Featured Families Of Carroll County Illinois |
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Featured Families Of Carroll County Illinois |
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  Adam and Susanna were born and grew up in the farming community of Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Manor Township was then a small town where the local populations were primarily German and Swiss Lutherans and Mennonites. Adam Brenner’s ancestors originally came from Wurttemberg, Germany, in the mid 18th century. Adam’s grandfather, George Brenner (1752 -1795), was one of the first settlers in Manor Township and his parents, Gerhard Brenner (1776-1824) and Catherine Schneider (1773 -1823), were prominent members of the community. George Brenner’s financial status is reflected in his inclusion on the township’s 1780 tax assessment list. Manor Township was then a small town with a total population, by 1853, of 3,135 inhabitants including 35 free black citizens. Susanna Yordy’s family, like the Brenner’s, came to America in the 18th century; they too sought a place to practice their pacifist religion freely and the opportunity for a better life. The first Yordy family member to immigrate to America was Peter Yordy. Peter Yordy came from the village of Signau (Berne Canton), Switzerland, to Lancaster County, PA in 1717. Over the next century the Yordy‘s family grew in size and their farms prospered. Susanna’s father, Daniel Yordy (1772-1849) (Peter Yordy’s grandson), had four children with his wife Elizabeth Thomas; Susanna was their first born child. In the early 19th century, many residents in the Manor Township still spoke some German and the majority of the town’s inhabitants were families with names like: Bachman, Bonn, Dinckle, Dosch, Witmer and Zigler. Many still used that language in their German Lutheran and Mennonite church liturgies. By the early 19th century, many descendents of the first Yordy and Brenner settlers (such as Adam and Susanna Yordy Brenner), were now using English as their first language (there is some question whether Adam or Susanna would have retained any fluency in German). In such a small community as Manor Township, Adam and Susanna most likely met at the town school and perhaps would have seen each other occasionally in and about town. We are assuming that their acquaintance grew to love and they decided to marry by mutual attraction. This account is based on the recollections: “My Own Story” Margaret Brenner Garat, Susanna’s granddaughter. As told by Garat, Susanna Yordy’s family objected to the young couple’s marriage. Their objection was said to be so strong that her family made it clear to Susanna that if she were to marry Adam she would be as dead to them. While this tradition as many do may contain some truth, the basis of her families objection (if any) are not clear nor is there any firm evidence that Daniel and Elizabeth even remained with the Mennonite religious tradition. While the tradition assumes Daniel Yordy remained a Mennonite there is no documentary evidence that he was actually raised in the Mennonite faith or that he ever practiced as an adult. There is strong evidence, however, that his wife, Elizabeth Thomas, came from a Methodist background. Both her brothers David and Christian Thomas were clergymen of the Evangelical Association and supported the Reverend Jacob Albright, who is known as the founder of the United Methodist Church in America. We simply do not know if Elizabeth Thomas converted to the Mennonite faith when she married Daniel, or Daniel was a practicing Mennonite, and if he continued to adhere to the faith of his fathers. What we do know with certainty is that Susanna Yordy chose to marry Adam Brenner and begin a new life together. The young couple was married on 23 Dec 1829 by the Reverend John C. Baker of the Trinity Lutheran Church [Lancaster Intelligencer Tuesday 6 January 1829 states the Reverend Baker. The Reverend Baker also performed the marriage rites for her younger brother Christian Yordy and his bride Susan Sowders six years later]. After their wedding, Adam and Susanna moved from Manor Township and settled in the town of Hellam. In Hellam, Adam and Susanna bought property and farmed their own land