Brosius Family in Chautauqua County, 1875-1880

(Continued from “Brosius family in Howard County, Kansas 1873ish-1875.”)

Howard county was gone. It had lately vanished into the mists of memory, and the twin counties of Elk and Chautauqua filled its vacancy. So without the trouble of actually moving, the Brosius family found their address had changed from Howard to Chautauqua county. How much of an effect the change in the civil government had upon John S. Brosius and his wife Frances is an open question. Little is known about this period in their lives. They apparently remained in their home in Belleville Township for some time, and were probably trying to start a family. Sadly, it would appear that their young marriage was beset by tragedy. John’s obituary mentions “[t]hree boys and one girl... born to this marriage,” and the known birth dates of two of these children suggest the period of 1875-1879 for the births of the first boy and the girl (“John Brosius Dead”). However, neither of those two children appear in the 1880 census. They must have died very young. Unfortunately, no documentation for the births and deaths of these children has yet been found.

Even less is known about John’s sister Rebecca during this period. During the 1875 Kansas census, she evidently was still dwelling in Belleville Township, but in the household of P. N. Williams. No explanation for this residence is offered within the census; it does not state her relationship to the head of the household, nor is an occupation ascribed to her. The clearest clue is entirely circumstantial: she is the last named member of the household, after a W. Henderson, whose occupation is given as “Farming.” In general, households on a census record are sorted with the family first and then any servants or employees. Although not directly stated, W. Henderson and Rebecca Brosius are probably the farmhand and the domestic servant, respectively.

John and Rebecca’s stepfather John Rodgers was also residing in Belleville Township. His wife, John and Rebecca’s mother, Margrette, had passed away in 1873, leaving him with three children in a relatively wild country. The operations of the James and Younger brothers, still famous for their outlawry, were sometimes uncomfortably nearby. Even closer to home, in Chautauqua county itself, something as simple as a quarrel concerning a water bucket could result in one brother murdering another (Cutler). Even without taking these dangers into consideration (and as a man, John Rodgers may have felt fully capable of protecting his children from such dangers), men at that time were seldom educated in child-rearing. John Rodgers may very well have wished for a companion to take over his duties in this area.

His choice fell upon a young woman named Ellen Edwards, fifteen years his junior, and possibly the daughter of his neighbor Isaac Edwards. Presumably after a suitable period of courtship, the wedding took place on 24 June 1877. So at the age of twenty years, Ellen found herself stepmother to three children, ages twelve, eight, and four.

This image has been trimmed from the original at FamilySearch.

Through all the joys and sorrows of the lives of the Brosius and Rodgers families, they were no doubt aware of the decreasing importance of the nearby city of Peru. Not much farther away from their homes, but to the northwest instead of the east, another city’s star was rising. At the formation of Chautauqua county, the hitherto miniscule town of Sedan was named the county seat, probably on account of its position near the geographical center of the county. At the time of its appointment, it contained only “a store, blacksmith shop, a district school building and one or two residences,” but with its new-found importance, Sedan quickly became a center of building and commerce (Cutler). In 1878, John S. Brosius and his wife Frances took up residence there, perhaps because the town provided ample employment and experience for anyone who wished to start a career in carpentry. Hitherto a farmer, John was embarking on his vocation as a carpenter.

As young John began his new business, his stepfather began his own new family. On 23 Sept 1878, the former Ellen Edwards, now Ellen Rodgers, became mother to a daughter of her own. The baby, named Mary Ellen Rodgers, bore no blood relationship to John S. Brosius, of course, but she was certainly known to him. There is ample evidence that he kept up relations with his half-siblings, and it is more than likely that these relations extended to his step-siblings as well.

As for his full sister Rebecca, it is possible that she made a trip back to her birthplace in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. Whether she made an appearance in person or not, some business was conducted on her behalf there. She, alone of the three Brosius children, had retained ownership of her inherited land in South Shenango Township. Being still a minor, of about seventeen years of age at the time, it was requisite that her guardian, David McKinley, handle her legal affairs. On 23 Mar 1878 he petitioned the court for permission to sell her land. This permission was granted, and on 25 Apr 1878 the land became the possession of Henry Myers for a consideration of $400.

