Louisa "Lula" Estelle Brannon Briscoe Letter Transcriptions

Lula married Robert Willis Briscoe on December 13, 1901, at the home of the bride’s family in Indian Territory. They were both eighteen years old when they married, according to the Chickasaw Nation Marriages website. The couple had five children: Julia Edna, Anna Fern, Mary Louise, Robin Willis, and R.W. “Joe.”

Lula’s letters are to her mother, Juletta “Julia” Ellis McNaught Brannon, who was married to Thatcher Washington Brannon who died from pneumonia as a consequence of being crushed by a bale of hay while working at Grogan’s Store in Sugden, Oklahoma. Julia had six children with her husband. Their names are Louisa “Lula” Estelle, Carl, Frank Thatcher, Winnie Davis, Elmer Patton, and Juletta Augusta. Julia, as a widow, left Indian Territory with her five other children to live with her bachelor brother, Lewis Augustus “Gus” McNaught on his homestead in the Big Bend Country, Douglas County, near Hartline, Washington. They lived there until Julia’s son Frank was old enough to work, and then they moved to Seattle. She boarded people and eventually was able to build a home.

Additional information about the family:

The youngest child Juletta married Leo Duncan and the couple moved into the Briscoe home in Seattle. When they chose to sell the home and move into another house, Juletta moved the family letters and photographs with her. After she died, the family archives were found by her niece, Bonnie Duncan Peters, and given to Robin Briscoe Diplock for safekeeping.

Thatcher Brannon and his brother, William I. Brannon, had many business interests in the Wichita Falls, Texas, and Indian Territory area, including the Purcell Electric and Water Company with J. Taylor Bradley. William I. Brannon died in El Reno on August 2, 1949 and is interred in Oklahoma City. He staked a claim in the opening of the Indian Territory.

Julia Brannon had Patent #28 for Lots #5 and #6 in Block #33 of Sugden with the Choctaw Seal, June 5, 1906, and the Chickasaw Seal, June 12, 1906 showing receipt for the final payment of $19.52 on October 28, 1905. This made the full amount of the $78.12 purchase price. The patent shows it was recorded in Book 11, page 339, file #6339 on September 1, 1906.

Louisa “Lula” Estelle Brannon Briscoe: Born September 13, 1883, Texas; Died February 4, 1920, Wichita Falls, Texas Robert Willis Briscoe: Born July 13, 1883; Died March 25, 1942 Juletta “Julia” Ellis McNaught Brannon: Born December 7, 1860, Iowa; Died March 30, 1934, Seattle, Washington Thatcher Washington Brannon: Born January 31, 1845, Kentucky; Died January 6, 1902, Indian Territory