Doctor Lanier Brewer and Eliza A. E. Betts
By Michael A. Landwehr
Copyright 2011
The fifth of the known children of Joseph and Elizabeth C. (Robertson) Brewer was Doctor Lanier ‘Doc’ Brewer. We are confident that Doc was born in Tennessee. It seems likely that he was born in Wayne County, as we know that both older and younger siblings were born there. There is uncertainty about the date of Doc’s birth. His gravestone provides a date of 1847. The census records of 1850 and 1860 suggest that he was born between June 1 of 1845 and June 1 of 1846. The 1880 census record suggests that he was born between June 1 of 1846 and June 1 of 1847. On a pension application signed in July of 1913, Doc swore that he was 67 years old. The 1900 census record indicates that Doc was born in November of 1845, and we will accept this date as correct until better evidence is provided.
Doc was probably eight years old when his parents moved their family from Tennessee to Oregon County, Missouri, and 15 years old when the Civil War erupted in April of 1861. Because of his age, it is not surprising that we have found no indication of military service by Doc during the first three years of the war. However, Doc probably reached the legal age to serve in the fall of 1863, and we know that he did serve the Confederate cause in 1864. Doc was probably 18 years old when he, along with many of his neighbors, enlisted in the Confederate army at Webster (now Couch) in Oregon County in June of 1864. Doc served in Company G of the Cavalry Regiment commanded by Edward T. Fristoe. The officers of Company G were Captain J. J. Sitton, 1st Lieutenant A. G. Anderson, 2nd Lieutenant John McVey, and 3rd Lieutenant or Junior Second S. D. Pierce. The regiment was identified as Fristoe's Cavalry, Freeman's Brigade, Marmaduke's Division and Price's Corps.
As a member of Company G, D. L. ‘Doc’ Brewer reported that he took part in the battles of Pilot Knob (September 26-27, 1864), Big Blue (October 21, 1864) and the Osage River Fight. The surviving records of Fristoe’s Regiment do not include the name of D. L. Brewer, and Doc was unsuccessful in obtaining a pension due to the lack of records. However, we know that the records of the regiment are incomplete, and we accept Doc’s claim of service based on his own statements, as well as the written statement of his company commander, Captain J. J. Sitton. In support of Doc’s attempt to obtain a pension, J. J. Sitton attested, in 1913, to his knowledge that Doc served honorably in Company G until October 23, 1864, when he (Captain Sitton) was wounded and captured at the Battle of Westport, Missouri.
After the close of the Civil War in the spring of 1865, Oregon County continued to be plagued by lawless activity. In response, Oregon County organized the Oregon County Militia to combat lawlessness in the county. Most of the militia volunteers were ex-Confederate soldiers. Doc's name appears as “Doctor L. Brewer” on the 1865 enrollment list for the Oregon County Militia. Doc was listed as 19 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with light hair, blue eyes and fair skin. The enrollment record indicates that Doc was a resident of Oregon County, was enrolled in Company C, was a farmer and was single.
Within a few years after the Civil War ended, Doc married Eliza A. E. Betts, daughter of William S. Betts and Ede M. Bird. We don’t know where or when their marriage took place. The 1900 census record would later indicate that they had been married 32 years, suggesting that they were probably married in 1867 or 1868. I have a marriage date of October of 1868 among my records, but am unable to ascertain the source of that information.
The date of Eliza’s birth is also uncertain. Federal census records of 1850, 1860 and 1880 consistently indicate that Eliza was born between June 1 of 1848 and June 1 of 1849. The 1900 census records indicate that Eliza was born in February of 1851, but that is obviously in error, as she is listed in her parents’ household in the 1850 census. In an application filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1909, Eliza stated that she was born at Pocahontas, Arkansas, on February 15, 1849. Accepting this information as the most accurate we have regarding the date and place of Eliza’s birth, it would appear that Doc was about 22 years old, and Eliza was about 19 years old, when they married.
A few years after he and Eliza were married, Doc was initiated into Masonic Lodge #255 at Alton on April 27, 1872.
There is little evidence to indicate that any children were ever born to Doc and Eliza. However, there is evidence that the couple adopted, or raised, one or two daughters. When the census of their Oregon County household was enumerated in 1880, about twelve years after their marriage, the household consisted of Doc and Eliza, a one-year-old orphan named Stella Depriest, and Eliza’s younger half-brother, William A. ‘Arch’ Simmons. While I have not yet located proof that Doc and Eliza adopted, or raised, Stella Depriest, information provided to me by Nell Ashley, in 1990, listed Stella Whitten, wife of J. Ed Whitten, of Alton, and a Mrs. Sifford, of Woodside, as children of Doc Brewer. And, when Ed Whitten was married in Oregon County in 1896, the bride’s name appeared on their marriage record as Miss Stella Brewer.
Eliza (Betts) Brewer had only one sibling—a younger brother named Evander Filander Lecurtis ‘Van’ Betts. The 1880 census records for Jobe Township, in southeast Oregon County, indicate that the Van Betts family, and Doc and Eliza Brewer, were close neighbors.
