Surname Saturday: Richard Mason Brinlee and Sarah Ellen Petit

Richard Mason Brinlee
-b. 19 Mar 1836, Texas
-d. 23 Jul 1911, Roff, Pontotoc Co., Oklahoma
& Sarah Ellen Petit
-b. 1843, Clark County Indiana
-d. 22 Oct 1905, Roff, Pontotoc Co., Oklahoma
--m. 15 Apr 1861, Collin County, Texas
|--Mary Frances “Mollie” Brinlee
|----b. May 1861, Texas
|----d. 10 Jun 1938, Pontotoc, Oklahoma
|---& Benjamin Franklin Tinnin
|----b. Mar 1856, Missouri
|----d. 10 Jun 1929, Vanoss, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma
|----m. 1 Feb 1877, Hood County, Texas
|--Elizabeth Ann Brinlee
|----b. 1867, Indiana
|----d. ca 1886, Hood County, Texas
|---& Herbert Shelton “Dub” Jones
|----b. 22 Dec 1863, Hillsboro, Montgomery Couty, Illinois
|----d. 25 Oct 1957, Atoka, Atoka County, Oklahoma
|--John William Brinlee
|----b. 16 Sep 1869, Texas
|----d. 29 May 1960, Florence, Fremont County, Oklahoma
|---& Fetnah Ann Bull
|----b. 23 Jul 1869, Texas
|----d. 9 Sep 1940, Denver, Adams County, Colorado
|--Minnie Brinlee
|----b. 20 Jul 1872, Erath County, Texas
|----d. 14 May 1959, Whittier, Los Angeles County, California
|---& Raligh H. “Rall” Jones
|----b. 15 Apr 1861, Illinois
|----d. bef 1930
|--Sarah Alice “Allie” Brinlee
|----b. 20 Jul 1875, Erath County, Texas
|----d. 14 May 1959, Whittier, Los Angeles County, California
|---& James Raymond Jones
|----b. 10 Mar 1876, Texas
|----d. 31 Dec 1931, Okmulgee, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma
|--Charles Robert Brinlee
|----b. 30 Oct 1877, Texas
|----d. 11 Nov 1959, Los Banos, Merced County, California
|---& Patty Avo Poindexter
|----b. 16 Aug 1881, Austin, Travis County, Texas
|----d. 26 Sep 1977, Merced County, California
|--Lillie Ann Brinlee
|----b. Nov 1879, Texas
|---& Burk Frady Smith
|----b. 13 May 1875, Tennessee
|--Burl David Brinlee
|----b. 12 Nov 1883, Texas
|----d. 20 Dec 1961, Roff, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma
|---& Maggie Ann “Dovie” Whitaker
|----b. 27 Nov 1890, Hood County, Texas
|----d. 5 Jan 1962, Roff, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma

This is the family of Richard Mason Brinlee, oldest brother of my great-grandfather Hiram Brinlee, Jr. and son of Hiram Brinlee Sr. and Elizabeth Ann McKinney, and Sarah Ellen Petit. Before he married Sarah, Richard married Ann Eliza Simmons (born 6 August 1842 in Warren County, Kentucky) on 15 July 1858; she is reported to have died 26 October 1860, possibly as a result of complications from childbirth.

In her article on Richard Brinlee in Collin County, Texas, Families (Alice Ellison Pitts and Minnie Pitts Champ, editors, 1994), Bessie Sims Sheppard attributes daughter Mary to Ann Eliza Simmons, but the 1900 census gives May 1861 as the date of her birth and the 1870, 1910, and 1930 censuses back this up (I have not yet found her in the 1880 and 1920 censuses). A copy of Richard and Sarah’s marriage certificate indicates that they were married 15 April 1861, so I believe Mary is Sarah’s daughter.

The following is a summary of Richard Brinlee’s service in the Civil War: Enlisted on 5 July 1862 at age 25 as a Corporal in Company K, Martins Regiment Texas Cavalry (5th Partisan Rangers) at McKinney, Texas and appears on a muster roll for 1 January to 1 July 1863. According to the Statement of Service Slip in his Oklahoma Pension Board file, there are no further records on him.

After Sarah’s death, Richard married for a third time to Nancy Ann Baker Herrell (born 15 March 1843 in Knox County, Tennessee, died 1927 in Oklahoma).

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).