This post is under our “Unusual First Names” category. Olive, of course, is not an unusual given name, but along with her maiden name Branch…..well, one can’t help but do a double-take. We came across this record while researching the spellings Northup versus Northrup for the prior post. I’m guessing the name was chosen, how would one say, to sort of have biblical connotations rather than whimsical, but this is just a thought. And in Ancestry.com searching for the name Olive Branch in birth records yields 134 results. Of course, some of these will be duplicates, but that gives us a rough idea. Their birth years range from 1727 to 1931.

Below, from the Massachusetts Town and Vital Records compilation, this particular Olive Branch married Joseph Northrup May 22, 1785.