There is some evidence to suggest that Doc and Eliza may have moved from southeast Oregon County across the state line into Randolph County, Arkansas, in the early 1880’s. On January 17, 1883, D. L. and Eliza E. Brewer, both of Randolph County, Arkansas, sold the 'undivided one half' of the W 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of Section 36 in Township 22 North of Range 3 West (40 acres) to Eliza’s step-father, George W. Smith, of Oregon County, for $225. The deed was signed by D. L. Brewer, and by Eliza E. Brewer's mark. This tract of land is located just east of County Road H, about 3/4 mile east and 3/4 mile north of Myrtle.
On May 20, 1888, the Oregon County marriage records indicate that William H. Caldwell and Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Brewer were married at the home of the bride’s parents. Both the bride and the groom were listed as residents of Billmore. Doc Brewer made a verbal statement as to Mary’s age before the marriage. Who was this Lizzie Brewer? My current belief is that Lizzie was the daughter of Henry and Martha (Slagger) Brewer, and was, therefore, Doc’s second cousin. But, it does seem very unusual for a second cousin to make a statement as to the bride’s age.
On May 7, 1915, the South Missourian Democrat, published at Alton, reprinted a brief item from May 7, 1890, which noted that “D. L. Brewer, along with W. G. Simpson, A. M. Whitten and Dr. W. J. Clift attended the trial of Will Sprague, S. P. Stacy, and Albert Stacy in West Plains, as witnesses in the Sprague-Stacy murder case.” Willilam Sprague was on trial for the Oregon County murder of D. M. Cornelius on October 20, 1889. S. P. Stacy was charged as an accomplice, for urging Sprague to commit the crime. We know nothing of Doc Brewer’s connection to the case.
When Doc Brewer’s father, Joseph Brewer, died in southeast Oregon County in January of 1899, Doc Brewer was listed as a resident of Oregon County in his father’s obituary.
In June of 1900, Doc and Eliza were living in a house they owned in Alton Township of Oregon County. Doc was no longer farming, as he listed his occupation as “day laborer”. Living with Doc and Eliza were four boarders and a servant. One of the boarders was listed as a landlord, and the other three as day laborers.
Though Doc and Eliza were apparently operating a boarding house in Alton, there is evidence they were not getting along. The index to Oregon County Circuit Court Criminal Files 1845-1900, available at the Missouri State Archives, includes a 1900 case in which "D. L. Brewer" was charged with "Assault Lizzie Brewer". It seems likely that the assault case filed against Doc was the reason that Doc was suspended from Masonic Lodge #255, on August 11, 1900, for un-Masonic conduct.
But, life went on. An item on page 3 of the July 25, 1901, issue of the Oregon County South Missourian, reported that "Ceph Johnson, Albert Norman, Ed Whitten and Doc Brewer are complaining of the effect of the hot weather. Ed is suffering from typhoid fever." Ed Whitten was Doc’s son-in-law.
Sometime between the summer of 1901 and early 1903, Doc and Eliza apparently moved from Oregon County to Muskogee, in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). An item in the "Echoes from the Streets" column on page 1 of the March 6, 1903, issue of the Oregon County Tribune, published in Thayer, Missouri, stated that "D. L. Brewer, who has been visiting friends at Alton, was here Saturday in route to his home at Muskogee, I. T.". I have been told that the same issue of the paper carried information that "D. L. Brewer's wife went to Oklahoma to prove her claim as a member of the Cherokee Tribe and she probably had to live on the land for a period of time. Now, 6 Mar 1903, they are selling out in Muskogee & returning to Oregon County."
Eliza was undoubtedly attempting to obtain a land allotment from the Dawes Commission, which was charged with the responsibility of allotting nearly 16 million acres of Indian lands to members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Dawes Commission was formed in 1893, and was active until 1914. The Commission established its headquarters in Muskogee, in Indian Territory. Approximately 250,000 individuals applied for allotments, and about 100,000 of those applicants received allotments. Eliza was not among the successful applicants. It would be interesting to check the index to rejected applicants, and obtain Eliza’s rejected application file.
It’s unclear whether Doc was actually with Eliza while she lived in Muskogee. A city directory for Muskogee, Oklahoma, entitled Moore's Muskogee Directory 1903, lists Mrs. Eliza E. Brewer as boarding in a residence at 301 N. Second. A review of other entries in the directory suggests that the residence at that address was a boarding house. D. L. Brewer was not listed in the directory.
Eliza apparently did return to Oregon County in 1903. In the February 26, 1904, minutes of the Oregon County Circuit Court, the cause of a divorce case filed by Eliza was continued to the next term of the court. Doc then filed a Cross Bill for divorce. On July 14, 1904, the court ruled that Doc was the "innocent and injured party", and that he was entitled to the relief sought in his Cross Bill.
While Eliza was unsuccessful in proving her claim to be a member of the Cherokee Tribe while living in Muskogee in 1903, it would not be her last attempt to do so. Between May 1905 and April 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the Secretary of the Interior to identify the descendants of Eastern Cherokees entitled to participate in the distribution of more than $1 million authorized by Congress. The purpose of the authorization was to settle outstanding claims made under treaties between the U.S. government and the Cherokees in 1835-36 and 1845. A new Act of Congress, approved June 30, 1906, appropriated new funds. Eliza returned to Muskogee, where, on October 1, 1906, she filed an application with the Guion Miller Commission for a share of those funds.
