The Branham Family
From Polly Stone Buck's unpublished manuscript:
About 1850, Professor Stiles Hopkins (later the first president of Georgia Tech in Atlanta) had built just below [south] of the president's [house], another one-story Greek Revival-type, with slender pillars across the front piazza trimmed with the fashionable wooden lace. Junius Branham bought it in 1888 for his second wife, (my father's sister, Sallie), and by the time we lived in Oxford, they had added to the family my first cousins, Harlan and Sara. Harlan died in his twenties from typhoid fever, but Sara lived to be Wesleyan College's most distinguished alumna, one of the bacteriologist chiefs with the National Institutes of Health, and author of the article on meningitis for the Encyclopedia Britannica. The early founding fathers, who planned Oxford as a "place pervaded by an atmosphere of culture and science," would have been very proud of Sara!"
Sarah and Junius Branham (seated in the middle).
Back Row (the four sons of Junius with his first wife, Laura Jane Sasnett Branham) from left: Bolling, William, Junius Jr., and William Sasnett Branham.
Children Front Row: Sara Elizabeth (standing, daughter of Junius and Sarah Stone Branham), Annie Laurie Branham (on Sarah's lap, daughter of William Sasnett Branham) and Harlan (on Junius's lap, son of Junius and Sarah Stone Branham).
Back from left: Harry Harlan Stone, Susie Bonnell Stone (Harry's wife), unknown young man in the back.
Front from left: Sara Elizabeth Branham, Emma Stone Palmer, Sarah Stone Branham (behind Emma's left shoulder), Susan Capers Stone (mother to Emma, grandmother to Sara Elizabeth), and an unidentified young boy.
Sara Elizabeth Branham and her husband, Philip Stephens Matthews. Family legend has it that Philip's mother did not want her son to marry, so he and Sara remained engaged for years. However, Sara didn't move to Bethesda until 1941 and we know that Philip was a realtor there at that time. Pictures suggest that he was the realtor who sold her the house. According to extant documents, Philip married Gertrude M. Matthews in July 1910 and they divorced on September 27, 1927. According to their divorce decree, they had one child, Louise, age nine at the time. There is a second divorce decree for the same Philip and Gertrude Matthews stating that the couple remarried in 1929 and divorced again on July 9, 1945. Philip and Sara Branham were married in December, 1945, suggesting that they had to wait for Philip's divorce to go through. Philip died two years later, on November 21, 1947. Sara Elizabeth died November 16, 1962. Husband and wife are buried side by side in the Oxford Historical Cemetery.
The following are pictures from a photo album that Sara Branham's kept between the years of 1941 and 1955. It began with her purchase of her home in Bethesda, Maryland. She inscribed on the inside of the front cover: " 5523 Johnson Avenue, Bethesda. It's story." All her pictures are included here and appear in the order in which she placed them in her album and the captions are hers.
The very new house and its owner. ("Faithful is in the garage.")
The family comes for brunch in the backyard. Summer 1941.
Now the foundation planting is in. (May harvesting!)
The Bird Shelf is now in place. Autumn 1941.
The Rambo Tree.
Yellow transparents. Summer 1942.
Fireside.
The Mary Wallace Rose. May 1948. Paul's Scarlet over the door.
Sara in the doorway. Autumn 1946.
Autumn 1946
May 1947
May 1948
May
Sally and Freddie and forsythia. April 1949
The east path. Bridal wreath and lilies of the valley. April 1949.
Along the back border. April 1949.
Blood root in the rock bed. April 1949.
Under the Grimes Golden tree.
Stephen Phillip Johnson, 11 mos. Feb, 1949.
Louise and Charlotte are weeding the "long bed." Spring 1949.
Ann is raking Sally's backyard. Spring 1949
Ann is pruning the honeysuckle hedge Spring 1949
Looking west from living room window. Feb 1949. (squirrel on shelf)
The window feeding station.
The 16th squirrel.
