Dorothy Arline
Branson
Dorothy Arline Branson, first daughter and third
child of John Sevier Branson, Jr. and Lillian Jane Guest, was born 23 July 1907 in Madera,
Madera County, CA. She was the last grandchild of John Sevier Branson, Sr. and Martha Jane
Ousley to come into the world, and was the last to pass away.
Her mother and father had abandoned the Mother Lode by the time of Dorothy’s birth, and she resided in Madera her whole life.
After high school, Dorothy went to work for Security Title Insurance Company. She was a stenographer. A few years later, either in the latter half of 1929 or first quarter of 1930, she was wed to John Oscar Radley, Jr. He had been born in Raymond, Madera County, CA 29 May 1906. He was the son of John Oscar Radley, who had been born 1 May 1854 or 1855 in England, and of Laura Jones, who had been born December 1879 in California. Dorothy kept working during the marriage. John was a farmer. They had been a couple no more than two years or so before they split up. The divorce became final 18 April 1933. After the relationship was over Dorothy never spoke of it having existed, not even in later years to her own daughter, nor did she include a reference to it in the autobiographical sketch she wrote in 1982. No children resulted. John Oscar Radley, Jr. soon married to Mildred Agusta Koontz, with whom he continued to live in Madera. They had at least one child. He died 15 May 1986 in Humboldt County, CA.
(Dorothy is the child shown at right.) Dorothy’s
second husband was Paul Armando Stefanelli, son of Rinaldo Stefanelli and Assunta Pucci, who
were Italian immigrants. Rinaldo had come to the U.S. in 1902 and Assunta, along with eldest child Lina,
followed in 1905 after Rinaldo had become established in Madera County. The rest of Rinaldo and
Assunta’s children were born in Madera County, including Paul, who came into the world 18 June 1911. Dorothy
and Paul were married
16 February 1935. The couple soon opened their own business, selling “ice and ice cream” as Dorothy put
it in the 1982 memoir. Later they owned and operated a bar and restaurant. Over the first half-dozen years
of the marriage, two children, Gary and Dona, came into the world. These two were among the very youngest
of all the great-grandchildren of John and Martha Branson; in fact, if not for the very-late-in-life fatherhood
embarked upon by Ivan Branson in the 1960s, Dona would be the very youngest.
Perhaps being spouses, co-parents, and business partners all in one represented too much togetherness. Divorce ensued. The timing is not clear, but it seems likely to have happened in the early to mid-1940s, because in her memoir Dorothy states “I raised my two children alone” and when queried in late 2005, daughter Dona indicated she had no idea when the event took place, meaning she must have been quite young at the time. Paul continued to reside in the general vicinity, however, as part of a large Stefanelli clan. He passed away 10 March 1981 in Fresno and was buried in Madera in the Catholic cemetery.
Dorothy finished raising Gary and Dona, who when grown moved
to Fresno County. She did not marry a
third time. She resumed her clerical career, this time as a legal secretary. She was
employed first by Chandler and Hammerburg Attorneys-at-Law at the Madera County Courthouse, next by
Walter Chandler when he became a judge. Her final position, lasting until she was seventy-five years old,
was with Helon and Manfredo Attorneys-at-Law in Fresno.
Over the course of her life, Dorothy belonged to the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Legal Secretaries of California, the Women’s League, and the Soroptimists Club. After retirement, she kept busy with volunteer work for Madera Community Hospital.
In 1982, Dorothy’s home served as the site of one of the Branson Family reunions -- this time a gathering partly designed to collect photographs and double-check information for Ivan Branson’s soon-to-be-published genealogical memoir, Bones of the Bransons. Dona served as co-hostess. The event was heavily attended by members of John Sevier Branson, Jr.’s descendants. Representatives of the families of Alvin Branson and Joseph Branson showed up as well. Along with the reunions that Ivan hosted in Rough and Ready, Nevada County, CA, and at Hornitos, Mariposa County, CA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the celebration was one of the final times the extended clan of John and Martha gathered together in significant numbers.
Dorothy passed away 24 April 1994 at Madera Community Hospital. She is buried in Madera at Arbor Vitae Cemetery.
Children of Dorothy Arline Branson with
Paul Armando Stefanelli
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