Samuel Yates Brande, Kenosha, Wis., was born Oct. 1, 1818, in Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England. His father, William Brande, was a clergyman of the Baptist Church and gave him an excellent education. His oldest son, William, conducted a school at Northampton, England, in which Mr. Brande of this sketch was educated. The family included 11 children, of whom Thomas, Harriet, Mary and Samuel are living. The deceased are Maria, Mary Ann, Jane, Sarah, Frederic, Silas John and Mary. In 1832 the father removed his family to the United States, coming hither on the ship Columbia. They first located on a farm in Susquehanna Co., Pa., where the father preached and attended to his farm duties. He removed in 1841 to Salem, New York, where the father took charge of a school, and thence he went to Wisconsin, and after 1843, resided near Kenosha on a farm, where he died in 1850. His widow, whose name before marriage was Sarah Yates, survived him 10 years. Mr. Brande was the sixth in order of birth of his parents' children, and on his arrival in this country secured a position of teacher of a school in Auburn, Pa., at the early age of 16, which he conducted three years, and went next to Montrose, where he became an apprentice to learn the business of a cabinet maker. After three years he established his business in Waterford, New York, where he conducted it for about a year, when his shops burned down. Finding himself wholly crippled by the event he started for the West to begin the world again and traveled on the Erie canal and the lakes, landing at Kenosha (Southport), Wis., in November, 1842. He engaged there in the same business which he had before conducted until 1849, when he became a candidate on the Free-Soil ticket for Register of Deeds and served two years. He was defeated for a second term by 11 votes on the ground that he was foreign born. His experience while in that office taught him the importance of a system which had a show of clear titles to land; and he purchased an interest in a defective set of abstract books of lands in Kenosha county and opened an office in Kenosha, combining that interest with real estate, and he has since conducted the same with success. Upon the inauguration of the internal revenue system, he was appointed U. S. Assessor, which position he occupied eight years, when re resigned. He was made Secretary of the City Debt Association, and, during his connection therewith, the debt of $1,500,000 was reduced to $200,000. Mr. Brande held the office 14 years and had previously served as Alderman three years. He had become known as a through patriot and a decided Republican, and, when Sumter was attacked, was made Secretary of a meeting of citizens who issued the following circular: "To the Lovers of the Union and Constitutional Government in Kenosha County: The attempt of traitors to overthrow the Government of the United States has culminated in an attack upon the Government troops and in levying actual was upon us. In response to the call of the President of the United States, and fired by devotion to their country, the patriotic citizens of Kenosha, at a meeting held Friday evening, the 19th instant, resolve to raise men and money to assist in thwarting the purposes of the conspirators; and with cheers and unconquerable devotion to the cause, subscribe the sum of $3,5000 toward a fund for the benefit of the volunteers and appointing a committee to take the matter in charge. The Committee of the meeting and the Committee of the Common Council held a meeting on Saturday afternoon, the 20th instant, and organized by nominating H. B. Towsley, President, and S. Y. Brande, Secretary; then it was resolved that the joint Committee, consisting of H. B. Towsley, P. H. Wood, F. Robinson, O. C. Sholes, and S. Y. Brande, and the Committee of the Common Council, consisting of Messrs. M. H. Pettit, Levi Grant, Sylvester Baldwin, and P. J. Wolfe, to individually secure further subscriptions to the fund and that Messrs. Grant, Wolfe and Wood be especially charged with that duty. Resolved also, that Messrs. Baldwin, Pettit and Wolfe be appointed a visiting committee and that the Secretary be instructed to prepare a circular embodying the proceedings of the meeting and requesting the people of the county to co-operate by subscription and that a call of 10 per cent. of the amount subscribed be made forthwith and the Secretary directed to collect the same. The Committee confidently appeal to the people of this county to co-operate with them by the appointment of sub- Committees, or in such other way as may seem best. In the mean time subscriptions to the fund may be made to any of the Committee or at the office of the secretary in the city of Kenosha. Cash subscriptions are preferred, but let none who have flour, butter, wood or any other articles that can be applied to the support of the families of our brave volunteers, neglect to lay the offering on the altar of his country. "Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself said, This is my own, my native land?" Deposits of these articles can be made at the office of the Secretary and the receipt of the same will be duly acknowledged, as also the applications made. On behalf of the Joint Committee, S. Y. Brande, Secretary." (Published in the Kenosha Tribune and Telegraph April 22, 1861, a few days after the firing on Sumter.) Upon the publication of the circular, a call for a meeting of the women of Kenosha county was published in the newspapers of Kenosha to form a Soldier's Aid Society. At that meeting, which was held at the house of the Secretary of the Committee, just seven ladies responded, viz.: Elizabeth M. Brande, Caroline D. Pettit, Maria Simmons, Emma F. Simmons, Jane Briggs, Charlotte Schoff and Martha D. Selleck. They proceeded to form a society for the purpose of sending aid to the soldiers going to, and while in the filed, and to their wives and families left behind during their absence. At that meeting, Caroline D. Pettit (widow of Lieutenant-Governor Pettit, of Wisconsin) was elected President. Elizabeth M. Brande was elected Vice-President, Charlotte Schoff, Secretary; Jane Briggs, Treasurer and Maria Simmons and Emma F. Simmons, Directors. This organization was kept up and furnished tents, provisions, medicines, clothing, hospital delicacies and supplies to the boys in the field, having an oversight of the families of soldiers absent in the field or suffering from any cause, and did noble and generous work without any other pay than that of patriotic satisfaction. It will be seen, as Mrs. Brande puts it, that the women followed the example of the men, as after the election of the officers there was but one private left. This did not last long, however, as it soon became popular. A large amount of money was raised, of which Mr. Brande was made custodian until the State took charge of such funds. He assisted in the organization of Company C, 1st Wisconsin Infantry, and was active in recruiting the 17th, 36th Wisconsin Volunteers and 1st Wisconsin Cavalry. He humorously refers to two days spent in cutting cabbage for pickles for soldiers. Mr. Brande is more than three score and ten at this writing. (1889.) He is a sample of the spirit brought to these shores by those who really and truly adopted the country as their own and to which the permanency of our institutions are wholly due. He was married Nov. 15, 1844, to Elizabeth N., daughter of Samuel and Roxana (Sprague) Holmes, former residents of Cortland Co., New York. She is of American birth and English descent. The surviving children of Mr. And Mrs. Brande are named Flora and Hattie E. The former is the wife of G. W. Hoyt, a merchant in Chicago. The grandfather of Mrs. Brande was a soldier in the Revolution and her father was a Captain of New York Volunteers in 1812. The activity of Mrs. Brande in the relief of soldiers and their families is a just evidence of her love of country and character in all her family and social relations. |