Thomas H. Branch (December 24, 1856November 24, 1924) was an American Seventh-day Adventist missionary. He worked in a variety of roles for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad before joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) and serving as a missionary in Colorado. Branch was selected for service in the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1902 and travelled to Africa with his wife Henrietta and three of their children. En-route he was detained for nine days by the British consul at Chinde, Portuguese Mozambique as the consul was concerned that a black missionary would cause insubordination among Africans in the colony. After his release Branch entered British Central Africa and established a mission station at Cholo in the Shire Highlands. He served as superintendent of the station, with Ethiopianist Joseph Booth running the administration and Branch's wife and daughters working as teachers. Branch was characterised as militant by the local press, though he opposed Booth's radical aims. The SDA agreed to withdraw Booth and Branch after the colonial government raised concerns; Branch's replacement was more politically acceptable to the colonial administration. After a brief period in South Africa the Branch family returned to the United States where he worked with the African American communities in Denver and Philadelphia. Henrietta died in 1913 and Branch afterwards married Lucy Baylor. She left him after Branch refused to follow the teachings of Alonzo T. Jones and he moved to California, where he lived out his final years with his daughter. Early life Thomas H. Branch was born on December 24, 1856, in Jefferson County, Missouri in the United States; his parents were both slaves, though Thomas was born free. He was educated at H. M. Van Slyke's school for freed slaves and afterwards worked as a porter, cook and steward with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Branch married Henrietta Paterson at Kansas City on December 7, 1876. A daughter, Mabel, was born in Wyandotte County, Kansas on April 1, 1878. Later that year the family moved to Denver, Colorado. Three sons were born there: Thomas in June 1887, Paul in March 1891 and Robert in January 1896. Branch rose to become a brakeman of the railroad's trains and, after negotiating with his employer to have Sundays off work, became a lay preacher. Mabel attended West Denver High School and went on to become the first African American teacher in Colorado. Branch