In late June 2001, I had the opportunity to visit Mono County CA, including a trip to the ghost town of Bodie, where several of my ancestors lived. I will be using this webpage as a repository for photos, family history, and interesting tidbits gleaned from various sources.

This page is under construction and will change over time, so please come back frequently for updated versions!

BETTY'S LIST OF ANCESTORS IN BODIE AND LUNDY

Great great grandfather THOMAS KENNEDY b. 1823 Nova Scotia and second wife ELIZABETH lived in Bodie. Thomas had two daughters from a previous marriage, Sarah Adeline "Addie" Kennedy and Marietta or Mary Etta Kennedy who also lived in Bodie. Another daughter, Helen Frances Kennedy, may have died before the family arrived in Bodie.

Great great grandfather HENRY "NEW HAMPSHIRE" BROWN b. 1825 Sanbornton NH. He was a widower, having lost his wife Cordelia Rickard in 1875. He had a son Frank Ricard Brown who lived in Bodie and daughter Phebe C Brown who remained in Sacramento. Cordelia also had a daughter Emma Myers Brown from a previous marriage that was adopted by Henry. Emma married Walter Emery in Sacramento & in 1880 Phebe C Brown was living with them. Henry was a Wells Fargo Express agent for the town of Lundy and often signed his name H.N.H. Brown. He also was part owner of the Constellation Tunnel Co and the Diomede Mine in the Homer Mining District (Lundy).

Great grandfather FRANK RICARD BROWN b. 1858 Sacramento CA lived in Bodie and worked as an assayer. He may also have worked in Lundy. He married MARIETTA or MARY ETTA KENNEDY b. 1858 Portland ME; they were married July 2, 1878 in Aurora, Esmeralda Co NV, which is very close, about 15 miles from Bodie (town of Aurora no longer exists, and is a ghost town, much like Bodie). They had several children while living in Bodie:

EMMA BROWN b. May 16 1879? most likely in Bodie. She probably attended school at Bodie until the family moved in 1887. Named after Frank's older half-sister Emma.

FRANK KENNEDY BROWN b. 1883 died at birth, probably buried at Bodie

HELEN FRANCIS BROWN b. August 20, 1884 died at 8 mo, probably buried at Bodie.

According to family members, there may have been other children born to this couple in Bodie that did not survive. The Browns did have three daughters born in Alaska & California who survived to adulthood: Gladys Adeline, Genevieve and my grandmother Ruby Bolton Brown. According to newspaper clippings & other sources, Mary Etta Kennedy brought her three young daughters to Bodie at least once, see below.

SARAH ADELINE "ADDIE' KENNEDY b. 1852 Portland ME was Marietta's sister, eldest daughter of Thomas Kennedy. She married WILLIAM "BILLY" WRIGHT HAWTHORNE Jan 15 1880 in Bodie. They had four surviving daughters:

MABEL HAWTHORNE b Oct 15, 1880 Bodie, Mono Co CA married Fred Cowell, lived Stockton, CA by 1920 census. Mabel died March 15, 1967 Stockton, CA.

ADELINE "ADDIE" HAWTHORNE b Dec 31, 1881 Bodie, Mono Co CA; married Alvero Burns abt 1903 Sonora, Tuolumne Co CA. Two children, Clifford Burns b Dec 15, 1903 died Jan 11, 1974 and Veryle (f) Burns b April 11, 1910 died Dec 16, 1997. Addie died Jan 14, 1965 in Sonora CA.

MARIETTA HAWTHORNE b abt 1887 Bodie, Mono Co CA married Walter C Foerster, two children Albert Foerster b abt 1915, and Mabel A b abt 1919. Family lived Alameda Co for 1920 and 1930 census.

HELEN NELLIE HAWTHORNE b July 28, 1895 Bodie, Mono Co CA married Ernest Behre on June 30, 1913. One daughter Marilyn Behre b Aug 22, 1917 CA. Family lived in Alameda CA by 1920 census.

 

I have very little information on these girls, except that they were all most likely born in Bodie. Because the family stayed until 1895 or 1896, it is probable that they all attended school in Bodie. By the 1900 census, this entire family was living in Sonora Tuolumne Co CA.