But by the time the census was taken in 1880, she had returned (if she had ever left) to Kansas, and was now working as a domestic servant in the household of Samuel D. Thomason. She would almost certainly have met the youngest arrivals in her extended family: her nephew Clarence, born to John and Frances Brosius in about 1879, and her stepsister Liddia Margaret, born to John and Ellen Rodgers on 11 Mar 1880.

Like her brother John, she now made her home in Sedan. She appears three pages away from his household in the population schedule, which in a bustling young city like Sedan may not have implied much distance. Of course, one would need to see a plot map in order to make an accurate judgment on that head.

John Brosius’ household contains, as expected, himself, Frances, and Clarence, but there is also an unexplained fourth person. His name is Wesley Ewing, age 17, and his occupation is described as “Works on Livery Stable.” Whether he is any sort of relation to either John or Frances, or whether he is a boarder or a guest, is not recorded.

The household of John Rodgers bears no such surprises. They still remained in Belleville Township, and appear exactly as would be predicted, with John, his wife, and five children.

Citations and Selected Sources

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Twp, p. 10, dwelling 76, family 76, line 9, Rebecca Brosius; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 1 Feb 2014); citing Roll: ks1875_3, 1875 Kansas State Census, Microfilm reels K-1 – K-20, Kansas State Historical Society.

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Twp, p. 14, dwelling 114, family 114, line 20-23, Household of John Rodgers; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 Dec 2013); citing Roll: ks1875_3, 1875 Kansas State Census, Microfilm reels K-1 – K-20, Kansas State Historical Society.

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville, p. 14, dwelling 117, family 117, line 30-31, Household of John Brosius; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 Dec 2013); citing Roll: ks1875_3, 1875 Kansas State Census, Microfilm reels K-1 – K-20, Kansas State Historical Society.

1880 U.S. census, Chautauqua, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Township, enumeration district (ED) 66, p. 293 (stamped), dwelling 4, family 4, household of John Rodgers; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 11 Nov 2006); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 375.

1880 U.S. census, Chautauqua, Kansas, population schedule, Sedan, enumeration district (ED) 15, p. 31, dwelling 290, family 298, Rebecca Brosius; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 11 Nov 2006); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 375.

1880 U.S. census, Chautauqua, Kansas, population schedule, Sedan, enumeration district (ED) 75, p. 28, dwelling 260, family 267, household of John Brosius; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 22 Oct 2006); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 375.

Chautauqua, Kansas, Marriage records, 1875-1883, v. B: 79, Rodgers-Edwards, 24 June 1877; digital image #59 of 238, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2014).

Crawford, Pennsylvania, Orphans’ Court Record 753, No. 17: Petition of David McKinley Guardian of Rebecca Brosius for leave to sell real estate, April Term 1878; Crawford County Office of the Clerk of Courts, Meadville. Xerox copy sent to author by Gloria Brosius.

Cutler, William G. “Chautauqua County.” History of the State of Kansas. Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1883. Page numbers not indicated in transcription. Transcribed by Dwayne Crandall, Carol Crandall, and Bonnie Bunce in Kansas Collection Books. The Kansas Collection, April 1999. Web. Accessed 5 Nov 2006.

Find A Grave, “Find A Grave,” database and images, Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 Aug 2014); Mary Ellen Cobb (Memorial #24270422); Record added 30 Jan 2008 by Del Huggins.

“John Brosius Dead,” (Sedan) Sedan Times-Star, 22 Apr 1920, p. 1, col. 2. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, “California, Death Index, 1940-1997,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Mar 2015), entry for Lydia Margaret Hall’s 1953 death.

Brosius family in Howard County, Kansas 1873ish-1875

(Continued from  “Rodgers-Brosius family in Bourbon county, 1869-1873ish.”)

Look at a map of Kansas and you will not see Howard county. It has no population and no area. Howard county, Kansas is one among the numerous ghost counties of the United States. It enjoyed only five years of turbulent life. At one time it contained over 13,600 people and 1,290 square miles, which are now in the divided possession of Elk and Chautauqua counties. At Howard county’s organization, the city of Elk Falls was designated as the county seat, but that designation was to prove the impetus behind much of the turbulence of the county’s short existence. As early as the fall of 1870, the County Commissioners received a petition requesting an election to decide on the relocation of the county seat. The vote took place in September of 1872, but showed such unmistakable signs of fraud that the Commissioners declared no election.

