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Augustine John Brand (ca. 1813 - 1899)
Augustine John Brand was born about February 10, 1813 in Cambria County, the son of Joseph and Dorothea Brand. His parents were German immigrants and were recruited to the Catholic settlement in Loretto by the Rev. Demetrius Gallitzin, a Russian prince turned Catholic missionary priest of western Pennsylvania.
Augustine's father Joseph was a musician. He had emigrated from Germany in 1802, and in the U.S he played in various brass and instruments that toured the major cities across the eastern seaboard. It is presumed that Joseph and Dorothy eventually settled down and took up farming in Cambria County. Augustine grew up in a family that included at least two older sisters and two younger brothers.
On August 13, 1837 Augustine and his brother William were married at St. Joseph Catholic Mission Church at Hart’s Sleeping Place, East Carroll Township in a double ceremony. William's bride was Roseanna Sarah Wade, while Augustine married Mary Noel. It is thought that Mary was born Sarah Mary Noel on October 19, 1819 in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Simon and Margaret Mary (Andriessen) Noel.
Augustine and Mary were the parents of eight children: William Brand, Daniel Demetrius Brand, James Abraham Brand, Mary Elizabeth Brand, Catherine Brand, Barbara Ellen (Brand) Woodel, Susan (Brand) Steele-Sharp, and Matilda Brand.
It is believed that James, Mary, Catherine, and Matilda all died young.
In 1848 a new Catholic church was established in Clearfield Township and named St. Augustine. Augustine and Mary were founding members of the parish, and baptized their two youngest children there.
They raised their children on their farm in newly formed Clearfield Township of northern Cambria County. Mary died in December 1852 after giving birth to her eighth child, Matilda.
On April 6, 1856 Augustine remarried to Philomena Martin. She was born about 1838 in Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland. Philomena was 25 years his junior and the same age as his eldest child, William.
Over the next 23 years, Philomena gave birth to eleven children, four of whom died young.
Augustine and Philomena's eleven children were named the following: Mary Josephine (Brandt) Glass, Ann Mary Brand, John Joseph Brand, Edward Francis Brand, Clara Regina Brand, Louis Augustine Brand, Henry Lawrence Brand, Laura Margaret Brand, Henry William "Harry" Brand, Bernadette Dorothy (Brandt) Byrne, and Agnes A. (Brandt) Lauer.
Augustine's two oldest children, William and Daniel, fought for the Pennsylvania volunteer infantry during the Civil War. They both returned home safely, although Daniel had suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, an injury that would incapacitate him for the rest of his life.
From 1863-1871, Philomena gave birth to four children, each of whom died young. When Harry was born in October 1872, his closest sibling was ten years of age, and his half-brother William was 34. Agnes, Augustine's youngest child, was born in 1879.
Augustine fathered nineteen children over 40 years, with just ten living to adulthood. All of his children resided in western Pennsylvania; daughter Ellen lived the farthest away in Clearfield County.
Augustine and Philomena resided near St. Augustine in Clearfield Township for many years. Sometime shortly before his death they moved to Patton, a village in Clearfield Township.
It is thought that their daughter Mary gave birth to a son out of wedlock whom Philomena raised. Their grandson, Louis Brandt, may have been born in 1883 or in 1886. He may also be the Aloysius McMullen who appeared on the 1800 US Census as a two-year-old grandson to Augustine and Philomena. If so, this would put his birth date at about 1878.
Mary married J. Matthew Glass in 1891 and had a second son whom she named John Augustine after her father.
Daughter Anna Mary is listed on the 1870 US Census as being 12 years old. Her fate thereafter is unknown.
Augustine and his brother William lived long lives, Augustine to about age 86, and William to about age 91. Augustine died at his home on October 29, 1899. He was survived by nine children: four sons and five daughters.
In 1910, 72-year-old Philomena resided with her youngest child, Agnes, who was single but the mother of a son named Bruce Walker.
Philomena died on December 19, 1914 at her home in Patton. She was survived by five of her children and her special grandson Louis, whom she raised. Her obituary in The Tribune of Johnstown cited her age as 88, but she was 76. Two years after her death, her daughter Agnes, now the mother of two children born out of wedlock, married Victor Lauer, a widower with no children.
Augustine and Philomena are buried at St. Mary's Cemetery near Patton in Clearfield Township. His first wife, Mary, is presumed to be buried at St. Augustine Cemetery in nearby St. Augustine.
Note: Philomena's obituary that appeared in The Tribune, Johnstown, Pa, neglected to mention her three surviving daughters: Mary J. Glass, Agnes Lauer, and Bernadette Byrne nor her step-daughter Barbara Ellen Woodel.
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