Downey the woodpecker eating suet. Feb 1949.
Christmas doorway 1949. How those evergreens have grown!
Wood pile, compost pens, and potting tables. Dec 1949.
Christmas doorway 1949
At Charlotte's. Oct 1950.
At Charlotte's. Oct 1950.
At Charlotte's. Oct 1950.
Steve Johnson. Sept 1959.
George Dunham helps me. Sept 1950
Caro Martin and her children. Sept 1959
Caro Martin and her children. Sept 1959
[no caption]
The Bill Burkes. Sept 1951.
The Oxford folks visit Bethesda and help me. June and July 1950.
The Oxford folks visit Bethesda and help me. June and July 1950.
The Oxford folks visit Bethesda and help me. June and July 1950.
The Oxford folks visit Bethesda and help me. June and July 1950.
Col Kenlat and Capt Deuterman help with late apple harvest. Oct 1951.
Col Kenlat and Capt Deuterman help with late apple harvest. Oct 1951.
Col Kenlat and Capt Deuterman help with late apple harvest. Oct 1951.
Col Kenlat and Capt Deuterman help with late apple harvest. Oct 1951.
Sara does some apple gathering too.
Sara does some apple gathering too.
Then Sara goes west Clovis, N Mex. Oct 22, 1951.
And their winter came. 1951.
Johnson border.
But spring followed. 1952.
But spring followed. 1952.
But spring followed. 1952.
But spring followed. 1952.
The rock garden. April 1952.
Steve and his Dad. April 1952.
Forsythia and qunince Applelot. Spring 1952
Pink azalea on terrace.
In the backyard. April 1952.
Long bed and the smokehouse tree.
Long bed and the Rambo tree.
Clara Gifford and the spirea.
The vista at Applelot.
The backyard with mock orange and flame azalea.
Steve and the Paul's Scarlet - Yew and mint too. May 1952.
Lilacs at Applelot. 1952.
Eloise, Sally, Elizabeth beside the long bed. June 1952.
It's a chicken!
Sally and her apple trees: Smokehouse . June 1952.
Sally and her apple trees: Rambo. June 1952.
Retirement picture of Claribel Kendal 1957
Eloise 1959. Her senior picture.
Memorial in the San Dieo Zoo to Elousie.
Memorial in the San Dieo Zoo to Elousie.
New house in Glenwood. June 1952.
New house in Glenwood. June 1952.
New house in Glenwood. June 1952
New house in Glenwood. June 1952.
From across the street.
The bird shelf in its new site.
Sunday in November at Glenwood.
October 1952 at Glenwood. Looking south on Glenwood Rd.
[no caption]
President Eishehower's inauguration. Jan 22, 1953
President Eishehower's inauguration. Jan 22, 1953
Where!?!
Sally in Charlotte's garden during azalea time 1953.
Spring 1953 in Charlotte's garden.
Spring 1953 in Charlotte's garden.
Spring 1953 in Charlotte's garden.
Charlotte's garden again Ann, Katherine, Margaret, Ruth, Charlotte, Eloise.
Same crowd at ease.
Thanksgiving 1952 at Charlotte's.
Thanksgiving 1952 at Charlotte's.
Cedar waxwings. March 1953.
Mary J. and Kath F., Augusta F., Arned H. in Sally's garden. May.
The bluebird nest in Glenwood - young bird about to leave nest.
The bluebird nest in Glenwood - young bird about to leave nest.
Baby bluebird leaving the nest! May 1953.
[no caption]
The following pictures were loose inside the album. Captions shown were written on the back of the photos.
Autumn 1961. Snapped by Evelyn Tilden.
Autumn 1961. Snapped by Evelyn Tilden.
National Institute of Health Administration Bldg.
National Institute of Health 25th and E N.W. Our building
[Philip Stephens Matthews]
The following unbound pages of photographs are from a different album that is assumed lost. These are the surviving pages.
[photograph missing]
Other photographs provided by Louise Eady: