S Branch

One 1st tier candidate (verified GAWP5)

Stephen Branch
b 4-1-1744 Preston, CT d 2-7-1828, Lisbon, CT
His grandson stated ... “He was a hardworking man … and by trade a house carpenter.” In addition, “He helped fight in the battle of the American Revolution.”
Detailed tool and plane inventory in his 1828 estate

S Branch

1st tier candidate:

Stephen Branch
b 4-1-1744 Preston, CT d 2-7-1828, Lisbon, CT (updated from GAWP5)
parents Thomas (1698-1778) and Zipporah
m Hannah Starkweather
Stephen and Hannah had 9 children. They moved from Preston to Lisbon between 1785 and 1787 and their last two children were born in Lisbon. Selah 1770, Sanford 1772, Susa 1774, John 1776, Seth 1779, Sabina 1782, Elisha 1785, Levi 1787, Lovisa 1790
His grandson stated ... “He was a hardworking man … and by trade a house carpenter.” In addition, “He helped fight in the battle of the American Revolution.” The CT SSAR recorded that Corp. Stephen Branch “Marched from the town of Preston for the relief of Boston in the Lexington Alarm.”
Stephen’s probate / inventory (1828) was very detailed with many types of planes, work bench, turning lathe and other carpenter tools named. These carpenter and joiner tools, his farming tools, livestock and homestead farm were left to his daughter Sabina Branch. His grandchildren from Seth (dec’d) and Sanford (dec’d) were left land. Elisha and Lovisa Brayman were previously given their part…aside from apparel left Elisha.
Woodworking Relatives: Stephen’s uncle was Samuel Branch who lived and died in Preston. (1701-1756.) His detailed probate inventory included a detailed and extensive list of cooper tools. US Craftperson files lists him as a cabinetmaker and cooper. See the reference in “Preston in Preview” (which may or may not have combined information from the father with the son). Stephen’s first cousin Samuel Branch Jr. also lived and died in Preston. (1729-1773) His probate inventory was less detailed than his father’s, containing; oak and chesnut boards and planks, logs at the sawmill, 5 hammers, nippers, anvil, large bellows, old iron, vise, stake, 2 sledges, 40 bushels of coal and a shop in town. Stephen is known at least as a blacksmith before 1772 per “Preston in Preview”.
Newspaper Ad: One 1809 ad in Providence, recorded the dissolution of the Snow and Branch (Stephen) partnership, while also advertising groceries, chesnut and oak boards and hoops.

Stephen Branch, period Preston marriage and children records.

1790 Stephen Branch house, Lisbon, CT (photos SmartMLS.inc 2021)

"The Stephen Branch House The house is a New England gambrel cape of 3000 square feet. It was built by Stephen Branch of Preston, Connecticut, who moved to Lisbon, Connecticut with his family sometime around the last decade of the eighteenth century, as evidenced by land and census records. These records, in addition to probate records date the house to about 1790. Accordingly, the house is named The Stephen Branch House, after its builder, who at age thirty, joined the list of men from Connecticut towns who traveled to Boston for its defense, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Subsequent land records show that the house stayed in the family for over fifty years before changing ownership a few times in the later part of the 19th century, and even as early as the 1850s, the deeds reference the land parcel and structures as the "Branch Place", indicating that the name was in local usage in Lisbon at that time. This is further evidenced by the fact that the name was carried from deed to deed throughout the late 19th century." From Ancestry.com October 2011.

Stephen Branch, d 2-7-1828, Lisbon, CT (FindAGrave)

Stephen Branch, 1827 will, with signature.

Stephen Branch, 1828 estate inventory.

S Branch, 8" long, birch, 5/8" hollow plane. ( Likely from the inventory ... "one pair 5/8 hollow & round .34" ... ? )

S Branch, 9 7/8" long, birch, plow. ( Likely the one from the inventory ..."one groving plow $1" ... ? )

S Branch, 10" long, birch, molder. ( Likely from the inventory. )