Honoring Our Ancestors

This blog is dedicated to the Brewer Family of North Carolina. These pages present our recent family gatherings and more distant family history.
We have an ongoing effort to capture the Brewer genealogy to best honor our ancestors. We've identified our ancestors who moved from Mecklenburg County, Virginia to Orange and Chatham Counties, NC as early as 1750. In the 1800s, we saw a migration to Alexander and Iredell Counties in NC, Tennessee, and Kentucky. By the 20th century our family made their homes all over the nation.
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Monday, October 11, 2010

Obituary of Ina E. Brewer (1890-1921)

The following was copied from the Statesville Landmark, April 14, 1921:

"Miss Ina Brewer, Dwarf, is Dead.  Miss Ina Brewer died Tuesday afternoon at the home of her step-parents,  Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Brewer, on Fourth Street, death following an illness of some years.  Funeral services were conducted at the home this morning at 9 o'clock by Rev. T.A. Groce and Rev. Turner Brown.  Interment this afternoon at Pilgrim church, Alexander county.

Miss Brewer was a dwarf.  36 inches in height and her weight was said to have never exceeded 40 pounds.  She was nearly 31 years old and was a native of Alexander county.  She was an attraction exhibited by the Smith Shows and Jones' carnival througout the country.

She is survived by two brothers--S.P. Brewer and M.O. Brewer of Statesville--and one sister, Mrs. Annie Mayberry, of Hiddenite."

Two notes:  John Preston Brewer, was Ina's natural father.  Ina's natural mother, Sarah Catherine Potts Brewer, died two years after Ina's birth.  John Preston Brewer then married Margaret Amelia Carson, and Ina become her step-daughter.  Ina's death certificate indicates she died of "pellagra," which is a deficiency of vitamin B3 (niacin).  The photo below is of Ina:



The next photo shows Ina with her niece,  Anna Brewer (1902-1919), daughter of Shubert Pharis Brewer and Nannie E. Milsaps Brewer.   We have indications that Anna also was a small person.   In this photo, Ina appears to be later in life when she may have been suffering from the effects of pellegra.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also let it be known that Mrs. ANNIE Mayberry should have been written as NANNIE Mayberry who was Nannie Kishma Brewer Mayberry (my great grandmother.)

Linda Gill Canada Larkin

Ron said...

Very good point, Linda.

Anonymous said...

We are still wondering if the gal on the left is family OR a friend at the carnival where Ina worked. There is debate as to who exactly she is.

Linda Larkin

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