near the banks of the Conestoga River. Here their industry and hard work enabled them to support their ever growing family; in all they had 13 children. Twelve of their children were born in Pennsylvania and their youngest and last child, John Wesley Brenner, was born in Freeport, Illinois. In Hellam Township, Adam and Susanna farmed in the traditional methods; planting and harvesting crops such as corn, oats and wheat. Their sons learned to work the land and acquired a practical knowledge of farming from their father Adam, while their daughters learned the domestic arts from Susanna. Pennsylvania farmer’s like the Brenner’s, typically kept a few horses for transportation, a pair of oxen to pull their heavy plow, and a few cows for milk. Most of their larger animals would have been looked after by Adam and the older boys. Adam and his sons would also have tilled their fields, while Elizabeth and the older girls would look after the younger children, keeping house, keeping the fire burning, and cooking meals for 13 hungry people. Just to wash a load of clothes would require Elizabeth and the younger children to carry full buckets of water some distance, cut wood to heat it, scrub clothing in a wash tub and lift and hang the heavy laundry to dry. Soap for the Brenner’s as for most 19th century farm families, was homemade from a mixture of ashes, lye and rendered animal fat. To bring order to their large household would constantly occupy Elizabeth. Under Elizabeth’s guidance, the younger Brenner children would have had to take turns churning butter, keeping their family cows milked, their chickens fed, and their eggs collected. Susanna Brenner must have been a truly remarkable person for in addition to her many duties and responsibilities she was pregnant for the first decade and half of the couple’s marriage. Even while pregnant she would have continued to mother the other infants and served as a mother, nurse and teacher for her younger children. Like other 19th century families, Elizabeth and Adam experienced the tragic deaths of two of their young children; Elizabeth and William Brenner. Both Elizabeth and William died before their tenth birthdays. There were also times of joy in the Brenner household as well as tragedy. For example, on the day before Christmas 1850, the couple’s oldest daughter, Susan, married William J. Gemill a respected teacher and principal of the Wrightsville Public School. The young couple went on to have fourteen children and a long and happy life together. Susannah’s younger sister Elizabeth Yordy also would marry that same year, to a local farmer, John Borzfield. Adam and Susanna Brenner’s children were: Susan A. BRENNER b: 13 SEP 1829 Wrightsville, Hellam Twp. York Co, PA d. 8 March 1919 Brethren Cemetery, Shannon Illinois. Spouse William J. GEMILL (1826-1904) Married 24 Dec. 1850. Elizabeth BRENNER b: 26 Dec. 1830 Wrightsville, Hellam Twp. York Co, PA d. BEF 1840 Henry BRENNER b: 29 MAR 1832 in York Co, PA d.8 April 1916 Canton Twp Lincoln County, Ohio. Spouse:#1. Elizabeth Schriber Abt 1835-Abt 1856). Spouse # 2. Susan Yordy (1839-1919).Married: 10 February 1857 Freeport Illinois. (Henry Brenner and Susan Yordy were 1st Cousins), Benjamin BRENNER b: 18 OCT 1833 in Columbia, Lancaster Co, PA d. July 2, 1864 Vicksburg Miss. Benjamin enlisted in the 46th Illinois Infantry Company D on 30 December 1863 He died of Typhus at McPherson Army Hospital, Vicksburg Miss . His name was carried on the 46th Illinois Regimental rolls as: Benjamin Branaird. His spouse was Mary Jane Ballard. The young couple married 14 October 1856. At his death he left his spouse Mary Jane and two children. Adam BRENNER b: 11 OCT 1833 Wrightsville, Hellam Twp, York Co, PA d. 11 Dec 1913 Greenwood Cemetery, Rockford Winnebago County Illinois. Spouse: Ellen CASSALOW (Abt. 1834-1884) Married 8 May 1856 Freeport Stephenson County Illinois.
born 30 Sep 1837 Wrightsville, Hellam Twp. York Co, PA died 18 Nov 1870 Shannon Illinois Buried at Shelley Cemetery Married John Wesley HELDER (1833-1911) 27 Dec. 1855 Freeport Stephenson County Illinois.
Enlisted in the 93rd Illinois Infantry Regiment Company D 25 July 1862 at Shannon Illinois
his cousin Christian Yordy (1843-1911) was also in the 93rd Company D.
