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- William Branford (d.1767). Grandfather of Elias Horry (1773-1834);
father-in-law of Elias Horry, Jr (d.1785) and Thomas Horry;
brother-in-law of John Lloyd (1735-1807), Jeremiah Savage, John Savage,
Thomas Savage, and Thomas Smith (1695-1769).
William Branford, Jr., son of William Branford, Sr., and Anne Creighton,
was born in South Carolina and was the third generation of Branfords to
plant in the parish of St. Andrew. By inheritance, grant, and purchase he
amassed 7,137 acres in St. Andrews, St. Bartholomew, and St. James Goose
Creek parishes. With other Carolinians he participated in the rush for
Georgia lands and in 1763 obtained a 3,000 acre grant south of the
Altamaha River. By reputation he was considered to be "one of the best
planters in the Province". Old Town, an 1,100 acre tract on Albemarle
Point, was Branford's resident plantation. He also owned a house in
Charleston and apparently spent a good deal of time there, for he had a
pew in St. Michael's church as well as one in St. Andrew's. To travel to
his scattered holdings he had a schooner, the HORSESHOE. In 1748 both
St. Andrew and St. Helena elected Branford to the Seventeenth Royal
Assembly (1748); he chose to represent St. Andrew which also returned him
for the Twentieth Royal Assembly (1751-1754). He served the parish as
churchwarden (1749-1750) and Bridge Commissioner (1754).
Branford married first Mary Bryan on 18 April 1746, by whom he had one
child, Ann (m. Thomas Horry). She died 18 May 1750 and on 24 April 1751
Branford wed Elizabeth Savage, daughter of Thomas Savage of Bermuda and
Boston. Two children were born to this second marriage: William and
Elizabeth (m. Elias Horry, Jr.). William Branford died 30 April 1767 in
Charleston.
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