Eliza’s application was based on her claim that her grandmother, Nancy Weatherspoon, was a Cherokee. Eliza stated that Nancy was married to John W. Bird; that they had a daughter, Ede M. Bird, who married William S. Betts; and that William and Ede Betts were Eliza’s parents. Her claim indicated that Nancy Weatherspoon was born in North Carolina, and was living on Bird’s Creek, in the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory, in 1851.
Eliza continued her residence in Muskogee as she waited for a decision from the Guion Miller Commission. While she waited, Eliza was married to a Mr. Brady (first name unknown). When she wrote to Mr. Guion Miller, on September 9, 1909, to inquire about the status of her case, she signed her letter as Mrs. Eliza Brewer (Brady), and gave her address as 408 Frisco Alley in Muskogee. When she finally received a decision from the Guion Miller Commission, it was not what she had hoped for. Eliza’s application was again rejected. It was noted that neither Eliza, nor her mother, had been enrolled on any Cherokee roll, and that no evidence was given that any of her ancestors were parties to the Treaties of 1835-46. It was also noted that her mother was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is nearly 200 miles removed from any Cherokee domain as constituted in 1835.
Eliza’s failure to qualify for an allotment from the Dawes Commission, or to qualify for payment from the Guion Miller Commission, does not mean that her grandmother was not a Cherokee. It simply means that the evidence Eliza was able to provide did not meet the standards for proof established by those commissions.
Meanwhile, back in Missouri, Doc continued to live in Oregon County. Years ago, I received an indication from another genealogist that Doc married a woman named Dora after his divorce from Eliza. To date, however, I have not found any evidence that Doc married a second time.
One of activities that Doc participated in during his later years was the United Confederate Veterans. We know that D. L. Brewer was present at a meeting of Colonel J. R. Woodside Camp No. 751 of United Confederate Veterans on May 27, 1905, and that his name also appeared on a roster of paid members for 1908.
After living in Alton for about 30 years, Doc moved to the home of his brother-in-law and sister, George and Martha Thomasson, near Billmore, about 1911.
On July 22, 1913, Doc applied for a Pension for Ex-Confederate Soldiers, provided to qualifying Confederate veterans by the State of Missouri. Doc’s application was based on his service in Fristoe’s Cavalry. In his application, he swore that on account of old age, he was incapacitated to labor, and had no business or profession or property from which he might derive an income, and no means sufficient for his support. He went on the say "I am unable to work to support myself, and have no property, income or anyone who should support or take care of me." Unfortunately, the State of Missouri was unable to locate any record of Doc’s service, and he was not able to obtain a pension.
Doctor Lanier Brewer was probably 73 years old when he passed away on May 5, 1914. According to his obituary, Doc died at the home of his brother-in-law and sister, George and Martha Thomasson, near Billmore. He had been in poor health for several months, but his condition was not considered serious until three or four days before his death. Doc was buried the next day in the Myrtle Cemetery, at Myrtle, Missouri, under the ceremonies of the Alton Masonic Lodge.
Having presented the limited information we have collected about the lives of Doctor Lanier Brewer and Eliza E. Betts, we will now pause to speculate about a genealogical puzzle. I was contacted in 2003 by Jerry Hopewell, who was searching for the parents of his great-grandmother, Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) Rawdon. Jerry reported that Louisa was born in Oregon County on October 18, 1867, and that she had related to family members that her father’s name was “Leonard Brewer”, and that she had been raised by the Smith family. Jerry reported that the details were always vague, and not talked about much. After Louisa married John Levi Rawdon in Oregon County, the couple moved to Lincoln County, Oklahoma, where they raised a large family, and both John and Louisa are buried in the Stroud Cemetery. Jerry had seen information I had posted about Doctor Lanier Brewer, and wondered if Doc might have been the “Leonard Brewer” who Jerry’s great grandmother referred to as her father.
Working together, this is what Jerry and I discovered:
1) John Levi Rawdon and Louisa Smith were married in Oregon County, Missouri, on December 18, 1884. Their marriage record indicates that Jonathan Crass attested to Louisa’s age.
2) The Jonathan Crass family is listed in the 1880 census of Jobe Township, in Oregon County, Missouri. Living with Jonathan were his wife, Barbara, their four children, two cousins, and an eleven-year-old niece by the name of Louisa Smith. The Jonathan Crass family residence was clearly located east of Myrtle.
3) Jonathan Crass was married in Oregon County, on December 15, 1866, to Barbara Catherine Smith, daughter of George Washington Smith and George’s first wife, Catherine. It would appear that the Louisa Smith living with Jonathan and Barbara Crass in 1880 was probably the child of one of Barbara’s siblings.
4) The William W. Todd family is listed in the 1870 census of Roanoke Township, in Randolph County, Arkansas. Roanoke Township was just across the state line from Jobe Township, in Oregon County, Missouri. Living with William were his wife, Susan, William’s six children from an earlier marriage, and three-year-old Louisa Brewer.
5) William W. Todd was married in Oregon County, on May 22, 1870, to Susannah Smith, daughter of George Washington Smith, and George’s first wife, Catherine. Susannah was Barbara (Smith) Crass’ sister. William W. Todd and Susannah Smith were married just one month before the 1870 census of their household was recorded. No relationship to the head of household is provided by the 1870 census, so we can only speculate about Louisa Brewer’s relationship to William W. and Susan (Smith) Todd. But, it would certainly seem likely that Louisa was brought into the marriage by Susan, rather than by William.
