Branscomb Genealogy - Mahala Branscomb, daughter of Zachariah Branscomb and Mazy Towns

Branscomb/Branscum Genealogy

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

by Fred Tubbs

The children of Zachariah Branscomb and Mazy Towns:
Mahala Branscomb Asbell

The line of descent for Mahala Branscomb is as follows:

Richard Branscomb, the immigrant (d. 1775 in Brunswick County, VA) and Sarah Proctor, parents of:

Richard Branscomb II (ID#2; d. 1829 in Greensville Co., VA), father of:
Zachariah Branscomb (ID#21; b. ca. 1777 in Greensville Co., VA; d. ca. 1820) and Mazy Towns (d. ca. 1820)
Mahala Branscomb, (ID# 214, b. ca. 1807, d. 1894); md. Ezekiel Asbell (b. July 1806?, d. 1870).

(Note: in this account the ID numbers for Richard and Zachariah are omitted hereafter. See the entry under “Author’s notes” for the method I used in assigning identification numbers to Zachariah’s descendants If it becomes necessary to distinguish one of Zachariah's descendants from some descendant in another line, the letter "Z" will substitute for Zachariah's "21.")
Much of the information in this account came from #434C1 Kenneth Vance Smith. His great-aunt, #439 Lula Asbell Waldrop, collected information of interest about her family, but, unfortunately, much of it was lost in a flood in Brownwood, Brown Co., TX, during Lula’s last years. Ken passed on information about this family from the fragments which survive. The dates for Mahala and Ezekiel were from Lula. Information about #42 Lucinda Asbell and her husband James R. Brown, including James’s military records, came principally from Donnis Rae Key, whose husband Charles R. is #4266.
The information from census data for Mahala’s DOB is not consistent. It is assumed that in the 1810 census she was the female under the age of 10 in the home of her parents (the head of household was listed as Jeremiah Branscom; see Zachariah Branscomb ); and one of two females under the age of 10 in 1820 (in the household of Jaramiah Branksey) even though at that time she was thought to be approximately 13 years old. She was married by 1840 and was presumably the female age between 30 and 40 in the household of E Asbell (born between 1800 and 1810), age 38 in 1850 (b. ca. 1811-1812), age 50 in 1860, and age 60 in 1870 (b. ca 1810). Although the majority of the census data support a DOB of circa 1810, her twin brothers George and Edwin were also thought to be born circa 1810, and there is no evidence to suggest that Zachariah and Mazy had triplets. Early census data were often imprecise, and given the uncertainty concerning Mahala’s DOB I will adhere to the year 1807 as stated in the account that #215 Emma Hunter Anderson compiled circa 1932 (see Zachariah Branscomb).
As stated in the account for Zachariah, Mahala’s parents were thought to have died in an epidemic shortly after the 1820 census was taken, and, because her mother’s sister Rebecca McMasters was known to live nearby (as shown by the 1820 census), it is logical to assume that Rebecca made sure that the children were cared for. No further records for Mahala are found until the 1840 census, and that only by inference, since before 1850 the U. S. censuses recorded only the names of the heads of household. Mahala was known to have married Ezekiel Asbell, and in 1840 he was head of a household in the Abbeville District of South Carolina (page 31, line 11):

Male Female

Persons age 40-50 0 1

30-40 0 0

20-30 1 1

10-15 0 1

under 5 1 0

Data from later censuses permit an interpretation of these figures. Both Ezekiel and Mahala were tallied in the age group 20-30 although at least Ezekiel was slightly older than 30; the older woman in the household was almost surely Mahala’s sister Rebecca, who was probably only 39 years old; the female between 10 and 15 was probably Melissa Branscomb; and the male younger than 5 years was William, the first son of Ezekiel and Mahala. (The 1850 census provides Melissa’s name and age.)
Following is the data from the 1850 census for the Savannah River Regiment of Abbeville County, SC (p. 441):

