Azuba Wade Pitts Osborn
Have you ever met someone in your history that instills within you a sense of awe? Well, Azuba is one such person. She was a remarkable woman. Her heritage proves that.
Azuba was born to Ezra & Thuriza Kennison Osborn May 14, 1822 in McConnelsville, Morgan Co., Ohio. She was named for Benjamin Wade, an uncle, and William Pitt, who was also a relative. (I haven’t found verification of this yet). The Osborns had migrated to Ohio from Maine. Azuba was granted a teacher’s certificate on June 2, 1841 in Athens County, Ohio. She met a fellow teacher, Thomas William Brewer, who had come to Morgan County from Fauquier County, Virginia. They married on July 22, 1847.
The Brewers had a small farm in Lodi Township in Athens County. There they began their family. It was a busy life. Besides teaching and managing the farm and raising kids, they also became active in the Underground Railway, helping Negro slaves escape to the north. Thomas Brewer was active in civil affairs, especially education. He was a mathematician and was a firm advocate of freedom of the slave. This may have been one of the deciding factors in his enlistment in the war effort. He served with Co. C, 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He mustered in as a private on August 15, 1861 at Camp Chase, Ohio. In the fall and winter of 1862 he served as a recruiter. Sgt. Brewer was able to come home for a short period of time. He was home long enough to father another child. He was killed in action at the Battle of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.
It is said that Azuba knew the moment her husband died. She saw him standing at the foot of her bed. She told the family and neighbors that he was dead. They thought she was overwrought and didn’t believe her until she received word that indeed her husband had been killed – and just when she had declared it. On August 25, 1863, her 8th child, a son, Thomas William Brewer, was born. He would never see his father, but he would certainly know him through all the stories and memories that lived withinin the other family members. Azuba continued to teach and help with the underground railway.
Through much paper work and proof of witnesses, Azuba was able to receive a widow’s pension of $8 per month. Later that amount was increased to $12. On this meager pension she was able to give her children the education they needed. Of these 8 children, 3 were doctors and 3 were teachers. They became upstanding members of the communities in which they lived and were revered by the people they served.
Family records describe Azuba as having black hair and eyes, large in size and great in intellect. She was a woman of strong character and industry and intellect.
Sometime between 1870 and 1880, Azuba moved her family to Mitchell County, Kansas. She lived there for several years. Some family stories say that Azuba went to Oklahoma in the first Oklahoma Land Rush, in 1889. Her daughter, Sarah Ann Brewer, was in the land rush and proved a nice homestead. If Azuba did participate in that great adventure, she soon returned to Kansas, because she is listed in the 1900 census in the household with her daughter Thuriza.
The life of this remarkable woman ended on March 16, 1912 at the home of her daughter Thuriza Brewer Blades. One of her doctor sons was her attending physician. She was buried on March 17, 1912 at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Ottawa Co. I wish I had been able to meet my 4th great grandmother. I’m glad that we have these stories and memories passed down to our generation. My grandfather, Bee Bell Knapp, remembers her and says she was a fine woman. That’s enough for me!