The family information provided by Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) would suggest that her father was a Brewer, and that her mother was a Smith. If we accept 1) that her father was a Brewer, and 2) that she was raised first by Susannah (Smith) Todd, and 3) that she was later raised by Barbara (Smith) Crass, and 4) that she appears in the census as a Brewer in 1870, and 5) that she appears in the census as a Smith in 1880, and 6) that her name appears on her marriage record as a Smith, the evidence suggests that Louisa’s parents never married.
I have been researching the Brewer family of southeast Oregon County for many years, and have never run across a Leonard Brewer in that area. It seems feasible that the name “Lanier”, an uncommon name, could get changed to “Leonard” at some point as it was orally passed down over the generations in Louisa’s family.
Susannah (Smith) Todd, who was caring for 3-year-old Louisa in 1870, would have been about 23 years old, and single, when Louisa was born, and Doc Brewer would have been about 22 years old, and single. Doc Brewer’s parents and Susannah Smith’s parents both lived east of Myrtle, and the two families were separated by only seven other families in the 1870 census records.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that something tragic happened to William and Susannah (Smith) Todd shortly after the birth of their daughter, Winnie Todd, in 1872. If Louisa was Susannah’s daughter, and Susannah died about 1873, one might argue that the most logical family to take Louisa in and raise her would have been Susannah’s father and step-mother. But, the 1880 census suggests that Susannah’s father and step-mother raised Winnie Todd, Susannah’s daughter from her marriage to William Todd. So, it would not be surprising for another Smith family member, in this case Susannah’s sister, Barbara (Smith) Crass, to assume responsibility for raising Louisa.
The evidence is circumstantial, but rather convincing, I think, that Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) Rawdon was the daughter of Susannah Smith. And, based on what we know, it would seem that Doctor Lanier Brewer is the best candidate we can identify for Louisa’s father. It is interesting to note that, based on our best information about the dates of Louisa L. Brewer/Smith’s birth and Doc’s marriage to Eliza, Doc and Eliza were probably married just a few months after Louisa L. Brewer/Smith was born. And, Eliza Betts’ mother was married (her third marriage) to Susannah Smith’s father (his second marriage) in March of 1866. So, Doc Brewer’s wife, Eliza, was a step-sister of Susannah Smith. Eliza Betts was about four years younger than Susannah Smith.
As we conclude our speculation about the parentage of Louisa L. Brewer/Smith, we should consider one additional set of facts that may be related. Doc Brewer’s parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Brewer, lived just a couple of miles east and south of Myrtle, Missouri. In 1870, the census indicates that their household consisted of Joseph and Elizabeth, Doc’s four youngest siblings (William, Joseph, James and Martha), eleven-year-old Rebecca (the orphaned daughter of one of Doc’s older brothers), three-year-old Evaline (whom we will discuss further), and seven-month-old Doctor (the son of Doc’s brother Joseph, who was living at home with his parents after the death of his first wife). No last name was given for any family member other than the head of the household, indicating that all the family members were Brewers.
In 1880, the census record for the family of Doc’s parents consisted of 1) Doc’s parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Brewer, 2) Doc’s two youngest siblings, James Brewer and Martha Brewer, 3) ten-year-old Doctor Brewer, the son of Doc’s brother Joseph, who was now remarried, and raising a family with his second wife, 4) 13-year-old Evaline Smith, listed as a granddaughter of Doc’s parents, and 5) 22-year-old L. Johnson, listed as a nephew of Doc’s parents.
Who was 13-year-old Evaline Smith who was raised by Doc Brewer’s parents? It seems likely that she was the same Evaline Smith who would marry John A. Cantrell in Oregon County in November of 1884, as we know that Joseph Brewer attested to the age of this Evaline Smith when she and John A. Cantrell were married. And who were the parents of this Evaline Smith? It is certainly possible that she could have been the daughter of one of Doc’s sisters, born out of wedlock, or the child of a marriage of which we are unaware. But, another possibility seems more likely. Based on the limited information we have about the ages of Evaline Smith and Louisa L. Brewer/Smith, it appears that they were nearly, or exactly, the same age. In the 1870 census of the William Todd family, Louisa Brewer was listed as three years old, and Jerry Hopewell reports that his great grandmother Louisa was born in October of 1867. Evaline Smith was also listed as three years old in the 1870 census of the Joseph Brewer family. The two girls, Louisa and Evaline, also lived in the same neighborhood. The Joseph Brewer household and the Jonathan Crass household were separated in the 1880 census records by only seven other households. Did Doc Brewer and Susannah Smith have twin daughters in 1867, with one of the girls raised by Doc’s family, and her twin sister raised by Susannah’s family? It would be very interesting to locate further information about Evaline (Smith) Cantrell, to see if we could find any evidence about her parentage, or about any connection to either Louisa or to the John Levi Rawdon family.
NOTE TO READERS: This biographical sketch was last revised in August of 2011. If you are interested in updates to this information, have questions about the content, or can add anything to the material provided by this sketch, please contact me at [email protected].
