Giacomo, also known as Jack and sometimes John or Jake, was 7 months old when he arrived on 30 October 1890 in New Orleans, having left from the port of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, with his 3-year-old brother Giuseppe (Joseph) and his mother, Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda. He appeared with his mother and father Stephen and 4 siblings, under an Americanized surname of Brann, on the 1900 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 38; Pg 3-B; Family 71). His father was a farmer and had purchased a small, family-operated farm after having worked on one of the Dymond Plantations; however, Stephen was killed in an accident on the farm just a few weeks before Jack's 12th birthday. In September 1905, his mother died, possibly in a flu or yellow fever epidemic, leaving Jack and his older brother Joseph to rear their younger three siblings, sister Lena, brother Carmel, and sister Bernadette.
The siblings appeared together, again using the surname Brann, on the 1910 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 50; Pg 3-B; Family 59). Joseph (age 23), Jack (age 20), and Carmel (age 15) were working the family farm while Lena (age 16) kept house and Bernadette (age 11) went to school and helped her sister with the home. Joseph, however, would marry the next summer followed by Lena in summer of 1912. Carmel had himself declared by the court an emancipated minor at age 18 in 1913, about the time Jack married Mary Wilhelmina Swan. Bernadette may have stayed with Joseph and his family or Jack and his family until she married at age 18 in 1917.
Jack and Wilhelmina had one son, Julius Steven, named for both of his grandfathers (Julius Swan, who died when Wilhelmina was only 6, and Stefano or Stephen Branda). Julius was only about two years old when World War I broke out. Jack, a citizen by virtue of his father's naturalization status (according to the 1900 Census), served in the U.S. Army overseas and later joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W). Shortly after the war, perhaps due to his war experience or perhaps due to a temperament to match his flaming red hair, he abandoned his family and eventually divorced.
Wilhelmina and son appear on the 1920 Census in New Orleans (Ward 9, ED 141; Pg 2-b; Family 37) in the household of her mother and step-father. She was working as a clerk yet still was listed as married; Julius is mistakenly listed in the neighboring household. Meanwhile, Jack was listed as single and living with his sister Lena and brother-in-law Victor Cash [transcribed "Cook"] in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas (Ward 3, ED 96; Pg 2-B; Family 37). He was working as a chauffeur at the time but soon thereafter found a job on the docks as a longshoreman with a local oil company.
By about 1926, he again married, a divorcee with two children, Maude Lee Whaley Gott. They appeared together (surname transcribed as "Brands") along with her children on the 1930 Census in Port Arthur, Texas (ED 62; Pg 24-B; Family 526). About a year and a half later, in November 1931, Maude would die from a head injury incurred in a bathroom fall.
About 1935, Jack married his third wife, also a divorcee with 4 children, Ethel Maud Ward Rowe. Together they had a daughter, Jackie Marie Branda, born in Jefferson County in August of 1935. In November of that year, Jack and two other members of the International Longshoreman's Association were arrested in connection with union violence against strike-breakers ("scabs") who were crossing the ILA picket lines in Port Arthur. Charges were subsequently dropped against him and another defendant. The marriage, however, didn't last long. By the 1940 Census, Ethel and Jackie along with two of her children from her first marriage were listed without him, with Ethel describing herself as divorced.
While a number of his nephews were called up to serve during the Second World War, Jack only fulfilled the requirement to register as an "old man." By this time, his flaming red hair had turned to gray. At 52, he was still working on the docks but now for the firm of C Flanagan and Sons. He listed as his permanent contact his younger brother Carmel.
The third time might not have been a charm, but Jack married at least one more time - in the early 1940s to Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire. About this time, he had left the docks and had opened a small grocery store in Port Arthur. Newspaper notices indicate that he and Dovie bought and sold several plots of land together, but again the marriage didn't last. They were divorced after only a short time as Dovie married her third husband in April 1948.
