Gustavus Brandau
Dr. Gustavus Reynard Brandau (1820 – Oct. 5, 1875) was a German immigrant to Scott County who served in the Union army during the Civil War. He briefly had his own post office named after him in Scott County — Fort Brandau.
Biography
Gustavus R. Brandau was born about 1820 in Hessen, Germany. There is much that isn’t known about his life, including the identity of his parents. However, he sailed alone from Bremen to New York aboard the ship Magdalena in October 1847, at the age of 27, according to a passenger list. He was in Morgan County by 1850, married his first wife in Nashville in 1855, and was back on the Cumberland Plateau by 1860, living in Scott County.
Brandau’s second marriage was to Charlotte Carribbean Roehl (1847-1928). She was the daughter of Adolph Roehl and Johanna Marie Manea (1824-1885) of Mecklenburg, Germany. According to an obituary in the Washington Evening Star on July 2, 1928, she was born on Christmas Day in 1847. Her parents had sailed from Denmark for California during the 1847 gold rush, and their ship — Charlotte — was blown off course by a storm, winding up in the Caribbean Sea. So, when their baby was born on Dec. 25, 1847, they named her Charlotte Caribbean.
Gustavus and Charlotte had two sons — Walter R. Brandau, Adolph Gustavis Brandau (1867-1931) — and a daughter, Annie Hughes (1873-1966). Charlotte’s obituary lists another son, Henry L. Brandau. However, that appears to have been Gustavus’s son with a prior wife (see below). He and Charlotte may have had two more children who died in infancy around 1869 and 1870.
It seems that Gustavus had a prior wife and children, based on census records. His wife was Anna Waggoner. Their children were Hemelz Brandau and Alexandre Brandau. Some sources mention a third child, Emma, born and died in 1860.
Gustavus was listed in the 1860 census was G.R. Brandow, age 38, living in District 3 of Scott County, occupation as farmer. His birth place was listed as Hessen. His spouse was listed as Anna W. Brandow (age 27), and his children as Hemelz Brandow (2) and Alexandre Brandow (10 months). Also listed in his residence were Mary Price Brandow (age 31), Sarrah Price Brandow (9) and John Great (19). Mary was listed as a white hired servant. Therefore it seems likely that Sarrah was her daughter. John Great was listed as a hired farm laborer. His birthplace was listed as Hessen.
It is quite an interesting census record, indicating that not only did Gustavus Brandau have a wife before he married Charlotte Caribbean Roehl — who was 25 years his junior — but also that he was apparently wealthy, being able to afford two hired hands. It can also be inferred that Mary Price and her daughter, Sarrah, assumed the family’s last name. (However, the last name may have also been a mistake by the census enumerator.)
When the 1850 census was taken 10 years earlier, Gustavus was living with Charles and Margaret Haag in Morgan County, Tenn. His birthplace was listed as Germany. His occupation was listed as physician. The Haags were also from Germany. Charles Haag’s occupation was listed as tavern keeper. Some sources suggest that Brandau arrived in Wartburg as early as 1847, and was working as a company physician in 1848. Wartburg was founded in 1845 as a German settlement.
Gustavus’s and his first wife, Anna Waggoner (also spelled Wagner), were married Nov. 15, 1855 in Davidson County (Nashville), Tenn., according to a marriage record. Her parents were William Henry Waggoner and Elizabeth Armentrout.
Marriage records from Knoxville, Tenn. show that G.R. Brandau was married to Charlotte Roehl on May 1, 1866. She and her parents had moved to Knoxville by 1860.
When the 1880 census was taken, Hemelz (listed as Henry L.) and Alexandre (listed as Alex) were living with Charlotte Brandau in Knoxville, and listed as stepchildren. Also in the household were three of her children with Gustavus: Adolphus, Walter and Annie.
Adult Life
In the Fall 1997 edition of the FNB Chronicle, a list of Scott County post offices mentions “Fort Brandon,” founded Sept. 2, 1857 and discontinued Oct. 22, 1860, with Gustavus A. Brandon serving as postmaster. This is almost certainly a reference to Gustavus R. Brandau, who lived in Scott County at the time.
The mention of “Fort Brandon” is intriguing; however, it isn’t clear where this post office was located. When the 1860 census was taken, his post office was listed as Huntsville. Some of his neighbors in that census were Matthew and Roda Young, John and Rebecca Young, and Aaron Goad. Matthew Young was a prominent resident of the Glenmary area, making it likely that Fort Brandau (Fort Brandon) was located in that area.
Civil War
Gustavus Brandau enlisted in the Union army on May 28, 1863. He enlisted in Lebanon, Ky., and was mustered into the 11th Cavalry at Knoxville, Tenn. He mustered out on Jan. 9, 1865.
There is little more information available about Brandau’s Civil War service. He does not appear in Paul Roy’s Scott County in the Civil War, but probably should have, given that he lived in Scott County in 1860 and apparently continued to reside there in 1866.
1866 East Tennessee Convention
One interesting note about Brandau’s life comes from the May 9, 1866 edition of the Knoxville Weekly Whig, which lists Dr. G.R. Brandow as a delegate representing Scott County at the East Tennessee Convention that was held in Knoxville on May 3-4, 1866. At that convention, East Tennesseans asked again to break away from the rest of the state and form their own state, called East Tennessee. (They had previously asked for a similar resolution at the Greeneville Convention in June 1861, after East Tennesseans voted against secession and the rest of the state voted to secede. Scott County was not represented in person at that convention, but was represented by proxy.) The 1866 East Tennessee Convention lists “irreconcilable differences of opinion heretofore and now existing between our people and those of the other grand Divisions of the state.”
Brandau was the only representative of Scott County at that 1866 convention, which was held two days after his marriage to Charlotte Roehl.
The 1866 convention was an indication that divisions created by the Civil War had not healed. The minutes of the meeting specifically mentioned “partisan politics” as a reason for wanting to break away from the rest of the state, adding that “the great chain of the Cumberland Mountains” cut off East Tennessee from the rest of the state, and saying that the move was necessary to “develop the immense resources of East Tennessee, and to promote the political, financial, social and religious welfare of her people.”
The convention specifically mentioned the secession votes of February and June 1861, saying “the difference in political sentiment and attachment was so distinct as to make us in fact two people. That difference somewhat modified it may be, still exists, and will continue for a generation or longer.”
Given the dates of his marriage to Charlotte Roehl on May 1, 1866, and his representation of Scott County at the East Tennessee Convention on May 3-4, 1866, it seems that Brandau likely left Scott County permanently for Knoxville sometime just after the spring of 1866.
Death
Gustavus Brandau died on Oct. 5, 1875, at the age of about 55. A cause of death is not known. He was originally buried at Knoxville National Cemetery in Knoxville, Tenn., but was reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Charlotte continued to live in Knoxville in 1880. By 1900 she was living with her daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law in Columbia, Tenn. She lived with her son, Adolph, in Nashville in 1910, and was living with Annie again in Washington, D.C. in 1920.
It appears the family always had money. While Gustavus employed servants in Scott County in 1860, his children also employed servants when Charlotte lived with them in 1900 and 1910.
Charlotte died in 1925 in Washington, D.C. She is also buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Adolph lived the remainder of his life in Nashville, while Annie later moved to Florida.
Read More: The curious case of Scott County’s Hessian soldier and his Glenmary ‘fort’