Louisa County Virginia

[Davida]

My name is Davida and I am new to the group. I am trying to find out what happened to my great great grandparents. Their names were William W. Walton and Sarah Branham. I am interested in learning if there was something going on in VA in the 1850s that may have made Native Americans feel the need to flee the state or change their identity.

In the 1850 Census, William was listed as white and Sarah and her six children were listed as mulatto. I was told that Sarah Branham was Native American by cousins I found a while back. The only listng of this family as a unit that I could find was in the 1850 Louisa County Census. William, Sarah, and children just disappeared after that. Two of their children, Joseph (my great grandfather) and Sarah returned to Louisa after 1860. They returned using their father's surname, married local area people, and lived their until their deaths. They are listed as white from this point until close to my great grandfather's death when Plecker decided that there were no Natives in VA. I found descendants of one of my great great grandparents children not long ago. Their ancestor and another person related to Sarah Branham moved to WV after 1850. This child also changed his name to Walton and his cousin changed his name from Branham to Brannon.

Perhaps everyone moved on with the hopes of finding something better. I feel I must explore the possibility that they were trying to get away from something. The name changing, particularly Branham to Brannon, have always made me feel that they were trying to get away from something.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts from the group on this matter.

Regards,
Davida

[Bill Childs]

Davida,
Although your questions open a Pandora's Box of Political Philosophical Therory (Herbert Spencer - Social Darwinism, 1880's U.K.) which I won't get into here (because it's potentially divisic), I'll attempt to find your people and post the results - "Indian Time".
Bill

[Davida]

Bill,
I sincerely apologize for offending you and anyone else by the questions. Whatever I said is due to my ignorance and not intended to anger or hurt.

Sincerely,
Davida

[Bill Childs]

No offense taken. The whole story is just too large to be told in a forum situation.
Bill

[Davida]

Bill,
Thank you. I have a real emotional investment, probaby to the extent of being obsessive, in finding out what happened to my ancestors. Having been burned and snubbed a bit ;), I get a little paranoid that I will say something wrong. I also have no frame of reference with respect to colloquialisms and misunderstood. A very dear lady is trying to help me, but I'm not catching on quick enough.

Regards,
Davida

[Bill Childs]

Davida,
I took a look at the 1850 Louisa census.
Wm. W. Walton is actually indexed as "Watton" but is Walton on the actual record.
Sarah is indexed AND shown on the census as BRAMHAM, as are all BRANHAMs in 1850 (most are listed as Mulatto) and all of the 1850 "Mulatto" BRAMHAMs that I then found in 1860 were BRANHAM and were listed as White.
In 1840 they were also all spelled BRAMHAM and listed as "Free Persons of Color". This change in racial designation commonly happened to Native people in the East and South.

What you're seeing is the evolution of spelling by census takers who may not have had much schooling and there was no standardized way to spell a surname in those days. The people whose names changed didn't vary the spelling of their names, the census takers just wrote down what they thought they heard and wrote it the way they thought is was spelled. It was pretty common and confuses everyone.
Bill

[Davida]

Bramham or Branham? Evolution of a name, poor spelling, different family lines are all theories I’ve considered. I won’t speculate on the Brannon spelling because this occurred after the gentleman (rumored cousin of my Bramhams) left the state of VA and there were other factors involved as well. The only documentation that I have of Sarah Bramham’s existence is the 1850 Census and my great grandfather’s death certificate (her name is spelled Branham). There were Bramhams and Branhams living in Louisa in 1850. If memory serves, more often than not, Bramhams were listed as mulatto. Sarah may have come from Henrico. The 1840 Census for Henrico is not much help since only heads of household are listed, but if you review the household of William W. Walton (my great great grandfather) the free persons of color listed with him seem to match up with Sarah and children. At this point, I’m trying to see if I can find any documentation that indicates the Bramhams and Branhams are related and that an error in spelling occurred. Just when I thought things were going to get easier...