Jack worked at his grocery store for several more years until he gave it to two of Carmel's sons, Gilbert and Gerald Branda. Ill health led him to the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Houston, where he died in August of 1954. In his obituaries, only his son Julius Steven, still in New Orleans, along with one grandson were noted as his direct descendants although his daughter Jackie Marie, who had married just two years before and given birth to Jack's first granddaughter in April, was still living in Jefferson County.
Parents
Stefano "Stephen" Branda (May 1860 Italy - Dec 1902 LA)
Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda (Jul 1860 Italy - Sep 1905 LA)
Siblings
Giuseppe "Joseph" Branda (Jul 1887 - Jan 1919)
Lena Branda Cash (Nov 1893 LA - Aug 1982 TX)
Carmel Branda (1895 - 1966)
Bernadette Branda Bonura (1898 - 1994)
Spouses and children
First Marriage
Mary Wilhelmina Swan Branda/Brand (Oct 1887 LA - Mar 1930 LA)
son - Julius Steven Branda/Brand (abt 1915 LA - unknown)
Second Marriage
Maude Lee Whaley Gott Branda (Dec 1890 TX - 1931 TX) - buried at Batson, Hardin Co., Texas, probably Guedry Cemetery
Third Marriage
Ethel Maud Ward Rowe Branda (1893 - 1959)
daughter - Jackie Marie Branda Greene Philmon Childers (Aug 1935 TX - Nov 2010 TX)
Fourth Marriage
Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire (abt 1906 TX - unknown)
The siblings appeared together, again using the surname Brann, on the 1910 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 50; Pg 3-B; Family 59). Joseph (age 23), Jack (age 20), and Carmel (age 15) were working the family farm while Lena (age 16) kept house and Bernadette (age 11) went to school and helped her sister with the home. Joseph, however, would marry the next summer followed by Lena in summer of 1912. Carmel had himself declared by the court an emancipated minor at age 18 in 1913, about the time Jack married Mary Wilhelmina Swan. Bernadette may have stayed with Joseph and his family or Jack and his family until she married at age 18 in 1917.
Jack and Wilhelmina had one son, Julius Steven, named for both of his grandfathers (Julius Swan, who died when Wilhelmina was only 6, and Stefano or Stephen Branda). Julius was only about two years old when World War I broke out. Jack, a citizen by virtue of his father's naturalization status (according to the 1900 Census), served in the U.S. Army overseas and later joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W). Shortly after the war, perhaps due to his war experience or perhaps due to a temperament to match his flaming red hair, he abandoned his family and eventually divorced.
Wilhelmina and son appear on the 1920 Census in New Orleans (Ward 9, ED 141; Pg 2-b; Family 37) in the household of her mother and step-father. She was working as a clerk yet still was listed as married; Julius is mistakenly listed in the neighboring household. Meanwhile, Jack was listed as single and living with his sister Lena and brother-in-law Victor Cash [transcribed "Cook"] in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas (Ward 3, ED 96; Pg 2-B; Family 37). He was working as a chauffeur at the time but soon thereafter found a job on the docks as a longshoreman with a local oil company.
By about 1926, he again married, a divorcee with two children, Maude Lee Whaley Gott. They appeared together (surname transcribed as "Brands") along with her children on the 1930 Census in Port Arthur, Texas (ED 62; Pg 24-B; Family 526). About a year and a half later, in November 1931, Maude would die from a head injury incurred in a bathroom fall.
About 1935, Jack married his third wife, also a divorcee with 4 children, Ethel Maud Ward Rowe. Together they had a daughter, Jackie Marie Branda, born in Jefferson County in August of 1935. In November of that year, Jack and two other members of the International Longshoreman's Association were arrested in connection with union violence against strike-breakers ("scabs") who were crossing the ILA picket lines in Port Arthur. Charges were subsequently dropped against him and another defendant. The marriage, however, didn't last long. By the 1940 Census, Ethel and Jackie along with two of her children from her first marriage were listed without him, with Ethel describing herself as divorced.
While a number of his nephews were called up to serve during the Second World War, Jack only fulfilled the requirement to register as an "old man." By this time, his flaming red hair had turned to gray. At 52, he was still working on the docks but now for the firm of C Flanagan and Sons. He listed as his permanent contact his younger brother Carmel.
