PHILLIPS COUNTY

Colorado

 

Fisher/Dunkard Obituaries

 

MRS. M.G. BRAINARD

 

 

 

STATE HERALD, Holyoke, Phillips, Colorado

William R. Davis, Editor & Publisher

 

21 Mar 1890, Friday, Vol. III - No. 29

 

DEATH OF MRS. M.G. BRAINARD

 

     One of the most shocking deaths that it has ever been our portion to chronicle occurred near Amherst in this county on Friday of last week.

 

Shortly after noon Mrs. Brainard, who resided some three miles northwest of Amherst, started for that village unaccompanied, her husband remaining at home. But when a  short distance from home, the team became unmanageable and starting on a run, threw Mrs. Brainard in front of the wagon and one of her limbs became caught between the spring and step, and in this condition she was carried at full speed a distance of  six miles over the prairie. Mr. Brainard seeing the team start to run and his wife fall from the wagon, mounted a horse and followed in pursuit.

 

 At Amherst the team made several circles in a stubble field tearing the clothing from Mrs. Brainard’s  person and the hair from her head. They next started in the direction of Holyoke, following along the B & M road.

 

When about one and one half miles this side of  Amherst, section boss Burns attempted to catch the team but failed. So rapid was  the speed at which the team was moving that Mr. Burns mistook the lifeless form beneath the wagon for a dressed hog.

 

 At Evan’s crossing,on the range line, the team was caught by Mr. E.L. Fair.. Looking in the direction from which the team  came Mr. Fair noticed a man approaching on horseback, who, when within about one  hundred yards of the wagon dismounted and loosed his horse and after walking a short distance toward the wagon fainted and fell to the ground. This proved to be the husband of the unfortunate lady whose form,mangled and torn, was yet hanging beneath the wagon.

 

 Regaining consciousness, at the earnest solicitation of Mr. Fair,  Mr. Brainard, wild with grief, came forward and held the team while his wife’s   body was loosed from the wagon and tenderly cared for.

 

 The remains of Mrs. Brainard were bourn to Fishers cemetery on Sunday last, accompanied by a large concourse of friends, and there consigned to mother earth.

 

  Mr. and Mrs. Brainard were among the first settlers of Phillips County where they  had made for themselves a comfortable home and numberless friends.

 

I became intrigued with the obituary for Mrs. Brainard.  I wanted to know her first name and more about her family, so after some research I have gathered the following information.

 

 

Augusta Ann (Quimby) Brainard was born May 22 1835 to  Brigadier General John (Jr) and Mehitable( March Whittemore) Quimby in Springfield, New Hampshire.   Her father was 62 at the time of her birth her mother was 36

 

Augusta's father passed away in 1837 at the age of 64 in Lebanon Maine and her mother died in 1837 at the age of 38

 

 In 1850 August live in Bureau, Illinois and she married Marenus Gilbert Brainard on August 21 1854 somewhere in Illinois.  To this union 4 children were born. Eric Quimby was born August 21 1855 , Edna A was born December 27,1859, Mary E was born in 1860 and Clyde was born in 1870 . All the children were born in Illinois.

 

According to the 1880 Census the Brainards were living in Bureau, Illinois   In is unclear when the Brainards moved to Phillips county although they were considered to be pioneers of Phillips county.

 

I did find that Mr. Brainard had been appointed postmaster for Amherst in 1888 which might explained why he hadn't accompanied he wife to town that fateful day.

 

As for Mr. Brainard and the children...... I found Mr. Brainard,  Clyde and Edna living in Idaho Falls ,Idaho in 1920.  It appears that Edna had married a man by the  of Warmock  but he apparently was dead, as Edna was listed as the head of the household and had a son by the name of Earl.  Both Clyde and Mr. Brainard were living with her.

 

Eric died in 1936, Edna died in 1945, and Mary in 1943.  It is unclear where Eric and Mary were living.

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Last updated December 2018