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Archiver > BRADFORD > 1999-08 > 0935897035


From: "Harold R. Williams" <>
Subject: Re: [BRADFORD-L] Lafayette
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 20:23:55 -0700


RE: Lafayette

Do you have any info back past 1800's?
Harold Williams



----- Original Message -----
From: George McSwain <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 1999 3:38 PM
Subject: [BRADFORD-L] Lafayette


> RE: Lafayette
>
> In reference to Martha Lewis Henry Branch wife of Dr. Edward (Ned)
> Bradford:
>
> Daughter of Governor John Branch of Enfield, NC and Florida.
> According to family tradition, when her father was entertaining
Lafayette,
> she played piano for him as a child of 14 while Thomas Jefferson's
grandson
> (Francis Eppes) turned the music. Married her cousin at age
eighteen.
>
> According to Charlton W. Tebeau "A History of Florida"(Coral
Gables:Univ.
> of Miami Press, 1971)p.136, "The Lafayette Land Grant did much to
advertise
> Middle Florida. The American people never forgot the generous
support that
> they received from the Marquis de Lafayette in the American
Revolution. In
> 1824, the grateful government of the United States granted him
$200,000 and
> a township of land, which he selected near Talahassee, because of
his
> friendship with Richard Keith Call. Hopes that the illustrious
Frenchman
> might come to Florida and that he might himself develop the land
never
> materialized, and he eventually sold it to Florida speculators. In
1850 two
> of his grandsons visited Florida and received a welcome that would
have
> pleased their famous ancestor."
>
> Her father was Governor in 1844-45 and didn't come to Florida until
the
> late 1830's since in 1834 he was a NC State Senator. In 1835 he
served on
> the State Constitutional Convention. Lafayettes last visit to
America was
> in 1824 and he died in 1834. I can't find where he visited North
Carolina
> or Florida although cousin Capt. Henry Bradford Crowell was supposed
to
> have entertained him at his Flint River, Crawford Co, GA plantation
in
> 1825.
>
> Any comments?
>
> George McSwain
> 1219 62nd St. NW
> Bradenton, FL 34209
> e-mail:
>
> ______________________________

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