Braniff

Jacqualyn, I am having a look at this as it is not answered, assume no local volunteer in the area. I put the surname into Roots Ireland (subscription site) and see 29 baptisms in County Down and one in Antrim (1830 - 1850) These are adjoining counties both now in Northern Ireland, all I looked at were Roman Catholics, important as we only have religious records pre 1864 for RC.

It would appear they were from County Down as McLysaghts Surnames of Ireland says it is a rare surname and from the Gaelic means "Raven"

I searched back to 1810 and did not see a Barney (Bernard) baptisms (RC records are patchy at this juncture, varying from parish to parish) there is a Bernard born in 1849 in County Down but too late but maybe a family name.

There area also a number of marriages. 14 marriages from 1830 to 1850, earliest 1835 and see a Rose married a John Wiley in 1850, Portaferry, Ards Parish. I do not see a birth of a John Branniff 1830 to 1860. All I can say with certainty is they were from County Down, there is a site here about County Down and see a number of Branniff's in the surnames, the site is good but appears to be not fully supported lately. https://rosdavies.com/ ;

From other queries there was a lot of migration from this area to Canada in the late 1820s, mainly to New Brunswick. 

Information for Northern Ireland can be found here, https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/public-record-office-northern-ire…;

there was a land survey of owners and tenants done 1848 to 1864, Down was done in 1863 and there were only 8 Braniff entries, see here 

https://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSear…

There are only 98 Braniff in total in the 1901 census, earliest available in full and online free if you search. All in Down or Antrim, Belfast is the main city is in Antrim but close to County Down.

All I can say with certainty is they were from Down, Northern Ireland came into been in 1922.

Feel free to follow up if you have any follow up, also there are some private Facebook pages from County Down Genealogy and DNA matching if you are interested in that route.

Good Luck

Pat

Me again, there is a Patrick Braniff listed as French Canadian in Palo Alto County, Iowa on this site in the census with a local wife and son.

http://www.celticcousins.net/

Good Luck