Ongoing research into the family of Nance Legins-Costley (1813-1892) has recently uncovered additional information about the life of one of Nance’s grandsons, so this week we will review what we now know about that grandson, named Jesse B. Brandon.
Jesse B. Brandon was born circa 1876 and apparently died circa 1950. Jesse was one of the children of Mary Jane (Costley) Brandon, who was born circa 1842 in Alton, Illinois, the fourth child of Nance Legins-Costley of Pekin and Peoria. Jesse’s father was Mary Jane’s second husband, Joseph Brandon of Peoria, who was born circa 1836 in Virginia. Mary Jane’s late first husband, whom she had married in Pekin in 1866, was George W. Lee of Pekin, but there were apparently no children born of that marriage, or at least none who survived infancy.
Before proceeding with a biographical sketch of Jesse’s life, let’s take further account of his parents Mary and Joseph and his siblings.
Besides Jesse, Mary Jane and Joseph are also known to have had a son named Joseph Brandon Jr. (born 17 Oct. 1879 in Sheldon, Iroquois County, Illinois, died in infancy in Peoria on 2 Nov. 1880) and another son who is listed in the 1880 U.S. Census as “Lulu” Brandon (born circa 1878 in Illinois) – perhaps “Lulu” was a toddler’s nickname, short for “Louis”? Mary Jane’s husband Joseph also had a son named John Brandon, born circa 1862 in Illinois evidently of a previous marriage.
Jesse B. Brandon’s father Joseph not only appears in the 1880 U.S. Census of Peoria, but is also listed in Peoria city directories from 1880 to 1891, working at first as a common laborer, afterwards working as a porter at Wincup & Reynolds in 1886 and for Lewis Robinson in 1889.
Joseph’s disappearance from city directories after 1891 suggested he may have died about that time. But the marriage of Joseph and Mary Jane apparently ended several years before then, because a Peoria County marriage record shows that on 28 Feb. 1881 “Mrs. Mary Brenan” (sic), daughter of Benjamin and Nancy (Allen) Castly (sic), married as her third husband a certain William Johnson, age 33, porter, of Peoria. Mary “Brenan” is obviously Mary “Brandon,” and the parents are unmistakably Benjamin Costley and Nance Legins-Costly (though where the reported maiden name “Allen” comes from is a mystery).
Most curiously, Peoria County marriage registers show a second, incomplete entry for this same marriage, dated 12 Aug. 1886. It’s quite unclear why there would be a duplicate entry for the marriage of Mary Jane (Costley) (Lee) Brandon and William Johnson – and an entry that is, as I said, incomplete. Confusion on the part of the clerk? Or was there some question about the legality of the 28 Feb. 1881 ceremony?
Whatever the explanation, Peoria County records show that Jesse’s mother Mary Jane married a fourth time on 3 Jan. 1887 to Benjamin B. Miller, 68, of Washington, Illinois. Notably, one of the witnesses of this marriage was “Flinning” Day – obviously an error for Fleming Day, who belonged to the African-American Day family of Pekin, Illinois, formerly of Liverpool Township, Fulton County, Illinois. The Days were relatives of the African-American Ashbys of Liverpool, Pekin, and Peoria.
The 1887 marriage of Mary Jane (Costley) (Lee) (Brandon) Johnson and Benjamin B. Miller is the last record I have been able to find of Nance’s daughter Mary Jane. Unfortunately, due to the fire that destroyed the 1890 U.S. Census records, we cannot tell where Mary Jane or her son Jesse B. Brandon were then living or what they were doing at that time. But not many years later, we find record of her son Jesse B. Brandon – out in Tacoma, Washington!
The 1900 Tacoma City Directory has an entry for “Brandon Jess B, bds 1924 South D.” Then two years after that, on 22 Aug. 1902 in Spokane, Washington, Jesse B. Brandon married a woman named Susie Peone, who was born circa 1882 in Spokane. The records of this marriage tell us that it was Susie’s first marriage but Jesse’s second – so he must have married before moving to the Pacific Northwest, presumably when he was still in Illinois.
