William Andrew Branch

William Albert Branch was the son of James Alexander Washington Branch and Cornelia Ann Josephine Blake. They had three children and then James passed away in 1882 when William was only about 7 years old. On January 2, 1887, Cornelia remarried to Albert Washington Wooten, a widower, whose wife Eudora had passed away in 1880.

They were listed in the 1900 census for Lawrence County, Tennessee, as follows: Albert, 57, Cornelia J., 43, Albert's daughter, Ada Lee Wooten, 22, Cornelia's son with James Branch, William A., 24, and a son of Albert Wooten, Charlie, 15, and the children of Albert Wooten and Cornelia, Samuel Oliver, 10, Albert, 9, Ernest L., 7, and Walter, 4 years old. They were all born in Tennessee as were all of their parents. Albert Wooten was working in a saw mill, and William A., Charlie, and Samuel Oliver, were all working as laborers.

William A. Branch married Ida Elizabeth Reed in Lewis County, Tennessee, December 13, 1903, and they had three children, James Oliver, Lillian and Edgar Jennings Branch. They were listed in the 1910 with their first two children and Ida's brother living in Lawrence County, Tennessee, on Saw Creek Road, as follows: William A., 33, Ida E., 21, James O., 5, Lillian, 3, and Frank Reed, 19. They were all born in Tennessee as were all of their parents. William was working as a farmer and Frank as a farm laborer.

When William completed his U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card September 12, 1918, he and Ida were living at 1321 Avenue F in Evsley, Jefferson County, Alabama, and he was working as a ship hoist operator at the blast furnace of the Tennessee Railway Company in Evsley. He was 42 years old, and was described as being short, stout, with brown eyes and hair.

Sometime between 1920 and 1924, William and Ida were divorced, and by the 1930 census for Lawrence County, Tennessee, he was listed as a 51-year old widower, living with his 73-year old mother, Cornelia, and her second husband, Albert W. Wooten, 87, as well as a brother-in-law, Charles Campbell, 36, and wife, Byron M. Campbell, 28, and their son, Charles G. Campbell, 1 month old, along with an aunt, Martha W. Foster, 84. William was still farming.

However, by 1930, William's former wife, Ida, was living with a new husband, Samuel Oliver Wooten, who was in fact William Branch's half-brother, and the son of William's mother, Cornelia and her second husband, Albert W. Wooten. Ida E. Branch and Samuel O. Wooten were married October 25, 1924, in Birmingham, Alabama. They were listed in the census for Birmingham, as Samuel O. Wooten, 40, Ida E., 40, and living with them were two of Ida's children with William, Lillian Branch, 23, and Edgar Jennings Branch, 15. Samuel was working as a mechanic in the coal, iron and steel industry.

Previously in the 1920 census, they had all been living together in Birmingham, Alabama, and were listed in the census as follows: William, 43, wife, Ida, 31, son, James Oliver, 15, daughter, Lillian, 12, son, Edgar, 5, Wiiilam's half-brother, Samuel Oliver Wooten, 31, along with 3 lodgers, Edgar Edwards, 32, Burton Edwards, 47, and Farris Wooten, 12. Farris Wooten was actually Ida's nephew, and the son of her sister, Charity Janie "Jennie" Wooten and Charles Addison Wooten, the brother of Samuel Oliver Wooten. William was working as an engineer in a stock house, Samuel as a millwright in a steel plant, Edgar as a helper in a steel plant, and Burton as a watchman in a steel plant.

William's step-father, Albert Washington Wooten, born December 20, 1842, in Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee, died in 1934, and was buried in the Barnesville Cemetery in Summertown, Lawrence County, Tennessee. William's mother, Cornelia Ann Josephine Blake Branch Wooten, born August 13, 1856, in Tennessee, died 4 years later in 1938, in Lawrence County, Tennessee, and was buried with her second husband in the Barnesville Cemetery.

Albert W. Wooten had served in Company D, of the 3rd Regiment of the Tennessee Infantry (Clack's), in the Confederate Soldiers Army. In 1880 he was listed in the census for Dickson County, Tennessee, with his first wife as follows: A.W. Wooten, 37, Eudora Elizabeth Nesbett Wooten, 32, and children Robe R., 9, Salley R., 8, John James, 5, and Ada Lee Wooten, 2 years old, and J. Edwards, 17, a servant. Albert was working as a house carpenter. Eudora must have died later that year. She and Albert had married September 5, 1869, in Dickson County, Tennessee.

William A. Branch was 64 years old in the 1940 census for Lawrence, Tennessee, listed as being divorced and was working as a merchant. He owned his own home which was valued at $400. He passed away four years later on November 11, 1944, in Fairfield, Jefferson County, Alabama, at the age of 68 years old.

William's former wife, Ida Elizabeth Reed Branch Wooten, born in 1890, lived to be 82 years old and died January 4, 1972, in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. Her second husband, Samuel Oliver Wooten, born August 15, 1889, in Tennessee, lived to be 74 years old and passed away July 21, 1964, in Birmingham, Alabama.