Thus, the family which had been headed by John Rodgers moved from one tense area (the Fort Scott area, where they had lived only a very short time, was beset with tensions between the railroad, assisted by United States soldiers, and squatters) to another. However, the new tension, being entirely political and not involving the armed forces, may have seemed innocuous in comparison.

It is not known at this time precisely when the family arrived; only that they arrived sometime between 1870 and 1873. They moved into Belleville Township, near the town of Peru, which had itself been established in 1870. Perhaps they were not among the earliest settlers; John Rodgers’ 1899 obituary refers to him only as “one of the old and highly respected citizens of this county”; but by 1920, when his stepson John S. Brosius died, he could be called a “pioneer resident” (“John Rodgers Dead”, “John Brosius Dead”).

The youngest member of the family, Samuel Elbert Rodgers, was born 22 May 1873, but it is unknown whether his birth took place in the family’s earlier home in Bourbon county or their new one in Howard county. His mother, however, perhaps succumbing to an infection or disease related to the childbirth, died on 11 July 1873 and was buried in Peru Cemetery under the name “Margrett A. Rodgers.” The cemetery, like the town, had been established in 1870, and its occupants bespoke the area’s roughness. “Of the first nine people buried in the cemetery,” wrote one historian, “seven died ‘with their boots on’” (Blackmar 468). Perhaps it speaks even more eloquently of this frontier that only ten days after this death, not far to the east (though a few hundred miles north) the famed James-Younger gang led by Jesse James committed their first train robbery, derailing a train on the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railroad near Adair, Iowa.

Margrett may not have been the only casualty in the family that year. Back in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, Margrett had a married daughter named Mary Ann Christy. She died on 31 Jan in either the year 1873 or 1874, at the young age of 26.

A few months after Margrett’s death, on 11 Nov 1873, Howard county held another election for the relocation of the county seat. This election resulted in a majority of 232 votes opting to keep the county seat in Elk Falls. However, the residents of the losing town, Boston, had no intention of permitting it to be so. On 19 Jan 1874, a posse of 150 armed men began what became known as the “Boston war.” They, along with twenty-four wagons, entered Elk Falls and, “amid the consternation, threats and tears of the inhabitants of the town,” seized the county records and property (Cutler). Perhaps the soldiers of Fort Scott were recalled by former residents of Bourbon county as Howard county raised three companies of militia to retrieve the records and apprehend the guilty parties. The purpose of the militias remained unfulfilled as the county seat, now resting in the beds of wagons, traveled through the hills and even spent some time in neighboring Cowley county. The situation was not resolved until the Judge of the district, unable to convene the District Court at the appointed time without the required records, placed several of the conspirators under arrest for contempt of court, and essentially held them for ransom, the price being the “unconditional surrender of the records and other county property” (Cutler). After the surrender was made, the county seat was allowed to remain at Elk Falls without contest for the duration of the existence of the county.

Elk Falls, once again in its lawful position, was to be the site of the next major step in young John S. Brosius’ life. He was growing, as all young men do, and had already passed the age of majority. It was only natural that he should wish to begin a new life for himself, and on 10 Oct 1874 he did just that. On that day he stood before Justice of the Peace Henry Welty and was married to a Miss Frances E. McClane.

Although little is known about John’s marriage to Frances, it is easy to guess how they met. In the 1875 Kansas state census, the couple appear directly below the household of Frances’ father, “Jarrett McLain,” or Jared McClane. John Rodgers appears only two households before that, so clearly the families were near neighbors.

John Rodgers filed his land patent on 20 Nov 1874, but it is likely that he had resided there prior to his filing, and perhaps since his arrival in the county. In any case, his new land was a significant step up from the land he had purchased in Bourbon county, as far as sheer size was concerned. He now owned over 158 acres, more than tripling his previous acreage. But the value of his real estate as recorded in the census records declined from $9,000 to a mere $300. He also was now the widowed father of three young children, the eldest only nine years old. Neither of his living stepchildren remained in his house to help out. We have already described the situation of John S. Brosius; now it is time to relate the little that is known of his sister Rebecca.

The 1875 census finds Rebecca Brosius still residing in Belleville Township, but evidently not anywhere near her brother or stepfather. Instead, she appears three pages earlier, in the household of P. N. Williams. Her status within the family is not stated, but the line above hers belongs to a W. Henderson, whose occupation is listed as “Farming.” Since neither of them share the Williams family name, it seems a good guess that he is a farmhand of some sort and she perhaps a domestic servant. She does appear five years later, in the 1880 Federal census, as a domestic servant to another household, so perhaps she began her career in the Williams home. Possibly, though, she was only a guest, as she was only 15 years old and is reported to have attended two months of school within the year.

