We complete our series on the Springsteen Family Bible records with a sad and sweet piece of “Memoranda.”
Transcription:
Inds 9-12-1891
Anna M. Beerbower
Divorced from E. P. Beerbower
Sept. 12-1891 by Judge Harks
================================
Anna M. Beerbower & E. P. Beerbower
Remarried Dec. 26-1908, St. Charles, Mo.
These entries reference Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, daughter of Jefferson and Anna (Conner) Springsteen, and her husband Edgar Peter Beerbower.
The family story is that “E.P.” Beerbower worked for the railroad, and would be gone for long stretches of time because of his job on the train. The story is that he also came home frequently without a paycheck- possibly due to a drinking or gambling problem or ?? per their granddaughter, Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray. Anna would have been left alone frequently, and would have needed to find a way to feed her 3 children. (Anna had 2 other children, one who only lived one day after birth, the other only about two months.) She had family nearby when they were living in Indiana, but after they moved to Illinois- they were in Urbana, Champaign, Illinois before November of 1885, and Cairo, Alexander, Illinois by 17 April 1887- she would have had to care for the family herself.
Less than three years after the death of their last son on the day after his birth, Anna was granted a divorce on 12 September 1891 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Son Robert W. was about 17, Edgar S. about 15, and Anna May just 10 years old. Anna Missouri moved to Indianapolis- probably to be near family- and was living with her sons Robert Warson Beerbower and Edgar Springsteen Beerbower in 1897, when she was listed as a widow in the Indianapolis City Directory. (Anna May was probably there too, but daughters would not have been listed i the city directory.)
By 1900 Anna and her three children had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Could the move have been to be closer to E.P.? We do not know, and know of no other family in St. Louis but it was a railroad hub. As per the entry above, the two were remarried in 1908. A marriage record has possibly been found for the couple, although it is a hard to read. A marriage record for 28 December 1908 (2 days later than the bible entry) with the husband as “E P Beerbower” and the wife’s name “Mrs. Mae Clore” is in Ancestry’s Missouri Marriage Records 1805-2002 database. Interestingly, the record states that EP Beerbower was from Indianapolis, and “Mrs. Mae Clore” from St. Louis. The wife’s name on this record my have been copied incorrectly, as their granddaughter, who was very close to her grandmother who lived with them, did state that they had remarried, and lived together until EP’s death in 1916.
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Although this page is technically not a funeral card, it does give more information about the deaths of our ancestors than a funeral card might. Since the Springsteens were Catholic, they would have had funeral cards made up if they could afford it. (It was surprising that none were found in the bible.) Unfortunately none have survived to this author’s knowledge.
[Left Column]
Joseph Springsteen
Died Tues May 20th 1862 Indianapolis
[Ed. Note: Last child of Jefferson and Anna (Conner) Springsteen; died before his second birthday.]
==================================
John Springsteen Sr.
Died March 19th 72 Indianapolis
[Ed. Note: The year was 1872. The father of Jefferson Springsteen, John Springsteen born 1782, died 19 March 1867 per his death notice in the “Indianapolis Herald.” Was the year of 1872 an error in the bible record, since the bible copyright was 1876 and thus the entry was written after the fact? Or could this be John’s father? Or was he called “John Sr.” because he was the grandfather of John William Springsteen?]
==================================
Laura May Springsteen
Died April 13th 73 at 359 E. Market St.
Indianapolis
[Ed. Note: The year was 1873. Laura May (Longfellow) Springsteen, born 1853, was the wife of Abram Furman Springsteen, and the mother of his first child, Laura G. Springsteen. She died just 24 days after giving birth to their daughter.]
==================================
Laura MayG. Springsteen
Died Sunday Mar. 29th 1885 at the
Residence of her Grand parents
208 Daugherty St. 5-30 P.M.
Indianapolis Ind.
