Nancy Vaughn Lowery( Loughry) Lewis Brumley is my great-great-grandmother. I have as many questions about her as I do about my great-great-grandfather, Willis Brumley. Willis was her third husband (I think). This trail has been a long and winding trail and after decades of researching, I am still looking into leads on this woman.
In Osage County, Missouri on July 16, 1857, Nancy J Vaughn from Lincoln County, Tennessee at the age of sixteen married Charles P Lowery (Loughry) from St Andrews West, Stormont, New Brunswick, Canada at the age of twenty-six years old. Nancy and Charles had their first child in 1859 named Edward Lowery (Loughry) in Missouri. Their second child Eliza A Lowery (Loughry) was born in May 1861 in Palestine Township, Cooper, Missouri. Charlesann (Annie) Lowery (Loughry) was born in January 1863 in Missouri.
Charles P Lowery (Loughry) enlisted as a Private in the Civil War as a Union Soldier on September 1, 1862, in Missouri Company A 29th Infantry. There were many casualties in Company A enlisted men killed or mortally wounded were sixty-eight, and enlisted men that died of disease or killed were two hundred and ninety-one. Charles at the early age of thirty-two years old died May 30, 1863, in Milliken’s Bend, East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. He died of Dropsy due to heart disease.
Nancy was now a widow at twenty-two with three small children. Nancy marries for the second time to Elias Lewis on February 2, 1865, in Osage County, Missouri. They have one child in 1866, Julia E Lewis in Osage County, Missouri. I am unable to find anything on where Elias Lewis traveled to or if he died or exactly what happened to him. From this point, it starts to get a little crazy and confusing.
Willis Brumley my great-grandfather married Nancy Vaughn Lowery Lewis on September 27, 1868, in Linn, Osage County, Missouri. He was forty-four years old, and she was twenty-seven. In March of 1869, they had a daughter, Alice Florence Brumley in Osage County. The census of 1870 was taken on July 2, 1870, in Benton Township, Osage County. It listed the following people living at the residence at that time: Willis Brumley 46, Nancy Brumley 30, Edward H Lowery 11, Martha A Lowery 9, Charlesann Lowery 7, and Julia E Lewis 5. There was no mention of Alice Florence Brumley on this census.
My great-grandfather Isaack Walter Brumley was born on August 6, 1875, in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska. I cannot say for certain, but I am fairly sure Willis worked for the railroad at that time and went to work where he was assigned. So, I can understand the possibility that Nancy and the rest of the children went with him to live in Nebraska while he was working on the railroad.
But Willis Brumley married Delana Harris married on February 22, 1874, in Osage County, Missouri. The 1880 Census of Osage County, it lists this family as follows: Willis 56, Delana 49, William Brumley 33, Nancy A Brumley 30, James F Emmit 12 (Stepson), Alice Florence Brumley 9, and Issack Walter Brumley 7. There is no Nancy Vaughn Lowery Lewis Brumley. William and Nancy A were his children from his first marriage. What happened to Nancy did she die in Nebraska? I have been searching for these answers for decades.
The Census for 1880 in Nebraska shows the following: Richard O’Keeffe 35, Julia E Vaughn O’Keeffe 28, Annie Lowery (Loughery) (niece) 17, Julia Lewis 14 (niece), Richard O’Keeffe 6 and Edward M O’Keeffe 8 months old. Nancy is not listed in 1880 in Missouri or Nebraska. I have wondered for years about her and searched and have never figured it out.
With the dates, I had to collaborate with my mother, and we always thought that Delana Foster Harris was Isacck Walter Brumley’s mother. The U. S. Social Security Applications and Claim Index 1936-2007 listed his mother as Lowery. Willis died somewhere around 1899-1900. I have never found the death dates of Nancy or Delana.
I have written about this story before but decided to rewrite it in hopes that someone will come forth with fresh eyes to tell what they know about either one of these ladies.
Please contact me if you know anything about any of these people at diannbrumleybranches@gmail.com
Brumley Family Branches 