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An interesting life!

On December 7, 1971, Schuyler Brossman wrote a biography of Jacob Bressman.  In it he states:  “According to family tradition, as related by an aged member of this Brossman family of Lebanon County, Pa., Benjamin Bressman and three of his brothers headed for the gold mines (could it have been the silver mines?) in the mid 1800s.  They got as far as Indiana or Illinois when one of the wives died.  This so discouraged them that two decided to return to Pennsylvania and the other two stayed in Indiana.”  A more complete portion of this biography can be found with Jacob Bressman 1830-1896 and Benjamin Bressman 1804-1876.

Between this biography, information and Census Records from Corrinne Ellis, information from  Lou Ann Bressman, Donna Stueve and other sources, we have been able to piece together the following story. The brothers mentioned in the biography were all sons of (John) Peter Brossman by his first wife, Catherine Beier.  Based on what we know now, the two brothers that did not return were Samuel and Benjamin.  It is purely speculation that the other two may have been Johannes and Peter and it was Johannes’ wife that died, as Peter does not appear to be married at the time.  Adam, another brother remained in Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.  It is known that Benjamin, his wife Elizabeth, their daughter Mary Ann and sons Israel and Jacob ended up in Illinois and raised 5 or 6 more children and then moved to Iowa.  In 1851, there was a cholera epidemic in Coles County, Illinois, where the family was living.  While we can't confirm the reason why the family left Illinois, disease is as good a reason as any to leave a place. From some obituaries, it also appears that Samuel and his family moved to Indiana in 1851 as well.  We believe that Samuel's family ended up spelling their name Brosman while Benjamin's family name eventually became spelled Bressman.

Jacob Bressman, whose parents were Benjamin Brossman and Elizabeth Krick, was born in 1830 in Shafferstown PA.  From the birth records of his brothers and sisters, it appears his parents moved to Illinois between 1830 and 1833, then to Sidney, Fremont County Iowa probably around 1851.  The family is listed in the 1850 Coles County, Illinois Census and Jacob married Harriet Elizabeth Harrington in Sidney Iowa in 1855.  Harriet was born in Oswego, New York in 1835.  From Daniel Harrington’s (Harriet’s brother) obituary, we learn that the Harringtons ended up in Iowa from New York due to religious reasons.  In 1841, the entire Harrington family emigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois as they were affiliated with the Latter Day Work.  After Joseph Smith, Jr. (the spiritual leader) was killed in 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, several factions of the church arose.  Brigham Young took the largest and went to Utah.  Later, the eldest son of Joseph Smith came to the leadership of the church in 1860.  Daniel Harrington and his family then formed a permanent home in western Iowa and united with the church that was known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and shortened to "RLDS" by members and the public.  Jacob and Harriet Brestman (sic) are listed as members of the RLDS Church at the Nephi Branch, Mills County, Iowa in 1860.  Daniel Harrington was listed as the first president of this Church Branch.

Jacob and Harriet had three known children, Celestia born 1857, Daniel Adam born 1860 and Lydia born in 1863, all in Percival, Iowa which is ten miles as the crow flies from Sidney, Iowa.  In 1881, Lydia or “Libbie” marries J. W. Kent in Pacific Junction, Iowa and has three known children, Frank born 1883, Ruby Claire born 1891, and Lola born 1893.  Celestia and Daniel Adam are known to have relocated to Oklahoma.  Celestia marries in Roosevelt, Oklahoma and Daniel Adam marries Eliza M. Darling (a Native American) around 1892 or so and has a son Daniel Oliver born 1893 in McCloud, Oklahoma near Oklahoma City.

Sometime around 1900 Eliza and Daniel appear to divorce because Daniel Adam relocates to Roosevelt, Oklahoma where he marries Cary Alice Lee in 1907.  He appears to have taken his son Daniel Oliver with him because Daniel Oliver marries Jimmie Lou Moore in 1920 in Hobart, Oklahoma.  Hobart and Roosevelt are within 60 miles of Lawton, Oklahoma.  Somewhere in this area, Daniel Oliver raises 6 children, at least 4 grandchildren and at least five great grandchildren.  This is the start of the Oklahoma Bressmans.