The Kansas state census was enumerated on 1 Mar, when the Rodgers, McClane, Brosius, and Williams families all resided in Howard county. Three months later, without any need to move, they all would find themselves suddenly in the newly-formed Chautauqua county. Howard county had been divided, and the southern half became Chautauqua, the northern: Elk. Howard county with its too many square miles and its hotly contested county seat was no more.

(Continues with  “Brosius Family in Chautauqua County, 1875-1880.”)

Citations and Selected Sources:

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Twp, p. 10, dwelling 76, family 76, lines 3-9, Rebecca Brosius (in Household of P. N. Williams); digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com).

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Twp, p. 14, dwelling 114, family 114, line 20-23, Household of John Rodgers; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com).

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville Twp, p. 14, dwelling 116, family 116, line 25-29, Household of Jarrett McLain; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com).

1875 Kansas State Census, Howard, Kansas, population schedule, Belleville, p. 14, dwelling 117, family 117, lines 30-31, Household of John Brosius; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry (ancestry.com).

1880 U.S. census, Chautauqua, Kansas, population schedule, Sedan, enumeration district (ED) 15, p. 31, dwelling 290, family 298; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 375.

Blackmar, Frank W., ed. Kansas:a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions,industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc., vol. II. Chicago: Standard Pub. Co., 1912. 468. Transcribed by Carolyn Ward in KSGenWeb. Blue Skyways, July 2002. Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014.

Cutler, William G. “ElkCounty.” History of the State of Kansas. Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1883. Page numbers not indicated in transcription. Transcribed by Bruce L. Garner and Carol Anderson in Kansas Collection Books. Kansas Collection, Aug 1997. Web. Accessed 7 Feb 2014.

Bureau of Land Management. Accession Nr: KS1230__.411; “Land Patents,” database and images, GeneralLand Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov : accessed 18 Dec 2013).

Bureau of Land Management. Accession Nr: KS1420__.033; “Land Patents,” database and images, GeneralLand Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov : accessed 18 Dec 2013).

“John Brosius Dead.” Sedan Times-Star 22 Apr 1920: 1. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

“John Rodgers Dead.” Sedan Lance 19 Oct 1899: 5. America's GenealogyBank. NewsBank Inc. Web. Accessed 14 Feb 2012.

“Kansas,County Marriages, 1855-1911,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16087-50295-41?cc=1851040&wc=11692786 : accessed 02 Feb 2014), Chautauqua > Marriage records, 1870-1875, v. A > image 129 of 147.

Mayfield, Judy. “Margrett A. Rodgers (Memorial #19172677).” _Find A Grave_. Find A Grave, Inc., 1 May 2007. Web. Accessed 22 Nov 2009.

Rodgers-Brosius family in Bourbon county, 1869-1873ish

(Continued from “The Brosius Family: Margrette’s Second Marriage.”)

Travel and transportation could almost be called themes for the year. At least, they were increasingly at the forefront of the world’s consciousness. It was the year of the first bicycle race and the great international university boat race. The year brought the invention of the rickshaw, the opening of the Suez Canal, and the exploration of the Colorado River. It was the year that Sir Henry M. Stanley first was asked to mount an expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone. And on one spring day at Promontory Summit, Utah, Leland Stanford drove the golden spike to complete the first transcontinental railroad.

By Centpacrr at en.wikipedia [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

The year was 1869, and in the U.S., trains had become a popular mode of travel. All over the nation thousands of men toiled daily, untold miles of shining steel track marking their progress. Most large cities already had the train, or were making plans to get it. Even many smaller communities, such as Meadville in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, had a line. Making connections along the way, people could travel almost anywhere in the country in the merest fraction of the time it would have taken by wagon or boat only a few years before.

