Mary Samantha Powers - Kidder | Powers | bringman

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.
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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.