My Genealogy Hound

Benjamin H. Bransford, a leading manufacturer of West Tennessee, and a member of the furniture and lumber company of Beck, Bransford & Ekdahl, was born in Smith County, Tenn., on the 14th of April, 1840. His father was Rev. G. H. Bransford, of English descent, and a native of Buckingham County, Va., born in 1805 and a son of John Bransford. The father of our subject was a leading Methodist minister of West Tennessee for many years and was licensed to practice about 1826, continuing the same until 1869, when he died in Union City. He was first a member of the Tennessee conference, and then belonged to the Memphis conference. His wife, Mary (Wootten) Bransford, was born in Tennessee in 1808, and died in 1872. The family on the Wootten side are of Scotch-Irish descent and immigrated from North Carolina to Tennessee about 1815, and settled in Smith County, where they remained, until 1844, and then came to Obion County. Our subject is the fourth of their eight children and was reared on a farm, receiving a common school education. In 1861 he joined the First Mississippi Cavalry, Confederate States Army, and after serving two years became a special scout for Gen. Forrest. He served with Henderson’s scouts until the close of the war, returned home in 1865, farmed two years, and in 1868 came to Union City, and from that time until 1874 was engaged in the manufacture of brick, and house building. In 1874 he began the manufacture of furniture and lumber. He is a leading business man of the city, and is general manager of the company and employs nearly 200 men. The factory was burned January 5, 1886, the loss amounting to about $40,000. They immediately rebuilt and are now doing a paying business. In 1866 Millie McConnell, who was born in Fulton County, Ky., in 1843, became his wife. They have five children: Clara L., John W., Mary A., R. Payne and Millie. Mr. Bransford is a Democrat and Mason, and his success is wholly due to his own exertions. He and Mrs. Bransford are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.