Copyright 2011
The fifth of the known children of Joseph and Elizabeth C. (Robertson) Brewer was Doctor Lanier ‘Doc’ Brewer. We are confident that Doc was born in Tennessee. It seems likely that he was born in Wayne County, as we know that both older and younger siblings were born there. There is uncertainty about the date of Doc’s birth. His gravestone provides a date of 1847. The census records of 1850 and 1860 suggest that he was born between June 1 of 1845 and June 1 of 1846. The 1880 census record suggests that he was born between June 1 of 1846 and June 1 of 1847. On a pension application signed in July of 1913, Doc swore that he was 67 years old. The 1900 census record indicates that Doc was born in November of 1845, and we will accept this date as correct until better evidence is provided.
Doc was probably eight years old when his parents moved their family from Tennessee to Oregon County, Missouri, and 15 years old when the Civil War erupted in April of 1861. Because of his age, it is not surprising that we have found no indication of military service by Doc during the first three years of the war. However, Doc probably reached the legal age to serve in the fall of 1863, and we know that he did serve the Confederate cause in 1864. Doc was probably 18 years old when he, along with many of his neighbors, enlisted in the Confederate army at Webster (now Couch) in Oregon County in June of 1864. Doc served in Company G of the Cavalry Regiment commanded by Edward T. Fristoe. The officers of Company G were Captain J. J. Sitton, 1st Lieutenant A. G. Anderson, 2nd Lieutenant John McVey, and 3rd Lieutenant or Junior Second S. D. Pierce. The regiment was identified as Fristoe's Cavalry, Freeman's Brigade, Marmaduke's Division and Price's Corps.
As a member of Company G, D. L. ‘Doc’ Brewer reported that he took part in the battles of Pilot Knob (September 26-27, 1864), Big Blue (October 21, 1864) and the Osage River Fight. The surviving records of Fristoe’s Regiment do not include the name of D. L. Brewer, and Doc was unsuccessful in obtaining a pension due to the lack of records. However, we know that the records of the regiment are incomplete, and we accept Doc’s claim of service based on his own statements, as well as the written statement of his company commander, Captain J. J. Sitton. In support of Doc’s attempt to obtain a pension, J. J. Sitton attested, in 1913, to his knowledge that Doc served honorably in Company G until October 23, 1864, when he (Captain Sitton) was wounded and captured at the Battle of Westport, Missouri.
After the close of the Civil War in the spring of 1865, Oregon County continued to be plagued by lawless activity. In response, Oregon County organized the Oregon County Militia to combat lawlessness in the county. Most of the militia volunteers were ex-Confederate soldiers. Doc's name appears as “Doctor L. Brewer” on the 1865 enrollment list for the Oregon County Militia. Doc was listed as 19 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with light hair, blue eyes and fair skin. The enrollment record indicates that Doc was a resident of Oregon County, was enrolled in Company C, was a farmer and was single.
Within a few years after the Civil War ended, Doc married Eliza A. E. Betts, daughter of William S. Betts and Ede M. Bird. We don’t know where or when their marriage took place. The 1900 census record would later indicate that they had been married 32 years, suggesting that they were probably married in 1867 or 1868. I have a marriage date of October of 1868 among my records, but am unable to ascertain the source of that information.
The date of Eliza’s birth is also uncertain. Federal census records of 1850, 1860 and 1880 consistently indicate that Eliza was born between June 1 of 1848 and June 1 of 1849. The 1900 census records indicate that Eliza was born in February of 1851, but that is obviously in error, as she is listed in her parents’ household in the 1850 census. In an application filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1909, Eliza stated that she was born at Pocahontas, Arkansas, on February 15, 1849. Accepting this information as the most accurate we have regarding the date and place of Eliza’s birth, it would appear that Doc was about 22 years old, and Eliza was about 19 years old, when they married.
A few years after he and Eliza were married, Doc was initiated into Masonic Lodge #255 at Alton on April 27, 1872.
There is little evidence to indicate that any children were ever born to Doc and Eliza. However, there is evidence that the couple adopted, or raised, one or two daughters. When the census of their Oregon County household was enumerated in 1880, about twelve years after their marriage, the household consisted of Doc and Eliza, a one-year-old orphan named Stella Depriest, and Eliza’s younger half-brother, William A. ‘Arch’ Simmons. While I have not yet located proof that Doc and Eliza adopted, or raised, Stella Depriest, information provided to me by Nell Ashley, in 1990, listed Stella Whitten, wife of J. Ed Whitten, of Alton, and a Mrs. Sifford, of Woodside, as children of Doc Brewer. And, when Ed Whitten was married in Oregon County in 1896, the bride’s name appeared on their marriage record as Miss Stella Brewer.
Eliza (Betts) Brewer had only one sibling—a younger brother named Evander Filander Lecurtis ‘Van’ Betts. The 1880 census records for Jobe Township, in southeast Oregon County, indicate that the Van Betts family, and Doc and Eliza Brewer, were close neighbors.
