Ancestor Roundup: Timothy Brennan

Timothy (Tim) Clarence Brennan was born to William Maurice Brennan and Mary Frances Blines on 16 August 1895 in Washington, Daviess County, Indiana. He was the youngest of four children, and his siblings were, William Earl Brennan (1887 - 1946), Clara Brennan (1889 – 1890), and Johnnie Brennan (1892 – 1901).

He grew up blocks away from the railroad depot where his father, William worked many different jobs on the railroad and in the roundhouse at Washington, Indiana. Taking in his father’s footsteps Tim left school after 7^th the grade and began an apprenticeship with the railroad. This resulted in Tim becoming the youngest qualified tool and die maker on that line at the age of 16. As a tool and die maker Tim had a job for life with the railroad.

According to my father, his grandfather Tim could make anything. If a part broke at home, he simply took the pieces to the workshop and created a new one. He was a hard worker, creative, and loved to work with his hands.

On 24 July 1916 Tim married Agnes Miller (1897 – 1977) in Washington, Indiana. Agnes was also from Washington and granddaughter of a German immigrants. While she was the second generation, the family still spoke German at home and associated with the German-speaking community located in southern Indiana. Tim was also second-generation American, on his father’s side as his paternal grandparents were from Galway, Ireland.

During their early marriage Tim and Agnes lived near the railroad shops at 314 S. Meridian St. and 3 North St. Both easy walks from home to work. Here they raised their four daughters: Ruth, Helen, Mary Alice, and Margaret.

Religion was a touchy subject in the family. Tim was Presbyterian and Agnes was Catholic. From what my grandmother told me, her father was more laid back and did not fuss about much of anything. Mainly giving in to what Agnes wanted according to religion and child-raising. Which means their children were raised Catholic and not Presbyterian. However, only two of the children stayed with the church as adults.

By 1930 they moved onto a small farm, which at that time was outside of town. Now it is well within the limits of the city. Tim still worked at the railyard and rode a horse into town until they purchased their first car. They had a small herd of milk cows, a vegetable garden, and Anges loved living there as she grew up farming. Tim grew up in town and was never quite as handy with farming.

My father and his siblings spent many summers and weekends with their cousins helping plow, harvest, pick bugs, milk cows, and canning vegetables. He was also afraid of the cows and the bull they kept. According to dad, he never quite figured out how to deal with animals and my father and his middle brother usually did the driving of the herd for him.

Tim retired from the B&O Railroad in 1957 after having a heart attack. He spent the next few years reading, working the small farm, and enjoying life. As a retirement present, the man the workshop reupholstered his favorite reclining chair in the fabric that the seats on the passenger trains were made from. It was a vivid blue nubby fabric that I also remember very well. We had Tim’s chair in our home until the late 1980s when it finally broke for good and could not be repaired. It was my favorite cartoon watching spot as a kid.

My dad remembers the chair from childhood because Tim was an avid reader. He would sit for hours in that chair reading books, magazines, and the newspaper. Next to this chair was a basket with reading material and when my dad would visit, he would sit next to him, pull something from the basket and they would sit and read next to each other. Supposedly it irritated Agnes to no end, wasting his life reading when he should be working. But he introduced my dad to some of his favorite authors, like Zane Grey.

Tim died from a cerebral hemorrhage on 1 May 1962 after battling years with coronary artery disease. He was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia at the time. He is buried in St John’s cemetery next to the catholic church in Washington.

Family Group:

Timothy Clarence Brennan, son of William Maurice Brennan and Mary Frances Bline, married Agnes Miller, daughter of John Miller and Mary Theresa Nagley. They had five children

Infant daughter – 14 September 1916, stillborn

Ruth Eleanor Brennan (24 August 1918 – 14 December 1997), who married Paul Combs

Helen Lucille Brennan (21 October 1919 – 28 October 2016), who married Lester Jones

Mary Alice Brennan (11 May 1921 – 3 January 1996), who married James Norris

Margaret Ellen Brennan (29 July 1929 – 5 December 2009), who married Louis Dant

Ancestor Roundup: Sylvia Ann Freeman

Sylvia Ann Freeman was born 5 October 1891 in Martin County, Indiana. She was the daughter of John USG Freeman (1865 – 1937) and Alta Eldora Davison (1861 – 1924). She grew up in Lost River Township, just outside of French Lick, Indiana. Sylvia had six siblings, one of whom was her twin sister Goldie Jean (1891 – 1987). They were not identical twins. As adults, Goldie was almost a foot taller than Sylvia’s 4’9” height. Her other siblings were Stanford Altman (1887 – 1966), Hattie May (1895 - 1991), Pearl Alice  (1899 - 1983), Vergil Austin (1903 - 1992), and Albert Cleo (1905 - 1993).

