And then there were two…

Oh, Oscar, you vex me. 

Try as I might, you just continue to throw obstacles down in front of me, don't you? 


Dear Readers, If you are unfamiliar with my Oscar research, or have simply forgotten why he has become a point of frustration, you can read all about it him in my previous posts. The important thing to remember is that I really do not know for certain who is father is, I have a few theories, but nothing concrete.



I used your name as an example in running a relationship search on FamilySearch.org today, and I guess you decided I had not researched you recently enough, because you threw this at me: 

FamilySearch.org Search Results, "Oscar F. Brown" 1880 U.S. Federal Census. Accessed 5 Dec 2013.

Why is there suddenly a second "Oscar F. Brown" listed in the 1880 U.S. Census for Colfax County, Nebraska? WHY? I know that I have searched Colfax County, and the 1880 census enough to know that I have not seen this entry before.


And why did he have to be born in New York, and within five years of when I think you were born, Oscar? The only difference seems to be the name of his wife: Maria instead of Frances. Perhaps this is the Oscar F. Brown that is known to be brother to Charles Brown (also a resident of Colfax County), that I have never been able to firmly identify as my Oscar.

So much research left to do… so little time.


And I am so looking forward to the challenge.

Where Were They? Turn of the Century Mark

With 2012 quickly coming to a close, I thought this would be an appropriate entry in my Where Were They? series.


My initial thought on this topic, the turn of the century – as in 1899 to 1900 – was this: did they have their own Y2K?  Remember that? Remember how the world was “going to end” when we hit 2000?

What was going on in 1899 that would have made folks fear or anticipate the new century?

The United States National Museum Building,
now the Arts and Industries Building,
pictured at the turn of the century.
(Source: http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/century/usnm.htm)

Reviewing a few websites was absolutely necessary, and although what I found was interesting, it was not earth shattering.

• America is a world power. The west has been settled, the Spanish-American War of 1898 – less than 100 days of it – was a success, both on the battlefield and with the populous.
• Our native people had been shuffled onto reservations. Buffalo were essentially gone. Automobiles, or “the horseless carriage” and telephones were household words and tools. Frank Lloyd Wright was starting his career in Chicago, John D. Rockefeller had started the Standard Oil Trust company. Andrew Carnegie had constructed the world’s largest steel mill in Pittsburgh.
• The transcontinental link had been completed in 1869, and by 1900 the nation had “193,00 miles of track, with five railroad systems spanning the continent.” (Source: America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context)

Although still mostly rural than urban, America had become the stand out in world success. Industry, politics, innovation and technology, war. There were many poor, there were many that were overworked in factories; but President McKinley still ran on a platform of prosperity for his re-election in 1900, which he won. (Source: Macrohistory and World Report, The United States to 1910)

Life was not easy. Can you imagine, though, seeing all of that come to be reality? Would it have changed your view of the world, your daily routine? Picture yourself as a young adult, having been born and raised in a rural setting, then walking down the city sidewalks to see the evening sky lit with electric lights for the first time.


Getting Personal

The big question in this series is this: how did this event affect the lives of my ancestors (or yours)?
As always, I will start with the family of Oscar Brown, because, well, his life fascinates me, and there are lots of questions there still.
In 1899-1900, Oscar, his wife Frances, and two of their five children were living in Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska. By this time, Oscar had given up on his homestead and moved into a “city”, living primarily off of his Civil War pension. In April of 1901, his pension file includes a notation that he had suffered from small pox for the last six months.  No occupation is listed for either Oscar of Frances in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. By the time of his death in October of 1906, his household goods had been assessed at a mere $10.00.

Living in rural Nebraska, would they have ridden in an automobile yet? Perhaps there was one or two in Central City. I have to assume the railroad advancements during the past ten years had affected them in some way, even if it was just to get mail faster.

For a man who had served in the Civil War, was a regional Deputy Sheriff in Missouri, then went on to become a State Senator for Nebraska, these last few years of his life, living in essential poverty, must have been difficult. His pension file, and again in Frances’ widow’s pension, states that his health declined quickly, beginning around 1900.  He could not work, could not support his wife and children, and likely, with adult children in the area, they were helping to support him. Would he even have cared that city streets were gaining cable cars?