The records also say that Susie was an Indian, that is, a Native American, but they show some confusion regarding the names of Jesse’s parents. The marriage license return says Jesse, a porter (like his father had been), was born in Peoria, Illinois, the son of Joseph Brandon and “Marthie May” Brand[on]. Despite the different name for his mother Mary Jane – perhaps an affectionate nickname? – this is clearly our Jesse B. Brandon of Peoria. There is some question, however, whether or not Jesse was really born in Peoria, as we shall see further on.
The joy of Jesse’s new marriage was clouded over just a week after his nuptials, for Spokane County Jail registers show that he was arrested 29 Aug. 1902 on a charge of petit larceny. Jesse was held in jail until 17 Sept. 1902 following his conviction. He was ordered to pay a $50 fine plus $9.25 in court costs.
These records show Jesse and Susie at first lived at the corner of Sprague and Lincoln in Spokane, but Susie (and Jesse?) later moved to Seattle, living at 214 Fourth Avenue South. Sadly, it does not appear that Jesse and Susie ever had any children. She died in Seattle of tuberculosis just prior to their first anniversary, on 17 Aug. 1903.
After Susie’s death, we find Jesse back in Tacoma in 1907, working as a cook and living at 309 S. 13th St. Three years later, the 1910 Tacoma city directory again shows him working as a cook, but living at 1766 S. 44th St. That same year, the 1910 U.S. Census of Tacoma records “Jess B. Brandon,” age 40, mulatto, living in the household of his cousin Ambrose E. Lewis, 49, third son of Nance Legins-Costley’s eldest child Amanda E. (Costley) Lewis of Peoria. Ambrose and Jesse had come to Washington State about the same time, and perhaps even in each other’s company. The same year that Jesse’s wife Susie died, Ambrose married his second wife Catherine Elizabeth Hunt in Snohomish, Washington.
Most interestingly, this 1910 U.S. Census record says Jess Brandon was then married, that it was his first marriage, and that he’d been married for 11 years! However, no wife is listed in the household with him, and records show that his second marriage was eight years previously and that his second wife had died. There seems to have been some miscommunication, perhaps a misunderstanding on the part of Jesse or the census enumerator. Perhaps Jesse didn’t mean to say he was then married and had been for 11 years, but was referring back to when he was first married, which perhaps had taken place in or about 1899.
Among the recent discoveries I have made regarding Jesse B. Brandon is that darkness and trouble settled upon his life in the summer of 1912. Tacoma records show that on 13 July 1912, Jess Brandon, then working as a miner, was arrested on an accusation of attempted rape, and was held in the Pierce County Jail for three months. The jail records give his age as 48, whereas he was really about 36, but there is no doubt this is our Jesse B. Brandon.
Although the circumstances of this allegation are unknown, the jail records show that the charges against Jesse were dismissed and he was released by court order on 19 Oct. 1912. The records show that at the time of his arrest, the only things in his possession were 30 cents and a pack, which were returned to him upon his release. God only knows whether there was ever any basis for Jesse’s arrest, but it is well known that African-American men have long had to endure a lurid racist stereotype that portrays them as especially prone to rape, and that stereotype has resulted in many a false rape accusation from whites.
After his release from jail, Jesse gave up mining and returned to the occupation he knew best: the 1913 Tacoma city directory shows him working as a porter for J. D. Henrich. But two years later we find him living in Everett, Washington, again working as a porter – and this time we find that he has remarried to an African-American woman named Amelia (Gay) Adams, born 13 March 1890 in Kansas City, Kansas, a daughter of William Dennis and Laura (Thompson) Gay. Amelia’s first husband, whom she had married in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1909, was named Charles Wesley Adams (1874-1939), but they divorced in or about 1912, after which Amelia moved to Washington along with her mother Laura and her older brother Eugene Jasper Gay (1877-1941). At some point after moving to Washington, Amelia met and married Jesse B. Brandon. It is not known if Jesse and Amelia ever had children.
Jesse and Amelia Brandon are enumerated in the 1920 U.S. Census of Tacoma, Washington, as “Jesse Brandon,” age 42, a smelter (common laborer), and his wife Amelia Brandon, 29. Living in the same household was Amelia’s mother Laura Gay, 60 (although the census record mistakenly calls her Amelia’s sister), and a boarder named William Mosley, 46, who like Jesse was working as a smelter (common laborer).