On 13 Nov 1909 Sylvia married Everett Franklin Combs. She raised a house of children and then helped with grandchildren. However, her time as a mother as packed with sadness with the loss of seven children under the age of one. I wrote about this before.

According to my father, she loved roses and knew how to grow them anywhere. Sylvia even spliced varieties together to create bushes with multiple types of roses. Unfortunately, her skill was not always appreciated. From what I was told my grandmother loved Sylvia’s roses and they would work to plant them in my grandparent’s yard. Then, my grandfather most likely suffering from rose growing trauma as a child, would run them over with the lawnmower until they stopped planting them.

My grandparents no longer lived with Sylvia and Everett when she had a heart attack on 11 November 1964. Feisty until the end, Sylvia would not let the ambulance take her to the hospital until my grandmother was there. She had to make sure someone with a “head on their shoulders” new how to take care of the family finances. Sylvia lingered in and out of consciousness for four days until she died on 15 November.


Family Group:
Everett Franklin Combs, son of Willis Franklin and Mary Margaret Hall, married Sylvia Ann Freeman, daughter of John Ulysses S Grant Freeman and Alta Eldora Davison. They had the following children:
Albert Keralla Combs (17 October 1910 – 16 February 1980) who married Pauline Christine Casper
James Franklin Combs (31 May 1913 – 16 July 1987) who married Mayme Jones and Harriett Bobb
Paul Edward Combs (5 October 1915 – 13 Nov 1978) who married Ruth Eleanor Brennan
Zelma Mae Combs (24 February 1918 – 26 December 2005) who married Delbert Orris Horton
Ruth Emily Combs (7 Jun 1920 – 20 June 1920) died from pneumonia
Gladdis Marie Combs (11 April 1921 – 5 May 1921) died from pneumonia
Everett Franklin Combs Jr. (5 May 1922 – 10 May 2010) who married Anna Louise Catt
Mary Louise Combs (17 November 1924 – 8 June 2003) who married Charles Heaton King
Infant (24 March 1927) stillborn
Kenneth Eugene Combs (13 Oct 1928 – 13 Oct 1928) died from prematurity
Infant (12 Jun 1929) stillborn
Mildred Pauline Combs (13 August 1930 – 18 Aug 1930) died from a heart defect
Robert Earl Combs (30 September 1933 – 16 October 1933) died from indigestion

Ancestor Round Up: Everett Franklin Combs

Everett Franklin Combs, c1924.
Image from my personal collection.

Everett Franklin Combs, Sr., was born 29 March 1886 in Martin County, Indiana to Willis Franklin Combs and Mary Margaret Hall. He was the fifth of eight ­­children and his siblings were, Ira (1877-1956), Jennie (1880-1948), Homer (1882-1971), Ada (1884-1901), John (1888-1959), Margaret (1891-?), George (1893-1923), and Eliza (1897-1987).

His family lived as farmers in Lost River Township, Martin County, Indiana. According to his sister Eliza’s journals, they were happy there living off the land, playing in the streams, hunting, and fishing. Unfortunately, his time there was short-lived. Everett’s mother Margaret and older sister Ada died in 1901 during a typhoid fever outbreak. His youngest sister Eliza wrote that the women spent weeks nursing the family back to health only to succumb to the illness themselves. The fever hit the local area hard, and his father Willis Franklin remarried a widow with two daughters within a few years.

After this marriage Willis moved the newly merged family to just outside of Vincennes in Knox County. Here they worked as tenant farmers for Brevoort Farms, but moved home to Lost River before the 1920 census.

Fort Casey Lighthouse.
From Washington State Parks.

On 10 March 1906 Everett joined the US Army. According to his enlistment papers he was 5’6” tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair. My father states his grandfather told him he was a medic while in the service and nicknamed “Doc.” Discharge papers state his last duty station was Fort Casey in Washington State. He was discharged 9 March 1909. Unfortunately, after his death, many of Everett's papers were burned. My father described his discharge papers as an excellent example of Edwardian script, a work of art by itself. He never saw it again after his grandfather died and assumes it was burned.