The third time might not have been a charm, but Jack married at least one more time - in the early 1940s to Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire. About this time, he had left the docks and had opened a small grocery store in Port Arthur. Newspaper notices indicate that he and Dovie bought and sold several plots of land together, but again the marriage didn't last. They were divorced after only a short time as Dovie married her third husband in April 1948.
Jack worked at his grocery store for several more years until he gave it to two of Carmel's sons, Gilbert and Gerald Branda. Ill health led him to the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Houston, where he died in August of 1954. In his obituaries, only his son Julius Steven, still in New Orleans, along with one grandson were noted as his direct descendants although his daughter Jackie Marie, who had married just two years before and given birth to Jack's first granddaughter in April, was still living in Jefferson County.
Parents
Stefano "Stephen" Branda (May 1860 Italy - Dec 1902 LA)
Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda (Jul 1860 Italy - Sep 1905 LA)
Siblings
Giuseppe "Joseph" Branda (Jul 1887 - Jan 1919)
Lena Branda Cash (Nov 1893 LA - Aug 1982 TX)
Carmel Branda (1895 - 1966)
Bernadette Branda Bonura (1898 - 1994)
Spouses and children
First Marriage
Mary Wilhelmina Swan Branda/Brand (Oct 1887 LA - Mar 1930 LA)
son - Julius Steven Branda/Brand (abt 1915 LA - unknown)
Second Marriage
Maude Lee Whaley Gott Branda (Dec 1890 TX - 1931 TX) - buried at Batson, Hardin Co., Texas, probably Guedry Cemetery
Third Marriage
Ethel Maud Ward Rowe Branda (1893 - 1959)
daughter - Jackie Marie Branda Greene Philmon Childers (Aug 1935 TX - Nov 2010 TX)
Fourth Marriage
Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire (abt 1906 TX - unknown)
Giacomo, also known as Jack and sometimes John or Jake, was 7 months old when he arrived on 30 October 1890 in New Orleans, having left from the port of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, with his 3-year-old brother Giuseppe (Joseph) and his mother, Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda. He appeared with his mother and father Stephen and 4 siblings, under an Americanized surname of Brann, on the 1900 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 38; Pg 3-B; Family 71). His father was a farmer and had purchased a small, family-operated farm after having worked on one of the Dymond Plantations; however, Stephen was killed in an accident on the farm just a few weeks before Jack's 12th birthday. In September 1905, his mother died, possibly in a flu or yellow fever epidemic, leaving Jack and his older brother Joseph to rear their younger three siblings, sister Lena, brother Carmel, and sister Bernadette.
The siblings appeared together, again using the surname Brann, on the 1910 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 50; Pg 3-B; Family 59). Joseph (age 23), Jack (age 20), and Carmel (age 15) were working the family farm while Lena (age 16) kept house and Bernadette (age 11) went to school and helped her sister with the home. Joseph, however, would marry the next summer followed by Lena in summer of 1912. Carmel had himself declared by the court an emancipated minor at age 18 in 1913, about the time Jack married Mary Wilhelmina Swan. Bernadette may have stayed with Joseph and his family or Jack and his family until she married at age 18 in 1917.
Jack and Wilhelmina had one son, Julius Steven, named for both of his grandfathers (Julius Swan, who died when Wilhelmina was only 6, and Stefano or Stephen Branda). Julius was only about two years old when World War I broke out. Jack, a citizen by virtue of his father's naturalization status (according to the 1900 Census), served in the U.S. Army overseas and later joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W). Shortly after the war, perhaps due to his war experience or perhaps due to a temperament to match his flaming red hair, he abandoned his family and eventually divorced.
Wilhelmina and son appear on the 1920 Census in New Orleans (Ward 9, ED 141; Pg 2-b; Family 37) in the household of her mother and step-father. She was working as a clerk yet still was listed as married; Julius is mistakenly listed in the neighboring household. Meanwhile, Jack was listed as single and living with his sister Lena and brother-in-law Victor Cash [transcribed "Cook"] in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas (Ward 3, ED 96; Pg 2-B; Family 37). He was working as a chauffeur at the time but soon thereafter found a job on the docks as a longshoreman with a local oil company.