Age Where born

Ezekiel Asbell   44 SC

Ala   38 NC

William F.   11 SC

Lucinda   9 SC

James E.   7 SC

Martha   5 SC

George W.   3 SC

Joseph Moore   3/12 SC

Branscomb, Melissa   21 NC

Mahala was evidently known as Aley (her spelling) or Ala throughout her life. The age of William, the eldest child, permits an estimate of the year of marriage for Ezekiel and Mahala as 1838 or earlier. Rebecca was not with the family at the time of the 1850 census, but, as shown below, she was soon with them again.. Melissa Branscomb is known only through her name here and her implied presence with the family a decade earlier. Further speculation about her without more facts is unwarranted.
On 7 June 1853 in Abbeville, SC, Ezekiel Asbell witnessed the will of Charles A. Smith. (Box 135, Pack 3855, as cited by Willie PaulineYoung, Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds. Liberty, SC: ISBN 0-89308-037-5.)
Amelia Holmes of Abbeville District wrote on 21 February 1856 a letter to her cousin #21 Caroline Hunter in Union Springs, AL, in which she mentioned Ezekiel and his family: “Mr. Asbel had [has?] been sick but is better. The family are all well. The children pass here going to school. Your Aunt Rebecca lives with them.” As shown by the 1860 census, Rebecca continued to live with the family at least through 1860.
Ezekiel’s father John Asbell, b. ca. 1773 NC, was listed in the Abbeville census from 1810 through 1840. Prior to 1850 he moved across the Savannah River to Elbert Co., GA, and that is where his name appears in the 1850 census: age 77, b. NC. With him were four females born between 1824 and 1827, and next door was a recently married A. J. Asbell who was almost surely related. In 1860 this A. J. Asbell was in Abbeville, SC.
John Asbell died in 1854. Ken Smith surmises that Ezekiel moved with his family to Elbert County in order to take possession of land his father bequeathed to him. Whatever the reason, by 1860 Ezekiel and his family were in Elbert District of Elbert County. The 1860 census, p. 784, dwelling #264, shows them thus:

Age   Sex   Where
born (Identities)

E. Asbell 53 M SC (Ezekiel)

A. 50 F NC (Ala/Aley, =Mahala)

W.F. 20 M SC (William)

L. 19 F SC (Lucy/Lucinda)

J.E. 17 M SC (James)

M.C. 14 F SC (Mattie/Martha)

G.W. 12 M SC (George)

J.M. 10 M SC (Joe/Joseph)

R. Branscomb 55 F NC (Rebecca)

Emma Anderson’s account states that Mahala remained in Virginia after the death of her parents. The foregoing information for Ala/Mahala makes it clear that during her childhood Mahala was in South Carolina with her parents and her siblings. (Emma wrote what she heard from others; in this case her informant was in error.)
Before 1870 the family moved to Cherokee, AL, which was in Franklin County until 1867 and then became part of Colbert County. The 1870 census (p. 86B of Fractional Township 3, Range 13, P.O, Barton Station, dwelling #17), taken 20 July 1870, showed "Zeke," age 64, and "Alice" (possibly "Aliee"), age 60, as residing there and states that both were born in SC. Their married daughter Lucy and her family lived nearby in dwelling #4. Mahala’s brother George and sister Lucinda had both moved to Franklin Co. earlier, and Lucinda (Lucy) and her husband continued to live there whereas George and his family had moved further westward by 1870.
On 1 June 1871 Mahala wrote a letter to her brother Bennett Hill Branscomb in Union Springs, Bullock Co., AL. Following is a transcription (my insertions are in brackets):
June 1st 1871 Cherokee Ala
Dear Brother it has been a long while since I heard from you and I thought I would take the pleasure this eavening to write you with a few lines which will inform you that I am still on the land with the lviang [living] and enjoying good health and I hope those few lines find you enjoying the same blessing--
I have just returned home from a visit to Missippi [sic], I spent two months with brother Edwin and his daughter, and brother George and all his children except one son are living down there. brother I wish I could see you. I have many things to tell you which [I] cannot write-
I could tell you all about our relations if I could see you, and if I had the money I would start next week to see you but I am out of money now I spent all I had going to see the rest of my kin, Brother I don’t think I could tell you all I know in three weeks if I could see you. Brother Edwin’s whiskers are as white as a bunch of cotton and he wares them tolerbly long, I tell you he looks quite funny when you see him off at a distance coming with such a red face-
I have not heard from Sister Lucy in some time she was in very bad health the last time I heard.
Mr McCaig [Lucinda’s husband] came down to see me just before I started to Missippi he was talking about sending one of his sons down to live with Brother Edwin when I went but he never come and I went by my self and I have not heard from them since. brother Edwins daughter Lucy has three all boys. I wrote a letter to you last summer when Mr. Asbell died but you never answered it and I was afraid you never go it, and I thought I would try you one more time to see if you would write give my best love to sister Eliza [Bennett Hill’s wife] and Caroline [their daughter] and her family and also to Richard [their son] and his family and John [another son] and his family and particularly Elijah [another son]. Brother Edwn says he very often sees his name in the papers send me word how all is and how they are getting along in this world. I don’t remember that I ever told you that Brother Edwins son was dead he died shortly after the surrender. Charlotte [Edwin’s wife] sent her best love and respects to you and says they have not heard from you since before the war, I must close my short letter as I have nothing more to relate excuse bad writing as my pen is very bad my best love to you your fond sister write soon
Aley Asbell