While he was away Everett corresponded with his future wife Sylvia Ann Freeman. They married a few months after his return on 13 November 1909 in Martin County, Indiana. However, many decades later during a marital argument a long-held secret came out to the family. My father, who was there, told me the story. Everett was in love with another girl, who he wrote to faithfully, but she never wrote to him. Likewise, this girl wrote to him for over a year with no reply. She gave up on Everett and was married to another man by the time he returned home. What neither of them knew was Sylvia had intercepted the letters in the mailboxes. The letters to and from Sylvia were the only ones getting through. My father said Everett was furious, and while angry for several days, there was nothing he could do about it 40 years later.

In the 1910 Census Everett and Sylvia are living as newlyweds in Lost River Township again. He lists himself as a farmer and is renting his land. Shortly their family begins to grow and by 1920 they have four children. According to his WWI draft card the family lived in West Baden, Orange County, Indiana just a few miles from Lost River.

The saddest part of genealogical research was the discovery of the many children they lost during their marriage. My grandfather did not know about them until later in life when he found the stones for his siblings. In total they lost seven babies due to disease, still birth, or prematurity.

Sometime between 1917 and 1920 the family moved to Washington, Daviess County, Indiana. My grandfather told a story about the move. He was not in school yet, only four or five years old, and the second youngest in the family at that time. They loaded a buckboard wagon with all their belongings and a cow in tow. The children took turns walking with the cow and sitting in the wagon almost 50 miles.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Once in Washington Everett began working as a laborer for the B&O railroad yard. Washington was a huge railroad hub for many decades which made it a bustling city within the corn fields. While the 1920 census did not state their address the 1927 directory showed they rented a home at 107 NW 6^th Street and Everett still worked for the B&O railroad. However, they did move frequently and never owned a home until later in life according to my father.

By 1930 they lived at 379 NW 10^th Street in Washington and Everett was then a station supervisor for the B&O Railroad. Two years after that they lived at 816 Robinson Street, the home they eventually bought. The 1940 census asked for the highest level of education and Everett stated he completed to 4^th grade and Sylvia to 7^th grade. Everett left the B&O sometime prior to this census and was now listed as a truckdriver for the City Street Department.

Everett and his son Paul c1965.
Image from my personal collection.

However, within two years Everett was working for the city police department according to his WWII draft card. During WWII my father and his parents lived with Everett, Sylvia, and their youngest children. My grandmother helped cook, clean, take care of the kids, and assisted in keeping the extended family in town well.

My father remembers him as a cop growing up and did not know about his other jobs until I showed him these documents. According to his memories, Everett carried a nightstick, but no gun, and wielded a lot of respect from the local community. Dad stated he was quick with that stick and loved to twirl it when he walked.

They lived on Robinson St until Sylvia died in 1964. Everett was able to live a few more years on his own until being taken in by his daughter Zelma and her family. Everett died at 6:30 am on 7 November 1970 at the Prairie Village Nursing Home in Washington. He had suffered for an extended period from cardiac and renal failure. The services were held at Gill Funeral Home in Washington and he was buried with his family at the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Family Group:
Everett Franklin Combs, son of Willis Franklin and Mary Margaret Hall, married Sylvia Ann Freeman, daughter of John Ulysses S Grant Freeman and Alta Eldora Davison. They had the following children:

Albert Keralla Combs (17 October 1910 – 16 February 1980) who married Pauline Christine Casper

James Franklin Combs (31 May 1913 – 16 July 1987) who married Mayme Jones and Harriett Bobb

Paul Edward Combs (5 October 1915 – 13 Nov 1978) who married Ruth Eleanor Brennan

Zelma Mae Combs (24 February 1918 – 26 December 2005) who married Delbert Orris Horton

Ruth Emily Combs (7 Jun 1920 – 20 June 1920) died from pneumonia

Gladdis Marie Combs (11 April 1921 – 5 May 1921) died from pneumonia

Everett Franklin Combs Jr. (5 May 1922 – 10 May 2010) who married Anna Louise Catt

Mary Louise Combs (17 November 1924 – 8 June 2003) who married Charles Heaton King

Infant (24 March 1927) stillborn

Kenneth Eugene Combs (13 Oct 1928 – 13 Oct 1928) died from prematurity

Infant (12 Jun 1929) stillborn

Mildred Pauline Combs (13 August 1930 – 18 Aug 1930) died from a heart defect

Robert Earl Combs (30 September 1933 – 16 October 1933) died from indigestion