By about 1926, he again married, a divorcee with two children, Maude Lee Whaley Gott. They appeared together (surname transcribed as "Brands") along with her children on the 1930 Census in Port Arthur, Texas (ED 62; Pg 24-B; Family 526). About a year and a half later, in November 1931, Maude would die from a head injury incurred in a bathroom fall.
About 1935, Jack married his third wife, also a divorcee with 4 children, Ethel Maud Ward Rowe. Together they had a daughter, Jackie Marie Branda, born in Jefferson County in August of 1935. In November of that year, Jack and two other members of the International Longshoreman's Association were arrested in connection with union violence against strike-breakers ("scabs") who were crossing the ILA picket lines in Port Arthur. Charges were subsequently dropped against him and another defendant. The marriage, however, didn't last long. By the 1940 Census, Ethel and Jackie along with two of her children from her first marriage were listed without him, with Ethel describing herself as divorced.
While a number of his nephews were called up to serve during the Second World War, Jack only fulfilled the requirement to register as an "old man." By this time, his flaming red hair had turned to gray. At 52, he was still working on the docks but now for the firm of C Flanagan and Sons. He listed as his permanent contact his younger brother Carmel.
The third time might not have been a charm, but Jack married at least one more time - in the early 1940s to Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire. About this time, he had left the docks and had opened a small grocery store in Port Arthur. Newspaper notices indicate that he and Dovie bought and sold several plots of land together, but again the marriage didn't last. They were divorced after only a short time as Dovie married her third husband in April 1948.
Jack worked at his grocery store for several more years until he gave it to two of Carmel's sons, Gilbert and Gerald Branda. Ill health led him to the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Houston, where he died in August of 1954. In his obituaries, only his son Julius Steven, still in New Orleans, along with one grandson were noted as his direct descendants although his daughter Jackie Marie, who had married just two years before and given birth to Jack's first granddaughter in April, was still living in Jefferson County.
Parents
Stefano "Stephen" Branda (May 1860 Italy - Dec 1902 LA)
Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda (Jul 1860 Italy - Sep 1905 LA)
Siblings
Giuseppe "Joseph" Branda (Jul 1887 - Jan 1919)
Lena Branda Cash (Nov 1893 LA - Aug 1982 TX)
Carmel Branda (1895 - 1966)
Bernadette Branda Bonura (1898 - 1994)
Spouses and children
First Marriage
Mary Wilhelmina Swan Branda/Brand (Oct 1887 LA - Mar 1930 LA)
son - Julius Steven Branda/Brand (abt 1915 LA - unknown)
Second Marriage
Maude Lee Whaley Gott Branda (Dec 1890 TX - 1931 TX) - buried at Batson, Hardin Co., Texas, probably Guedry Cemetery
Third Marriage
Ethel Maud Ward Rowe Branda (1893 - 1959)
daughter - Jackie Marie Branda Greene Philmon Childers (Aug 1935 TX - Nov 2010 TX)
Fourth Marriage
Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire (abt 1906 TX - unknown)
The siblings appeared together, again using the surname Brann, on the 1910 Census in Plaquemines Parish (Police Jury Ward 2, ED 50; Pg 3-B; Family 59). Joseph (age 23), Jack (age 20), and Carmel (age 15) were working the family farm while Lena (age 16) kept house and Bernadette (age 11) went to school and helped her sister with the home. Joseph, however, would marry the next summer followed by Lena in summer of 1912. Carmel had himself declared by the court an emancipated minor at age 18 in 1913, about the time Jack married Mary Wilhelmina Swan. Bernadette may have stayed with Joseph and his family or Jack and his family until she married at age 18 in 1917.
