Kinexxions ~ Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker

Kinexxions

~ Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker ~

Part 1 ~ The beginning ~ a brief family history

AUGUST 14, 1972
Yesterday my cousin from Wichita, Kansas, Helen Curtis, with her husband Gerald, came to my home to look over my genealogy books. We had a very good time and after our dinner at the M & M we went to the Adams cemetery to visit the graves of the four little girls our grandparents Joslin lost and also the gravesite of our oldest ancestor to be buried in Indiana, Bela Goodrich. Born in 1776, he came to Whitley County with his family in 1838.

Working with Helen I became enthused again with the genealogy and have worked all day on the records. I had planned on writing a book so that my children might know more about their ancestry. I am afraid I am too lazy and I know that I have no talent for writing. My typing is almost as bad as my handwriting and my spelling is outrageous.

When we were going thru Grandma Brubaker's letters from her parents and her sisters, I began to realize how important they were to Helen and me even though they were very poorly written and not always well done as to spelling and punctuation. So I have decided to write as I feel the urge and as I remember things and have a lot of enjoyment in doing it this way.

THE JOSLIN’S
Because of Helen, I shall begin with the Joslin family. My Grandma Brubaker (Malissa Mariah Joslin) was one of fifteen children. Of these five died in childhood and four were married before 1877 so that there were just six children and the parents that made the trip to Kansas in 1877. I believe they went by covered wagon with all their worldly goods traveling along. Soon all but one of the four married children went west too, my grandparents were the only ones to remain in Whitley County.

The father, Lysander Joslin and his wife Lydia made their home in Osage county, Kansas. They had a small farm there and this was their home until their death in 1899, she died January 25th 1899 and he followed on May 14th.

Recently I have been fortunate enough to find two of their great grandchildren, Erwin Joslin of Peoria, Illinois who is the grandson of Luther, and Helen Curtis, granddaughter of Minerva.

1838 – TO WHITLEY COUNTY
The first of our ancestors arrived in Whitley County on July 16th 1838. They settled near the place that later became the village of Lorain.

The eldest of the party was Bela Goodrich, 62 years old and the father of Price, Eunice, and our direct ancestor, Abigail. She was married to James Joslin and their oldest son was Lysander Price Joslin.

These pioneers were enterprising, brave, honorable people. They helped organize the township and were listed in the Whitley County history as being among the first voters. Eunice Goodrich was the second bride in Richland Township when she married David James, they have descendants living in Larwill.

Price Goodrich was very well known. He was a judge, minister of the Methodist church, and brick layer. Many of the early buildings in the area were built by his hand. His home was one of the first brick buildings to be constructed in Whitley County and it still stands today east of Lorain on old Highway 30.

AUGUST 3, 1976
Just read over the little I wrote in 1972. I certainly have accomplished a lot in four years! Well, here I am in the hospital and I have a pretty good idea that I haven't a lot of time left to write.

THE JONES' AND DUNFEE'S
The second ancestor to arrive in Whitley County was Grandma Jones and her five children. The second daughter, Catherine was our direct ancestor. She married William Hamilton Dunfee and their daughter Sophia Elizabeth, was my Grandmother Wise. She was named for her father's mother, Sophia Elizabeth Hazlett. This is how I got my name. Grandma Wise named aunt Hazlette for her grandmother and then Mama named me for Aunt Hazlette.

Sophia Elizabeth Hazlett was born on the ocean when her parents were migrating from Ireland or Scotland. Hazlett is an English name but could be from any of the countries in Britain.

The Dunfee's came to Whitley County several years after Grandma Jones and her young children. Grandma Jones and her five children loaded their possessions into an ox cart; she and the children walked most of the way. They arrived in Whitley County on Halloween night.

Uncle Curt, who was an attorney, would have a small article in the newspaper each Halloween telling of their first night in the county. They were in a cabin, which I expect was in Hell's Half Acre, south of Columbia City near where the Helms family lived. She was a Helms before her marriage. Uncle Curt says that the cabin was half way between two Indian camps and the night was filled with the sounds of the Indians. He wrote as if they were frightened and who wouldn't be, just five young people and their Mother alone in the wilderness and surrounded by "wild" Indians. Soon after, the Indians were all sent further west.

The Jones family was very prominent. The eldest daughter, Maxia, married Franklin Foust, a wealthy banker and founder of the first bank in Columbia City.

Grandmother Dunfee must have been a very wonderful lady. She took in a young orphan girl to raise and she was treated exactly like her own children. My grandmother was very jealous of this girl. One time a neighbor of the Dunfee's had scarlet fever and Grandmother Dunfee went to care for the family. When she came home Grandfather Dunfee met her near home and she changed clothes before going into the house. But even with these precautions, two of her own children caught the fever and died.

