52 Ancestors 2019: Week 4. "I'd like to meet the Brumbeloes"

Who, having done research on their family can pick just one ancestor to meet?  For me, I would have to say the best I can do is to narrow it down to a family unit.  There is a particular family in my tree for whom I have a fascination: the Brumbeloes.  This family lived through the Civil War, Reconstruction, abandonment, prostitution and murder.  Each family member has a fascinating story to tell. 

I credit the strength of the Brumbeloe/Brumbelow family with their mother, Martha Wilson Brumbeloe.  Throughout the decades, Martha can be seen living with her children, petitioning courts for restitution and doing all she can to keep her family together.  Her strength and example was passed on to her children as they faced their own trials and tribulations.

The daughter of James Wilson and Nancy Ann Ritter,  Martha Wilson was born 14 March 1816 in Upson County, Georgia.  She married Emanuel Joseph Brumbeloe/Brumbelow on 24 May 1835 and together they had seven children:  Camelius (1835-1900), Amanda Melvina (1838-1914), Lydia Louisa (1842 -?), William A. "Major" (1844-1862), Joseph H. (1846-1921), Georgia Ann (1855-1900) and Leanna (1856-1936).  Small bits and pieces of their lives have surfaced through court and military records, school and census records, and remnants of local newspaper articles.  Here is their story.

Martha was born and raised in Upson County, Georgia.  How she met her husband E.J. (as he is referred to in most documents) is not known.  Emanuel Joseph Brumbeloe was born in North Carolina in 1808, and moved with his family to Upson County around 1813.  As he was merely 5 years old at the time, it is possible that the Wilson and Brumebloe families were acquainted, but how E.J. and Martha met and courted is unknown.  At any rate, they meet and married when E.J. was 27 and Martha was 19 years old.

Between the years of 1838 and 1856, Martha and E.J. produced seven children.   For the most part, all the children received an education, if not somewhat intermittently.  As they are listed in the Poor School records for the county (see usgwarchives.net/ga/upson/history), it is supposed they struggled financially.  And then the war hit.

We lose site of E.J. in 1857.  There are no muster records for him.  There is no death certificate. He simply disappears.  The eldest son, Camelius, steps up to support the family.  Camelius aids the Confederate cause by remaining at home and working his pottery business. He supplies the military with various clay items needed for the war, including spittoons.  Correspondence between Camelius and his commanders can be seen on the website Fold3.  We know he is a bit of a rascal as a court document survives charging him with "playing and betting at cards." (Georgia, Upson County, Judge of the Superior Courts of the Flint Circuit, 11th June 1859.)

All that remains of JugTown in Upson County where Camelius made pottery for the Confederate Army.

Second son, William A. "Major," went off to war.  Sadly, it isn't long before he is killed in action at the Battle of McDowell in Highland, Virginia. He was just 18 years old.  I wonder at Major's influence over his younger brother, Joseph.  I think that perhaps Joseph wanted to be like his elder brother, so he lies about his age and follows Major in joining the Confederate Army.  Joseph is only 15 years old when he witnesses the horrors of war on the battlefield. His military records indicate that he is released from his duties and sent home "due to extreme youth."  This discharge happens just weeks after his brother's death. 

Joseph returns home and family lore states that he was known as the town drunk.  He never married and never had any children.  I can only imagine that he suffered greatly from what today we call PTSD.  I visited the battle site in Highland, Virginia.  Today it is quite serene.  It is hard to envision the brutal sight that these boys witnessed.  My heart softens when I see in records that throughout the remainder of Joseph's life, his siblings kept him close in their homes and cared for him.

Joseph H. Brumbeloe.

The war also affected the Brumbeloe girls.  Amanda Melvina, my 3rd great grandmother, married Ulysses J. Daniel.  Their time together was short lived.  While their union produced two children, Louisa and Chesley, Ulysses disappears in the 1860s and is never heard from again.  Amanda presses forward as a single mother trying to survive and raise her children during very uncertain times.

Lydia Louisa (for whom my 2nd great grandmother is named) is listed as a prostitute in the 1860 census.  At the age of 16, Lydia married Burwell Mack Denson, and after becoming pregnant with their son, was abandoned by her husband.  Records indicate that the two divorced just a year after the marriage took place. Who knows?  Perhaps it was a shotgun marriage and he abandoned her shortly thereafter.  Needless to say, we have another Brumbeloe mother left to struggle on her own.  Brother Camelius steps in and takes in not only his sister Lydia and her baby, but also Lydia's sister in law and children who also are now fatherless. 

The 1860 census shows the occupation of "Prostitute" for both Lydia and her sister in law, Maranda H. Denson.  To me this occupation listing in the census appeared to be both bold and disturbing.  Could this really be considered an occupation acceptable to place in a census record?  Further research showed me that not only was it acceptable, but it was common.  Women did what they had to in order to feed their children.

Little is known at this time about Martha and E.J.'s daughter Georgia Ann Brumbeloe.  Born in 1855, she is found enumerated with her mother, Martha until the 1880 census where she can be seen living with local doctor Benjamin Franklin Newsome.  There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding Dr. Benjamin F. Newsome and his brother, Dr. George W. Newsome.  The brothers are known to have fathered a number of children in the local area.  Over the years, a few of the Brumbeloe daughters can be seen living with one of the doctors and claiming the occupation of  "housekeeper." Amanda lived with Dr George Newsome as his housekeeper in 1900, and Lydia Brumebloe Denson had two illegitmate sons with Dr. Benjamin Franklin Newsome.  We don't know what Georgia Ann's connection with Dr. B.F. Newsome might have been.  The 1880 census merely states that she is "at home."

George W. Newsome, MD

Finally, we have Leanna Brumbeloe.  Leanna was born in 1856 and at the age of 16 married John R Duckworth.  Their union produced two children, but the marriage was a tumultuous one.  In 1880, Duckworth was murdered during an argument regarding his wife and a relationship with another man, Dubose Humphries.  The newspaper articles covering the event implies that based on comments made by Duckworth there may have been an affair between Humphries and Leanna.  Duckworth was under the assumption that the two were planning to run away together.  No further article or evidence shows that this was intended, and Leanna and Humphries never joined together after the Duckworth's death.  Leanna never remarries. She becomes another Brumbeloe mother raising two children on her own.

This family's strength and resolve to get through hard times is an inspiration. Given the opportunity I would love to sit down with them as a family and hear about their experiences from their point of view.  Where did the fathers disappear to?  What were the Newsome doctors to this family?  Were these women manipulated and controlled in return for sustenance to survive poverty and destitution?  The loss of a son in the war and the horrific psychological impact it had on another, affected not only Martha but the rest of her children who stuck by one another through thick and thin.

How did these events affect the way the each of these daughters raised their children?  Amanda Brumbeloe was the great grandmother of my own grandmother.  One thing my grandmother use to say to all of us granddaughters was "You don't need a man to survive.  Get an education and be prepared to take care of yourself."  Is this something passed on to her from Amanda, and then Louisa, on down?

The individual stories and experiences woven together make the tapestry that is the Brumbeloe family story.  No, there is not one ancestor I would like to meet, there is a whole family!