[Ed. Note: Laura Grace Alien Longfellow Springsteen, whose mother died less than a month after giving birth to her, was at the home of Jefferson and Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen when she herself died. She most likely was being raised by her grandparents, although her father is listed in their household in the 1880 US Federal Census but she is not. He remarried, to Ida Belle Dumont- probably a sister to his brother Robert’s wife Anna Dumont- in 1881. Abram married again in July of 1885 to Emma Isola Coombs, after young Laura’s death in March. (We don’t know if Ida bell died or they divorced.)]
==================================
John W. Springsteen
Died May 2[?- scratched through] 1906.
Indianapolis Ind.
[Ed. Note: Oldest son of Jefferson and Anna (Conner) Springsteen. Death date was 2 May 1906. His wife predeceased him in 1887.]
==================================
[Right Column]
Anna M. Springsteen
Died April 17 18781887 Cairo
Sunday 5 P.M.
[Ed. Note: This is Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen, probably the original bible owner. At her death, she most likely was visiting her daughter Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower in Cairo, Illinois.]
==================================
Robert Warson Beerbower
Died Sept 12th-1900, Denver Colo
Wednesday, 2 A. M.
[Ed. Note: Robert was the oldest child of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower and her husband Edgar Peter Beerbower. His only child, Roberta Pearl Beerbower, was born the month after he died, so he never saw his daughter. Colorado death records are closed to family historians unless immediate family, so we cannot know Robert’s cause of death. Around the turn of that century, many of those with tuberculosis went to Colorado for treatment and recuperation- could that have been the case with Robert, even though his first child was to be born soon? Or was he just there for railroad business?]
==================================
Jefferson Springsteen Jr.
Died Apr 14-1905 Indianapolis
Buried Crown Hill Apr 17- 2 P.[or A.?]M.
Age 56 years.
[Ed. Note: This is Thomas Jefferson Springsteen, born in 1848, son of Jefferson and Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen.]
==================================
Jefferson Springsteen Sr.
Died Sept 15-1909 Indianapolis Ind
Buried Crown Hill Cemetary
Age 89 years_
[Ed. Note: Son of John Springsteen and Mary Logan, and husband to Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen.]
Notes, Sources, and References:
Family treasure chest.
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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis- scanning electron micrograph. Centers for Disease Control, Public Domain.
Beerbower Family, Broida Family, Payne Family
Consumption. Phthisis. Scrofula. Pott’s Disease. The White Plague.
These are all names that were used for tuberculosis (TB), the deadliest disease for many centuries- even for thousands of years. Tuberculosis was described and found in ancient Egypt, and Hippocrates wrote that it was the most prevalent cause of death in Greece. TB has even been found in Neolithic bone 9,000 years old! Closer in time, for 200 years in Europe it was “The White Plague” and killed hundreds of thousands, and more than 30% of Europeans died of TB in the 1800s. Some think that in the industrialized cities, 100% of the poverty-stricken working class was infected with TB. It is estimated that at least 40% of deaths in this group were caused by tuberculosis.
Sanitation in the 1800s, or the lack thereof, was thought by some to be the cause. Sanatoriums were hoped to be a cure in the mid- and late-1800s, by getting patients out of the polluted, closely-packed, dirty cities. Fresh air, along with the prescribed good nutrition and exercise, did some good- consumptives (persons with TB, also called “TBs” or “Lungers”) sometimes actually did improve, and some claimed, were cured. In the United States, moving west to the Rockies or California helped many, including some of our ancestors. Unfortunately, a ‘better’ climate did not help all, including some of our ancestors as well.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne bacterial disease, but that fact was not common knowledge until Robert Koch delivered a paper on his discovery of the bacterium on 24 March 1882- hence, ‘World Tuberculosis Day’ today. The use of x-rays in the early 1900s helped with diagnosis of the disease, but until the discovery in the 1940s of antibiotics that could treat TB, there was no hope of a true cure, but only possible remission, which did sometimes occur.
The most common symptom of TB is a cough, often with bloody sputum; night sweats, a general malaise, fever, and exhaustion may also occur. It is a slow disease, eating away from the inside, and sometimes the outside too, even affecting parts of the body other than the lungs.