This letter provides a approximation of the DOD for Mahala’s husband Ezekiel. He was living in July 1870 at the time of the census, and Mahala, writing in June 1871, states that he died the previous summer. Ezekiel must have died in August or September 1870. Ken Smith gives the DOD for Mahala as 1895, presumably from the records kept by Lula Asbel Waldrop. Nothing further is known for Mahala;
The children of Mahala Branscomb and Ezekiel Asbell
Following is the list of the known children for Mahala and Ezekiel Asbell, all were born in SC and presumably in the Abbeville District:

41. William P. F. Asbell, b. ca. 1839
42. Lucinda Asbell, b. ca. 1841
43. James E. Asbell, b. 28 December 1842.
44. Martha C. Asbell (Mattie), b. 1844 .
45. George Washington Asbell, b. ca. 1847.
46. Joseph Moore Asbell, b. 1850.

In addition, Ken Smith proposes that the A. J. Asbell who lived next door to Ezekiel and Mahala in 1849 was their son. Ken gives his name as Alfred J. Asbell, b. 1828. It is likely that Ken is correct. In the absence of fuller information about Alfred, however, I am not including him among the children. If Alfred was the firstborn of Mahala and Ezekiel, the date of their marriage was probably 1827 or earlier.
Following is information concerning these listed children:

41. William Franklin Asbell, b. ca. 1839, d. July 1862 VA. Md.in Elbert Co., GA, 9 March 1862 Harriet A. Saxon . No known children. William F. was shown in the 1850 census for Abeville Co., SC (p. 441) as 11 years old in the home of his parents Ezekiel and Ala Asbell.
In 1860 the family was in Elbert Co., GA (p. 784), and W. F. Asbell was listed as age 20. On 4 March 1862 William enlisted in the 15th Regiment of Georgia Infantry, a Confederate unit of which his younger brother James was already a member. He and Harriet were married five days later.
William died after the Seven Days Battle, which took place on the outskirts of Richmond, VA, from 25 June until 1 July 1862. The fighting during that period was among the fiercest of the war. Bennett Hill’s son James (#27) experienced his baptism of fire in that battle, and he wrote about it in his letter of 15 July 1862 to his sister Caroline:
[T]he fight at Malvern Hill [was] the strongest contested battle of any fought. I can no better describe to you the way the shell and grape shot that fell around us than to compare it to a heavy rain. . . . The imagination cannot fancy half the horrors. . . . Think of a battle field three miles long and a mile wide, literally strewn with the dead and dieing. It hardens ones heart beyond conception. . . . We were exposed to their shells for nearly a whole week. [In] the fight on the 1st July this division . . . lost 3000 men. . . . Give all my love and tell them that the god of battles brought me safe through a perfect storm of shot and shell where many of my old friends fell close by my side. . . . I have seen men so badly mangled by shells that they could scarcely be recognized as human bodies. . . .

