Simon Everett, Company I

The soldier was born in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. He had a family with Emma in Suffolk, Virginia and later a family with Grace in Philadelphia. The second family moved north to Providence, Rhode Island where the daughter became a kindergarten teacher. Several witnesses for the widow’s application were Virginians who migrated to northern cities. One of the witnesses testified that the soldier worked for Seaboard Air Line in Portsmouth.

Invalid — 993,623 / 706,875
Widow — 968,396 / 915,743, Grace Everett

General Affidavit, Simon Everett, 23 December 1907
71 years old; post-office address, 2055 Pemberton St., Philadelphia, Pa.
“He declares that he is unable to get a public or bible record of his birth. That he was born on farm of Jack Everett in Hertford Co., North Carolina as his mother told him on March 4, 1836, that he was born a slave, and knows there is no christening record in existence.”

General Affidavit, David Copeland & George H. Clark, 31 July 1911
[Copeland] 61 years old; post-office address, 1013 S. Bouvier St., Philadelphia, Pa.
[Clark], 51 years old; post-office address, 1825 Lombard St., Philadelphia, Pa.
“That they have known the above named soldier for 54 years and 34 years, respectively; and the above named claimant for the past 40 years and 30 years.”

Deposition, Grace Everett, 4 January 1912
54 years old; occupation “going out and washing, ironing, cleaning and anything that I can get to do”; post-office address, 90th Street and Laycock Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“My maiden name was Grace Smith. I was born in Suffolk. My parents were Peter and Harriet Smith. Both are dead. I have no sister, and one brother is Mark Smith. I have not heard from him in 15 years and then he was in South Carolina somewhere.
“I lived in Suffolk, Va. until I was about twenty-two years old and then I came to Philadelphia, Pa. and lived here until three years ago when I went to Providence, R.I. and lived there until the death of my husband.
“I had been living here about five years when I was married to the soldier.
“I have been married once and once only. I was married to the soldier on September 20, 1883 in Philadelphia, Pa. by Rev. H. Whalen, a colored Baptist minister who was pastor of Zion Church, 13th and Melon Sts.
“I have the original marriage certificate which he gave me and I have had it ever since. It is a large certificate and I have it in a frame.
[The Special Examiner transcribed the certificate which included signatures of two witnesses: George H. A Co Clarke and Sarah L. Wright. — Leslie]

“Q. I see that the name of the man you were married to, as shown by this certificate, was named Simon Brownie. How was that?
A. My husband was a slave. His owner was Mr. Everett. He was called Simon Everett after his owners. His father’s name was Brownie. I forget the Christian name of his father. When I first met him he was called Simon Brownie. He had a younger brother here named John Brownie and when Simon came him here he took the name of Brownie. He has always been known as Simon Brownie here. I have always been known as Mrs. Brownie, ever since I was married to him.
“His brother, John, is dead. He has no brother living. None at all. He has one sister living, i.e. Henrietta Joyner. Joyner was the name of her first husband. He is not living with her and she is married to Daniel Crenshaw and lives at 7 Wheaton St., Providence, R.I.
“My husband enlisted under the name Simon Everett. He was born in Murfreesboro, N.C. I do not remember the name of his father. His mother was named Dinah Everett, she went by her owner’s name. I did not know him until I came to Philadelphia. I was born a slave also. My parents were both slaves. I had five children by the soldier, only one is living i.e. Matilda Brownie. She is not married and lives with me. I keep house. I have roomers. I have a little girl, seven years old, who stays with me. I live in a six room house, but have been unfortunate and have not been able to get any roomers. I have lived there since last June. We came home last June from Providence. We lived in the same house before we went to Providence. I do not own the house. We pay rent.