A century or two ago, some felt that consumptives were more sensitive, artistic, etc.- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Louis Stevenson, Anton Checkov, Thoreau, the Bronte sisters, Chopin, Stephen Crane, Robert Heinlein, Franz Kafka, D.H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Sarah Bernhardt, Edvard Munch, and many more died of TB. It became fashionable for women to paint their faces almost white to get that pale, delicate complexion seen in consumptives after wasting away for many years.
Tuberculosis is spread when persons carrying the bacterium cough, sneeze, speak, or sing; the bacterium can stay in the air for many hours and infect someone else when that air is breathed in. A carrier may have the bacterium for many years and not know it, but something, such as immune suppression or pregnancy, can trigger the disease into an active state. For some, it may take 15 years or more to waste away with the disease.
“TB poster” by Rensselaer County Tuberculosis Association. – U.S. National Library of Medicine Transferred from en.wikipedia. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TB_poster.jpg#/media/File:TB_poster.jpg
Spittoons have a place in this discussion- men spit tobacco everywhere back in the day, and that actually spread TB. Using spittoons helped to corral the infection into those brass vessels instead of all over where it could travel via shoes, long dresses, etc. Wonder if the people who cleaned spittoons had a higher rate of the disease?
Pasteurization of milk also helped decrease the disease in developed countries, as the bovine (cow) form of tuberculosis can be spread to humans. This is a real problem today in India and Africa.
TB is not just a disease of the third world these days- with antibiotic resistance increasing and the number of persons immigrating to western countries carrying Mycobacterium tuberculosis, plus illnesses like HIV and drugs that suppress the immune system (such as some of the new anti-inflamatories), TB is on the rise, even in the US.
Our ancestors would be disappointed to see this trend, as TB would have been something terrible they coped with throughout their lifetime, or with family or friends. They most probably would have thought that it would be curable and then eradicated by the year 2015.
We have had at least 3 ancestors appear unexpectedly out west- two were very puzzling, as the reason for their move was not evident, until one sees the cause of death on the death certificate: tuberculosis. They had gone west in pursuit of golden health, not the gold in the ground.
Robert Warson Beerbower, son of Edgar Peter Beerbower and Anna Missouri Springsteen, was enumerated in the 01 Jun 1900 US Federal Census in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, with his wife of just two years, Josephine Reiffel Beerbower. He was working as a railroad clerk, and they were living with his wife’s parents. The couple was expecting their first child. Robert’s job was probably not very strenuous as a clerk, however he was sick. Robert traveled to Denver, Colorado, likely alone, and likely leaving his pregnant wife in Indianapolis. They would have known he had TB, but there were no antibiotics to cure it at that time. He died of tuberculosis on 12 Sep 1900 in Denver, and his body was returned to Indianapolis, Indiana for burial. Robert was only 26 years old. “Rob’s little baby,” Roberta Pearl Beerbower, was born just a month later and named after her father.
Sarah Gitel Frank Broida was born in Lithuania and immigrated to the United States about 1881. She was the mother of nine children, with seven surviving childhood. The family were poor immigrants, living in industrial, polluted Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working as ‘rag pickers’ initially. Their son Harold Broida was born 25 Dec 1897, and the 1899 City Directory places the family living at 1102 Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh. By 07 June 1900, Gitel, her husband John (or Zelig) Broida, oldest son Joseph, and youngest son Harold were living in Denver, Colorado; the other sons were staying with scattered family back east. This was very puzzling- the Broidas were city folk, and it was hard to imagine them in the still somewhat wild west of 1900. Family oral history, however, stated that Gitel had died of tuberculosis, so their move to the sanitariums there or just the more favorable climate and cleaner air made sense, especially since antibiotics to cure TB would not be available for another 40 years. Perhaps one of Gitel’s many pregnancies had triggered the infection possibly picked up years before, maybe from contaminated rags from their early days in the US, or the disease could have been newly acquired. Gitel died in Denver on 14 April 1901 at the age of 41. Her mortuary record verifies that she died of tuberculosis. (Unfortunately the state of Colorado won’t share her 114 year old death certificate- but they took the money paid for it. Apparently a great-grandchild is not closely related enough to view it, despite the certificate previously being online.)