It was probably by train that a certain John Rodgers took his family the thousand or so miles from their home in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, to Fort Scott, Kansas. The time frame is narrow enough to suggest speedy travel: his stepdaughter Mary Brosius was married in Crawford county on 10 May 1869 and the name John Rodgers appears on a land patent near Fort Scott on 20 July 1869. Of course, this time frame makes two assumptions: first, that John Rodgers was present at Mary Brosius’ wedding, which cannot be proved at this time, and second, that the entire family unit (except Mary, who stayed in Pennsylvania) traveled together to Kansas, which is equally uncertain. It is possible that John Rodgers left earlier for Kansas, missing Mary’s wedding, and it is possible that the rest of his family stayed behind in Pennsylvania, joining him in Kansas later. However, accepting the aforesaid assumptions gives an approximate travel date of June 1869. John Rodgers, his wife, children, and stepchildren had been residing in the township of South Shenango, not far from the city of Meadville. They could have caught a train at Meadville and made connections where necessary, bringing them well into eastern Kansas. Fort Scott is in Bourbon county, on the eastern border of the state, but far to the south. Tracks did not reach Fort Scott itself until December of that year, but the family could have taken the train to within a couple dozen miles of their destination, depending on the actual travel date. From there, they might have crowded into a stagecoach or purchased a wagon for the rest of the trip.

Where they lodged when they first arrived in the Fort Scott area is unknown. Perhaps they had friends in town with whom they could stay until they were able to build a house, or perhaps they stayed in a hotel or camped out. The only solid information is that John Rodgers purchased 40 acres to the west of town on 20 July 1869, and it is doubtful that they stayed there from the day of their arrival. One expects that John would have done a little looking around before he decided which land to buy. Additionally, the land office was in Humboldt, Kansas, a distance of about 40 miles, a distance which had not yet been shortened by train. It seems probable that John would have chosen his property before making the trip to the land office, a trip that would require at least a day’s ride if he went on horseback, and then another day to return.

Fort Scott was, at this time, a thriving and growing city. After the railroad arrived, the city would vie for years against Kansas City as the largest railroad center west of the Mississippi. But the railroad brought problems, as well. As the line pressed southward from town, it met with resistance from squatters who considered the land theirs. Legally the land, formerly known as the Cherokee Neutral Lands, and later sold by the Cherokee Nation to the Federal Government, had been bought up by the railroad. But squatters had been settling there even before the Cherokee Nation gave up its title in 1866. They did not want to lose the land they had already been working for a few years, and they saw the railroad’s coming as a threat to their own rights. As early as May of 1869, months before actual rails would arrive, they began assaults on the survey crews and graders who worked in advance of the track layers.

The troubles became so serious that the military brought in troops to protect the railroad workers. This infuriated the squatters, who had originally requested troops for their own protection and found it outrageous that a nation would take up arms against her own citizens in order to protect her commercial interests, but it did help to keep the violence down.

It is not known on which side the sentiments of the Rodgers family lay, but it is certain that they were present during this period of high tension. The entire family appears in Mill Creek Township, adjoining Fort Scott, in the 1870 U.S. census, enumerated 17 June of that year. John Rodgers, his real estate valued at $9,000 and his personal estate at $500, is the head of the household and a farmer. His wife (relationships are not recorded on this census, but we know the relationships of those in this family from other sources) Margaret’s occupation is identified as “Housekeeper,” and her place of birth is a ditto to her husband’s “Ireland.” Perhaps she really was Irish, or perhaps it is an assumption on the part of the informant. The next two lines give weight to the notion that the informant was not in possession of all the facts. They are the lines recording the children from Margaret’s previous marriage, John and Rebecca Brosius, however this census makes no mention of their alternate last name and includes them under the “Rodgers” umbrella. It is unlikely they were actually going by the name of Rodgers as this is the only document found which identifies them as such. It does manage to place their births in Pennsylvania, though. The other two children, Elizabeth and James, really are Rodgerses as recorded, but their birth places are identified as Kansas when research shows that they were likely born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, as well.

Despite the purchase of the 40 acres outside Fort Scott, the family did not remain in Bourbon county for long. By 1873, and perhaps even sooner, they had moved to Howard county.

(Continues with  “Brosius family in Howard county, Kansas, 1873ish-1875.”)

 

Selected Sources:

1870 U.S. Federal Census, Schedule 1, Kansas, Bourbon County, Mill Creek Township, page 12, dwelling 88, family 88, lines 4-9, John Rodgers household. Digital images, Ancestry. Accessed 18 May 2011.

Bureau of Land Management. Accession Nr: KS1230__.411; “Land Patents,” database and images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov : accessed 18 Dec 2013).

