; her mother Margaret, by then remarried, also moved to Rosemead, leaving Aderson in Kansas City. As a result of Jennie’s move she and Aderson divorced. The 1930 census shows Aderson (as Anderson Lewis), age 55, at 7744 Quindaro Blvd. Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kan., as a boarder in the home of 63-year-old Sophia Hurla, a widow. Aderson remarried in Kansas City. Circa 1940 Aderson, too, moved to California, and lived near his son Norman in Artesia.
Sheryl gives the following data for the children of Aderson and Jennie:

B11. Lester Earl Lewis, b. 18 September 1895 in Kansas City, Mo., d, November 1959 Temple City, Calif.; bur. Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. Md. Ruth ____ . No known children. At one time Lester was a bellman at a Los Angeles Hotel.
B12. Ethel Eunice Lewis, b. 12 September 1898 Kan., d. 3 April 1978, Alhambra, Los Angeles County, Calif.; bur Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier. Md. in Kan. Bert Hamler. They came to Los Angeles County in 1923. In Calif. Bert worked as a butcher. One child, Donald.
B13. Joy Louise Lewis, b. 24 November 1901 Welborn, Kan., d. 23 July 1991, Ontario, Calif.. Joy burned her left hand severely when she was young, and the hand was disfigured thereafter for the rest of her life. She md. (1) in Kansas City, Kan., 20 August 1919 Joseph Frank Spitzengel. In 1920 they were living in Kansas City, Kan. No children. Joy & Joe separated ca. 1922-23 and divorced in 1931. In March 1927 Joy had a son, LaVerne Eldon Williams, by Thomas Foster Williams (b. 1 October 1892 Kan., d. 1 June 1975 La Jolla, Calif.). (LaVerne was Sheryl Hullings’s father.) Joy & Tom came to Calif. in 1923 just before Ethel & Bert did. Joy md. (2) in Calif. December 1931Victor Gustav Ziegler (b. 19 June 1898 St. Louis, Mo., d. 7 April 1977 Los Alamitos, Calif.). No children. In California. Joy worked for more than thirty years as a switchboard operator for a petroleum company, retiring in 1958.
B14. Oroville Lewis, b. 1905, lived only a few days.
B15. Addie Mae Lewis, b. 3 May 1908 Kan., d. of pneumonia 24 November 1928, Los Angeles, Calif.. Md. Thomas Webb. They had one child, Norman (“Sunnyboy”), b. December 1925. When Sunnyboy was a year old the physicians told Addie that he would probably not survive the winter in Kansas, so she, too, joined the exodus to Los Angeles. Addie died within three years of going to California. Thereafter Sunnyboy was reared by his grandmother Jennie. Addie’s husband Thomas is not mentioned in her obituary; however, he did come to California, and after Addie’s death, he remarried and had other children.
B16. Norman Pence Lewis, b. 14 October 1910 Kan., d. February 1976, Cypress, Calif.. Md. Josephine ___; two sons, Danny (d.y.), and James Lewis. When he was a young man in California Norman trained dogs for military and police work.
B17 Emogene Lewis, b. 1918 Kan. Md. Edward Clifton Field (b. 29 April 1901 N.Y., d. 7 August 1997 Orange Co, Calif.). Edward was one of the original partners of the Denny’s Restaurant chain. Edward & Emogene had one child, Edward C. Field, Jr. They also adopted a child, Susan. In 1950 Emogene was living in New York City, but in 2002 she was living in Newport Beach, Orange County, Calif.

B2. Nancy Louisa Lewis (“Nannie”), b. 16 July 1877, d. of heart failure 28 March 1973 in Liberty, Clay County, Mo.; bur. Means Cem., Liberty, Mo. Md. ca. 1903 Adam Dale (b. 23 December 1876 Mo., d. October 1967 in Liberty). As shown by the 1920 census, Adam was the s/o Jake C. and Maude C. Dale. The dates for Nannie come from her death certificate; however, all of the censuses for Nancy support a DOB of ca. 1879. The 1880 census shows her as age 1; in 1900 she was age 20; in 1910 she was 30, 40 in 1920, and 51 in 1930. Adam’s ages in the censuses support a DOB of 1878. The censuses render Nancy’s name as Louise, Nancy, Nancy L., Nannie and Nannie L. The 1910 census states that they had been married for seven years. Adam and Nancy had no children; the A. L. Dale who was the informant for Nannie’s death certificate is unidentified.
The 1910 census shows Adam and Nannie Dale in Bourland Township of Jefferson County, Okla., in dwelling #57; in 1920 they were with Dale’s parents in dwelling #27 of Sugar Creek Township, Barry County, Mo., and in 1930 their dwelling number in Sugar Creek Township was 156. (Census data from Carolyn Canida; all other data from Sheryl Hullings.)
See also:
Henry Branscomb, son of John and Olive E. Branscomb
Elizabeth Burris, wife of Henry
Children of Henry and Elizabeth (Burris) Branscomb

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