John Branch
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| Territorial Governor of Florida | |
| In office Template:En dash range | |
| Preceded by | Richard K. Call |
| Succeeded by | William Dunn Moseley (as Governor of Florida) |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's Template:Ushr district | |
| In office Template:En dash range | |
| Preceded by | Willis Alston |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Bynum |
| 8th United States Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office Template:En dash range | |
| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | Samuel L. Southard |
| Succeeded by | Levi Woodbury |
| United States Senator from North Carolina | |
| In office Template:En dash range | |
| Preceded by | Montfort Stokes |
| Succeeded by | Bedford Brown |
| Judge for the Western District of Florida | |
| In office 1822 | |
| Appointed by | James Monroe |
| 19th Governor of North Carolina | |
| In office Template:En dash range | |
| Preceded by | William Miller |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Franklin |
| Speaker of the North Carolina Senate | |
| In office 1815-1817 | |
| Member of the North Carolina Senate[1] from Halifax County | |
| In office 1811-1817 | |
| In office 1822 | |
| In office 1834[2] | |
| North Carolina Commissioner for Valuation of Land, Dwellings and Enumeration of Slaves Third District[1] | |
| In office 1799 | |
| Appointed by | William Richardson Davie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Script error: No such module "person date". Halifax, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: No such module "person date". Enfield, North Carolina, C.S. |
| Party | Democratic-Republican (before 1825) Jacksonian (1825–1837) Democratic (1837–1863) |
| SpouseScript error: No such module "Detect singular". | Elizabeth Forte (Deceased 1854) Mary Jordan Bond |
| Children | 7 |
| Education | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA) |
| Signature | File:Signature of John Branch Jr. (1782–1863).png |
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John Branch Jr. (November 4, 1782 – January 4, 1863) was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, the 19th Governor of the state of North Carolina, and was the sixth and last governor of the Florida Territory.
Biography
Branch was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, on November 4, 1782, the son of wealthy landowners. Educated at the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, he occupied himself as a planter and civic leader. Branch served in the North Carolina Senate from 1811 to 1817 and was the state's Governor from 1817 to 1820. After further service in the state Senate, he represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1823 until 1829 and was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson.
When Jackson became President, he selected Branch as his Secretary of the Navy. In that post, Branch promoted several reforms in the Navy's policies and administration, many of which were not implemented until years later. He reduced the resources going to the construction of new ships, while increasing those applied to keeping existing vessels in good repair. Branch also sent the frigate USS Potomac to the Far East to punish the murderers of a U.S. merchant ship's crew and to generally promote and protect American commerce in the region.
John Branch resigned as Secretary in 1831, during the Petticoat affair, which involved the social ostracism of Margaret O'Neill Eaton, the wife of Secretary of War John H. Eaton by a group of Cabinet members and their wives led by Floride Calhoun, the wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun. Later that year, Branch was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Jacksonian and later to North Carolina state political offices. In the mid-1830s, he moved to Leon County, Florida, where he lived for much of the next decade-and-a-half on his Live Oak Plantation. In 1844, President John Tyler appointed him Florida's territorial governor until the 1845 election of a governor under the state constitution. Branch returned to North Carolina in the early 1850s, remaining there until his death on January 4, 1863.
Branch is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Enfield, North Carolina.
Branch married Eliza Fort (1787–1851) and had 7 children.
Branch was an uncle of the Confederate General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch. His daughter, Margaret, married Daniel Smith Donelson, the nephew of President Jackson.[3]
Bibliography
- American National Biography
- Dictionary of American Biography
- Haywood, Marshall Delancey. John Branch: 1782-1863. Raleigh, NC: Commercial Printing Co., 1915
- Hoffmann, William S. John Branch and the Origins of the Whig Party in North Carolina. North Carolina Historical Review 35 (July 1958): 299–315
See also
- Branch County, Michigan - A county in Michigan that was named after him
- Branch, Branch County, Michigan - A village founded as the inaugural seat of that county, also named after him
Sources
References
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."BRANCH, John". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Branch" (PDF). US Navy. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form: Daniel Smith Donelson House". National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
External links
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