Our last post in the Community Discoveries series told the story of Frank Branch, an African American boy enslaved in Richmond, Virginia who escaped to enlist in the wartime U.S. Navy (you can read it here). The discovery came thanks to our ongoing partnership with the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, who have a team of volunteers making new discoveries relating to African Americans in the muster rolls on a daily basis. Specifically, Frank was identified by community member @GROBSTER- R. Roberts- who has been doing some fantastic transcription work on the project. After the initial post, R. Roberts continued to delve into Frank’s story, specifically seeking to trace what became of Frank’s first and second families. Here they share with us what they uncovered, adding still more detail to what we know of the life and legacy of this boy sailor.

In our original post, we noted that Frank had married fellow Virginia native Luvenia in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1871. By 1880 they were living at Willow Street in the city, with two children- James (5) and Mary (2) recorded. Digging into the Massachusetts records, R. Roberts found that the couple also had an older child, Sarah, who had been born in late 1872. Tragically, Sarah died when she was just five months old, succumbing to congestion of the lungs. We are left to wonder the impact such a tragic death had on Frank and Luvenia.

The birth of the couple’s next child, James, is recorded in the next record. It listed the date as 18th August 1874 and importantly also notes Luvenia’s surname-Watkins- something we had not previously established. It also records Frank’s then occupation, as janitor at a school, marking this as the period when he was working for the School House Department.

The Massachusetts Birth Records provide us with the precise date of the couple’s other daughter, Mary, on 17th May 1877. It also notes that her full name was “Mary Belle”. By this date, Frank’s occupation was being listed as “laborer.”

R. Roberts next when in search of the Branch family on the 1880 Census for Springfield, Massachusetts. It records Frank (noting he has one arm), Luvenia, James and Mary Belle, notes that Frank and Luvenia cannot read or write, and that James was attending school.

As we noted in the original post, Frank and Luvenia’s marriage ended in acrimony. But R. Roberts has gone in search of Luvenia’s fate, and it would appear that she passed away on 22nd January 1888. The record R. Roberts uncovered indicates that Luvenia was just 40-years-old, and died of heart disease. Interestingly the record also names Luvenia’s mother, a woman called Eliza. An additional mention of Luvenia’s death comes in the records of the New York Bodies in Transit, which confirms that Luvenia’s body was taken back to Richmond, her hometown, for burial.

In addition to the fantastic work R. Roberts undertook on the genealogy of Frank’s first family, they also set about constructing a family tree of some of Frank’s children by his second wife. He had married Mary Phillips in the late 1880s, and the new family settled in Troy, New York. Among their children were Frank Jr. (b. 1888), George (b.1891), and Alice (b.1894). R. Roberts has now identified another daughter, Josephine Branch, who was born around 1898. Below are the records R. Roberts has uncovered about the lives of Mary Phillips Branch and her children with Frank- an excellent example of the genealogical work that is possible to trace the families of these Civil War soldiers.

Frank Branch Jr.

George Branch

Mary Phillips Branch

Josephine Branch

The incredible detail R. Roberts has been able to fill in on the wives and children of Frank Branch are a great example of what we hope will be a major element of the Civil War Bluejackets Project- the recovery of African American genealogies from the pre Civil War era through to the later 20th century. There is undoubtedly more on the Branch family that awaits discovery (and if you come across anything please let us know!), but we now have a much richer picture of his family’s lives and legacies. We are deeply grateful to R. Roberts both for the initial discover of Frank, and for pursuing his family’s story with such dedication.