Jacob’s first wife Harriet dies in 1866 in Mills County, Iowa.  This is just north of Percival, Fremont County, Iowa.  It is not clear if she and Jacob were still married, but I suspect they were.  Jacob married his second wife Mary Ellen McClellen on August 1st 1867 in Mills Co., Iowa.  Mary Ellen was born in Virginia in 1848 and together they had five children, all born in Percival, Fremont County, Iowa.  They were Thomas born 1868, Columbia, also known as Dillia,  born 1869,  Eveline also known as Deby born 1871, Robert Jacob, known as Bert or Burt, born 1873/74 and Andrew born 1876.

Sometime after 1880 and before 1882 (based on the 1880 Fremont County, Iowa  Census records and information on a  Nevada plaque, it appears that Jacob and Mary Ellen divorced because she marries Thomas Dodson Lane in Mills County, Iowa in January 1882.  They appear to relocate to Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska before 1885 (based on 1885 Sarpy County U.S. Census records) where Mary Ellen dies in 1916 and is buried in Bellevue Cemetery, Sarpy County, Nebraska.

In the 1885 Sarpy County Census, Columbia/Dillia and Andrew are not enumerated with the family. Columbia would have been 15 years old, perhaps too young to have been married at the time Mary Ellen married Thomas Lane and moved to Bellevue, but we do not know for sure.  Andrew would have been only nine years old and certainly too young to have been living on his own.

Andrew is next found on the 1896 Bellevue Sarpy County School Census as a student.  James Whetstone is listed as his guardian.  Dillia Whetstone, nee Bressman, was found in the Bellevue Cemetery Book as the wife of James Whetstone.   In the cemetery book, Dillia’s birth date is entered as 26 September 1869 and her death date 28 March 1904.  Dillia is buried in Bellevue Cemetery, Sarpy County, Nebraska.

Thomas Bressman relocates to Nebraska with his mother Mary Ellen and marries twice.  He and his first wife, Minnie H. Rush, marry 26 January 1893 in Bellevue, Sarpy Co., Nebraska and have two daughters, Jennie and Elsie.  Thomas then married Anna Kelly (nee Miller) and had two more children, Henry and Vernon, both born in Nebraska.  Several children of Anna’s from her first marriage also lived with the family.

Robert Jacob marries Mary Etta McCarty in 1894 in Bellevue, Sarpy Co., Nebraska and has eleven children, all born in Bellevue, Nebraska.  Bellevue is just south of Omaha.  He also had at least 10 grandchildren and at least 13 great grandchildren, all in the Bellevue area.   Between Thomas and Robert, this appears to be the start of the Nebraska Bressmans.

In the 1900 US Census, Andrew is enumerated as a prisoner in the Iowa State Penitentiary.  In October of 1897, Andrew was sentenced to five years in prison for passing and carrying counterfeit money.  From the Nonpareil Newspaper in Council Bluffs, Iowa, “The court intimated in passing sentence that if Bresserman [sic] had informed the government officers where he obtained the counterfeit money he would have dealt more leniently with him. Bresserman [sic] was completely unnerved when he learned his sentence and broke down and wept bitterly.”

A few years after his release from prison in 1902, Andrew marries Mary (Mollie) Robbins in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska in 1907 and has one daughter, Doris Regina born 1908 in Tekamah, Burt County, Nebraska, north of Omaha.  Andrew may have had more children but at this time, this is unknown.  Doris Regina then relocates to Chicago, Illinois with Joseph Sharon of Weston, Nebraska in late 1929 where she has six children.  It is not clear if Doris and Joseph were ever married except in common law.

It is known that Jacob and daughter (Eveline) Deby moved to Nevada in the early 1880s.  Together with the Benson family, they hauled freight to mining camps in Eureka County.

