Margaret Anna (Shell) Brannan (abt. 1855 - 1943)

Born about Jun 1855 in Ohio

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas J. Brannan — married 14 Mar 1876 in Jewell County, KS

Descendants

Died 8 Jan 1943 at about age 87 in Beatrice, NE

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Roger Shell [send private message]

Biography

Only daughter of Jacob and Eva. Her place and DOB is indefinite because of conflicting records. Most indicate she was born in IN. The 1860 count shows she both she and her younger brother George were born in OH, but that may have been a transcript error. One obituary put her age at 72 years and & months--calculating to a DOB about May 1870--which is just 6 years before she married. Her gravestone shows 1858-1943. However, her younger brother George was born in early 1858, and the 1860 census showed Margaret's age then as 4. The 1900 census showed her birth as Jun 1854IN, and the findagrave note shows her birthday as June 8, so, more likely, she was about 87/88 when she passed.

She was listed in the 1880 census twice--once with her parents, and a second time with her husband Thomas Brannan and son William. The Schells lived about 2 1/2 miles away in Jewell County, KS. Thomas, Margaret, and two son William and Floyd were named in the 1885 KS census

By 1900 her husband, eldest son, and another child had perished. She was living next to her youngest brother William in Rockport, MO, counted as Anna Brennan, widowed.

The 1910 census in Gage County, NE shows her as Anna 'Whit', on a second marriage of 12 years, although she had been listed as a widow in 1900, and none of her descendants recall a second marriage. However, there is a photo of her and probably youngest son Herbert(~Age 6) taken in Boise, ID with the name Whyte on the frame. It may have been taken during a trip to Idaho to visit her second husband's relatives?

By 1920 'Annie' was again using the Brannan name and living with her eldest son Floyd. Both sons worked for the railroad by then.

By 1940 Margaret A. Brennan, 85, was living with her youngest son Herbert. Her level of education was recorded as fifth grade.

Sources

• Jewell County, KS Marr, vol. A, p. 124 from researcher Marjorie Slaughter
• 1880 Center/Jewell/KS
• 1885 KS census
• 1900 Rockport/Clay/Atchison/KS
• 1910-40 Wymore/Gage/NE
• Obit from Beatrice Daily Sun, Beatirce, NE, 10 Jan 1943--thanks to Kathryn Hermansen
• Shell family scrapbook photos
• Brannan family photos from Margie Pritchett
• Wymore Cemetery, Gage, NE

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59631382/margaret-brannan