My Favorite Ancestor: Nancy Ellen (Rounsavell) Brown Blue
Written by: Mary Ann Thomas
Nancy Ellen Rounsavell was born 30 August 1834 in Montgomery County IN(l), almost 10 months to the day after her parents' marriage (2). She was the first of eight children (3) and only one of four to survive to adulthood(4). Her parents were George Whitfield Rounsavell and Mary Jackson Frame (4). Both had come to Indiana from Ohio with their parents. George came from Adams County and Mary from Guernsey County during the Black Hawk War in Apri1 1832. (5)
Before Nancy was a year old, Mary and George packed up their belongings and followed Mary's father, Colonel James Frame and several other families, to Iroquois County IL, where they were among the earliest settlers. Both families settled at the headwaters of Spring Creek and after a warm welcome from the few already there, they planted their crops and began to raise their families.
George carried their first fire in a tea kettle from a settler five miles away. I am sure the settler didn't mind sharing because the Frame's shared their hand mill, only the second one among the settlers. ( 6)
Their life was ordinary for early pioneers, coping with prairie fires, bad crops, (5) infant mortality and poor health. Three Rounsavell children died young (7, 8) and George died at the early age of 45, from consumption. Unfortunately, this killer would take many members of this family.
In December 1836, another death occurred which must have tested even these hearty pioneers. After making some money on the sale of his cattle, Mary's brother, Thomas, set out on horse back to Danville to file on 40 acres of land. On the way back, a sudden and terrible storm struck, and even after cutting his horse partly open to keep warm, Thomas froze to death before he was able to reach safety.(6) His new land was used for the Frame family cemetery.
In Feb 1852, Nancy Ellen, not quite 18, married Zara Costen Brown, who had moved to Iroquois County from Vermilion County,IL(9)a few years before. Several children were born to them before they left Illinois for the new territory of Kansas. They arrived before the 1860 territorial census (10) and were listed with five children. Two more would be born in the next 4 years and then Zara died of consumption in 1864(11 ).
At the age of 30, Nancy Ellen (Rounsavell) Brown was a widow with seven children, the oldest being only 11 years old. Somehow she managed to hang on to the land Zara had bought after coming to Kansas. She applied for guardianship of her children and managed the property herself.(11)
During this time, it is known that she taught school for neighboring children as well as her own and was also postmistress for th~ Ontario post office for many years. (18)
More tragedy lay in-store for this family. During the battle of Shiloh, a younger brother of Nancy's was killed. He was just barely 17 and basically his mother and 3 siblings' only support. Mary applied for, but did not receive, a pension for his service shortly after he was killed. For this reason, she may have decided that having close family would help them both as she moved to Kansas, near where Nancy lived. Mary kept reapplying until she received a pension.(4)
In 1870, Nancy and her younger sister, Serepta, married a father and son.(12, 13) Both gave birth the next year to baby girls and both ended up filing for divorce from their husbands. Although both men, in addition to a son-in-Iaw, tried to get the property and children that belonged to them, they were able to stop them.(14, 15).
Unfortunately, Serepta died in 1877 from the family disease of consumption (17) and James went insane and was hospitalized the rest of his life. Mary was elderly and unable to care for her grandchild and Nancy had more than she could handle already, so the child was apprenticed and basically adopted by the local banker's wife.(16)
Nancy continued to raise her children on the family farm and eventually all the children found life-mates and raised children of their own.
Two of her children moved to Oklahoma during territorial times. Another moved to Idaho and became one of the first female teachers and the second female superintendent of schools in Adams County ID. One of Nancy's granddaughters was a pioneer teacher in Alaska.
After a long and fruitful life, Nancy died in 1912 at age 78, she was living in Guthrie Logan County OK, a true pioneer to the end. (1)
Copyright Oct. 2001
Mary Ann Thomas
Partial Source Material
1. Obit, Nancy Brown Blue, Holton (KS) Recorder 7 Mar 1912
2. Marriage License, Montgomery County IN, Oct 31, 1833
3. Obit, Mary J. Rounsavell, Holton Weekly Recorder, 7 Mar 1889
4. Military Pension File, Certificate # 241614, Sworn statement 28 June 1887.
5. Narrative history written by Jane (Frame) Kenoyer (1901)
6. History of Iroquois IL by H. W. Beckwith (Chicago, 1880) pages 554-555
7. 1840 Iroquois County Census page 250
8. Headstone Photo, Antrim Frame Rounsavell, died 1852
9. 1850 Vermi1ion County IL , Highland Twp Census page 63
10. 1860 KS Territorial Census, Jackson County Jefferson Twp. page 130
11. Probate/Guardianship Record, case # 75, Jackson County District Court
12. Marriage License, Blue/Brown, Jackson County District Court, Bk. A, page 69
13. Marriage License, Rounsavell/Blue, Jackson County District Court, Bk. A. page 95
14. Jackson County District Court, Case # 775, 1875
15. Jackson County Court, Civil case # 838, 1877
16. Jackson County Court, Guardianship cases #342, #604,
17. Obit, Serepta Rounsavell Blue, Holton Recorder 2 Aug 1877 page 9 18.
History of Kansas Vol. 2. , A. T. Andreas, 1883/1976 page 1343