Jacob was wounded at the Battle of Champion Hill 1864 and discharged 1865
born 31 MAY 1841 in Lancaster Co, PA died 7 July 1928 Inwood Twp, Lyon County Iowa. Buried Richland Cemetery Married George Washington LYON (1840-1940)
Daniel T. BRENNER b: 5 NOV 1843 Wrightsville Hellam Twp York, PA d. 8 Aug 1921 Miller Twp, Hand County, South Dakota. Spouse: Lodena Adeline PAYNE (1862-AFR 1920) Married Abt 1880 Iowa David T. BRENNER b: 16 JUL 1846 Wrightsville Hellam Twp, York, PA d. 2 December 1922 Lincoln County South Dakota. Spouse # 1 Samantha A BOLLINGER (1853-1882) Married 13 February 1872 Shannon Carroll County Illinois. Spouse # 2: Emma Rosina KORNDER( 1866-1943) Married 13 October 1866. David Brenner enlisted in the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment Company E and was discharged 30 September 1865 William BRENNER Abt 1848 Wrightsville Hellam Twp York County PA d. BFR 1850 Wrightsville Hellam Twp York County PA. Mary Elizabeth BRENNER b: JAN 1850 in Wrightsville Hellam Twp York Co, PA d. 2 June 1919 Lincoln County South Dakota. Spouse Benjamin Hackman GOSS (1852- UNK) Married 23 January 1879 Shannon Twp., Carroll County Illinois. John Wesley BRENNER b: 30 OCT 1852 in Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois d. 29 January 1931 Forest Hill Cemetery Canton Twp Lincoln County South Dakota Spouse: Nancy Jane SHORE (1852-1939) Married 25 January 1876, Lanark Illinois. In the spring of 1852, the Brenner’s decided to move west to the then new state of Illinois. Their choice to move west was probably a calculated one. Over the years, as their family grew in numbers, their farm would either have needed to increase its productivity or they would have to acquire more land. The 1850 census (Page 141, household # 92 line: 16) reflects that Adam and Susanna Brenner had property worth $9,000 which meant that they enjoyed a certain measure of middle class prosperity. However, in addition to their immediate needs, the family had to consider prospects for their children’s futures, especially their sons, who when grown would seek to form their own households and farm their own land. To have any viable future the next generation of Brenner’s needed more arable land to farm. All over Pennsylvania, other farm families were considering similar options. Beginning in the 1840’s, depleted soil had become a problem as had excess population and a dwindling number of available farm plots in and around Lancaster and York Counties. In 1847, one such large group attempted to resolve this dilemma. This group was led by the Reverend Christian Hershey who was married to Elizabeth Yordy (Susanna’s aunt). Reverend and Elizabeth Hershey’s group were all bound for Iowa. When settled, the Hershey’s and other westward migrants wrote letters to friends and family back home. Their letters did much to convince others to move to Iowa, where the land was cheap and plentiful. Adam and Susanna Brenner would have also heard of other family members, including some of the Yordy’s, who were on the ill fated Belle of the West. The Belle of the West was a river steamer which caught fire during the night resulting in the lost of fourteen lives, many injuries and all total lost of their household goods. But despite the very real dangers of moving, the important economic reality for the Brenner’s was that land in Pennsylvania, was now growing scarce and remaining plots were now ever smaller and more expensive. Migration westward into the new states and territories was increasingly seen as the one likely answer. At that time, Adam and Susanna Brenner were both over forty. In 1850, the average life expectancy in the United States was 38.4 years of age for white males, and 23 for black males; and even less for women. For the couple to move from long settled Pennsylvania to frontier Illinois meant that they were leaving not only their farm in Hellam Township, but the only other place they had both ever lived in. Adam’s parents and grandparents were buried nearby and his many siblings still lived on farms in the surrounding community. Susanna’s mother Elizabeth and her father Daniel had both died in 1850. What ever differences she may have had with her parents were long past. Susanna appears to have been fully reconciled with her siblings, too. In the next two years, her brothers Benjamin and Christian would follow the Brenner party to Illinois. Susanna’s younger sister, Elizabeth Yordy and her husband John Borzfield also left to settle in Illinois. After Adam