“Historical Events for Year 1869.” HistoryOrb. Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014. 

“Soldier vs.Settler.” Fort Scott National Historic Site Kansas. National Park Service, Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014.

Springirth, Ken. “Erie Railroad's Historic Journey.” The Meadville Tribune 5 Nov 2012: Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014.

“Marriages.” Unknown newspaper article May 1869: unknown page. Print. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius, along with family group sheets recording the marriage date and place.

The Brosius Family: Margrette’s Second Marriage

(Continued from “The Brosius Family: South Shenango,1862-1863”)

A widow had to wear hideous black dresses without even a touch of braid to enliven them, no flower or ribbon or lace or even jewelry, except onyx mourning brooches or necklaces made from the deceased’s hair. And the black crêpe veil on her bonnet had to reach to her knees, and only after three years of widowhood could it be shortened to shoulder length.

—Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind (pp. 94-5)

While the attitude displayed in the preceding passage represents that of the fictional Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara, who had married for spite and did not feel any real grief for her husband, the description gives a fairly accurate portrayal of what a widow would have worn at that time. The description is a little exaggerated as far as duration is concerned; the knee-length veil could be shortened after a year and a day. The difference, however, may be accounted for in part by Scarlett’s relatively exalted social position, as mourning customs were dictated not in a one-size-fits-all manner, but varied according to status and personal taste. Because death often arrived unexpectedly, the clothing was often purchased ready-made. The full outfit could be afforded only by the wealthy. Poorer women often observed mourning by dying their own dresses black.

Widow’s weeds, as women’s mourning garments were nicknamed, were not—at least originally—intended to be restrictive (and whether they became such depended largely on the personality of the wearer), but rather as a sort of emotional protection. The clothing signaled to the world that a person was in mourning, and that care needed to be used in conversation so that one would not inadvertently stumble upon tender subjects. Moreover, a woman could weep privately behind her veil without the embarrassment of strangers seeing her tears or puffy eyes. And if by chance a widow were to be caught in her grief, the reason for it would be tacitly understood.

As the Civil War progressed, widow’s weeds became a more and more common sight. Margrette Brosius was one among this growing troop of women. Her husband, Adam, had died not in the war, but about a month before it began. Family lore holds that he was kicked by a mule, but that may or may not have been the case, as the Brosius oral history is notoriously inexact. Sometimes it is said that it was his son, John, almost sixty years later, who was kicked by the mule. No matter how it had happened, the bare fact was that Adam Brosius was dead and Margrette would have donned the uniform of a widow.

The children would also have been dressed in mourning. The baby Rebecca, possibly not even born until after the death of her father, would have been spared the heavy black and had instead perhaps some black ribbons tied on her white baby clothes. Mary and John, being older, would probably have worn black, or at least a black armband, for their period of mourning, which would have lasted six months to a year. This, though a long period of time to alter one’s attire by today’s standards, was still shorter than the length of time expected of a widow. This is not to say that, except for Scarlett O’Hara and perhaps a few others, the mourning garb outlasted the actual period of grief. In fact, many women—Queen Victoria is a notable example—chose to take up widow’s weeds for the rest of their lives.

The customary length of time for a widow to remain in mourning was two and a half years. Adam Brosius had died early in March 1861, therefore it was probably late 1863 or early 1864 when Margrette remarried. The war was still in progress, but somehow Margrette met and married a man named John Rodgers. He had been born in Ireland, and was almost precisely three years younger than she. In fact, their birthdays were only a day apart.

On 15 Jan 1865 they were blessed by the birth of their first daughter together. They named her Sarah Elizabeth, and called her by her middle name. Elizabeth Rodgers was born near the close of the Civil War; only a few months later, on 9 Apr 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, signaling the end of the war. A few Confederate armies held out longer—some as late as June—but Lee’s surrender was such a turning point that it has become the accepted practice to date the end of the war by it.

With the end of the war, the thoughts of many Americans returned to an idea expressed over a century earlier by Bishop George Berkeley:

Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The first four acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;

Time’s noblest offspring is the last.

The idea had become known as Manifest Destiny. In other words, “Go west, young man, go West and grow up with the country.” The nation was burgeoning—had already reached the Pacific Ocean—and young people everywhere aspired to be part of the expansion. The Homestead Act promised free, or at least cheap, land; the transcontinental railroad was on its way to completion and already new rail lines were beginning to drape the wilderness like a web. New methods and technologies gave farms a chance to succeed on the Great Plains, a chance once deemed impossible.

