The Story of Samantha and Humphrey

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The following story is one I've written on our ancestors, Samantha Esther George, 1850-1931, and Humphrey Brooks, 1836-1890, and their ill fated move to Memphis right before the yellow fever epidemics of the 1870's.

I may have gotten a little long winded in writing this, so I will apologize for its length. Nonetheless, let's get on with the story!

The Samantha and Humphrey Story:  Samantha Esther George, 1850-1931, and Humphrey Brooks, 1836-1890.

My grandmother, Portia Margaret Brooks Gosting, born 1872, told the story that when she was growing up in Memphis during the 1870’s, they went back to Indiana by steamboat to stay with family during the “fever season.” 

Portia Margaret Brooks, age 4, around 1876 in Memphis.

This is the house they stayed in when they went back to Indiana during the “fever season.”  It was the house of her grandmother, Sarah Brooks, in Brooksburg, Indiana.  This picture was taken about 35 years later around 1910.  We do not know who the people in the picture are, but we can pretend that this is Portia’s grandmother, Uncle Mordecai, and two of her cousins waiting to greet them.

Portia also told about the family becoming quite poor during her teenage years.  As a teenager, she went to work as a telegrapher for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and at one point, was the chief support of the family. 

The story was actually much more complicated than Portia childhood stories tell, and the “fever season” and the family becoming poor were two things that were closely connected.  The “fever season” was her childhood name for the three yellow fever epidemics that Memphis went through during three summers in the 1870’s and understates how bad things got for the people who stayed behind during the summer.

Portia’s parents, Humphrey Brooks and Samantha Esther George, married in 1871 in Madison, Indiana. 

Humphrey was 34 when they got married and partially paralyzed in his left hand from a Confederate shell that exploded near him in the Battle of Arkansas Post during the Civil War.

This is Humphrey Brooks in about 1868.  If you look closely, you can almost see a scar on the back of his left hand that his medical report indicated was a result of an injury in the Civil War (or maybe it just looks that way because the photograph has deteriorated since it was taken 144 years ago).

Samantha was 20 years old when they married.  After having scarlet fever as a child, she went bald and always wore a wig. 

Samantha Esther George around 1870 before they got married.

After returning from the Civil War, Humphrey farmed with his father, but his father died in 1870, five months before Humphrey and Samantha got married.  Humphrey farmed for one more year after that, but decided that he could not farm by himself with the partial paralysis of his hand, so on December 9, 1872, they set out for Memphis, Tennessee.  Portia was 4 months old when they left Indiana.  Humphrey was to set up a feed and produce business on Beale Street in Memphis.

This picture of Samantha and Portia was taken in 1872 in Madison, Indiana shortly before they left for Memphis.  In this picture, I like to think that the pleased look on Samantha’s face is because she is excited about their move to Memphis.

Memphis in 1872 as it looked from across the river.

Memphis was a bustling port town on the Mississippi.  This picture was drawn in 1870 by Albert Ruger/Corbis.

Memphis seemed like a good place to move to in 1872.  With a population of 40,000, it was a center of commerce and was right on the Mississippi River.  However, it turned out to be the worst possible time to move to Memphis.  The first yellow fever epidemic occurred the first summer after they moved there, and 2000 people died.  However that year, the yellow fever cases were mostly localized to one area of Memphis.   For a few years after that, things went along pretty well, and there were no more yellow fever epidemics-until 1878.

Yellow fever is a tropical disease that is spread by mosquitoes.  Ships coming up the Mississippi River occasionally had sailors or passengers on them with yellow fever.  If one of these people was bitten by a mosquito and the mosquito bit someone else, then yellow fever was spread.  They did not know back then that it was caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes.  Memphis, with its open sewers had a lot of mosquitoes in the summer.  Trash pickup was erratic and people used outhouses instead of indoor plumbing.  Memphis was a rather dirty city by today’s standards, and it was said that at times, a person could smell the stench of Memphis up to 5 miles away.

The 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Memphis was the worse epidemic ever to hit an American city.  The population had grown to around 50,000 by the time the first case of yellow fever occurred on August 5, 1878.  Within days, 30,000 people had fled the city.  Everyone got out who could afford to get out.    This epidemic killed 80% of the 6,000 white people who stayed behind.  The black population was more resistant to yellow fever and only 10% of the 14,000 blacks who stayed behind died.   6,000 people had died by the time the epidemic ended.

