Thomas Branham was born December 13, 1813, in Maryland. According to the 1880 Federal Census entries, both of his parents came from Ireland. He married Martina Gough on January 31, 1836, in Hancock County, Illinois.  Marriage Documents
Martina Gough was born in Kentucky about 1820.
This young husband and wife were among the earliest farmer-settlers in Hancock County, when neighbors were few, conveniences crude and luxuries limited to the simplest of pleasures, like a bowl of fresh berries or a fine summer day. Over a period of approximately 28 years Thomas and Martina became the parents of 13 known children, only two of whom died in early childhood and that, alone, is remarkable. Thomas didn't buy land from the government, so it would take a search through records at the courthouse to find out if he owned any land during the 20 or so years they lived in Hancock County. They were in the area eventually named Fountain Green Township, not far from St. Simon Cemetery, and the first 8 or 9 children were born there.
Sometime before 1857, the Branham family relocated to McDonough County, Illinois. When Hire Township was renamed from Rock Creek in 1857, Thomas Branham was elected Constable.
In 1859 two of the younger children died and their little bodies were carried to St. Simon Cemetery. Before the next decade ended Martina left this world, death and burial location undetermined.
  By 1870 the widowed Thomas and several of his children were living in Lyon Township, Hamilton County, Iowa. Counted in Thomas' home were James M., Minnie M., Ida M., Rosanna and her husband, Henry Martin, and their toddler, also named Minnie M. In the listing immediately preceding that for Thomas, Peter was counted with his wife, Fannie, and their little daughter, Nettie. In an Iowa Atlas published in 1875, Peter reported that he arrived in Iowa in 1867. We don't know if the entire family moved to Iowa en masse.
Rosanna Branham Martin died in 1872, James Monroe Branham died in 1873, both buried at South Cemetery, McDonough County. Had they returned to Illinois or were their remains were returned to Illinois for burial? We do not know.
In 1880 Thomas was still (or again) in Hamilton County, Iowa, living in a hotel run by Jacob Haight, second husband of Sarah Branham. Thomas was shown to be maimed, crippled, bedridden or otherwise disabled.
Minnie and Ida, Thomas and Martina's youngest daughters, had come back to Illinois by 1880.
Minnie May Branham was married in September 1878 in McDonough County, Illinois, to Solomon Hardisty. On their marriage documents, Jacob Hainline (husband of Minnie's older sister, Catharine) was named as Minnie's guardian. Ida, 16, was counted in the household of Solomon D. and Margaret Branham Hainline. Ida was recorded as Solomon's niece rather than his sister-in-law. There was a 27 year difference between Margaret's and Ida's ages.
Regardless of the distance, expense and difficulty of travel in the latter part of the 19th century, this family moved around quite a bit.
The known children of Thomas Branham and Martina Gough were:
| i. |
Margaret Branham, born April 24,1837. She is found as Susan M. in one census year, but thereafter only as Margaret. She died January 25, 1916, and was buried at South Cemetery, Hire Township, McDonough County, Illinois, just south of Blandinsville.
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| ii. |
Peter B. Branham, born about 1838. He died Nov 30, 1906, in Hamilton County, Iowa; burial location undetermined.
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| iii. |
Catharine (Kate) Branham, also found as Elizabeth C., born in 1839. She died in 1913, burial at South Cemetery, Hire Township.
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| iv. |
Thomas Sylvester Branham, born about 1842. He and Peter were affectionately remembered by C. C. Tyler in a news article regarding St. Simon Cemetery. We have not located Sylvester after the 1860 Federal Census.
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| v. |
Mary A. Branham, born about 1843, died March 18, 1915, in Montana (perhaps Silver Bow County), at the age of 72.
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| vi. |
Sarah E. Branham was born about 1846. She married Nathan W. Hungate on February 7, 1864. Marriage Documents She married Jacob Haight in Iowa in 1869. Both Sarah and Jacob died after June 1, 1900; last found in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma. At the time of the census of 1900, Sarah reported she was the mother of 7 children, 3 living.
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| vii. |
Rosanna Branham, born November 20, 1847, probably in Hancock County. She died September 25, 1872, burial at South Cemetery.
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| viii. |
Richard L. Branham, born about 1850. He died in 1926 probably at Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma. Burial at Summit View Cemetery, Guthrie.
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| ix. |
Martin Branham was born January 23, 1853*; he died September 29, 1859, in Hire Township, McDonough County. His death is confirmed by the Mortality Schedule prepared for Hire Township at the time of the 1860 Federal Census, so the inclusion of his name with the family's listing was in error. The cause of Martin's death is not completely legible; it reads, in part, "Putrid ____ Throat". He had been sick for 6 days. He was buried at St. Simon Cemetery, Fountain Green Township, Hancock County.
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| x. |
James Monroe Branham, born July 15, 1855, in either Hancock or McDonough County. He died January 1, 1873, burial at South Cemetery.
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| xi. |
Lydia Branham was born about January 30, 1858*, and died October 10, 1859. She, too, was listed on the 1860 Mortality Schedule for Hire Township and should not have been listed with the family on the 1860 census page. She died less than two weeks after her brother, Martin, from the same illness. Burial at St. Simon Cemetery, Fountain Green Township, Hancock County.
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| xii. |
Minnie May Branham, born in 1860 in Hire Township, McDonough County. When she married in 1878, Blandinsville was reported as her place of birth, but it was a common procedure to name the nearest town. It's far more likely she was born at home on the Branham farm.
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| xii. |
Ida M. Branham, born about 1864, probably also at home in Hire Township.
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| * Birth date calculated from tombstone inscription. |
Thomas Branham died March 31, 1884, and was buried at South Cemetery. Martina's burial location remains undiscovered, although it seems logical that she was the first family member buried at South Cemetery and that her children and husband were brought there to lie near her.
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