The records for William Asbell’s military service show him last in the hospital after the battle. The day of his death is unknown. It is not known whether Harriet remarried.
The 1860 census for Elbert County shows H. A. Saxon, female, 17, in dwelling #242 for H. S. and E. G. Saxon; another Saxon family was in dwelling #245. Saxons were also near neighbors of the Asbells and Branscombs in Abbeville; the 1850 census for Abbeville County showed Drury T. Saxon, age 62, b. GA, in dwelling #418, Ezekiel Asbel in dwelling #441, and Mahala’s brother Edwin Branscomb in dwelling #369. Edwin and his wife Charlotte named their only daughter Mary Saxon Branscomb.

42. Lucinda Asbell, b. ca. 1842; the DOD is unknown, but her death occurred before the marriage of her daughter Minnie in December 1899. She was no doubt named in honor of her aunt Lucinda, Mahala’s sister, who in turn bore the name of a presumed ancestor Lucinda Caroline Williams (see Zachariah Branscomb). Lucinda Asbell md. in Abbeville 2 September 1860 James Routen Brown (b. ca. 1838 SC; d, after 1910 MS). James R. was the s/o Nathan and Mary Brown. The 1860 census for Abbeville shows James R., single, in dwelling #84, working as an overseer for the Morris family. During the Civil War James served in Company G of the Sixth Regiment of SC Cavalry, Capt. John R. Wyatt’s company.
The 1870 census shows James and Lucy in Colbert Co., AL, on p. 86, line 24, dwelling #4; Lucy’s parents Zeke and “Alice” Asbell were shown on page 86B, line 25, dwelling #12.

Age Where born

Brown, James 33 SC

Lucy 28 SC

James 8 SC

Thomas 4 AL

George 2 GA

From this census report it appears that Lucy was in Abbeville when their first child was born, even though the 1860 census shows her in her parents’ home in Elbert Co., GA. There may have been some reason for her being in South Carolina in 1862 while the war was raging in Virginia; it is more likely that the census record is in error. It is not logical that Thomas was born in Alabama and then George back in Georgia. (the 1880 census showed all of their children as born in Mississippi!)
At some point after this census was taken James and his older brother Robert P. Brown moved with their families to Tate County, MS. The 1880 census for Tate Co. showed J. R. Brown, age 40, Lucy as age 30, and two additional children to those shown in 1870.
When Robert died, James R. bought from Robert’s estate 160 acres of land, the NW¼ of S31 T4 R5, located west of Bett and near the border with Marshall Co., for which he paid $1350. (Tate County Deed #425). James and his family occupied this land prior to the purchase. James was listed as a military pensioner in 1910. Family lore holds that both James and Lucinda are buried in unmarked graves in the Bett-Faison Cem., but the cemetery records do not show them. James and Lucinda had six (seven?) children:

421. James Nathan Brown, b, ca. 1861 SC (?). Md. in Tate Co. 12 January 1896 Elizabeth Ann Johnson, the widow of Samuel Brandon. James and Elizabeth Ann had six children, five of whom were Willie, Jesse, Lesley Virgil, Percy and Iva; they also reared Elizabeth Ann’s four children by Samuel Brandon.
422. George Washington Brown, b. 17 July 1865, d. 15 April 1942; md. in Tate Co. 19 December 1894 Lula J. Meredith (b. 21 September 1875, d. 5 April 1972); both bur. Thyatira Cem., Tate Co. Their children were Preston, Thompson (female), Lillian, Gladys, William I., Alton, Virgie, Harold, Myrtle and Noel.
423. Thomas Brown, b. ca. 1866.
424. Will Brown, b. ca. 1876?, d. 1894/5? He is shown as age 10 in the 1880 census. He is listed as 17 years of age in an 1892 list of educable children, and 18 in 1894. He was not listed as a survivor in the (1895) obituary for #425 Lula.
425. Lula Frances Brown, b. in Tate Co. 20 February 1877, d. 12 June 1895. The family’s oral history holds that Lula suffered from chronic arthritis.
426. Minnie Etta Brown, b. 1 December 1882 in Tate Co., d. 18 December 1972 in Oxford, Lafayette Co., MS. Md. 13 December 1899 Tandy Welch Key (b. in Clay Co., TX, 27 May 1880; d. 12 March 1945 in Tate Co.) both bur. Mt. Zion Cem., Independence, Tate Co. During the Spanish American War Tandy served in the Third Regiment of Mississippi Infantry. Tandy and Minnie had ten children: Nellie, Eva May, Eunice, Tandy Herman, Herbert Routen, Rory Welch, Flossie, Minor Gray, Elbert LeRoy, and Modena.
42x. (unnumbered). Minnie’s mother spoke of Rayford Brown as a brother.