A TIMELINE OF MY MONO COUNTY ANCESTORS

1878

Great great grandfather THOMAS KENNEDY is the earliest of my ancestors to appear in Bodie records. He first appears in the tax assessment rolls for Mono County, apparently a merchant, as he was taxed on merchandise and consigned goods, but not on real estate. It is unknown if his two daughters Mary Etta and Sarah Adeline "Addie" Kennedy or his second wife Elizabeth were living with him in Bodie in 1878 (they were all present by 1880 census). Another daughter Helen Frances Kennedy b 1854 Portland ME did not accompany the family to Bodie. Her fate & whereabouts are presently unknown.

1879

THOMAS KENNEDY owned a house and 80 acres on the grassy flats S. of Bodie according to tax assessment rolls.

Great grandfather FRANK RICARD BROWN owned two lots in Bodie, one located at the rear of the Senate Saloon and the other behind the house of J.W. Kingsley. He married Mary Etta Kennedy on July 2, 1878 in Aurora, Esmeralda Co NV, and had one daughter, Emma Brown who may have been born at Bodie. Marriage record is at Esmeralda Co NV courthouse. Frank was an assayer by profession. He often signed his name F. R. Brown.

1880

THOMAS KENNEDY and second wife ELIZABETH KENNEDY are listed in the 1880 census; Thomas is listed as age 57, occupation rancher, both born Nova Scotia.

FRANK R. BROWN is listed in the 1880 census age 26 occupation assayer. Wife Mary Etta Kennedy Brown and daughter Emma are not listed; may have been visiting or staying elsewhere? Or perhaps they were not yet married?

Great great grandfather HENRY "NEW HAMPSHIRE" BROWN is listed in the 1880 census age 54, town of Lundy, occupation Wells Fargo Express agent. He frequently signed his name H.N.H. Brown.

WILLIAM WRIGHT HAWTHORN and wife SARAH ADELINE "ADDIE" KENNEDY HAWTHORN (my great grandmother Marietta's sister) both appear in the 1880 census, newly married. This was a second marriage for Addie. William's occupation was listed as engineer. He was born in Warren Co Pennsylvania. Both were age 26.

1881

Only THOMAS KENNEDY appears in the tax assessment rolls (unsure why; everyone else was still present and owned land....). He was taxed on his 80 acres S. of town, and also a lot in town of Bodie between the houses of Dr. Rogers and W.E. Elliot on the W. Side Road.

1882

HENRY "NEW HAMPSHIRE" BROWN is listed in the Great Register for Mono County CA, listed as age 56, living in the town of Lundy, occupation Wells Fargo Express agent.

FRANK R. BROWN listed in the Great Register as an assayer in Bodie.

WILLIAM WRIGHT HAWTHORN listed in the Great Register as an engineer in Bodie.

THOMAS KENNEDY is not listed in the Great Register, but is listed in the tax assessment rolls for Mono County, same description as above, showing taxes paid Dec 19, 1881.

Women and children were not enumerated in the Great Register.

1883

My great grandparents FRANK R. BROWN and MRS. F.R. BROWN (Marietta Kennedy Brown) are listed together in the tax assessment rolls, showing a house in Bodie, description lot#27, block 24.

H.N.H. BROWN is listed on tax assessment rolls, showing a lot in town of Lundy, description N. side of Main st, bounded by J.H. Page's house and vacant lot, Well's Fargo office within.

No others appear in the tax rolls, though they must certainly have been living there. They appear in subsequent years with the same property descriptions.

1884

THOMAS KENNEDY is listed in tax assessment rolls, showing the same 80 acres S. of town with house, plus the lot in town of Bodie.

MRS. F.R. BROWN (great grandmother Mary Etta Kennedy Brown) is listed in the tax assessment rolls, owning the same house and lot in town of Bodie as in 1883, lot#27, block 24, improvements on the house noted. One researcher suggested that couples in Bodie put property in the wife's name because of the hazardous nature of their occupation in the mines--or perhaps it was the extreme lawlessness of Bodie that prompted them to this! Frank R. Brown, as an assayer, may have had to deal with some pretty tough customers!