Edward B. Payne had worked in the tenements of Chicago around 1872, and in the mill towns of Massachusetts and New Hampshire with the poor during the 1880s. He had been called to a position in Berkeley, California, between those years, but had returned to visit family and decided to stay in New England. Edward apparently acquired tuberculosis sometime in the 1880s, if not before; it may possibly have worsened by 1890 or so. In 1892 the family chose to go back to California, in hope that it would improve his health, plus provide him more of what he wished for in his professional and spiritual life. (He was a minister.) The climate must have helped, as Edward lived another 31 years, to age 76, without the cure of antibiotics. He did spend a lot of time outdoors as was recommended for those with tuberculosis, and became a convert to some of the ‘newest’ healthy foods, like whole grain breads, so those treatments may have helped him survive the disease.
Other family members, like the Lees and Aikens, traveled frequently to Colorado. We do know that for the Lees it was due to respiratory problems- plus they loved the mountains- but know of no one that definitely had tuberculosis.
4) There are no posts yet about this time period in Edward B. Payne’s life- those are in the works.
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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Mary Emma Beerbower’s birth announcement in the Marion [Ohio] Daily Star, 26 Apr 1880. Posted with kind permission of the newspaper for non-profit use only. What a joyous news note- the birth of a daughter to Edgar “Ed” Peter Beerbower and Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower!
This cherished daughter was born 22 April 1880. She was named Mary Emma Beerbower, likely after her paternal aunt, Mary Emma (Beerbower) Ligenfelter, who was 3 years younger than her brother Ed.
A Marion, Ohio newspaper printed this story, since Ed and his father, Eleazer John Beerbower, his mother, Matilda Louise McElvey Beerbower, and their other children, were former residents of Marion. (It was also a way to increase newspaper sales in another city- a common ploy by savvy newspapers.) Ed’s brother Samuel T. Beerbower still lived in Marion, and was the postmaster, so the news would be of interest to many in the town.
Ed and Anna Beerbower had already had 2 sons, Robert Warson Beerbower, born 1874, and Edgar Springsteen Beerbower, born 1876. There was then a gap of about three and a half years before dear Mary Emma was born. Two more children would later be born to Ed and Anna: Anna May Beerbower, b. 1881, and Willie Beerbower, b. 1889, but Willie only lived one day.
Samuel T. Beerbower and his wife, Irene L. Peters, had only two known children, both sons: Cornell R. Beerbower (b. 1870) and Wilson Beerbower, birthdate unknown but probably in the 1870s; he only lived one year and a few days.
Little Mary Emma’s grandparents, Eleazer and Matilda Beerbower, were still alive and living in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1880, and must have been thrilled to finally have a granddaughter. Other children of Eleazer and Matilda would give them more grandchildren in later years.
Note the play on words: “Brightwooder be the smiles…” instead of “Bright would be the smiles.” The writer refers to Brightwood, where the daughter was born, a residential area then northeast of Indianapolis, Indiana.
We have real privacy concerns today, but it’s really not that new, except the scope- the newspapers of old could print pretty much what they wanted and usually filled their columns with all sorts of goings on in the town, along with editorial content in the news pages. The birth of a niece was probably a happy event for Samuel and his wife Irene, especially with the 3+ year gap in children for Anna and Ed Beerbower, when they may have lost another child not known. Sadly, the newspaper sort of rubs in the fact that Samuel and Irene do not have a daughter of their own- that probably hurt deeply, as anyone who has lost a child or been unable to have as many as they wish would know.