(Data for Lucinda’s family chiefly from Donnis Rae Key, whose father-in-law was #4266 Rory.)

43. James E. Asbell, b. 28 December 1842, d. 18 January 1917 in Brownwood, TX. Md. in Elbert Co., GA, 20 April 1865 Margaret Louisa Ables (b. 21 May 1844 in Anderson, SC, d. 18 April 1921 in Brownwood. (Ken Smith derived the dates for all members of this family who died in Brownwood from the Greenleaf Cemetery). Margaret was the daughter of Joseph Ables and Elmira Charping.
On 15 July 1861, as the Civil War got under way, James enlisted in Elberton, GA, in Co. A, 15th Georgia Infantry. He was hospitalized in Richmond from March to June 1862, and thereafter he was shown as absent without leave; his military record says that he “left the regiment” on 19 September 1862. However, subsequent records show that he was not AWOL: the records of the 15th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers, which despite being separate sound much like those of the same unit in which he enlisted, show that he participated in battles near Garnett’s House on 27 June 1862 and at Malvern Hill on I July 1862. (Both of these places are just outside of Richmond, VA.) He was wounded slightly in that first battle. Next his name appears on a parole which has an accompanying transmittal letter dated “Headquarters, Winchester, Oct 4, 1862.” The records to this point show clearly that he was in battle, then taken prisoner, and later paroled. Despite being on parole he went to war again: on 4 December 1862 at Adams Run, SC, he enlisted in Company G of the Sixth Regiment of South Carolina Cavalry. According to the records, part of that time he “had no horse.” On 20 June 1863 he was detached as a teamster to the Brigade Quartermaster. What happened next is not clear, but by January 1864 he was in Company A of Capt. Bachman’s Light Artillery, and he served at least through May and apparently through July: on 27 July 1864 he received payment of $24 from this unit.
Lula Waldrop said that James and Margaret came with two younger brothers to Texas in 1870 from SC (was it AL?) in a covered wagon. The two brothers were #45 George W. and #46 Joe. The time of the move can be dated as early during 1870 if Joe’s name appears in the decennial census for Harrison Co., TX, as the evidence suggests (see below under Joseph Moore Asbell); perhaps the family broke up with the death of Ezekiel. Lula wrote that James and Margaret settled in Longview or Hallsville, TX. Ken Smith said that James was a carpenter. At the time of the 1880 census he was living in a boarding house in Erath County, TX (p. 49, E. D. 51), rather than at home with his family; he was probably away from home on a construction project. Lula wrote that during the 1870s and 1880s the family lived in Sherman (1871), Whitesboro (1871), Decatur (1872), Gainesville (1880), Fort Worth (1881), Aquilla (1883), and Dallas (1887), before settling permanently in Brownwood in 1891. In Brownwood James became a builder and a contractor. He owned a large hotel there, and at various times he held city offices. At one time he was city Marshall.
James and Margaret had nine children plus a stillborn child delivered ca. 1885.