There is some evidence to suggest that Doc and Eliza may have moved from southeast Oregon County across the state line into Randolph County, Arkansas, in the early 1880’s. On January 17, 1883, D. L. and Eliza E. Brewer, both of Randolph County, Arkansas, sold the 'undivided one half' of the W 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of Section 36 in Township 22 North of Range 3 West (40 acres) to Eliza’s step-father, George W. Smith, of Oregon County, for $225. The deed was signed by D. L. Brewer, and by Eliza E. Brewer's mark. This tract of land is located just east of County Road H, about 3/4 mile east and 3/4 mile north of Myrtle.
On May 20, 1888, the Oregon County marriage records indicate that William H. Caldwell and Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Brewer were married at the home of the bride’s parents. Both the bride and the groom were listed as residents of Billmore. Doc Brewer made a verbal statement as to Mary’s age before the marriage. Who was this Lizzie Brewer? My current belief is that Lizzie was the daughter of Henry and Martha (Slagger) Brewer, and was, therefore, Doc’s second cousin. But, it does seem very unusual for a second cousin to make a statement as to the bride’s age.
On May 7, 1915, the South Missourian Democrat, published at Alton, reprinted a brief item from May 7, 1890, which noted that “D. L. Brewer, along with W. G. Simpson, A. M. Whitten and Dr. W. J. Clift attended the trial of Will Sprague, S. P. Stacy, and Albert Stacy in West Plains, as witnesses in the Sprague-Stacy murder case.” Willilam Sprague was on trial for the Oregon County murder of D. M. Cornelius on October 20, 1889. S. P. Stacy was charged as an accomplice, for urging Sprague to commit the crime. We know nothing of Doc Brewer’s connection to the case.
When Doc Brewer’s father, Joseph Brewer, died in southeast Oregon County in January of 1899, Doc Brewer was listed as a resident of Oregon County in his father’s obituary.
In June of 1900, Doc and Eliza were living in a house they owned in Alton Township of Oregon County. Doc was no longer farming, as he listed his occupation as “day laborer”. Living with Doc and Eliza were four boarders and a servant. One of the boarders was listed as a landlord, and the other three as day laborers.
Though Doc and Eliza were apparently operating a boarding house in Alton, there is evidence they were not getting along. The index to Oregon County Circuit Court Criminal Files 1845-1900, available at the Missouri State Archives, includes a 1900 case in which "D. L. Brewer" was charged with "Assault Lizzie Brewer". It seems likely that the assault case filed against Doc was the reason that Doc was suspended from Masonic Lodge #255, on August 11, 1900, for un-Masonic conduct.
But, life went on. An item on page 3 of the July 25, 1901, issue of the Oregon County South Missourian, reported that "Ceph Johnson, Albert Norman, Ed Whitten and Doc Brewer are complaining of the effect of the hot weather. Ed is suffering from typhoid fever." Ed Whitten was Doc’s son-in-law.
Sometime between the summer of 1901 and early 1903, Doc and Eliza apparently moved from Oregon County to Muskogee, in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). An item in the "Echoes from the Streets" column on page 1 of the March 6, 1903, issue of the Oregon County Tribune, published in Thayer, Missouri, stated that "D. L. Brewer, who has been visiting friends at Alton, was here Saturday in route to his home at Muskogee, I. T.". I have been told that the same issue of the paper carried information that "D. L. Brewer's wife went to Oklahoma to prove her claim as a member of the Cherokee Tribe and she probably had to live on the land for a period of time. Now, 6 Mar 1903, they are selling out in Muskogee & returning to Oregon County."
Eliza was undoubtedly attempting to obtain a land allotment from the Dawes Commission, which was charged with the responsibility of allotting nearly 16 million acres of Indian lands to members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Dawes Commission was formed in 1893, and was active until 1914. The Commission established its headquarters in Muskogee, in Indian Territory. Approximately 250,000 individuals applied for allotments, and about 100,000 of those applicants received allotments. Eliza was not among the successful applicants. It would be interesting to check the index to rejected applicants, and obtain Eliza’s rejected application file.
It’s unclear whether Doc was actually with Eliza while she lived in Muskogee. A city directory for Muskogee, Oklahoma, entitled Moore's Muskogee Directory 1903, lists Mrs. Eliza E. Brewer as boarding in a residence at 301 N. Second. A review of other entries in the directory suggests that the residence at that address was a boarding house. D. L. Brewer was not listed in the directory.
Eliza apparently did return to Oregon County in 1903. In the February 26, 1904, minutes of the Oregon County Circuit Court, the cause of a divorce case filed by Eliza was continued to the next term of the court. Doc then filed a Cross Bill for divorce. On July 14, 1904, the court ruled that Doc was the "innocent and injured party", and that he was entitled to the relief sought in his Cross Bill.
While Eliza was unsuccessful in proving her claim to be a member of the Cherokee Tribe while living in Muskogee in 1903, it would not be her last attempt to do so. Between May 1905 and April 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the Secretary of the Interior to identify the descendants of Eastern Cherokees entitled to participate in the distribution of more than $1 million authorized by Congress. The purpose of the authorization was to settle outstanding claims made under treaties between the U.S. government and the Cherokees in 1835-36 and 1845. A new Act of Congress, approved June 30, 1906, appropriated new funds. Eliza returned to Muskogee, where, on October 1, 1906, she filed an application with the Guion Miller Commission for a share of those funds.