“. . .  I have a tintype of him taken before we were married. I will loan it to you. I want it returned to me when it has served its purpose….
“I had known the soldier about two years when we were married. We went to Providence, R.I., three years before he died and lived at the home of his sister. My daughter was there with him and took care of him and he died there. I went out to work. I worked in Providence. I always went home to his sister once a week and sometimes oftener. He was so sick all that time that he was not able to earn a five-cent piece.
“I was married to the soldier at the parsonage of Mr. Whalen on Poplar Street. George Clark and Sarah Louise Gibson (now living) were present at our marriage. I cannot name anyone else, now living, who were present at our wedding …. There is a record in the City Hall.”
“Q.  By whom can you prove that you were never married prior to your marriage to Simon Brownie?
“A.  Mary Medford and David Copeland knew me down south and have known me ever since I have been in Philadelphia and know that I was never previously married. ….
“Q.  [Was the solder married before marrying you?]
” A.  Yes, sir. I think the name of his first wife was Emma. I really do not remember the maiden name of his first wife. I do not know where they were married…. I do not known when he was married. They had one child. His name was Willie Everett. I saw him. He came on here to visit his father. He first came on here about eight years ago and then again six years ago. He was here twice. He died about a year and a half before his father died. His aunt, Henrietta, raised him in Providence….
“The soldier married Emma under the name of Simon Everett….
“At the time I was married to him, I did not know that he had a wife…. I did not hear that he had every been married until we had been married about five years and them some friend of his came on here to visit him and I overheard a conversation between them … [My husband] said that he had got a divorce. He said he got the divorce because his wife was not true to him. He never showed me the divorce papers and I did not ask me to allow me to see them. I can read but I do not write. ….
“I never heard that Emma tried to get a divorce from Simon Everett after he was married to me…. Emma is dead. I do not know when she died. … We lived in Philadelphia, Pa. until three years before his death and for the three years prior to his death we lived in Providence, R.I.
“David Copeland, Louise Gibson, Mary Medford, Francis Cole, 1012 S. 7th St. and Barbara Frisby, 1848 Woodstock St. have known me since I was married to the soldier. Adda Jones, 30 South Court, Mrs. Fannie Phillips, 72 Meeting Street, and the sister and nephew of the soldier, all of Providence, R.I. …
“When we were first married we lived at 1707 Olive St. for about five years and then moved to 1735 Beechwood St. and lived there for about four years and we were living there when we first applied for a pension.”
[Note: This deposition is signed with an “X” over ‘Grace Brownie.” — Leslie]

Deposition, Matilda Brownie, 4 January 1912
25 years old; “My occupation is teacher in the kindergarten”; residence, 10th and Laycock Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.
“I am the only living child of Simon and Grace Brownie. I have always lived with my parents. They have always lived together ever since I can remember… They always lived in Philadelphia except the last three years of his lifetime and they lived in Providence, R.I. My father died there on Oct. 19, 1910.
“I first heard that my father had been previously married when my half brother came on the visit us when I was seven or eight years old. I may have been older than that but I was not a young lady yet. I know that I was but a small girl and I heard Willie say that his mother was dead….
“The first time that I heard he was not divorced from his first wife was when I was at the office of Mr. Sickel and he told my mother and me. That was just this last summer and after the death of father….My half brother was called William Everett.”

Deposition, Frances Cole, 6 January 1912
49 years old; widow and keep house at 1012 S. 17th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
“I was born and raised about three miles from Suffolk, Va. I left there when I was about 15 years of age and lived around Norfolk, Va. for four or five years and then came to this city and have lived here since 1877.
“Yes, I know Grace Brownie: I knew her when she was a child; she is a little older than I am. I have known her ever since I have lived here. She was not married when I first came to Philadelphia. She was here before I was.”

Deposition, Mary Medford, 6 January 1912
49 years old; “I am the wife of Alonzo Medford with whom I am not living”; residence, 202 S. Quince St., Philadelphia, Pa.
“I was born and raised in Suffolk, Va. and lived there until I was 13 years old and then came north to Camden, N.J. I was there a year or two and came over to Philadelphia, Pa. and have resided here since.

“I knew Grace Brownie in Suffolk, Va. Her maiden name was Grace Smith. She came to Philadelphia a few years after I did, as I remember it. It was about 1881 that I first saw her here. But I know that my sister sent her to look for me as my sister did not know where I was at….
“[The claimant] has one daughter living who is Maud.”

Deposition, Sarah L. Gibson, 6 January 1912
47 years old; “I am a widow and keep house at 86th and Lukens Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.”
“My maiden name was Sarah Louise Wright. I was born in Camden, N.J. and have lived in Camden and Philadelphia all my life.
“I knew Simon Brownie and his wife, Grace. I first met him a year or two before he was married to the claimant. They way I met him was that he came to the home of my mother to board on Cameo St. It was 627 Andress St then but it’s name has been changed to Cameo St.
“I do not know where he came from. I knew that he worked in a livery stable while he was boarding with us, for my father got him that job. He was a single man at that time. …
“He was married to Grace Smith in the house of my parents. I think I am mistaken about that: He was married in the home of the minister: I was her bridesmaid. I forget the name of the minister…. They were married some 27 or 28 years ago.