Eilert Heerten. Another man whose life remains a bit of a mystery. He is my maternal 2nd great grandfather, and arrived in America from Germany in 1869. He, too, would have lived through this transition period in our country, and just as with Oscar, he lived in a rural area.


His family has settled on land in Keya Paha County, Nebraska. In 1900, he is farming with two adult sons, and has three other children in the household, along with his wife, Amke, or “Annie”. Financially, he appears to be doing better than Oscar, but he’s also 15 years younger. Perhaps he was more interested in the developments across the country, more attuned to what was happening “out in the world.” However, Keya Paha County is more remote, farther from the main rail lines, and therefore, farther from the news.

Did this New Year’s Eve 113 years ago have any affect on these families? Did they celebrate “bigger'”? Did they ignore the entire event, because they still had to get up and take care of the farm the next morning, just as with any other day?


Questions such as this may never be answered, but they are still worth asking.

Where were your ancestors when 1899 became 1900?

Where Were They? When barbed wire was invented.

Barbed wire.

What we now think of as a simple and standard tool around the world was truly a life changing invention at the time.

According to Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbed_wire), the first patent was issued in 1867 to Ohio based Lucien B. Smith. Another patent, this time in 1874, was given to Joseph F. Glidden, who made his own modifications. As the "first technology capable of restraining cattle", it had a profound impact after becoming largely available across the continent, and especially the plains. Easy to use, easy to manage, and affordable. Of course, it was also used in combat, prisons and concentration camps; and electrified.

Where Were They?

My family tree holds several farmers and a hand full of dairy farmers. Certainly the addition of barbed wire would have made an impact on their operations, right? Let's find out. I'm going to base this off of the year 1874, after the new invention became available to the masses.

Oscar F. Brown

1874 was the year Oscar F. Brown married Frances E. Lawrence in Nebraska. He had yet to settle on his military homestead in Colfax County, but had been in Colfax County since 1870. The census record lists him as a farmer, with real estate property valued at $1000.00. On 1 Jun 1875, Oscar filed his homestead certificate, and started building on the property he would live on for most of his adult life. I would have to imagine that barb wire played a part in this farming operation, but the important part is that he farmed - not ranched - so perhaps his use of this technology was limited.

Eilert Heerten

My focus ancestor on my maternal side was only about five years off the boat from Germany in 1874, and had settled in Illinois. In 1870 he was in Menard County, and in 1875 married in Tazewell County another recent immigrant, Amke Dirks Rademacher. What happened to the family between 1875 and 1900, when we find them in Keya Paha County, Nebraska, is at this time at least, unknown. Were they farming? Were they in transit, trying to find the best place to settle? They had seven children: the first two were born in Illinois, the next two in the "USA" and finally the last three in Nebraska. Due to the various misspellings and mispronunciations of their surname, the census options are numerous and difficult to weed through. I'm not even sure that Amke's name is correct. The version I have here is what is on her tombstone and the majority of records, but the marriage index displays it as this:

Anka D RODEMACHER

They've turned into a tough crowd to track down during those years. So, did barb wire affect the Heerten family? I'm sure it did. Oral history tells us they had more livestock than the Brown's, so certainly their efforts to contain the animals would have been much more prevalent.

Harley Brown, grandson of Oscar, on his tractor in Washington State.
Dairy farmer.
Photo property of author.

Those dairy farmers I mentioned? That started in Pierce County, Washington in the 1940's, so that certainly would have made an impact to the operation. The family really started farming in the area as the farm manager for the Orting Soldier's Home & Colony, and the son's branched out and ventured into their own operations.

Those of you with roots in states like Oklahoma and Texas may want to look into this further... did your ancestors purchase more land around this time? Or did the lose property? Perhaps one of their neighbors found more success in controlling their livestock and were able to expand.

Barb wire. A genealogical research opportunity. Who knew?



You can learn more about this topic from The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, located in La Crosse, Kansas.

