Reunion Address by John Casper Branner
John Casper Branner delivered an address at the Reunion of the Descendants of Casper Branner of Virginia on 30 August 1918. That was five years after publishing his book of the same title. The entire speech is available upon request.
At the conclusion of the speech, he made a special appeal for information (page 22) which is repeated here.
Special Information Wanted
Before leaving the subject of information wanted let me call attention to six matters about which information is especially desirable in our own family:
1. Evidence of the name of Casper Branner’s wife.
2.Evidence is wanted of where the couple lived before they settled at this place. I have been told that they lived in page county; is there evidence to that effect?
3.The location of Casper Branner’s family bible. Let me urge upon you all to keep your eyes open for that Bible. It is probably a big old-fashioned leather-bound book with thick wooden covers,in the German language, and it must contain facts about our ancestors that we shall probably never find elsewhere. It is a book that would be of the greatest interest and service to us, but has no value for others.
4.The family record for his elder son, John Branner, is missing. I have the Bible itself, but the family record had been removed before it came into my hands.
5.What became of the family of Casper Branner’seldest daughter, Christina Branner Hinton? All that I have learned thus far is given is given at pages 86-88 of the published history.
6.Information is wanted about Conrad Esterly (or Oesterle)after his arrival in this country, September 30, 1743. The reason for our interest is that a document found in Illinois suggests that Casper Branner married Conrad Esterly’s widow.Is there evidence to that effect? If so, where is it, and what is it?
I did not realize until just recently that I answeredquestions 1, 2, 3, and 6 posed by Dr Branner in the document we published; “Conrad Easterly and Catherine Zirkle Easterly, Early Pioneers in the Valley, by EM Easterly and WF Easterly,31 January 2001.” (Included on the CD)
1.Casper Branner married the widow of Conrad Easterly, Catherine Zirkle (Easterly) Branner.
2.They lived on the land Conrad Easterly acquired,in the cabin he built, probably from 1752 until 1760.
3.The family Bibleis the Easterly/Branner family Bible. Photographs of it are contained on the CD.
6.The activities of Conrad Easterly as best we know them, are completely documented from arrival in 1743 until his death in 1749. He continued to exert an influence on the Branner household as is evidenced by the land dispute settled in 1777, which awarded 400 acres to Johan George Easterly, son ofConradEasterly and his wife, Catherine Zirkle (Easterly) Branner. Casper Branner made the statement “ I lay no claim to this land, (signed) Casper Branner). Copies of the original documents are on the CD.
5.Information about the Christina Branner Hinton familyhas recently become available which I plan to include in an update of the CD soon.
Walter F Easterlyt