One-Line Study - Johnston Playford Brenton

Last week's post continued my one-line study of my Brenton ancestors with my great-grandfather, Everett Mansell Brenton. I'm going to write summaries of my progress so far in a "Brenton Study" page on the blog soon.

The next ancestor in my study is Johnston Playford Brenton, Everett's father and my great-great grandfather.

 J.P.'s headstone in Taylor Cemetery, Brownsville, Fayette, PA. Courtesy of Joseph Howard Matthews.

Johnston (J.P.) was born in Pennsylvania on 28 Feb 1859 to Isaac Brenton and Jane K. Johnston (Brenton)1-3. He was their oldest child (as far as I know) and it seems that his parents gave him his mother's maiden name as his given name4 - a bit unusual, as it was more traditional to give a child his/her mother's maiden name as a middle name.

He resided in Washington County for his most of his lifetime. His father owned a farm in East Pike Run township, and he worked as a farmhand there in his youth5. On 1 Oct 1896, he married Lena Wright, also of Washington County (West Brownsville)6. This marriage was the focus of the post "Did J.P. and Lena Elope?" as I (still) don't know why they married in Marion County, West Virginia when they had no known connections there (and they were both over 21 at the time of their marriage). They had 7 children together, as mentioned in the last post: Everett, Bessie, Mary Virginia, Sara, one child still living, and two children who died very young (Emery and Robert).

For a few years in the early 1900s, J.P. and his brothers owned Brenton Brothers Meat Market in West Brownsville7-11, where he and Lena moved after they married. Unfortunately, it seems from "street view" on Google Maps that the market is no longer there.

Around 1919, Lena became ill with tuberculosis, and she and J.P. (along with 3 of their daughters) moved to Los Angeles to seek treatment12-14. While in Los Angeles, J.P. (around 60 years old then) worked as a laborer in a tire plant. Lena succumbed to her illness in 1924, at age 5515.

J.P. himself became ill around 192616, and moved back to Washington County around the same time. He  moved in with his daughter Bessie and her husband Addison Wise in North Bethlehem17. On 7 Apr 1931, J.P. died at age 7218 and was buried in the family plot in Taylor Cemetery (pictured above).

Next week, J.P.'s father Isaac...

(Sources below).


Endnotes
1. 1900 U.S. census, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Brownsville, enumeration district (ED) 141, p. 4B, dwelling 74, family 86, Johnson Brenton; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7602 : accessed 11 September 2010); NARA micropublication T623, roll 1494.
2. 1910 U.S. census, Washington county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Brownsville, enumeration district (ED) 253, p. 4A and p. 4B, dwelling 76, family 83, Johnson P Brenton; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 September 2010); NARA micropublication T624, roll 1427.
3. Johnson P Brenton obituary, The Charleroi Mail, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, 8 April 1931, p. 2, col. 4. includes possible mispellings/misprints of a few names, including Johnston and Everett Brenton.
4. 1870 U.S. census, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, East Pike Run, p. 9 (penned), p. 52 (stamped), dwelling 65, family 65, Thomas Johnston; digital images, (http://www.search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7163 : accessed 30 May 2010); NARA micropublication M593, roll 1453.
5. 1880 U.S. census, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, East Pike Run, enumeration district (ED) 246, p. 209 (stamped), dwelling 20, family 20, J P Brinton; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6742 : accessed 30 May 2010); NARA micropublication T9, roll 1201.
6. Marion county, West Virginia, Vital Records in West Virginia: Marriages,, 377, Johnson P Brenton and Lena L Wright, 1 October 1896; digital images, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Archives and History (http://www.wvculture.org/history/archivesindex.aspx : accessed 16 February 2011); from County Clerk's Office, microfilmed by GSU.
7. "U.S. City Directories," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 December 2010), homes of J.P., William and Henry Brenton, page 581; from Hart's History and Directory of West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, 1904.
8. 1900 U.S. census, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Brownsville, ED 141, p. 4B, dwelling 74, family 86, Johnson Brenton.
9. The Charleroi Mail, 8 April 1931.
10. 1910 U.S. census, Washington county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Brownsville, ED 253, p. 4A and p. 4B, dwelling 76, family 83, Johnson P Brenton.
11.McFarland Joseph F., 20th century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens (Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., 1910), 1297; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 September 2010.
12. The Charleroi Mail, 8 April 1931.
13. 1920 U.S. census, Los Angeles county, California, population schedule, Los Angeles ward 126, enumeration district (ED) 396, p. 8B, dwelling 196, family 206, J. P. Brenton; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 May 2010); NARA micropublication T625, roll 114.
14. "California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 March 2011), entry for Mrs. Lena Brenton, 1922; Great Register of Voters. Sacramento, California: California State Library.
15. Lena Leoto Brenton, death certificate no. 4300 (1924), California State Board of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Norwalk, California.
16. The Charleroi Mail, 8 April 1931.
17. 1930 U.S. census, Washington county, Pennsylvania, population schedule, North Bethlehem, enumeration district (ED) 62-89, p. 13B, dwelling 249, family 249, Johnston Brenton; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 May 2010); NARA micropublication T626, roll 2163.
18. The Charleroi Mail, 8 April 1931.