and Susanna’s family farm was sold and everything useful was packed, they moved their belongings as far as possible by wagon and with their farm proceeds, purchased a trip by flat boat down the Ohio River and then another trip by steam boat up the Mississippi River to Savanna, Illinois. During their long journey overland and then by steamboat, Susanna was pregnant with the couple’s last child, John Wesley Brenner, who was born shortly after their arrival in Illinois. Susanna Gemmill, the Brenner’s oldest daughter, sadly lost her first child, probably as a result of the strenuous trip. When the group made landfall in Savanna they moved on to Cherry Grove; which was a new community in Carroll County named for its large grove of cherry trees. In addition to large groves of cherry trees, Cherry Grove was also a stage station. Cherry Grove figured quite prominently in the early settlement of the county on account of the stage lines that passed through this territory from the east and south converging here in a highway that led to the Galena Lead Mines. For new arrivals to Illinois, one of the first important tasks was to find or built shelter and get ready for the coming winter. Since the Brenner’s had both the resources and the manpower to build rudimentary cabins we may assume they settled in quickly, were able to purchase farm land, and get some crops in the ground. Over the next few years they became fixtures in the community and family weddings were frequent as three of the Brenner’s older boys found partners: Henry Brenner married Elizabeth Schriber 3 January 1854; Benjamin Brenner married Mary Jane Ballard on 14 October 1856; Adam Brenner married Ellen Casslow at Freeport on 8 May 1856; and Anna Sarah Brenner the second eldest daughter was married on 27 December 1855 to John Wesley Helder. The 1860 census (Page 887, household # 447 line: 22) for Cherry Grove (German Valley post office) reflects some changes. Adam and Susanna Brenner were both 50 years of age. Only five of their children were living at home: Katherine age 18, Daniel age 16, David age 14, Mary age 11 and John age 10. The census taker also noted the value that Adam and Susanna placed on education. The census enumerator wrote that all of the children had attended school that year. Jacob Brenner (age 21) was listed as working on the Fergson Chitty farm (next door) and William and Susan Gemmill and their three children lived right next door. Their farm was enumerated as valued at $1,800 and the couple claimed their personal estate worth $800.00 When the Civil War broke out, many men within Carroll County rushed to join the colors and fight for the union cause. For Susanna, the war may have presented challenges, the Yordy’s Mennonite religious background may have counseled pacifism and non violence, but Methodists were split on this and many other issues, so such moral dilemmas would test the very core of their faith. Could family members oppose both slavery and the war to end it? How could they remain outside the conflict without entering the American mainstream or secure legal conscientious objector status? For many this ethical paradox marked them as ambivalent participants to the Union cause. While some of the Yordy family may have gravitated toward pacifism, most of the family was sympathetic to the new Republican Party. The younger Brenner’s may well have welcomed the outbreak of war as an opportunity to leave the hard work and monotony of farm work for an imagined life of travel and adventure. Early in the war Jacob Brenner, together with his cousin Christian Yordy, joined the 93rd Illinois Volunteer. This regiment was to become one of best known of the Illinois volunteer regiments. The two cousins were mustered in to service on October 13, 1862 in Chicago. For later generations, the war was often remembered through a veil of romantic nostalgia. For those who actually fought the war and their families who waited in anticipation of their return, the war years were hard. During this four year 1861 -1865 over half a million young men died and many thousands more suffered physical and psychic wounds. For the family members who waited, many would find their lives forever altered by the loss of loved ones. For Susanna and Adam the years 1863 and 1864 were particularly hard. On May 16th 1863, their son, Jacob Brenner, was wounded at Champions Hill, Mississippi; Jacob’s cousin, Christian Yordy, was wounded on October 5, 1864 at Allatoona, Georgia. Worst of all, in 1864, the