Brenneman, Marie Boshart (1857-1947)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Apr 3 p. 5

Birth date: 1857 Mar 25

text of obituary:

. . .

— Word has been received here of the death of Mrs. Daniel Brenneman at her home at Albany, Oregon. Her son, Dr. Fred B. Brenneman of Hesston, went to Albany to attend the funeral.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Apr 10 p. 3

text of obituary:

MRS. MARIE BRENNEMAN

Marie Brenneman was born March 25, 1857, at Wellesley, Ontario, and died March 22, 1947, at Albany, Oregon, age three days less than 90 years.

On February 8, 1878, she was united in marriage with Daniel Brenneman of Kitchener, Ontario. The family was blessed with 14 children, ten of whom reached maturity. Four children, Mrs. Katie Martin, Mrs. Mary Kanagy, M. E. and Dan H. Brenneman, all of Albany, survive her. She is also survived by two brothers, Dan Boshart of Colorado Springs, and David Boshart of Milford, Nebraska, as well as 31 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Grandma Brenneman is a descendant of the Bosharts and Buerges, early immigrants into the Province of Ontario from Alsace-Lorraine. She and her husband, the late Daniel Brenneman, established their first home in true pioneer fashion, doing all of the work themselves, excepting such help as was given by neighbors in the pioneer custom. They lived there for just a few years when they came into possession of the ancestral home on the outskirts of the pleasant village of Wellesley, where they continued to live and rear their family until the spring of 1900, when they followed the oldest son to Milford, Nebraska.

They resided at Milford until March, 1915, when they again followed the migration of some of the older children to Albany, Oregon, where they have since resided.

Grandma Brenneman truly typifies the ‘pioneer mother’ — self-reliant, tolerant and understanding. She early in life became a member of the Mennonite church, and all her life not only remained loyal to its teachings, but in a larger sense became a living example of the true Christian mother. In addition to rearing her own large family, the early death of some of her children left her charged with the responsibility of caring for and raising some of her grandchildren.

While the burdens of nearly a century of an active and arduous life left its mark on her physically, she remained active and able to care for herself up to the very last. In fact the high purpose and spirit of determination that carried her through life, now in the infirmities of old age sought no help, while mentally and in spirit she remained unimpaired and alert to the last. Truly she has earned the rest, a desire for which she recently often expressed, and which came to her peacefully and serenely on Saturday, March 22. May her brave spirit and courageous life live on.

Funeral services were held at the Twelfth Street Mennonite church on March 25. Services at the home were conducted by Rev. Fred Brenneman, grandson, and at the church by Rev. Geo. Kauffman, Rev. N. M. Birky, and Rev. N. A. Lind with interment in the family plot in Riverside cemetery.