Contributed by Margaret Cothran
Source: Papers of Minnie McGehee Branscomb
DR. L. C. BRANSCOMB DIES OF INJURIES IN CAR ACCIDENT
Widely Known Methodist Leader and Former President of
State Anti-Saloon League
Contributed by Eugenia Hobday
The Dothan Eagle (Dothan, Alabama), Oct. 30, 1930:
JASPER, Ala. Oct. 30 -- (AP) -- Dr. L. C. Branscomb, 65, widely known Methodist leader and former president of
the Alabama Anti-Saloon League, died at a hospital here early today of injuries received in an automobile accident
September 15.
Dr. Branscomb's leg was broken and he received other injuries when the automobile in which he was riding was
wrecked near Eldridge while he was en route there to preach at a revival conducted by his son, the Rev. B. H.
Branscomb.
Following the accident, he improved steadily, physicians said, but during the past few days his condition rapidly
grew worse.
Dr. Branscomb, who was presiding elder of the Bessemer District, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was prominent
in Southern Methodism. He was a native of Union Springs and had held pastorates in Bessemer, Decatur, Huntsville,
Talladega, Anniston and Birmingham. He was editor of the Alabama Christian Advocate, state Methodist publication,
from 1916 to 1922.
Dr. Branscomb was a member of the board of trustees of Woman's College at Montgomery, of the executive committee
and board of trustees of Birmingham Southern ........???*
* Note: the continuation of this article was on a later page and is missing.
Addendum to the Obituary
Contributed by
Frank Chappell
The newspaper account is in error about L. C. Branscomb's son. He was enroute
to Jasper, Ala. to assist his son Rev. Richard Edwin Branscomb. Richard Edwin
Branscomb (1902-1980) was a son of L. C. Branscomb by his second wife (Minnie
Vaughn McGehee Branscomb- 1877-1966). Richard Edwin Branscomb was a Methodist
minister of the North Alabama Conference. He was also the brother of Dr. Louise Branscomb.
Contributed by Ben V. Branscomb
(Grandson of Lewis Capers Branscomb)
I can remember, as a little boy of 5, Dad and Mother's distress at
learning of the death of Dad's father. We were in North Carolina. My memory
from childhood has been that LC was walking along the highway and struck by a
car (wrong?). Also I remember Dad saying that LC had been given a new drug - the
first wonder drug for infection - (my memory is of a "sulfa drug") and that he
died of an unanticipated drug reaction. There was a drug that just preceeded
sulfaninimide and it frequently caused agranulocytosis.
Contributed by
Margaret Cothran
My family memories are that the drug killed him. Aunt Louise was in med school at
the time at Johns Hopkins and was keeping in touch by long distance.
She had a lingering sense of guilt that she had not come down to Alabama to check on
things with his care. She had been reassured that he was "doing well" and
"making progress". The wreck happened, he was put in the hospital for 6 weeks
then the new wonder drug Ben mentions was administered. Aunt Louise told me a
reaction to the drug killed him. It was a horrible shock for the family.
Son of Dr. Branscomb Dies Very Suddenly
Contributed by Eugenia Hobday
The Montgomery Advertiser - January 30, 1912
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., Jan. 29 -- Lewis Branscomb, the 18-year-old son of L. C. Branscomb, pastor of the First Methodist
church, was found by his father in bed in an unconscious condition early this morning. The young man was removed
to an infirmary and despite every attention he died at 10:10 o'clock.
The young man attended the Epworth* League services Monday evening at 7 o'clock but returned home before the regular
services with the statement that he had a headache and did not feel like remaining. He retired shortly afterwards and
mistaking that his condition as not immediately serious, no attention was paid to him during the night.
Monday morning when breakfast was called, the young man did not respond and his father went to his room and found
him breathing heavily. Physicians were called. Kidney trouble is believed to have been the cause of death.
This is the latest of a series of misfortunes to befall the Branscomb home. Mrs. Branscomb is at a local infirmary
now for an operation for appendicitis and her condition is said to be critical. Elizabeth, the 7-year-old daughter
underwent two operations a few weeks ago for the same trouble and she has not fully recovered. Harold [this may
be Harvie, who was actually 17 years old at the time], the 14-year-old
son, broke his arm in a basketball game between the Y. M. C. A. and B. A. C. teams last week.
* The Epworth League was an organization of the young people of the Methodist
Episcopal church, formed in 1889. The purpose of the league was the promotion of
intelligent and vital piety among the young people of the church.
Addendum to the Obituary of Lewis M. Branscomb
Contributed by
Margaret Cothran
My mom and grandmother told me that her brother Lewis had died when he was 16. He had played 2 sets of tennis
the afternoon before.
Asking more about that, I was told he had been ill with scarlet fever the week before. They thought he had died
from the extreme exertion following his bout with scarlet fever. I also had scarlet fever as a young child. Dad
had a pediatrician friend at Henry Ford Hospital where he was on staff . He visited and played with us a lot. The
thought was that he somehow had brought the germ on his clothes or skin to me.
All of you who knew my dad knew how germ conscious he was. These stories tell why!
Contributed by
Eugenia Hobday
Tribute to L.C. & Emily Hillman Branscomb,
The Anniston Star, January 22, 1931
Memorial Fund for Emily Hillman Branscomb at Woman's College
[now Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Ala.]
Emily Hillman Branscomb Memorial,
The Anniston Star, August 25, 1930
Contributed by Penny Leggett
Resolutions on the Death of Dr. Lewis Capers Branscomb
Contributed by
Margaret Cothran
(Minnie McGehee Branscomb papers)
Nannie McAdory Obituary
Contributed by Eugenia Hobday
Age-Herald
Birmingham, Alabama
Thursday, November 11, 1897
|
DEATH OF MRS. BRANSCOMB.
-----------------------
She Died Last Night at Huntsville - Formerly
Miss McAdory.
-----------------------
|
Special to the Age-Herald
Huntsville, Nov. 10 --- Mrs. L. C. Bran- scomb, wife of the pastor
of the First Methodist church, died tonight at 8:30 o'clock. She leaves two children.
Mrs. Branscomb has been seriously ill for four weeks and was an invalid several
months. Before her marriage she was Miss Nannie McAdory, daughter of
a prominent business man at Bessemer.
