Library of Congress

BRANCH, John, (uncle of Lawrence O’Bryan Branch and great-uncle of William Augustus Blount Branch), a Senator and a Representative from North Carolina; born in Halifax, Halifax County, N.C., November 4, 1782; appointed commissioner for valuation of lands and dwellings and enumeration of slaves, third district of North Carolina 1799; graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1801; studied law; admitted to the bar; member, State senate 1811-1817, 1822, serving as speaker 1815-1817; Governor of North Carolina 1817-1820; appointed Federal judge for the western district of Florida by President James Monroe 1822; elected to the United States Senate in 1822; reelected in 1829, and served from March 4, 1823, to March 9, 1829, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Agriculture (Twentieth Congress); appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Andrew Jackson and served from March 9, 1829, until his resignation, effective May 12, 1831, having been elected to Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-second Congress and served from May 12, 1831, to March 3, 1833; was not a candidate for renomination in 1832; member of the State constitutional convention in 1835; appointed Governor of Florida by President John Tyler and served from June 21, 1844, until the election of a Governor under the State constitution in 1845; died in Enfield, Halifax County, N.C., January 3, 1863; interment in the family burial ground.