I. The Branson Connection

From page 329 and 326, Cecil O’Dell’s "Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Va.", plus my comments.

Thomas Branson, Sr. (b.1675 c.) bought and sold several tracts of land in Springfield and New Hanover Township, Burlington County, West New Jersey from 1725 to 1731. Thomas Branson, Jr. (b. 1700 c.) was in Virginia by 27 November, 1732, when he hired a surveyor to survey 1370 acres on both sides of Crooked Run. He received a patent from the Colony of Virginia for this tract on 3 October, 1734.

That same day, October 3, 1734, Robert McKay, Jr., my g-g-g-g-g grandfather, also received a patent from the Colony of Virginia for 828 acres, adjacent on the south to Branson. That same year, McKay built a two story walnut log cabin, where at least one Quaker Meeting was held in McKay’s house in 1734. During the Civil War, this house-with a new east end-was used as a hospital, by whichever side possessed it, and both did, several times. Until it burned in May, 2009, this was the oldest house in the Shenandoah Valley. Barbara and I visited it, and the nearby foundation, including fireplace, of my g-g-g grandfather, Moses McKay’s, house multiple times.

In 1731, McKay had come from Cecil County, Maryland, and before, from Monmouth County, East New Jersey, with his father and Jost Hite, who came from east of Philadelphia with 16 Dutch/German families, including Thomas Doster, Sr., my g-g-g-g-g-g grandfather. They were the first families into the Shenandoah Valley, arriving at about the same time as Alexander Ross and numerous Quakers who started Hopewell Meeting to the NE of the Hite/McKay group.

Recently, I’ve learned that Doster acquired some of Ross’s land. Also, from Hopewell Quaker, James Crumley’s will, we know that a Doster and Crumley had a granddaughter, Ruth Doster, perhaps a sister of my g-g-g grandfather, John Doster I, who was born in Culpepper, VA, in 1770, and is buried in Walnut Creek Quaker Cemetery, south of Washington CH, Ohio, as are his son and grandson. The next three generations, including my grandfather, dad, and brother, Richard, are buried in Corwin.

Thomas Branson and his wife, Rebecca, had moved to Orange County, NC, by 16 November, 1753. On 1 June, 1758, they deeded a 99-year lease for four acres "for use of Friends (Quaker) Meeting House and burying grounds." This was Crooked Run Meeting. It is on the west side of US 340/522, ¼ mile south of Nineveh, and maybe 10 miles south of Winchester, and 2-3 miles north of Cedarville, Va.

Howard