Brenner family learned that their son, Benjamin Brenner (who had joined the 46th Illinois Infantry Regiment Company D on 30 December 1863-- Benjamin Brenner was serving under the name Branaird) had died. We do not know why Benjamin was listed under the name of ‘Branaird’ but it most likely was a misspelling of his name by a recruitment officer or army clerk. Benjamin had marched south with his regiment and arrived with the regiment on 10 March 1864. He died of typhoid fever at Mc Pherson Army Hospital, Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 2, 1864. While combat losses due to hostile fire were quite heavy early in the campaigns, disease ultimately claimed more men from the 46th than did all of the fighting. This was a period when germ theory did not exist and modern medicine was in its infancy. The young men of the 46th Illinois, while physically tough and proven to be brave, were easy prey to disease. Their diets were inconsistent and they were also under fairly constant exposure to the elements, making them more susceptible. Benjamin Brenner and many of the other young men of Carroll County were simply unaccustomed to the warmer southern climate, and to the sicknesses that would beset them in the south (including malaria and yellow fever). The records show that 191 men of the 46th, or nearly 20% of the entire strength of the Regiment, died of disease during the war. Benjamin was buried in a nearby Vicksburg military cemetery, in all he had served six months before his untimely death. Compounding the Brenner’s woes their son David T. Brenner enlisted in the 11th Illinois Cavalry Company E. that same year. David fortunately survived the war. For the nation in 1864, the most popular songs of the conflict: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie were now replaced on both sides by the dirge: When this Cruel War is Over, which carried the mournful refrain: When this cruel war is over, praying that we meet again. In 1864, all over Carroll County, families received similar sad news telling them of the lost of their sons and fathers usually weeks after the event. For Susanna and Adam Brenner such news caused not only emotional trauma and heart ache for the tragic death of their beloved son Benjamin, but it also added a very real economic hardship of trying to help Benjamin’s young widow, Mary Jane, and her two sons Delbert age 7 and Charles age 2. [For some idea of just how devastating the Civil War was to small towns in Carroll County please click the list of war pensioners and widows for the townships of Mount Carroll and Shannon for 1883] In 1865, after the peace at Appomattox Court House, their soldier sons: David and Jacob Brenner returned home and on 3 July 1866 at Shannon, the couple saw their daughter Katherine Brenner married to Civil War veteran George Washington Lyon. But, all was not well for after the long and costly Civil War; farmers like Adam Brenner found themselves facing economic problems and indeed even economic ruin. The war had meant a seller's grain market but once that war was over that market nearly disappeared, leaving small farmers like Adam and his neighbors with abundant crops, no market and vast debts. During the war, many Illinois farmers like Adam Brenner had increased their acreage in corn and other grains to sell to the ever hungry armies. After the war, the vast military market was gone and grain prices would remain low for nearly a decade because of the overabundance of crops. While we do not know the specifics of Adam Brenner’s personal situation we do know that at his death on 23 October 1870, his estate was very much in the hands of his creditors with insufficient funds to pay the claims against the estate. He was buried in Shannon Township’s Shelly Cemetery and his gravestone was inscribed: I'm going home, I soon shall rest. The Maker calls, all dangers past, A blessed morn is mine at last. Adieu to earth, adieu to friends, It is enough, heaven never ends”
The year 1890 also signaled that the great age of western migration and settlement (except for Alaska) was over. Illinois and Iowa were now settled states, with many of the same amenities of the more populated east. Susannah Brenner could look back with pride on the world she and her beloved Adam had helped create. Hopefully, she spent her latter days secure in the fruits of her labor and the love of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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Jacob C. BRENNER 