Eliza’s application was based on her claim that her grandmother, Nancy Weatherspoon, was a Cherokee. Eliza stated that Nancy was married to John W. Bird; that they had a daughter, Ede M. Bird, who married William S. Betts; and that William and Ede Betts were Eliza’s parents. Her claim indicated that Nancy Weatherspoon was born in North Carolina, and was living on Bird’s Creek, in the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory, in 1851.
Eliza continued her residence in Muskogee as she waited for a decision from the Guion Miller Commission. While she waited, Eliza was married to a Mr. Brady (first name unknown). When she wrote to Mr. Guion Miller, on September 9, 1909, to inquire about the status of her case, she signed her letter as Mrs. Eliza Brewer (Brady), and gave her address as 408 Frisco Alley in Muskogee. When she finally received a decision from the Guion Miller Commission, it was not what she had hoped for. Eliza’s application was again rejected. It was noted that neither Eliza, nor her mother, had been enrolled on any Cherokee roll, and that no evidence was given that any of her ancestors were parties to the Treaties of 1835-46. It was also noted that her mother was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is nearly 200 miles removed from any Cherokee domain as constituted in 1835.
Eliza’s failure to qualify for an allotment from the Dawes Commission, or to qualify for payment from the Guion Miller Commission, does not mean that her grandmother was not a Cherokee. It simply means that the evidence Eliza was able to provide did not meet the standards for proof established by those commissions.
Meanwhile, back in Missouri, Doc continued to live in Oregon County. Years ago, I received an indication from another genealogist that Doc married a woman named Dora after his divorce from Eliza. To date, however, I have not found any evidence that Doc married a second time.
One of activities that Doc participated in during his later years was the United Confederate Veterans. We know that D. L. Brewer was present at a meeting of Colonel J. R. Woodside Camp No. 751 of United Confederate Veterans on May 27, 1905, and that his name also appeared on a roster of paid members for 1908.
After living in Alton for about 30 years, Doc moved to the home of his brother-in-law and sister, George and Martha Thomasson, near Billmore, about 1911.
On July 22, 1913, Doc applied for a Pension for Ex-Confederate Soldiers, provided to qualifying Confederate veterans by the State of Missouri. Doc’s application was based on his service in Fristoe’s Cavalry. In his application, he swore that on account of old age, he was incapacitated to labor, and had no business or profession or property from which he might derive an income, and no means sufficient for his support. He went on the say "I am unable to work to support myself, and have no property, income or anyone who should support or take care of me." Unfortunately, the State of Missouri was unable to locate any record of Doc’s service, and he was not able to obtain a pension.
Doctor Lanier Brewer was probably 73 years old when he passed away on May 5, 1914. According to his obituary, Doc died at the home of his brother-in-law and sister, George and Martha Thomasson, near Billmore. He had been in poor health for several months, but his condition was not considered serious until three or four days before his death. Doc was buried the next day in the Myrtle Cemetery, at Myrtle, Missouri, under the ceremonies of the Alton Masonic Lodge.
Having presented the limited information we have collected about the lives of Doctor Lanier Brewer and Eliza E. Betts, we will now pause to speculate about a genealogical puzzle. I was contacted in 2003 by Jerry Hopewell, who was searching for the parents of his great-grandmother, Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) Rawdon. Jerry reported that Louisa was born in Oregon County on October 18, 1867, and that she had related to family members that her father’s name was “Leonard Brewer”, and that she had been raised by the Smith family. Jerry reported that the details were always vague, and not talked about much. After Louisa married John Levi Rawdon in Oregon County, the couple moved to Lincoln County, Oklahoma, where they raised a large family, and both John and Louisa are buried in the Stroud Cemetery. Jerry had seen information I had posted about Doctor Lanier Brewer, and wondered if Doc might have been the “Leonard Brewer” who Jerry’s great grandmother referred to as her father.
Working together, this is what Jerry and I discovered:
1) John Levi Rawdon and Louisa Smith were married in Oregon County, Missouri, on December 18, 1884. Their marriage record indicates that Jonathan Crass attested to Louisa’s age.
2) The Jonathan Crass family is listed in the 1880 census of Jobe Township, in Oregon County, Missouri. Living with Jonathan were his wife, Barbara, their four children, two cousins, and an eleven-year-old niece by the name of Louisa Smith. The Jonathan Crass family residence was clearly located east of Myrtle.
3) Jonathan Crass was married in Oregon County, on December 15, 1866, to Barbara Catherine Smith, daughter of George Washington Smith and George’s first wife, Catherine. It would appear that the Louisa Smith living with Jonathan and Barbara Crass in 1880 was probably the child of one of Barbara’s siblings.
4) The William W. Todd family is listed in the 1870 census of Roanoke Township, in Randolph County, Arkansas. Roanoke Township was just across the state line from Jobe Township, in Oregon County, Missouri. Living with William were his wife, Susan, William’s six children from an earlier marriage, and three-year-old Louisa Brewer.
5) William W. Todd was married in Oregon County, on May 22, 1870, to Susannah Smith, daughter of George Washington Smith, and George’s first wife, Catherine. Susannah was Barbara (Smith) Crass’ sister. William W. Todd and Susannah Smith were married just one month before the 1870 census of their household was recorded. No relationship to the head of household is provided by the 1870 census, so we can only speculate about Louisa Brewer’s relationship to William W. and Susan (Smith) Todd. But, it would certainly seem likely that Louisa was brought into the marriage by Susan, rather than by William.
