William Proctor Branson

William Proctor Branson, eldest son of Thomas Henry Ousley Branson and Frances Bauer, was born 24 August 1873 in Hornitos, Mariposa County, CA. He is not to be confused with his first cousin William H. Branson, son of his father’s brother Reuben. This confusion is easy to make, because these two Williams were born only a month apart, and only a few miles apart, and both died somewhat young without begetting children.

William Proctor, his middle name taken from the surname of a family friend, was raised in Hornitos. Like many of his cousins, he was drawn into the propecting/mining life.

William remained unusually close to his parents, and especially to his mother. The 1900 census shows him still living at home in Hornitos, even though he was by then 26 years old. The 1910 census shows him there at age 36. He may never have lived away from home. When his parents abandoned Hornitos after 1910 for Manteca in San Joaquin County, William went with them.

William is known to have spent years struggling with tuberculosis, which his doctors attributed to his mining career. The condition may explain why he lived so long with his parents, never married, and never had children. His mother was his chief nurse.

The tuberculosis finally killed William 5 December 1916. He died in Manteca about seven hours after his mother had passed away in the same house of chronic kidney inflammation possibly complicated by cancer.

William was buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery, Stockton, CA near his mother. Eventually, the remains of his father, some of his siblings, uncles and aunts, and many of his cousins would also be interred at that site.

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