Most curiously, whereas earlier records indicate that Jesse had been born in Illinois, specifically in Peoria, the 1920 U.S. Census says Jesse was born in Oklahoma. The reason for this difference regarding Jesse’s place of birth is unclear, but as we shall see further on, from here on out all available records affirm that Jesse B. Brandon was born in Oklahoma rather than Illinois.
We next find record of Jesse and Amelia in the 1922 Tacoma City Directory, which shows Jesse working as a janitor and living with Amelia at 8019 S. Thompson Ave. By 1925, however, he and Amelia were in Yakima, Washington, where Jesse worked a soft drinks fountain.
Two years later, in 1927, Jesse and Ameila were in Seattle, where the city directory shows them living at 112 11th Ave., with Jesse again working as a porter. By the time of the 1930 U.S. Census, however, Jesse and Amelia had divorced, and Amelia went back to her first married name. The census that year shows Amelia Adams, 39, born in Kansas, divorced, living in Seattle and employed in housework, with a room named Richard Dixson, 60, born in Oklahoma, a hod carrier. The record says both Amelia and Richard were of “negro” race.
I have not been able to find Jesse in the 1930 U.S. Census, but the 1931 city directory for Portland, Oregon, shows him living alone in that city on 560 Front St. and working as a shoe shiner. He apparently lived in Portland for the rest of his life, Jesse again appearing in the Portland city directories in 1938 and 1939, living at 3823 N.E. 10th Ave. and working as a porter.
In the 1940 Portland city directory, Jesse is again shown working as a porter with the same employer as in 1939, but living at a different address, and his name is mistakenly given as “Brandon Jas B”. Most remarkably, he is said to be back with his wife Amelia, who is shown as “Amelia B.”
As with the 1930 census, I am unable to find Jesse in the 1940 U.S. Census. However, a voter registration card shows that on 18 June 1940, “Jesse Beames Brandon,” a porter, son of Joseph and Mary Brandon, registered to vote as a member of the Democrat Party. This record is significant not only because it again names Jesse’s parents, but also because it is the first record that tells us what his middle initial “B.” stood for, and even provides us with Jesse’s own signature.
This registration card shows that Jesse was then living at 3116½ S.W. Hood Ave., Portland. But most interesting is that this card, in agreement with the 1920 census, says Jesse was born in Oklahoma – specifically, Guthrie, Oklahoma. Why do the earlier records say Jesse was born in Illinois (where his parents lived) but from 1920 on his place of birth is said to be Oklahoma? Did Jesse previously assume he was born in Peoria because that is where he grew up, but later found out that his parents had briefly lived in Guthrie around the time of his birth? Unfortunately we cannot determine the reason for this discrepancy, only take note of it. The next year, we once more find Jesse in the Portland city directory, living at the same address shown on his voter registration card. The directory says he was working as a porter in Fred & Nick’s Barber Shop (as also shown in the 1939 and 1940 directories), and also reveals that Jesse had married again, to a woman named Laura. Unfortunately I have been unable to learn anything about Laura’s identity. The 1943 Portland city directory shows Jesse, a porter, as “Brandon Jas B” – misspelling his name as in the 1940 directory – but with a wife named Mae. Whether Mae is the same woman as Laura, or Jesse had married a fifth time, I cannot tell.
A few years later, we find Jesse again registering to vote as a Democrat. His voter card, dated 7 April 1948, shows that he had moved back to 3823 N.E. 10th Ave. in Portland. There we find him one last time in the 1950 Portland city directory, which misspells his name “Jessie C. Brandon.” He would have been about 74 that year, and the fact that he disappears from the record after that year suggests that he probably died in or about that year. I have yet to find a death or burial record for him, though.
We see, then, that Jesse B. Brandon’s life left a fairly extensive paper trail. His life followed a similar track as that of his cousin Ambrose E. Lewis – but whereas Ambrose had two daughters in the Pacific Northwest before moving back to Peoria, Jesse remained in the states of Washington and Oregon, and we do not know yet whether Jesse had any children. It may be hoped that further research will reveal whether or not Jesse B. Brandon is, like Ambrose, the ancestor of a branch of Nance Legins-Costley’s descendants