At this point, there is some confusion.  The Nevada plaque states that, “In 1880, Jacob Bressman and Lew and Deby Benson sold their business, and bought cattle settling in Ruby Valley on this site”.  It also states that, “This cabin was built in 1880 by Jacob Bressman and his daughter Deby and Deby’s husband Lew Benson”.  (Deby was likely only nine at this time.)   Nevada marriage records indicate that Deby married Louis Benson of Sweden on June 14^th 1890 in Ruby Valley, Elko Co., Nevada, which is more accurate because Eveline/Deby would have been 18 at that time.

From the book "Old Heart of Nevada", page 184 by Shawn Hall.  “In 1882 he [Thomas Short] sold the Cave Creek Ranch to Jacob Bressman…The Cave Creek Ranch remained the property of Jacob Bressman until his death in 1896.  After Bressman died, the ranch passed to Lou Benson, who had been a very popular teamster on stage lines to Eureka and Hamilton.  Benson ran the ranch until he died in July 1927, when Albert Hankins took over.  He then sold the ranch and the nearby marshlands to the government for the purpose of establishing the Ruby Lake Migratory Water Fowl and Game Refuge.  A private cemetery at Cave Creek contains a number of graves, including Jacob Bressman’s.”

Jacob's gravesite is on the ranch.  Shown in this picture is Lydia Bressman Kent and son Frank on the left and Debie or Eveline Bressman and husband George Kelly on the right.

In reality, it was Deby and her new husband George Kelly who sold the 1215.6 acre ranch to the US Government on 11/16/1937 for $50,000.

Other information supplied by Corrinne Ellis from land records gives the following information.  A paper titled "HOMESTEAD APPLICATION No. 226" is dated November 10, 1884 and says he (Jacob Bressman) is filing for settlement on his land.

A second "HOMESTEAD APPLICATION" dated December 19, 1891 says that Jacob Bressman is entitled to a Patent for the Tract of Land located in Nevada. A paper titled "HOMESTEAD PROOF – TESTIMONY OF CLAIMANT" dated December 19 1891 gives other interesting information.  He says that his family consists of himself and his daughter.  He goes on to say that his daughter has since married and has one child and that they and his son-in-law live with him.   A question is asked when his house was built on the land.  He says, "I began to build in the spring of 1885, but finding that I was not on my land I built my present house five years ago last spring. The house is a stockade house with two rooms, two doors, and two windows.  I have corrals, a rack stable, one hundred twenty feet long and outbuildings. Value $500.00."

He is asked for what period or periods he has been absent from the homestead and he answers, "When I first went to settle on this land I was misled as to the land and built my house on a tract not embraced in my entry. When I discovered my error, I had the land surveyed and commenced building on the proper subdivision. This was in March 1886.  I was prevented from going onto the land by Thomas Short who fenced in a portion of it. I have never been absent since except while away {illegible, but looks like teaming?} when my daughter remained on the place."

Another paper indicates that Jacob Bressman could not read or write. In one case, his name is recorded as Jacob Bressman Brussman with Bressman crossed out. A notation on the side of the paper says, "Name changed spelling to Jacob Brussman July 20 1892 per consolidator". Jacob couldn't write and the document shows his mark or a capital X where his signature would appear.

A most interesting tale, some of which is speculation, based on places and dates.  It is enlightening to put it into words but a lot of questions remain.  How did the Brossman name change to Bressman?  It probably occurred when the family lived in Illinois when a census was taken but we may never know.

Did Jacob leave Mary Ellen for someone else or did she leave him for Thomas Lane. Since Jacob was 52 when he headed to Nevada, it’s probable he did not remarry especially since the ranch passed to Louis Benson, Eveline's husband, at his death.

Where were Andrew and Columbia/Dillia at the time of the 1885 Sarpy County census?

Questions remain but still an interesting tale.  - Jim Brossman