“I never knew his brother John. I never heard him say that he had a brother here…I have heard him speak of a sister in Providence, R.I. … The claimant is a splendid, nice, respectable woman.”

Deposition, David Copeland, 8 January 1912
59 years old; occupation, cleaning Pullman cars; post-office address, 1013 S. Bouvier St., Philadelphia, Pa.
“I first knew [Grace] in Suffolk, Va. … She came here when she was a young woman. I did not see her again until 1894 and then she was the wife of Simon Brownie. … I first met [Simon Everett] in Portsmouth, Va. He was working there in the Air Line House transferring freight. I worked in the same gang with him. .. He told me that his owner was Everett and his father was Brownie. … He told me he was raised in North Carolina. .. ”
“It was soon after the war that I met him in Portsmouth, Va. and I worked with him there about four years ago.

Deposition, Geo. H. Clark, 13 January 1912
47 years old; occupation, master of housework; address, 750 Dorrence St., Phila., Pennsylvania
“Yes, I know Grace Brownie. I knew her first, about a year or two before she was married to Simon Brownie, and I knew him too about the same time. We were all friends and associates at that time.
“I was the groomsman and Sarah Louisa Wright (now Gibson) was the bridesmaid. I witnessed the marriage ceremony.”

Questionnaire (Form 3-442), 13 June 1912

Name	Post-Office Address
Oscar Jubilee	98 Henry St., Norfolk, Va.
Wm. Purnell	59 Pine St.,Norfolk, Va.
Chas. Jones	12 Smith St, Norfolk, Va.
Peter Richardson	RFD #1, Norfolk, Va.
Wm. Reed	Soldiers’ Home
Ruffin Turner	415 E.R.R. Ave., Petersburg, Va.
Jacob Sugars	Felts, Southampton Co., Va.

Henry Smith

RFD #2, Hickory, Norfolk Co., Va

Deposition, Henrietta Joyner Cranshell, 8 March 1912
about 54 years old; post-office address, 7 Wheaton St., Providence, Rhode Island
“My first husband was J.M. Joyner. He got a bill from me and my present husband Daniel Cranshell. I had a brother Simon Everett who I think was born in Va. His first wife was Emma Everett and they were married in Portsmouth, Va. about a year after the war. They were married at mother’s home and I was at home and saw them married. I think they were married by the Baptist colored minister John Gordon. After their marriage they were together in in Portsmouth, Va. about ten years then they broke up housekeeping and came to Providence, R.I. After they had been here some two years I came to Providence, R. I. and they were living together here. They had two children from in Portsmouth, Va. Willie and Charlie. Charlie died before they came to Providence, R.I. and Willie came here with them and died here some three years ago. My brother Simon Everett and his first wife lived together her some two years then they had some falling out and he left her and went to Phila.”

Deposition, Hardy Everett, 8 March 1912
about 55 years; occupation, coachman; post-office address, 321 N. Main St., Providence, R.I.
“I had an uncle Simon Everett, my mother’s brother. I was born in North Carolina, Murfreesboro or near there. I went to Portsmouth, Va. and lived some eleven years. When  I went to Portsmouth, Va. my uncle Simon Everett just married Emma Riddick. After I had lived in Portsmouth, Va. for some eleven years I went to New London, Conn. and enlisted in the U.S. Navy where I served some ten years. I didn’t see Uncle Simon Everett during those ten years. I did not see him again until Providence, R.I. the last time with his wife Grace. I lived in same house with him on Wheaton St., with my aunt his sister up to the time of his death.”

Deposition, Amelia A. Jones, 7 June 1912
49 years old; wife of Rev. Chas. W. Jones; post-office address, Box 31, Suffolk, Va.
“I recognize the picture you have shown me as a picture of Simon Everett. I have a picture like it, have had it 35 or 40 years.
“Said Simon Everett was the husband of my sister Emma (Riddick). … My mother and father were named Ned and Sophia Riddick…. He deserted [Emma] some years before she died….Simon Everett was never known as Simon Brownie while I knew him.”