The Family of John H. Lawrence and Sarah Evans

John Horatio Lawrence and Sarah Evans came together about 1835 in Lockport, Niagra County, New York. They had ten children, and both lived to their mid '70's.

Let's get the facts out of the way:

• John Horatio Lawrence, born 2 Jan 1806 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. Died 29 Apr 1880 in Colfax County, Nebraska.
• Sarah Evans, born 7 Aug 1816 in New York, and died 22 Feb 1892 in Brighton, Adams County, Colorado. 

John H. Lawrence, Sr.
Personal archives of author.

The family story tells us that John served in the English Army, including at least one tour in India, and eventually made his way to the U.S. in June 1829 at the age of 26. He was the youngest son of the family, with only one surviving sibling, Ann King, who was ten years older than he. His parents are said to have had ten children, the other eight all died in infancy. The father was a silversmith in the English middle class, and his uncle was knighted, prior to 1830, "based on his achievement as an artist." In 1840, the legend continues, John's mother died in England, and he traveled back home to attend the funeral. His money was stolen from him on the boat, and it took him twice as long to come home.

The couple moved from the Lockport area to Pennsylvania, then finally to Ohio, eventually setting in Wakeman. John was said to be a shoemaker, learning his trade from Sarah's adopted father.

Sarah Evans. Her early life is a mystery. Again, we return to the family oral history. Sarah's birth father was killed when she was three years old, by a man who was the former property owner of the family farm. There is not mention of her mother, but the large family was supposedly scattered, and the Kaiser's adopted Sarah as their only child. They were well off, and she had a good childhood. When Sarah and John married, Mr. & Mrs. Kaiser offered them property and income, as a partner in his business, if they remained in the area. It didn't last too long, because by 1841 they were in Pennsylvania. She must have been well educated, as later in life, she wrote for a newspaper in Silver Creek, Nebraska. Other sources name her as the "daughter of a Methodist minister."

Sarah Evans Lawrence
Personal archives of author.

Lafayette was the first, born in 1838. Then came Sarah Ann, John Horatio, Jr., Mortimer James, Blanche, Augustus Warner, Edward, Mary Josephine, Frances Elizabeth, and finally William Henry in 1856. Soon after William's birth, John and Sarah separated, and he left the family. Sarah and the elder children struggled, but were able to adapt. Thanks to the success of son, Mortimer, and his biography in A History of Cleveland, Ohio: Biographical. Illustrated, Volume II, by Samuel Peter Orth.  (The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co, 1910, Chicago-Cleveland. Page 596), we have more details about that time in the life of the family. Mrs. Lawrence supported her family through carpet weaving and "other work".


In 1896, A Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve was edited by Gertrude Van Rensselear Wickham, (Published under the auspices of the Woman's Department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission 2 volumes, 1896; reprint, Middleton, KY.: Wihiporwill Press, 1981, pages 559-563). In it, this quote: "Mrs. Lawrence (Sarah Evans) came later. She must have been a bonnie lass, for in middle life she was fair to look upon, she was a constant reader, and wielded a ready pen. It was to this intellectual mother, probably, that her son. M. J. Lawrence of the OHIO FARMER owes his many gifts." (Transcribed by Cathi Vannice 01 January 2002, www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohhuron/pwakeman.htm.)

As their children began to marry and move, John and Sarah did also. For a time, both lived near the Colfax County area of Nebraska, and they appeared to reunite as a married couple again in their later years. John passed first, and is buried in Nebraska. Sarah moved farther west to live with son, Mortimer and his family in Colorado. Here, she wrote a letter to her daughter Frances back in Nebraska, talking about the home and its extravagance in running water, indoor baths and toilets. She talks of her son and daughter-in-law's busy lives, and her loneliness as she sat in her upstairs room, watching the world go by on the street below, with no one to keep her company.

The Lawrence home in Denver, where Sarah spent her last years.
Personal archives of author. 

John and Sarah left a legacy of intrigue and just plain great genealogy. Their children were involved in newspapers, politics, wars - including at least two recorded prisoners of war, held by the Confederates - and murder.