BRANFORD
27 JANUARY 2006

I was delighted to discover Dr. Terry Spencer's information on Knottingley public houses and breweries on your website.  I believe that the Benjamin Branford he lists as licensee of the Blue Bell public house in 1822 is my ancestor.  Dr. Spencer's article states that the Blue Bell was owned by "Benjamin Branford and his wife".  Is there information on his wife's name?  If she is Hannah nee Darnbrook, then these are indeed my ancestors.

Now for the really important question......does anyone have information on Benjamin Branford's place of origin?  My father has tried for many years to discover this, and I have now picked up the effort, but we have so far been unsuccessful in tracing Benjamin's birthplace.  If Mr. Gosney can shed any light on this question, we would be thrilled.  We know a great deal about the descendants of Benjamin and Hannah Branford, and I have traced Hannah's family back somewhat, but Benjamin's antecedents are a great mystery still.

Dr. Elizabeth A. (Branford) Oltenacu
eao4 (at) cornell.edu
27 January 2006

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