A Harper's magazine sketch of a hospital scene during the yellow fever epidemic.

Among the symptoms of the disease were fevers, chills, a yellowing of the skin, and black vomit.  Many of the people who stayed to care for the sick ended up dying themselves.
 

We do not know if Humphrey left or not, but commerce came to a standstill.  Many of the people never came back.  Business activity went down in Memphis for years.  Humphrey’s business would have done very poorly for long after the epidemic was over due to the loss of population and customers. 

A letter from Humphrey’s mother in January 1879 urged him to come back to Indiana.  His brother, who was a physician in Brooksburg, Indiana and who was dying, probably from cancer, was urging him to come back home too.  The next summer, there was another epidemic.  Only 600 people died that year.  A letter to Humphrey from a friend, September 5, 1879, talks about a member of their church, Mr. Tiller, who died in the epidemic.  “Poor Brother Tiller stayed too long in . . .  Memphis, fatal place.  Yes, it has every charm to lure and keep within its glittering folds the unsuspecting.  No doubt tis best to break the charm.”  The letter said that Humphrey and Samantha’s Methodist Episcopal Congregation had built a new church, but so many of the congregation left that the church folded.   The letter also mentions that Humphrey and Samantha had tried their hand at farming in either 1878 or 1879, and although it was not a successful venture, at least it got them out of the city and out of harm’s way when one of the yellow fever outbreaks came.   The city of Memphis declared bankruptcy in 1879 and lost its city charter.  By 1880, the population was down to 34,000. 

On June 2, 1880, Humphrey, Samantha, Portia, 7, and Connie, age 3, were living in a house two blocks from their store at 130 Beale Street.   Living with them were Samantha’s brother, Ed, his wife Susie, and their 6 month old daughter, Floy. 

This is believed to be a picture of Samantha’s brother, Ed (Edward Edgar George), around 1880.  Ed stayed in Memphis the rest of his life.

Around this time, Samantha’s brother, Joe, came to live in Memphis and was a clerk at the Gayoso Hotel, which was the fanciest hotel in Memphis.  He later returned to Indiana and went to dental school.

Joseph Henry George around 1880.

Samantha’s sister, Ida, came to live in Memphis for a while, although by 1886, she and her husband, Junius Wright, had moved to Illinois.

Ida Bell George in 1883 in Memphis.

Samantha’s brother, Will (William Elmer George), also lived in Memphis for a year or so around 1877 and attended school there when he was 14 years old.

William Elmer George, age 18, taken around 1881.

In October 1880, Humphrey’s mother, Sarah, died.  When her farm and house were sold, and the assets divided among the children, there is a record that his sister’s part of the estate was $700.  Presumably, Humphrey received a similar amount of money.  This was certainly a big help to them during that time. 

They did not know it at the time, but there were to be no more yellow fever epidemics in Memphis.  The city of Memphis built an innovative sewage system that used the new idea of separate collection systems for sewage and for storm drainage.  They also tapped into the subterranean aquifer, which provided a source of clean water for the city.  Although the people of Memphis did not know that mosquitoes were carrying yellow fever, the new sewage system greatly decreased the mosquito population, which controlled the spread of disease.

Humphrey and Samantha and the children remained in Memphis until May 1, 1886, when they moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  There they set up a family grocery store at 500 Carter Street.  They would operate this grocery store for two years, at which point Humphrey’s health declined to the point where he could not do the work needed to keep it running.   A medical report at the time said that he had enlargement of the liver, kidney problems, and rheumatism in the knees and shoulders (this term is not used today but meant joint pains).

Humphrey went back to Brooksburg, Indiana to work on getting a disability pension, and Samantha and the children went back to Memphis.  Two of Samantha’s brothers were living there and were surely a big help to them.  Portia went to work at the age of 16 at the Western Union Telegraph Company.  Humphrey rejoined them in Memphis later and got a job as a night watchman at a grain elevator on the Mississippi River in Helena, Arkansas, which is near Memphis. 

Although this is not the grain elevator where Humphrey worked, this is an example of the type of grain elevator that was built at that time.  In those days, grain elevators were made of wood, operated by steam engines, and would be used to load steamboats or railcars with grain. 

By 1890 at the age of 17, Portia had moved to St Louis to work as a telegraph operator, and was sending money back to the family to help with their expenses.  This was a time when people often started working at a young age.  In those days, young women living by themselves would often live in boarding houses, where one could rent a room and have most of their meals provided.  This is probably how she was living on her own in St Louis.

