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Andrew Jackson Brode Andrew Jackson Brode, eighth child of Jonathan Brode and Sarah Donaldson was born January 3, 1833 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and died January 21, 1913 in Los Angeles, California. He was married November 30, 1858 to Sarah Rodman Stidham who was born January 15, 1837 in Wilmington, Delaware. Six children were born to them as follows: Francis Alfrey, Alvin Burton, Howard Stidham, Arletta Elizabeth, Arthur Willis and Luther David. All have grown to maturity and all except Arletta have married and have children. Andrew Brode was six feet tall and weighed in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were light brown. He was left handed. In temperament, he was intermediate between slow and nervous. His occupation from early life was that of a millwright and carpenter. He was a very skillful worker in wood and showed skill in designing buildings and machinery. He invented a number of appliances and though of having them patented but never did so. After his marriage, he lived on a farm for some seventeen years but during much of this time he worked at his trade. He had little opportunity for school work and at the age of sixteen began working with his brother Samuel as a millwright. He was well informed on current matters and had the habit of looking up matters which were under discussion and upon which he was not informed. He had a liking for vocal music and sang bass by note. He was good at drawing, especially mechanical and architectural. He was not good at writing or public speaking. He had exceptional skill as a mechanic and showed marked talent in solving mechanical problems and was of an inventive turn of mind. He was not specially inclined to scientific work beyond that involved in his trade. His health was good and he was especially immune to contagious diseases. He suffered some from his wounds and his hearing was defective after the war. His eyesight was good. He was born on the homestead about two miles west of the present town of Saxton, Pennsylvania. After the death of his father in 1837, the family lived on this farm until 1848 when they broke up housekeeping and went to live with his sister Anna Funk at Woodbury, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1852 the mother and four children moved to Whitley County, Indiana. He worked at his trade in this county and at Warsaw in the adjoining county until 1854 when he went with his sister Elizabeth to Walnut Grove, Bureau County, Illinois. He married in 1858 and lived in Stark County, Illinois. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 and returned to civil life in 1865. In 1875 he moved to a farm two miles east of Buda, Illinois and in 1882 the family moved into town. In 1893 he moved to Urbana, Illinois and in 1901 to Los Angeles, California, where he spent the last twelve years of his life. [A couple things gleaned from letters, etc. In the summer of 1903 son Howard was visiting from Washington state and helped AJB build their house near USC. AJB was still working, mostly making window sash (a particularly skilled branch of carpentry) as late as 1910 or so. In about 1911, while running to catch a streetcar near Jefferson and Vermont, he was knocked down by a team of horses pulling a wagon; the driver apparently was from out of town and unfamiliar and/or unskillful with the city road rules. In any event he couldn't or didn't stop his horses in time. AJB recovered, but not to his previous level of health, and died about two years after.] He was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a faithful attendant until he could no longer hear what was said at the meetings. He served at times as Steward and Class Leader. He was a Republican in politics. He held the office of Postmaster for a time at Ellsworth, Illinois. He served as a private in the Civil War being a member of Company B, 112th Illinois Voluntary Infantry. He was severely wounded in action at the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee, November 18, 1863 and on account of his wounds was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) and employed as mustering clerk on March 30, 1964. He was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, August 25, 1865. (Thompson, E. F., History of the 112th Regiment, page 427) [Andrew Brode wrote 200-some letters home during the war, and these were saved. When his wife Sarah died in 1925 she apportioned them between the six children. Howard Brode ended up with forty or fifty of these; although the originals seem to have gone missing, photocopies are extant. Howard Brode also wrote a longer biography of his father (a few pages) which I may insert here when I get around to it.] |