The family now headed by John Rodgers in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, was not immune to the excitement. Whether John Rodgers had come to the United States with the intention of eventually going west, or whether he was enticed by railroad advertisements or friends, the opportunities of the west certainly began to catch his attention.

Kansas had achieved statehood shortly before the war, and now that hostilities were at an end, and the violent days of “Bleeding Kansas” were over, this new land must have seemed filled with potential for his growing family. With the addition of a baby they named James (“Jim”) on 15 July 1868 the family had reached seven members.

A move west was no small undertaking, neither logistically nor financially. If he was going to move his family west, John Rodgers would have to come up with a great deal of money to do it. But he saw one fair prospect at hand: the land left behind by his wife Margrette’s first husband, Adam Brosius. There was timber on that land, and timber could raise money. So John Rodgers harvested the timber.

Unfortunately, he must have neglected to discuss this decision with his stepchildren, because Mary, John, and Rebecca Brosius, though all still minors, sued him “for the waste he has committed” (Brosius). The land, they claimed, belonged to them, not to John Rodgers. They evidently came to some sort of agreement with their stepfather, however, because the suit was dropped.

In the meantime, Mary Brosius had reached maturity and had a suitor in a twenty-five-year-old widower named Joseph Patterson Christy, Jr. Pat, as he was called, had recently returned from Wisconsin with his son, Andrew, a toddler. Men were not accustomed to raise children in those days, and a toddler would have been quite a challenge for a suddenly single young man. Therefore, it probably seemed quite natural that Andrew was living at his grandparents’ house rather than with his father.

Perhaps the lawsuit against John Rodgers was dropped in order not to tarnish the joy of Mary Brosius’ upcoming nuptials. Within a month of the filing of the lawsuit, on 19 May 1869, she and Pat were united in marriage. Undoubtedly the rest of the family celebrated her wedding before beginning the journey west. Mary would remain with her new husband in Crawford County, Pennsylvania when John Rodgers and the remainder of his household combined with

All the pulses of the world,

Falling in they beat for us, with the Western movement beat,

Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all for us,

Pioneers! O pioneers! (Whitman 198)

 (Continues with “Rodgers-Brosius family in Bourbon county, 1869-1873ish.”)

Citations and Selected Sources:

Berkeley, George. "On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America." 1726. The Home Book of Verse. Ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson. Seventh ed. New York: Henry Holt and, 1945. 2565. Print. 

Brosious, John. The Petition of John Brosious for Guardian. 13 Apr 1869. Petition to the Orphan Court of Crawford County. Office of Clerk of Courts, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

Brosius, Mary. Petition of Mary Brosius for Guardian ad Litem. 13 Apr 1869. Petition to the Orphan Court of Crawford County. Office of Clerk of Courts, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. Garden City, New York: International Collectors Library American Headquarters, 1936. 94-5. Print.

Rodgers, Margret Ann. The Petition of Rebecca Brotious for Guardian. 13 Apr 1869. Petition to the Orphan Court of Crawford County. Office of Clerk of Courts, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius. 

Whitman, Walt. “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” Leaves of Grass. New York: Signet Classic, 1955. 196-199. Print.

The Brosius Family: South Shenango, 1862-1863

(Continued from “The Brosius Family: South Shenango, 1861.”)

The petition of John McGranahan Administrator of the Estate of Adam Brocas late of said County deceased, respectfully represents… That the personal Estate of said decedent is insufficient to pay his debts and that it is requisite to sell a portion of his real Estate for the payment thereof…

—Petition of Administrator to sell land, 10 Apr 1862

The Civil War had been raging for a year, already a much longer and deadlier war then either side had expected, but in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, life went on much as usual. Perhaps the newspapers were read more assiduously, and perhaps some of the neighbors had enlisted and were off fighting the war or had already been killed, but still all the ordinary chores must be attended to and debts must be paid.

The widow Margrette Brosius was presumably living with her three children on the family farm in South Shenango Township. The two older children, Mary and John—ages 13-14 and 10-11 respectively—were old enough to help out around the house and on the farm, but the youngest, Rebecca, was now only about a year old. Upon the death of her husband, Adam, Margrette had been left not only the three children, but also debts amounting to over $950. It need hardly be said that this was an enormous sum for the year 1862. Adam’s “personal assetts” were able to cover a part of the debt, but the family was still left with a balance of $585.27. There seemed to be but one solution: sell some of the real estate.