From this family we are the only ones in this area that I know of, except for the Cornelius family.

Franklin Jones was a blacksmith in Columbia City. He had a shop across from where Demoney's Funeral Parlor is. He was a typical blacksmith, large and brawny. He married a Spencer and their daughter, June Dell, lives in Arizona. But all of the Dunfee family and McNabbs and some of the Rabers were cousins.

THE BRUBAKER'S
Grandpa Brubaker was born "out of wedlock". His mother became pregnant several months after her cousin by the same man, John Brubaker. He married the cousin but he acknowledged Grandpa as his son and we were always quite close to several of Grandpa's half brothers especially Sam, a school teacher in Fort Wayne and Thornton who worked for the Erie Railroad in Huntington.

His mother, Sarah Foster, married George Parkison and they came to Indiana when Grandpa was eight years old. He was raised with the Parkison boys but always went by the Brubaker name. He enlisted in the Army when sixteen years old and has a very fine record from the Civil War. When he came home he married Malissa Mariah Joslin and they settled on the farm at Goose Lake. They had Papa (Charles Romain) and fifteen years later another boy, Maurice Hale, was born.

Papa was supposed to be a doctor and he attended Valparaiso College for a couple of years. He dropped out of school and went to Chicago where he was a newspaper reporter, then to upper Michigan where he worked as a lumberman. When he thought he was thru wandering, he came home and married Maud C. Wise. A few months after getting married he enlisted in the army and served in Cuba as a Mess Sergeant during the Spanish American War. When he came home he still wanted "action". Mama said they moved eighteen times during their married life, which ended by divorce when Papa enlisted in 1918 and was a Mess Sergeant in the First World War. Papa lived to be 74 years old and died in Mobile, Alabama at the veteran's hospital. His home was near Pascagoula, Mississippi and he had remarried in the early 1920's.

There are a lot of Brubaker's around Huntington and in this area. They are all descendants of John and two of his brothers. I am not acquainted with any of the younger generation, meaning mine. But Grandma's family abounds in this area and in the west, especially Kansas. All of the Goodrich's are from the Bela Goodrich clan. One of Lysander's sisters was grandmother to Gladys Burnworth Moore Winebrenner, who has always been a friend of mine.

GRANDPA WISE'S FAMILY
Grandpa William Wise was born in Miami County, Indiana and came with his parents, Jacob and Malissa, to Whitley County when one year old. I think that they came to Indiana from Pennsylvania via the river route with both sets of grandparents. When they came north the Wise grandparents stopped at or near Roan and the Stems (his mother's family) came on with his parents and they also settled in Thorncreek Township on a farm near Crooked Lake.

When Grandpa Wise was twelve years old his father was drafted into the Army during the Civil War. This made Grandpa the head of the family as his father died of "homesickness" at Nashville soon after leaving. He was buried in Nashville National Cemetery and Mama, Aunt Hazlette, and Grace Zinsmeister visited his grave in the 40's. Just a month after Jacob's death, Malissa gave birth to their fourth child, Rose.

As the eldest child, William took charge of the farm for several years until his mother married Jacob Scott. Then Grandpa met Sophia Dunfee and they too were married. Grandma Wise taught school for a year after they were married then had a son, Harry and later, twins, Maurice and Maud (my mother). Ten years later a daughter, Hazlette, was born.

AUGUST 4, 1976
Well, I did get a little writing done. I do hope some one of you kids enjoy it. Maybe one of the grandchildren or great grandchildren will really get some good out of it. Today the doctor says they found nothing wrong (no tumor) but I'm going to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne tomorrow for a liver scan. Last night Phyllis and Walter were here and as Walter left he said, "The Lord will take care of this." I said that I knew this but really I meant that he would stay by me and comfort me, but in the night my pain left me. Walter has such wonderful faith that I believe he could move mountains and I know that if it's God's will, I shall get home again.

Yesterday the florist brought the most beautiful arrangement of dark red gladiolas and daisies. It was from Marilyn, Kent and Bartie. They are so lovely and I sure appreciate them. Everyone that comes in the room says they are quite outstanding.

AUGUST 7, 1976
After a couple of days of clouds and rain, this morning the sun is shining and it is beautiful. I am feeling fine, it seems silly to be in a hospital but I'm supposed to stay here till the scans are finished which will be Thursday. So I will have been here almost two weeks. But really I am enjoying it. There are several old acquaintances from my early youth and we have fun talking over "old times".

Part 1 ~ The beginning ~ a brief family history

Tales from the Life of Hazlette Brubaker