Portia Margaret Brooks, age 17 around 1890.  This picture was taken in Helena, Arkansas.

On April 17, 1890 while working as a night watchman at the riverfront grain elevator in Helena, Humphrey Brooks accidently drowned in the Mississippi River.  There were no witnesses and his body was not found for several days.  A coroner’s jury was formed, and their conclusion was that it was an accidental death. 

The following letter was written four days after he disappeared, by Samantha to Portia, then 17 1/2 years old and living in St Louis.  Her spelling was not corrected.

Portia My Dear Child

I don’t know how I can hold the pen to write but oh! I want to talk to you so bad, it seems to me that my heart will shirly burst.  I watch for Papa every minute, yet I know we have lost him, oh dear, oh dear,  what can I do?  I first have to do nothing, nothing, oh dear, nothing but think, think, think, all the ifs.   Yes, and think of that horrible fatal fall, how dreadful, with not a soul near to help him.  He must have slipped as he stooped to dip water, and have fallen head first, and come up under the elevator floor, and the water was touching the floor.  There was no chance to even get his breath, there was not the least possible chance for him to help himself.  It’s too awful .  I know I can’t stand it.  Then to think that all this time poor dear Papa is in that awful river.  What can we do to get him, oh we must get him.  I can’t leave here until all hope is gone of recovering his body.  It’s oh! so lonely and oppressive here. 

We will stay at Mrs. Duncan’s for a few nights.  Your Aunt Susie (who was living in nearby Memphis) will come down and stay a few days.  Your Uncle Ed (Samantha’s brother and Aunt Susie’s husband) has just gone.  He has done all that could be done.  He had 100 circulars printed to be distributed and otherwise advertised offering $50.00 reward for his body.

Portia, when I think how cheerful he left home Thursday evening, telling us all goodbye and telling Mabe that he would bring her peanuts.  He helped me fix his lunch and thought he had an extra good lunch. 

Then the next morning, I got up at a quarter to and raised the curtain to see if he was coming, then unlocked the door, then dressed myself, went out on the porch and waited till after 6, then began breakfast, got the children up, delayed eating as long as I could, ate, cleaned up and went to washing, all the time wondering and conjecturing as to what was keeping him.  About 3, I had dinner-got a good one because I thought he might be tired and hungry.  Mrs. Duncan came by, I told her that I thought he had gone fishing but would be home in time to go to work.  She asked me why I had not telephoned to the elevator to see what had detained him.  At 6 PM when she had returned home, I went over to ask Mr. Burton for your Papa.  He said he had not come down yet, that they supposed he had gone home sick, as he was not there when the day watchman got there and that he had left his lantern burning. 

Then, my dear child, my heart stood still.  I told Mrs. Duncan that something was wrong and I farely flew to the elevator.  Took a messenger boy with me.  It was dark, so dark, that we could hardly see.  When I got there, there was no one anywhere to be found, but up at the shed, we found old Lonnie and he said that he was the last person that saw him, as far as they could learn, and he saw him last at 8 PM, that your Papa told him that he had an important letter that he had to deliver on the Vixburg when she came in, but that when she came, he did not see anything of your Papa, but thought nothing of it.

He is gone and I am compeled to go ahead, cook, eat, take care of the children and house, and go through the nights as best we can.  I feel as heavy as lead, as though I could not move, yet I do.

Of mornings when he ought to come, it’s awful.  I am compeled to go to the window and look for him.  Then it is just as bad evenings when the time comes for him to go to work. 

Mabel don’t realize anything about it, and Connie not much more than Mabe.  I had hoped to get a letter to you before you could otherwise hear it.  I thought a dispatch would startle you too much.  In fact, my dear child, letting you know was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. 

Now I have $16.00.  That will last a good while.  I will let you know when I need more.  Be brave Dear and God will bless you.  I can’t write more.

Mamma

These things, except for the medal, were in Humphrey’s pocket when he was found in the Mississippi River several days later.

Years later, Humphrey and Samantha’s youngest daughter, Mabel, wrote:

“Papa must have liked to save coins.  This little purse had coins in it as they were found in Papa’s pocket.  The purse was in the water seven days (Mississippi River).  Mama told me the body was not found for seven days at Helena, Arkansas.”

The top left coin is an 1865 ¼ De Real, issued by the state of Chihuahua in Mexico between 1860 and 1866.  The second coin is a U.S. one cent coin from 1845.  The third coin is dated 1863 and on the front it says “Liberty and No Slavery” and on the back says “Union Forever.” 