The administrator for Adam’s estate, a man by the name of John McGranahan, petitioned the Orphan Court of Crawford County for permission to do just that. The request was granted, and the following month he sold forty acres of the Brosius land to a David K. Wier for $700, more than enough to pay off the debts Adam had left behind. It appears that for now Margrette and her children were more or less comfortably situated; they were able to settle their debts and still had over sixty acres, including “thirty-five acres improved” on which stood a house, barn, and orchard.

However, the nation was still in the midst of the Civil War, and no one could feel completely at ease. The famous Confederate general Robert E. Lee was achieving victory after victory, pushing his troops ever northward. By June of 1863, they had reached the state of Pennsylvania. Although their particular position was about two hundred miles away, it surely felt to close for comfort to the people of South Shenango. If the Confederate forces were to continue their advance, fighting could soon be on their very doorsteps.

(Continues with “The Brosius Family: Margrette’s Second Marriage.”)

Citations:

Kitchen, Cyrus, recorder. Deed. 19 May 1862. Deed from Adam Brocius’s Administrator to David K. Wier. Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

McGranahan, John. Adam Brocus Dec. Petition of Administrator to Sell Land. 10 Apr 1862. Petition to the Orphan Court of Crawford County. Office of Clerk of Courts, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Xerox copy sent to the author by Gloria Brosius.

The Brosius Family: South Shenango, 1861

Library of Congress [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Capitol building was a sight, looking strangely like a three-tiered wedding cake with an oil well in the place that should be occupied by figures of the bride and groom. The explanation for this unusual sight was mundane enough: the domed roof was in the process of replacement. Over 25,000 people, many of them strangers to the city, milled in the sun-warmed streets, but their interest did not lie in the reconstruction of a dome. They were engrossed in the events unfolding at the foot of the edifice.

A tall, homely man, seeming even taller in his high top hat, stood up after an introduction and approached the podium. There was a moment of uncertainty as he searched for a place to set his hat. The atmosphere was turbulent. Opinions regarding this man varied, and there was no doubt but that this crowd was about to witness history. Whether the history they were to witness was to be an inauguration or an assassination remained a question.

“…I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement,” said Abraham Lincoln. Clearly in his inaugural address he was going to discuss the divisive issues of slavery and the southern secession. He had not yet been sworn in, but his administration was already plagued with difficulties: two months before, partly in response to his election, seven of the southernmost slave states had already seceded from the Union, and four others were poised to follow suit. Moreover, when the newly created Confederate government insisted that the government of the United States hand over some of their Federal forts, they were refused. The South responded by seizing the forts. Tensions were high, and it was readily apparent that the country was on the verge of war.

Although the thoughts of many citizens revolved around the secessionists and the probability of war, one household in northwestern Pennsylvania was distracted by another, more immediate distress. Only three days before Lincoln’s inauguration, that is, on 1 March 1861, death had claimed Adam Brosius. Adam had been the head of the Brosius household which resided on 100 or so acres in the township of South Shenango in Crawford County. His young widow, Margrette, only 27 years of age, and possibly still pregnant with their daughter Rebecca, was left alone to raise three children.

The family had been started early; Adam had been only 31 or 32 at the time of his death, yet his oldest child, a girl named Mary, was already 12 or 13 years old. John S., the second child, was 9 or 10. The relative ages of Mary and her mother Margrette, as well as the large age gap between John and Rebecca, suggest the possibility that Margrette may have been Adam’s second wife and Mary and John’s stepmother. At this point no evidence has been found to either support or disprove this hypothesis, and it bears only academic relevance to our present narrative, so we will set the question aside for later research.

Whether mother or stepmother, Margrette was faced with the daunting task of running a farm and being what would now be called a single mother of three—and this just as the country was beginning its descent into the longest and the bloodiest war it had yet experienced. Just over a month after her husband’s death, the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.

(Continues with “The Brosius Family: South Shenango, 1862-1863.”)

Citation:

“President Abraham Lincoln’s First Inauguration.” The Civil War. Son of the South. Web. Accessed 7 Feb 2012.