The family information provided by Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) would suggest that her father was a Brewer, and that her mother was a Smith. If we accept 1) that her father was a Brewer, and 2) that she was raised first by Susannah (Smith) Todd, and 3) that she was later raised by Barbara (Smith) Crass, and 4) that she appears in the census as a Brewer in 1870, and 5) that she appears in the census as a Smith in 1880, and 6) that her name appears on her marriage record as a Smith, the evidence suggests that Louisa’s parents never married.
I have been researching the Brewer family of southeast Oregon County for many years, and have never run across a Leonard Brewer in that area. It seems feasible that the name “Lanier”, an uncommon name, could get changed to “Leonard” at some point as it was orally passed down over the generations in Louisa’s family.
Susannah (Smith) Todd, who was caring for 3-year-old Louisa in 1870, would have been about 23 years old, and single, when Louisa was born, and Doc Brewer would have been about 22 years old, and single. Doc Brewer’s parents and Susannah Smith’s parents both lived east of Myrtle, and the two families were separated by only seven other families in the 1870 census records.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that something tragic happened to William and Susannah (Smith) Todd shortly after the birth of their daughter, Winnie Todd, in 1872. If Louisa was Susannah’s daughter, and Susannah died about 1873, one might argue that the most logical family to take Louisa in and raise her would have been Susannah’s father and step-mother. But, the 1880 census suggests that Susannah’s father and step-mother raised Winnie Todd, Susannah’s daughter from her marriage to William Todd. So, it would not be surprising for another Smith family member, in this case Susannah’s sister, Barbara (Smith) Crass, to assume responsibility for raising Louisa.
The evidence is circumstantial, but rather convincing, I think, that Louisa L. (Brewer/Smith) Rawdon was the daughter of Susannah Smith. And, based on what we know, it would seem that Doctor Lanier Brewer is the best candidate we can identify for Louisa’s father. It is interesting to note that, based on our best information about the dates of Louisa L. Brewer/Smith’s birth and Doc’s marriage to Eliza, Doc and Eliza were probably married just a few months after Louisa L. Brewer/Smith was born. And, Eliza Betts’ mother was married (her third marriage) to Susannah Smith’s father (his second marriage) in March of 1866. So, Doc Brewer’s wife, Eliza, was a step-sister of Susannah Smith. Eliza Betts was about four years younger than Susannah Smith.
As we conclude our speculation about the parentage of Louisa L. Brewer/Smith, we should consider one additional set of facts that may be related. Doc Brewer’s parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Brewer, lived just a couple of miles east and south of Myrtle, Missouri. In 1870, the census indicates that their household consisted of Joseph and Elizabeth, Doc’s four youngest siblings (William, Joseph, James and Martha), eleven-year-old Rebecca (the orphaned daughter of one of Doc’s older brothers), three-year-old Evaline (whom we will discuss further), and seven-month-old Doctor (the son of Doc’s brother Joseph, who was living at home with his parents after the death of his first wife). No last name was given for any family member other than the head of the household, indicating that all the family members were Brewers.
In 1880, the census record for the family of Doc’s parents consisted of 1) Doc’s parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Brewer, 2) Doc’s two youngest siblings, James Brewer and Martha Brewer, 3) ten-year-old Doctor Brewer, the son of Doc’s brother Joseph, who was now remarried, and raising a family with his second wife, 4) 13-year-old Evaline Smith, listed as a granddaughter of Doc’s parents, and 5) 22-year-old L. Johnson, listed as a nephew of Doc’s parents.
Who was 13-year-old Evaline Smith who was raised by Doc Brewer’s parents? It seems likely that she was the same Evaline Smith who would marry John A. Cantrell in Oregon County in November of 1884, as we know that Joseph Brewer attested to the age of this Evaline Smith when she and John A. Cantrell were married. And who were the parents of this Evaline Smith? It is certainly possible that she could have been the daughter of one of Doc’s sisters, born out of wedlock, or the child of a marriage of which we are unaware. But, another possibility seems more likely. Based on the limited information we have about the ages of Evaline Smith and Louisa L. Brewer/Smith, it appears that they were nearly, or exactly, the same age. In the 1870 census of the William Todd family, Louisa Brewer was listed as three years old, and Jerry Hopewell reports that his great grandmother Louisa was born in October of 1867. Evaline Smith was also listed as three years old in the 1870 census of the Joseph Brewer family. The two girls, Louisa and Evaline, also lived in the same neighborhood. The Joseph Brewer household and the Jonathan Crass household were separated in the 1880 census records by only seven other households. Did Doc Brewer and Susannah Smith have twin daughters in 1867, with one of the girls raised by Doc’s family, and her twin sister raised by Susannah’s family? It would be very interesting to locate further information about Evaline (Smith) Cantrell, to see if we could find any evidence about her parentage, or about any connection to either Louisa or to the John Levi Rawdon family.
NOTE TO READERS: This biographical sketch was last revised in August of 2011. If you are interested in updates to this information, have questions about the content, or can add anything to the material provided by this sketch, please contact me at [email protected].