The sadness continues though… despite being a healthy 8- 1/2 pounds at birth, baby Mary Emma Beerbower only lived just over two months. The Beerbower family bible states
“Died
Mary Emma Beerbower
June 29th 1880 Aged
9 weeks, 5 days
Brightwood, Ind.”
Newspaper article about telgram re: death of Mary Emma Beerbower, in the March 30th, 1880 issue of the Marion [Ohio] Daily Star. Posted with kind permission of the newspaper for non-profit use only.The telegram was dated 29 June,, but states that the infant died “yesterday, at 4 p.m.” making her actual death date 28 Jun 1880. The paper notes her burial is to be July 1st, but the Find A Grave record for Mary Emma in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, notes that she was buried 29 Aug 1880, quite a long time from the bible and telegram death date.
Mary Emma is buried in Section 22, Lot 894, which is not by the remaining family’s lots.
Even though the news is first happy but ultimately sad here, one bright spot to an intrepid family historian is that the first article tells where Ed Beerbower worked- the CCC & IRR office, so we may be able to find some railroad worker records for him now that we know the line and a date.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Birth announcement in Marion [Ohio] Daily Star, April 26, 1880, Volume III, No. 170, Page 4, Column 2. Posted with kind permission of the newspaper for personal, non-profit use only.
2) 1880 US Federal Census for Eleazer and Matilda (McElvey) Beerbower: Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana; Roll: 295; Family History Film: 1254295; Page: 227B; Enumeration District: 113; Image: 0156.
3) Death telegram news story in Marion [Ohio] Daily Star, April 26, 1880, Volume III, No. 225, Page 4, Column 2. Posted with kind permission of the newspaper for personal, non-profit use only.
4) Mary Emma Beerbower’s Find A Grave Memorial #45869800: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45869800&ref=acom
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[Anna Missouri & Edgar P. Beerbower’s daughter born April 22, 1880.]
Mrs. Anna Springsteen
April 17 1887 aged 64 years
Cairo Ill
[Anna Missouri’s mother, Anna Conner, wife of Jefferson Springsteen. Died while staying with her daughter Anna Missouri.]
Willie Beerbower died
Feb 15 1889 at Cairo Ill.
[Son born the day before, Feb. 14. Anna was about 35 when she had Willie.]
Robert Warson Beerbower
Died Sept 17th 1900 Denver Colo
Wednesday 2 a.m.
[First son who was b. 1874; only 26 years old at death.]
Roberta Pearl Beerbower
Rob’s little baby born Oct 16th– 1900 Tuesday
Indianapolis Ind
522 Buchanan St.
[Daughter born to Robert Warson Beerbower, child of Anna Missouri- this is NOT a death! Roberta was born about a month after her father died. She lived to be 91, and she was a close cousin to Mary Helbling McMurray during the 30s and 40s.]
Ed. P. Beerbower
Died Jan [20?] 1916 Thursday a.m.
Burial Monday Jan 24, 1916 Lot #202 Sec 32
Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind.
[Edgar P. Beerbower, husband of Anna M. Beerbower, b. 1849.]
NOTE: Miscellaneous papers from the Beerbower Family Bible will be posted 1/6/15 and 1/7/15.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Beerbower family bible.
2) Springsteen and Beerbower Family Group Records compiled over many years using bibles, census, and other data.
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Copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
![Mary Emma Beerbower's birth announcement in the Marion [Ohio] Daily Star, 26 Apr 1880.](https://i0.wp.com/heritageramblings.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1880_0426_BEERBOWER_Edgar-Peter_birth-of-dau-in-Marion-Daily-Star-of-this-date_v-III_n170_p4_c2_Ancestry-permission.png)
![Telgram re: death of Mary Emma Beerbower, in the March 30th, 1880 issue of the Marion [Ohio] Daily Star.](https://i0.wp.com/heritageramblings.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1880_0330_BEERBOWER_Edgar-Peter_death-of-dau-in-Marion-Daily-Star-of-this-date_v-III_n225_p4_c2_Ancestry-permission.png)