WILLIAM WRIGHT HAWTHORN is listed in the tax assessment rolls, showing a lot and house in town of Bodie, taxes paid December 23, 1884.

H.N.H. BROWN and K (Klaber?) Osborne non resident are listed as co-owners of a lot in town of Lundy, description bounded S. by Chicago Ave, E. by A. Mill's lot and house, and W. by the Montrose Ox Corral. H.N.H. Brown listed as Wells Fargo Express Agent.

1885

MRS. F.R. BROWN tax assessment rolls, showing lot and small house in town of Bodie, same description as above.

WILLIAM WRIGHT HAWTHORN tax assessment rolls, same lot and house in town of Bodie.

It is at this point that Thomas Kennedy and H.N.H. Brown both no longer appear in tax assessment rolls for Mono County. H.N.H. Brown moved back to Sacramento to live with his 17 year old daughter Phebe Cordelia Brown and his step daughter Emma and her husband Walter Emery. Phebe had been living with Emma & Walter Emery since 1875 when her mother Cordelia died and Henry (and son Frank then 17) went to work as a Wells Fargo Express agent in Cornucopia, Nevada. I am uncertain whether Phebe or the Emerys ever visited Cornucopia, Lundy, or Bodie.

At this point I have no information on Thomas Kennedy. I believe he and his wife Elizabeth may have died at Bodie. They did not move to Sonora CA with the Hawthorne family late 1890s, nor were they living in Bodie for the 1900 census.

1886

MRS. F.R. BROWN listed in tax assessment rolls, same lot and small house in Bodie. Paid December.

WILLIAM WRIGHT HAWTHORN listed in tax assessment rolls, same lot and house in Bodie.

This is the last mention in Mono County tax assessment rolls of my great grandparents Frank R. Brown and Mary Etta Kennedy Brown. Frank went to Unga Island Alaska the following spring of 1887 according to his diary, to open and manage the Apollo Gold Mine for the Alaska Commercial Company. Mary Etta and daughter Emma arrived in Unga Alaska September of 1888, most likely staying in Sacramento with H.N.H. Brown and his daughters Phebe Brown, Emma J Brown Emery and son in law Walter P. Emery at 826 L Street Sacramento, from spring 1887 until fall 1888.

1894

MRS. W.W. HAWTHORN (Sarah Adeline "Addie" Kennedy Hawthorn) is listed in the tax assessment rolls with same lot and house in Bodie, paid April 1895.

This is the very last mention of my ancestors in Mono County tax records. I know from Bodie (or Bridgeport?) newspaper column of 1895 or 1896 that my great grandmother Mary Etta Kennedy Brown and her three surviving daughters Gladys Brown age 6, Ruby Brown (my grandmother) age 3 and Genevieve Brown age 1 sailed down from Unga Island Alaska to San Francisco and then went by stagecoach to Bodie to visit her sister Addie Kennedy Hawthorn and family. To my knowledge, that was the only time my grandmother visited Bodie. Source for Newspaper: Mono County Genweb.

The Hawthornes moved to Sonora, Tuolumne Co CA sometime between 1896 and 1900 census. Gladys Brown age 9 (my grandmother's sister) was staying with them in Sonora when the census was taken June 1900. By 1910 census, William & Addie Hawthorne were living with widower Frank R Brown and his daughters in San Francisco, CA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BROWNS AND KENNEDYS GO TO BETTY'S MOTHER'S LINE WEBPAGE

MONO CO ANECDOTES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

H.N.H. BROWN, WELLS FARGO AGENT IN LUNDY (by Alan Patera)

Wells Fargo & Co thought highly enough of the prospects of Lundy's mines that they opened an express office there on May 1, 1880. The agent was H.N.H. Brown, a native of New Hampshire then 54 years old. His first name was Henry; only the Great Register shows that for his middle name "N.H. " stood for "New Hampshire." He had for some years been agent for Wells Fargo at Cornucopia, north of Tuscarora in northern Nevada. He was also a Notary Public, which provided another service to Lundyites. He arrived just in time to be enumerated in the 1880 census, where his complaint of a "rupture" was recorded for posterity.

