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One of the first genealogical mysteries that my mother presented to me and asked me to solve was that of Mary Samantha (Powers) Kidder. She was a ghost in the records until she married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Albert Edward Kidder on September 14th, 1967 in Council Bluffs, IA.. No one seemed to be able to track her back further.  Albert Edward Kidder and Mary Samantha (Powers-Bringman) Kidder. According to other family members, Mary Samantha Powers was only about 5 feet tall and never weighed over 110 lbs. She always wore her hair in a bun near the back of her head and had a great sense of humor. That is not to say that there were not any trees with Mary's parents. There were, but when you looked more closely, the parents attributed to her could not be correct. I searched Censuses from about 5 different states extremely thoroughly. No Powers family fit the bill. Newspapers have always been my biggest help in finding the pieces for a puzzle like this. I started with Mary herself and found every instance she was mentioned in digitized newspapers. Sure enough, I found a clue. In 1905, Mrs. Kidder went from her home in Norton, KS to Atchison, KS. The short mention in the paper said that she would be visiting two brothers and a sister who lived there and she hadn't seen them for 28 years.  From the Norton County News, Kansas, November 15, 1905. This told me that 1) The last time she saw her siblings was likely when she went to Cass County, Nebraska to visit - which was the same time and place where she happened to have her son, Horatio (everyone called him Rash - probably pronounced Ray-sh), and 2) I should be able to find some Powers relatives in Atchison! I searched for Mary's name in the Atchison papers for the two times I knew she was there, but nothing. I eventually had a list of about 15 different Powers folks in Atchison to research. I made mini-family trees to see if they would go back to known places or people. I researched articles to see if they had family mentioned in obituaries or visits. In the end, none were a good match. Finally, I did another search for Mary in Atchison but without any date parameters. And I got a hit - two actually. In 1914: "Mrs. Mary Kidder, of Edmond, Kas., is a guest of her sister, Mrs. J. C. Spaun." And: "Mrs. Mary Kidder... expected to arrive to-morrow, to visit Mr. and Mrs. C.S. Bringman, at 1142 Laramie street."  From the Atchison Daily Globe, Kansas, January 31, 1914.  From the Atchison Daily Globe, Kansas, February 2, 1914, pg. 2. I'll skip the rest of the tedious research and jump to the conclusion. Mary Samantha Powers was born to Harriet (Shafer) Powers. I found a marriage record for Harriet Shaffer and Jonathan Powers from March 6, 1848 in Indiana. So now I not know who her father was, but Harriet and Jonathan Powers weren't married long. Harriet was 18 when Mary was born. The next year, Oct 20, 1850, Harriet married John Bringman. They went on to have 6 more children. Although I do not know for sure, I think Mary's birth father died sometime in 1849 or 1850. I have not found any proof of his death - no death notice, no gravesite. I also have not found Harriet or Mary (or Jonathan!) on the 1850 Census anywhere. Mary kept the Powers name, but John was likely the only father she knew. The best part is that this has been confirmed by DNA - I have multiple matches that trace back to Harried (Shafer) Powers Bringman.  From the Norton County Plaindealer, Almena, Kansas, April 24, 1930.
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 This is the 1856 Iowa State Census. You can see here Justin and Maria Harrington's household. Harriet is 5 and she has two younger brothers, Henry and James. Right next door is James and Mary Dorman - Maria Harrington's parents. Thier daughter Elizabeth lives with them along with her husband, James who works as a carpenter - the same profession as John Moore. And then is "Lovinia" Dorman - John's first wife, only they aren't married here yet. John is near the bottom listed in the same household. Today, June 22, 2023, would be the 150th wedding anniversary of my 3rd great-grandfather, John M. Moore and his second wife, Harriet A. “Hattie” (Harrington) Moore. Even though I’m not directly related to her, I’d like to focus a little bit on Hattie today because until very recently, not much was known of her. To be fair, there is still a lot I have to learn about her, but previously all I had was a name and that she was maybe the mother of one of John’s children. Hattie Harrington was the oldest of 11 children of Justin Simeon Harrington and Maria (Dorman) Harrington. She was born in New York State in about 1851, but I don’t think the family spent much time there before moving to Iowa. It’s there, as a very small child, that she met her future husband, John M. Moore. He was her uncle, married to her aunt, Lavinia Dorman – the sister of Hattie’s mother. John and Lavinia moved to the Kansas City area sometime between 1865 and 1868. Hattie and her parents followed around 1870. Hattie was still in school in 1870 and 1871, and while at the Grandstaff School House, she joined the Pioneer Literary Society. Although you may think it was a club to discuss books, it was really a debate club. The group, which had a committee and elected officers – to which positions Hattie was often elected – would decide on a topic ahead of time so members had plenty of time to prepare arguments and essays. Each meeting would have members present their essays, orations, and arguments, and then everyone would vote in the Affirmative or Negative on whether or not they ultimately agreed with the stance. Here’s Hattie’s positions to debate – whether or not she got to choose or how she actually felt, I cannot say, but it’s a fascinating look into some of the important topics to high schoolers at the time: Dec. 9, 1870: (appointed to executive committee) – That a teacher is responsible for the conduct of pupils to and from school. – (Ayes had it) Dec. 16, 1870: That woman should vote. – Negative (vote seemed to be tied) Feb. 17, 1871: That the use of tobacco should be prohibited by law – (Ayes had it) Feb. 24, 1871: That a man can gain more information by traveling than by reading - Affirmative Jan. 13, 1871: (Elected President, appointed to executive committee) Jan. 20, 1871: That the school law should be compulsory – Affirmative (the Nays had it) Jan. 27, 1871: That it is the duty of the government to prevent the manufacture of spirituous liquors. -Affirmative (the Nays had it) Feb. 10, 1871: (Elected Secretary) That the conduct of man should be influenced by public opinion. – Affirmative (the Nays had it)  From the Wyandotte Gazette, Kansas City, Kansas John’s first wife (and Hattie’s aunt), Lavinia died Jan. 26, 1872 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas. This was also where Hattie’s family was living. After Lavinia’s death, John returned to Colorado where he had served in the Union Army. That’s another post for another time – for some reason he seemed to have gone to Colorado originally specifically to enlist. When he was discharged, he went right back to the same Iowa county. When he went to Colorado this time, he brought Hattie with him. As far as I have been able to tell so far, neither of them had other family there. I’m not even sure if they took all of John’s children with them. It’s hard to know what drew them to the state – John was a carpenter, not in search of gold or silver. By June 22, 1873 Hattie and John were married in Pueblo, CO. Hattie was about 22 years old and 3 months pregnant. John was 41. Their daughter, Melvina M. “Vina” Moore was born Nov. 29th later that year. She was John’s 5th child. Unfortunately, Vina never really got to know her mother. On March 11, 1874 Harriet A. “Hattie” (Harrington) Moore passed away at the age of about 23 in Pueblo, CO. She is probably buried there, maybe in Roselawn Cemetery, but I have not been able to find her resting place.   Snippet of Hattie Harrington's family tree |
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