431. Bettie Asbell, b. 1866 GA, d. 1891 TX; md. Lum Hardin. One child, Annie.
432. Jodie Asbell, b. 1868 GA, d. 1870 AL.
433. James Asbell, b. ca. 1870, d. 1886 or later. His birthplace is uncertain because he was born during the year of the move to Texas. James ran away from home as a lad. In 1886 his parents received his telegram from El Paso, TX, saying that he was coming home. He never arrived, and there was no further news of him. The parents could only assume that some fatal tragedy befell him en route.
434. Alma Gertrude Asbell, b. 30 April 1874 in Decatur, Wise Co., TX; d. I February 1943 in Hamlin, Jones Co., TX. Md. 1887 Benjamin Davis Godwin (b. March 1863 in Butler Co., AL; d. 6 February 1943 in Brownwood, TX). Ken says that many of the Godwins were architects or builders. Benjamin and Alma had twelve children: Buddy, Jessie Mary, Winnie Davis, Bennie Lucille, Jack T., Jackie, Bettie Dean, Hugh Joseph, Edward Snyder, Myrle Agness, Lula Lorene, and Alice Irene. Alice was Ken Smith’s mother.
435. Tilden J. Asbell, b. 11 November 1876 in Decatur, TX.
436. Grace Asbell, b. 30 December 1879 in Henrietta, Clay Co., TX; d. 2 August 1952 in Brownwood. Md. in Brownwood 3 February 1901 Joseph T. Sewell (1873-1935; d. in Brownwood).
437. Elmie Asbell, b. 1880, d. 1881.
438. Victor Hooker Asbell, b. 23 August 1883 in Dallas Co., TX; d. ca. 1950 TX. Md. (1) in Brownwood 13 February 1905 Lena Lenore Waldrop. Four children: Alma, Thelma, Margaret and Victor E. Victor and Lena were divorced, and Victor md. (2) Francis Billberry. Five children: Billy Francis, Tildon Joe, Betty Jean, Bobby Ray, and Jessie Wayne.
43x. Stillborn child, unnamed; not numbered
439. Lula Belle Asbell, b. 14 April 1887 in Aquilla, Hill Co., TX; d. 30 April 1977 in Brownwood. Md. in Brownwood 3 December 1919 Frank William Waldrop (b. 22 December 1891 TX, d. 20 December 1963 in Brownwood). Frank was the brother of #4380 Lena Waldrop. Their parents were Daniel David Waldrop and Emma Lee Wisham. Frank and Lula had two children: Paul and Margaret Frances.

44. Martha C. Asbell (Mattie), b. 1844 SC, md. Michael (Kelly?), b. 1842 Ireland.

45. George Washington Asbell, b. ca. 1847, d. 1870. George was one of the two brothers who accompanied James and Margaret on the move to Texas in 1870. Lula wrote,
Uncle Joe Asbell came to Texas in a covered wagon with his brother James Asbell and sister-in-law Margaret, from South Carolina in 1870. Grandma and grandpa Asbell did not come to Texas but stayed in Alabama. On the way a very sad thing happened. Uncle George was shot and killed by a Negro boy. From Cherokee, Alabama, mother and father and uncle Joe landed at Hallsville and Longview in 1870. [Hallsville and Longview are only a few miles apart, but they are in different counties.]

Nothing further is known about the circumstances surrounding the death of George.
It is not clear that Joe and James began their journey from South Carolina as Lula stated. Ezekiel and Mahala and their family were in Elbert Co., GA, for the 1860 census, and in 1862 James was married in Georgia, presumably in Elbert Co. At least by June 1871 Mahala’s address was Cherokee, AL, and presumably Ezekiel had died there the previous summer. Ken Smith proposes that the brothers, and perhaps the entire family, returned to Abbeville to live some time after 1860. Further evidence is needed.

46. Joseph Moore Asbell (Joe), b. 1850, d. 24 January 1930 in Aquilla, TX. Lula Waldrop’s statement, recorded above under #45 George, tells us that Joe was one of the brothers who migrated to Texas in 1870. He was probably the J. M. Arwell, woodchopper, age 21, b. SC, whom Ken Smith found in the 1870 census for Hallsville in Harrison Co., TX, as a boarder in the house of M. W. Manning. Joseph Moore Asbell enlisted 13 December 1873 as a private in G. W. Campbell’s unit of Texas Rangers in Montague County, and he was discharged 13 February 1874. (Frances T. Ingmire, Texas Ranger Service Records, 1847-1900, Volume 1. St. Louis, MO, 1982). Joe’s history thereafter is cloudy. The records of Tate County, MS, show that J. M. Ashell and C. B. Green married on 25 Nov 1880. Given that his sister #41 Lucinda Brown was living in Tate Co., possibly this was Joe; but that means a trip to Mississippi and then a return to Montague Co., TX. Ken Smith reports an application for a pension, #SC-1 1964, filed in Texas on 6 August 1923. A second application, #WA-1661976, was filed in TX by his widow, Mollie, on 26 February 1930.

See also
The children of Zachariah Branscomb and Mazy Towns

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