Yet Another View of the Branson Boarding House

[BettyO]

Hello -

I'll look on my hard drive for the Branson file. Mr. and Mrs. Branson were Joseph and Mary.

I have been friends with the Powell family for years. When Powell's skull was found, a lady from Canada popped up; claimed to be young Lewis' great-great grand daughter;(no word on who great-great grand mom was) and was against "granddad's" noggin being properly buried. She rather desired it to remain in the Smithsonian - rather an odd request for a "descendant." Powell's legit family in Florida were stunned and requested that the lady have a DNA test done at their expense. When this request was made, the lady literally vanished off the face of the earth! The family wrote her; I wrote her as did other historians; James O. Hall, etc. We never received a response from this person and so the skull was granted to the legit family and buried next to Lew Powell's mom. We feel that the claim was spurious. Did Powell and Mary Branson have an affair? Probably so - why a May-December romance? Who knows. It was stated that Mary and Powell "carried on" in "remarkable fashion" by a Branson servant. Mary's parents apparently did not know - if they did; they were keeping it quiet. Keep in mind that Powell was the tender age of 20 and Mary was 37 years old. Mary was a well-propertied lady, having inherited her grandmother's real estate property. In the 19th Century, when a gentleman married a lady, all properties/monies legally reverted over to her husband. Hence, men liked to marry widows/wealthy propertied women. Had Powell married Mary, he would have had an older wife, but he would also have owned quite a bit of property and been more than somewhat well-off financially. Heady stuff for a kid to anticipate....

Powell rode with Mosby according to the Payne family from September/October 1863 until he signed the Oath on January 1, 1865. There are various records of his exploits,raids, etc. that he participated in with Mosby - and yes, I have researched them and they are somewhat rather true - right down to his capturing the Yankee soldier and befriending him.

Thanks for your interest - have a happy holiday!