Jack and Wilhelmina had one son, Julius Steven, named for both of his grandfathers (Julius Swan, who died when Wilhelmina was only 6, and Stefano or Stephen Branda). Julius was only about two years old when World War I broke out. Jack, a citizen by virtue of his father's naturalization status (according to the 1900 Census), served in the U.S. Army overseas and later joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W). Shortly after the war, perhaps due to his war experience or perhaps due to a temperament to match his flaming red hair, he abandoned his family and eventually divorced.
Wilhelmina and son appear on the 1920 Census in New Orleans (Ward 9, ED 141; Pg 2-b; Family 37) in the household of her mother and step-father. She was working as a clerk yet still was listed as married; Julius is mistakenly listed in the neighboring household. Meanwhile, Jack was listed as single and living with his sister Lena and brother-in-law Victor Cash [transcribed "Cook"] in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas (Ward 3, ED 96; Pg 2-B; Family 37). He was working as a chauffeur at the time but soon thereafter found a job on the docks as a longshoreman with a local oil company.
By about 1926, he again married, a divorcee with two children, Maude Lee Whaley Gott. They appeared together (surname transcribed as "Brands") along with her children on the 1930 Census in Port Arthur, Texas (ED 62; Pg 24-B; Family 526). About a year and a half later, in November 1931, Maude would die from a head injury incurred in a bathroom fall.
About 1935, Jack married his third wife, also a divorcee with 4 children, Ethel Maud Ward Rowe. Together they had a daughter, Jackie Marie Branda, born in Jefferson County in August of 1935. In November of that year, Jack and two other members of the International Longshoreman's Association were arrested in connection with union violence against strike-breakers ("scabs") who were crossing the ILA picket lines in Port Arthur. Charges were subsequently dropped against him and another defendant. The marriage, however, didn't last long. By the 1940 Census, Ethel and Jackie along with two of her children from her first marriage were listed without him, with Ethel describing herself as divorced.
While a number of his nephews were called up to serve during the Second World War, Jack only fulfilled the requirement to register as an "old man." By this time, his flaming red hair had turned to gray. At 52, he was still working on the docks but now for the firm of C Flanagan and Sons. He listed as his permanent contact his younger brother Carmel.
The third time might not have been a charm, but Jack married at least one more time - in the early 1940s to Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire. About this time, he had left the docks and had opened a small grocery store in Port Arthur. Newspaper notices indicate that he and Dovie bought and sold several plots of land together, but again the marriage didn't last. They were divorced after only a short time as Dovie married her third husband in April 1948.
Jack worked at his grocery store for several more years until he gave it to two of Carmel's sons, Gilbert and Gerald Branda. Ill health led him to the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Houston, where he died in August of 1954. In his obituaries, only his son Julius Steven, still in New Orleans, along with one grandson were noted as his direct descendants although his daughter Jackie Marie, who had married just two years before and given birth to Jack's first granddaughter in April, was still living in Jefferson County.
Parents
Stefano "Stephen" Branda (May 1860 Italy - Dec 1902 LA)
Salvadora Teresa Finocchio Branda (Jul 1860 Italy - Sep 1905 LA)
Siblings
Giuseppe "Joseph" Branda (Jul 1887 - Jan 1919)
Lena Branda Cash (Nov 1893 LA - Aug 1982 TX)
Carmel Branda (1895 - 1966)
Bernadette Branda Bonura (1898 - 1994)
Spouses and children
First Marriage
Mary Wilhelmina Swan Branda/Brand (Oct 1887 LA - Mar 1930 LA)
son - Julius Steven Branda/Brand (abt 1915 LA - unknown)
Second Marriage
Maude Lee Whaley Gott Branda (Dec 1890 TX - 1931 TX) - buried at Batson, Hardin Co., Texas, probably Guedry Cemetery
Third Marriage
Ethel Maud Ward Rowe Branda (1893 - 1959)
daughter - Jackie Marie Branda Greene Philmon Childers (Aug 1935 TX - Nov 2010 TX)
Fourth Marriage
Dovie Elizabeth Ballinger Brookshire (abt 1906 TX - unknown)
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
