COUNTDOWN TO 150 -- Sylvia's Early Years

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Charles Koester’s future wife, Sylvia Constance Broughten, was born on February 14, 1848.  Her parents, Eliza Webster and James E. Broughten were pioneers who settled on a farm near Olney, Illinois (about 120 miles from St. Louis).  Sylvia had two brothers, John and George, and a sister Lucinda (Lucy). 

Sylvia had a difficult childhood.  When she was about nine years old, her mother died and her father remarried shortly afterwards.  Her father’s second wife was a woman who had been working in the household.  Although she had been good for the children as household help, she was not so kind when she became his wife. 

When Sylvia’s father died nearly a year after her mother died, she, her brothers, and sister were separated and sent to live with different relatives.  Unfortunately for Sylvia, she went to live with an abusive aunt, Alta, and her husband.  She was with them for the next nine years.

Sylvia confided in Charles about her life at the hands of Aunt Alta, which he wrote about in his diary in 1883.  She spoke about the knocks, beatings, tongue lashing, and cursing that were a regular routine with Aunt Alta. Sylvia said, “…when going to bed at night she would dread for the daylight of the following morning to come.”  Sylvia also told him that her cousin, Tinnie, Aunt Alta’s daughter, died at the age of 25 and that Aunt Alta “was the cause of her death.”  (Sylvia would name her first-born child Tinnie in memory of her cousin Tinnie.)

Sylvia left Aunt Alta at age 18 and went to live with another relative, Aunt Mary Morehouse, who also had been orphaned and raised by Aunt Alta.  They shared the same sad experiences with Aunt Alta.  Sylvia stayed with Aunt Mary for five years while completing her studies and preparing to become a school teacher.  Aunt Mary was loving and kind and at the end, went to Marysville to help take care of Sylvia in her final days. 

Sylvia’s life took a turn for the better when she moved to Marysville in 1871.  Her brother, John A. Broughten, a Civil War veteran, moved to Marysville in 1870 and set up a law practice.  He brought his sisters, Sylvia and Lucy, to Marysville a year later, and provided a home for them.  They both secured positions as teachers in the public school near town.  Sylvia loved teaching and those days teaching were happy ones for Sylvia.   

Pictured above is Sylvia Broughten at age 16.  This photo is one of four photos that we have of her.

Originally posted by Koester House Museum & Gardens via Locable