The medal was given to Humphrey in 1883 for his service during the Civil War.  It says “Grand Army of the Republic, Veteran 1861-1866.”  His wallet was held together with a leather strap.  Written in ink on the inside of the wallet was “H. Brooks, 130 Beale, Memphis, Tennessee.”  This was the address of his store in Memphis from 1872-1884.  Also in his wallet was a one page communication sent on June 30, 1865 from Division headquarters, just after the Civil War ended, to the Union soldiers who were still stationed among their former enemies, the Confederates.  Among other things, it said, “You represent the dignity and humanity of your government.  The strangers you go among, as they scrutinize your appearance and conduct, will think of our government and be reconciled and attracted to it, in proportion as you are just, orderly and refined.”

Shortly after Humphrey’s death, Samantha, Connie and Mabel moved to St Louis and were reunited with Portia.  This picture of Samantha was taken in the early 1890’s in St Louis.

This picture was taken several years later in St Louis of Samantha Brooks and her three daughters. From left: Anna Constance Brooks, 26, Mabel Esther Brooks, 18, Portia Margaret Brooks, 31, Samantha Brooks, 52.  Samantha made all the dresses that they were wearing.

Clay Irwin and Harrison Irwin - Brothers of Ancestor Robert Winslow Irwin

We have a new picture of the brothers of our ancestor, Robert Winslow Irwin, taken near Oakland Tennessee.  Robert Winslow Irwin (1837-1906), had two brothers who lived to adulthood, Clay and Harrison.  This picture, taken 9 Dec 1893, shows them both with their wives and some of Clay's children.  See the attachment for a larger view of this photograph.  It was in the possession of a great great grandson of Clay.  It was taken in front of Clay's house near Oakland, Tennessee.  Notice that there is an open hallway in the center of the house.  This was used in the 19th Century in the south to help keep houses cool in the summer.

From left to right standing:

Harrison Irwin (Eli Harrison Irwin), age 52, with his wife, Emma Robinson Irwin, age 36.  They had been married for only one year, and I believe this was the first marriage for both of them.  They would go on to have three children between 1894 and 1905.  Notice the bandage on his right index finger.  This was in the days before you went to a doctor for stitches to sew up your laceration.  This is the first time we have seen a picture of Harrison Irwin and his wife, Emma.

The third from the left is Allie Irwin (Albena Persis Irwin), age 17, daughter of Clay Irwin.

The fourth person is Willie Irwin (William Robert Irwin), age 5, Clay's youngest child.

After Willie Irwin is Birdie Robinson (Georgia Ola Robinson), age 24.  She was the sister of Harrison Irwin's wife, Emma.  Four years later, she would go on to marry Miles Irwin (standing second from the right), who is age 19 in this picture and was the son of Clay Irwin.  Miles's children and Harrison's children would be both first cousins and first cousins once removed (double cousins).

The sixth person from the left is Birta Griffin, age 23, and a cousin of Clay Irwin's children. 

After Birta, in a matching dress, is Nettie Yancy, age 17, who is a neighbor and is not related.

On the right side standing are Miles Morrow Irwin, age 19, son of Clay Irwin, and Clay Irwin (Richard Clay Irwin), age 55.

On the chairs in front, from the right, are Mollie (Mary Virginia Griffin), age 51, Clay's wife.

To the left of her is Mollie's mother, Persis Herring Griffin, age 70.

On the chair to the left is a picture of Mollie's brother, Robert Griffin, who died in 1878 at the age of 23.

There seemed to have been a lot of intermarrying of families in this community.  The other two siblings of Harrison and Clay, Robert Winslow Irwin (our Robert) and Rosie Irwin (Rose O. Irwin), married a brother and sister, Catherine Lucretia Crawford (our Catherine) and Thomas R. Crawford.  This was a sparsely populated area and in those days, they tended not to marry someone unless they belonged to the right church and often would not marry outside of their ethnic (Scottish-Irish) group. 

Here is another picture of Clay and Mollie Irwin, probably taken around the time of their wedding in 1871.

 

There are very few pictures of the Irwins taken before 1900.  Below is a picture that you have seen before of our ancestors, Robert Winslow Irwin and Catherine Lucretia Crawford, taken in 1865.  This is the only picture that we have of Catherine, who died in 1877.  We have only three pictures of Robert, who died in 1906.