Mariam Brown Bridgman

(A special thanks to Anelda Sinks, great granddaughter of Mariam Brown Bridgman and George Sinks for the information she contributed on this family.)

Mariam Brown Bridgman was born May 12, 1849, in Clay County, Missouri, the daughter of John Washington Bridgman and Lucinda Gibson.    She was the granddaughter of William Bridgman and Mariam Brown, for whom she was named.

Mariam married Solomon Couts on June 1, 1865, in Mahaska County, Iowa.   Mariam was 16 years of age at the time of her marriage.    Solomon Couts was born about 1845, in Missouri according to census records.    He was the son of Alfred Couts (b. 1823, MO) and Mary O. Dell (b. 1823, MO; d. 1854, MO).

Census records indicate that Solomon and Mariam moved to Nebraska soon after their marriage.   The 1880 census indicates Solomon's first child was born in 1868 in Nebraska.    The family returned to Missouri where three children were born between 1870 and 1876.    Solomon and Mariam then returned to Nebraska prior to 1880.

 The 1880 Richardson County, Nebraska census shows the family living at Falls City.    The census shows Solomon Couts, 35, a farmer; Mariam, wife, 31; John, son, 11, born in Nebraska; Cora, daughter, 9, born in Missouri; James F., son, 5, born in Missouri; and Fona L., daughter, 3, born in Missouri.

Census records indicate their youngest child was born in Nebraska in July 1881.  The family returned to Holt County, Missouri prior to 1886.

Information obtained from Mariam's obituary states that a total of six children were born to Solomon and Mariam, but one child died in infancy. 

Solomon died August 20, 1886, probably in Holt County, Missouri.    His burial location is unknown. 

On January 25, 1889, Mariam married George W. Sinks, probably in Holt County.    George Sinks was born August 13, 1837, in Hamilton County, Illinois.    George's first wife was Mildred Lambert, who he married in 1859, and by whom he had at least five children.    Mildred Lambert was born about 1842, in Illinois, and died about 1885-1887.     

George and Mariam had one son, George Lester Sinks, born October 25, 1889, at Bigelow, in Holt County, Missouri.   

George and Mariam had a short time together, however.    George Sinks died May 17, 1892.      

After the death of her second husband, Mariam married John R. Melton about 1895.    John Melton was born August 28, 1857, in Illinois.    John Melton had been married prior to his marriage to Mariam.    He had at least two children from that marriage.    John and Mariam had no children from their union.

The 1900 Holt County, Missouri census, Bigelow Township, shows John R. Melton, 43, born August 1857, married 5 years, a blacksmith; Mariam B., wife, 51, born May 1849, had given birth to 7 children, 6 children still living; Leroy, son, 16, born December 1883, in Missouri; May, daughter, 14, born October 1885, in Missouri; George L. Sinks, step-son, 10, born October 1889, in Missouri and William B. Couts, step-son, 18, born in July 1881, in Nebraska, a farm laborer.    The family was living near Mariam's cousins, the Chuning and McKee families.

John Melton died February 22, 1914.    John has a headstone erected in Old Mound City Cemetery, in Holt County, Missouri.    Mariam's obituary states that John Melton preceded her in death on February 22, 1914, at Beatrice, Nebraska, and that Mariam returned to Bigelow in September 1915 where she remained until her death.    We are unsure where John Melton is actually buried.

Mariam died November 20, 1939, in Holt County and is buried in Old Mound City Cemetery.    Mariam has no marker at her grave.

Children of Solomon Couts and Mariam Bridgman

Child of George Sinks and Mariam Bridgman Couts