MARGARET BRENNAN 'LILLIE' EVANS
by Mary Corcoran
 In honor of Women’s History Month, it’s important to recognize the women who took out Homestead Entries by themselves. The Emmons County Record reported on 09 November 1894 that Miss Lillie Brennan, a Winona resident, was accompanied to Williamsport, the county seat, to make final proof on her homestead claim. Jack Waldron, owner of The Merchant’s Hotel, and Richard Evans, Winona saloon and pool hall owner, were her witnesses. Evans was also a prolific carpenter and house builder in Emmons County.
Margaret “Lillie” Brennan was thirty-six years old, born 02 April 1858 in Indiana to Irish-born parents. She had been married in her early twenties, but was now considered “single,” a requirement for a woman, or widowed. She was an American citizen, but if not, she would take out her naturalization papers as well. She would have to build a claim shack on her 160 acres. Due to the scarcity of wood, it would probably be a sod “dugout” house. “Soddies” were known to be economical, and it was said they could be built for less than $3.00. However, they tended to leak during heavy rains, turning dirt floors into muck. Often, a wooden floor was one of the first improvements made to a “soddie.” Newspaper or cloth fabric covered the walls on the inside, to keep out dust and spiders. Quilts and sheets often curtained off sleeping areas.
Lillie Brennan was required to live on the land continuously and make improvements. Digging a well, a root cellar, plowing ground, fencing, building a cowherd, or animal shelter, would also count each of the five years of residence. Lillie would also be eligible to apply for an additional 160 acres of a tree claim, although most Emmons County farmers and ranches failed spectacularly with planting trees, which withered and died in the severe winters. Most ranchers proved out their tree claims and used them to run cattle herds.
Lillie, having acquired title to her homestead land, was now free to marry. She and Richard Evans would marry, a year later, 27 November 1895 in Emmons County. Couples often postponed marriages until the homestead entries were completed, even if that meant long engagements!
Richard would continue running his blind pig, his illegal saloon, along with his “drink dispensary,” soda and seltzer water only, he claimed, as well as his pool hall. It was a popular place on the main street of Winona’s business section. The Evans’ would be some of last residents of Winona.
Lillie Brennan, as an older woman, used the name “Maggie,” and with her husband, moved to Pollack, McIntosh, and Glanavon farms in the early 1900s, with a final move to Linton. Richard Evans was building a Rexall Drug Store there, when he died in 1908. She never remarried. Maggie often visited her sister in Chicago for the winters, and eventually sold her 2 and ½ lots in Linton, keeping a small frame house there. Unusual for a woman born in 1858, with a reported one year of schooling at age 11, Maggie could both read and write. She was sociable woman, and often had visiting friends noted in the social columns. Maggie Brennan Evans stayed in Linton, Emmons County, ND until her death at age 89, on 06 January 1948. Both Richard and Maggie Evans are buried in Linton Cemetery.
The above article was written and provided by Mary Corcoran, 30 March 2020
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