Branch, John
lawyer, United States senator, governor, was born Nov. 4, 1782, in Halifax county, N. C. In 1811 he was elected a state senator; re-elected every year until 1817, and was then elected governor of the state. He again entered the state senate in 1822; served in the United States senate from 1823 to 1829; and was in the latter year appointed secretary of the navy. In 1831 he was elected to a seat in congress as representative from North Carolina; and in 1834 was again elected to the state senate. In 1835 he was elected a member of the convention to revise the state constitution; and in 1843 was appointed governor of the territory of Florida. He died Jan. 4, 1863, in Enfield, N. C.