379 Years Ago in 1640...

Tenth in a series of biographical sketches on Burgesses whose descendants belong to the First Mississippi Company; in honor of the 400th anniversary of the July 30, 1619, meeting of the first representative governmental body in American at the 1617 Church on Jamestown Island

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Christopher Branch served as a Burgess from Henrico County, VA.  Who was this man?

Christopher Branch was about 22 years old when, in March 1619/20, he and wife Mary Addy embarked on the London Merchant for Virginia.  He is listed in 1624 as living on the “College Land” in present Henrico County.  In the 1624/25 muster, he, his wife and nine-month old son, Thomas, are named in the same location.

 In 1634, Christopher Branch of Henrico County was granted a lease on 100 acres.  The next year, he patented 250 acres at “Kingsland” adjacent to his leased land using headrights gained for transporting himself and four others.  By 1639 his plantation had grown to 450 acres.

By 1640 there was a glut of tobacco on the market.  The General  Assembly decided to limit the tobacco crop to a percentage per planter and to destroy the remainder.  Branch was then a Burgess for Henrico and was named by the Assembly to inspect each planter’s tobacco crop.  In 1641 he was again named Burgess and in 1656 he was named a Justice.
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His will dated June 1678 and verified by witnesses in February 1682 indicated the general time of his death and that he was still at “Kingsland” at that time.  His wife, Mary Addy, died much earlier.  They were the parents of three sons: Thomas, William and Christopher.

Christopher Branch was the third great grandfather of President Thomas Jefferson.
 
First Mississippi Company Descendants of Christopher Branch: Suzanne Worthington Walters, Clayton Walters, Thomas Walters