The Wells Fargo building was a frame building located two doors north of the Fraser Hotel and across from the Sierra Telegraph office. R.A. Wilcox's assay office shared the west end of the building. This was the heart of the Lundy business district.

On August 5, 1880, an incident happened here that shows us something about Mr. Brown and the life of a Wells Fargo agent:

"Last Thursday afternoon, William Smith, a prospector, went into Wells Fargo & Co's express office, in an intoxicated condition, and began using very vile and offensive language concerning a man named Crane. Mr. Brown, the agent, who is an old man, requested him to stop talking in that way, as it disturbed his writing and was disagreeable besides, but Smith only became more violent. Mr. Brown then informed him that he must either hush or go out doors, but Smith would do neither, whereupon he was ordered out peremptorily. On again refusing, Mr. Brown caught hold of his shoulder and gave him a slight push out the door. Whirling around, Smith drew a self-cocking revolver, and shoved the muzzle through the glass in the door, but Mr. Brown was too quick for him, getting into the assay office which was in the next room of the same building, before his assailant could shoot, closing the door after him. Ellis Corinson who was in the office with Frank Brown (probably H.N.H. Brown's son!), opened the door to see where Smith was at. The latter had gone around to the opposite end of the house and broken two panes out of the window, and when Corinson opened the door,raised his pistol and fired, the ball striking the window sash and glancing into the ceiling. Corinson shut the door, but reopened it immediately, asking Smith at the same time why he wanted to shoot him (Corinson) for. Smith raised his weapon to fire again, when the door was closed. Having nothing to defend themselves with, the occupants of the room ran out the back way up on the hillside. After waiting around the office, peeping about to get a shot at someone, Smith went away, returning however, in a short time, with his hand on his pistol, to say that he should not forget the manner in which he had been treated. Mr. Brown, who is one of the most quiet and urbane of gentlemen, was greatly shocked at the attempt on his life, and says he will hereafter take measures to protect his person from the attacks of ruffians..."

By 1885 H.N.H. Brown had departed, and Rosenwalk, Coblentz & Co became the Wells Fargo agents for Lundy.

From the book, "Lundy" by Alan Patera, Western Places Publications. Alan has a wide selection of booklets on many other places in California and Nevada. Contact at: Western Places, P.O. Box 2093, Lake Grove, OR 93035

MISS ADDIE KENNEDY (by Warren Loose)

J.R. Ritchey , a well known businessman, stirred up plenty of excitement in the crowded downtown (Bodie) area just after lunch on Oct 9 (1879). He was driving a big powerful gray down Main street , when the horse became frightened and bolted.

"When opposite Robinson's Blacksmith Shop, the wagon struck against a derrick standing in the street and was thrown against the sidewalk in front of Kemp & Coleman's Occidental. It struck with such force that Mr. Ritchey was bounced into the air. Still clinging to the reins, he came down, struck the lamp on top of the post, bending it completely over, and fell with terrible force against the sidewalk. The horse broke free from the wagon and with the traces dangling, dashed down the street. In an open carriage in front of Sun and Company's store sat Miss Addie Kennedy. The runaway horse struck the carriage in which the young lady was sitting. Her horse became frightened and took off. It had not gone far when she was thrown out, and for a time it was feared Miss Kennedy had sustained a serious injury. The two horses broke free and dashed down Main street. Miss Kennedy's horse was stopped at the post office, the carriage badly smashed. Mr. Ritchey's horse raced down King street, and came upon a crowd of Chinamen who were holding a festival over a dead Chinaman. They scattered like sheep, leaving the corpse to take care of itself..."

Miss Kennedy was taken into the store of Sun and Company and revived with smelling salts. Helping hands carried merchant Ritchey to his store. The doctor who was called could find no broken bones, only a few bruises. The whole affair was pronounced a miracle.

From "Bodie Bonanza" by Warren Loose, Nevada Publications, Box 15444, Las Vegas NV 89114

Addie Kennedy was the daughter of Thomas Kennedy, and the sister of my great grandmother Marietta Kennedy, all of whom lived at Bodie.