Mary Louise Brodie

From a wealthy family in the east, Mary was part of an older relative's generation's effort to build a dam in Yavapai County, Arizona. Poor planning led to disaster. As a 25 year-old guest & relative of Henry S. van Beuren, Mary nearly lost her life when the dam burst.

Mary née Hanlon was related† to Henry Spingler van Beuren, the president of the Walnut Grove Water Storage Co., in two ways. 1st: Her mother was a Bonsall. 2nd: Henry's maternal grandfather was a Fonerden whose sister had married a Bonsall; his maternal grandmother was a Bonsall also. These connections were originally established a hundred years earlier through shared Methodist faith: Fonerdens (aka Von Erden) and Bonsalls were early Methodist ministers in Manhattan and Baltimore. The Bonsall and Spinglers were also business associates in Lower Manhattan. The Spingler family were butchers while the Bonsalls ahd a wharf on the Hudson.

Seen another way: Both Mary and Henry are descendants of the Spingler/Bonsall family that had become wealthy by virtue of their mercantile (Bonsall family) and real estate (Spingler) interests in 18th century New York City active before, during, and just after the American Revolution.

WALNUT GROVE

MARY WAS VISITING the HQ camp about 5 MILES below the Lower dam site at the time of the collapse of the main Walnut Grove Dam (further upstream). The location of the Lower dam is near ( Yavapai County Arizona
34.097482, -112.607643 ) See also a keyed map provide by Liggett in his book on the disaster.
This location seems to be just upstream of a feature known as Slim Jim Creek.

According to the February 26 Prescott Journal-Miner: “Miss McCarty [Hanlon%E2%80%99s maid], a very estimable lady, and Alex. McMillan [van Beuren’s coachman] … were drowned.” Miss Hanlon barely escaped. “She rushed from the house in her night clothes, after vainly but heroically endeavoring to save Miss McCarty, nearly sacrificing her own life in the attempt.”†† She and Mr Redington [a hydraulic engineer] “saved themselves by climbing a very steep hill where they remained for .. hours.” ~• as retold by Liggett (see sources)
Mary's own letter is the best source: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000191385133857

† in order to better appreciate the relationship, look at a Mid 19th century map of Morris County NJ: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000115055114821 It is here that we see Mary's grandmother Eliza Bonsall (widow Bonsall) living next to HSvB's mother the wife of Col. M.M. van Beuren, that is Mary Spingler van Beuren, who is a Bonsall as well.
†† her own account is attached here.

A few years after the disastrous dam failure, Mary married an engineer of the ill-fated project, Alexander O. Brodie. Brodie's career did not suffer in the aftermath. He went on to both military and civilian honors. Brodie, a widower, had already been courting Mary befor the time of the Feb. 1890 flood.

Henry S. van Beuren, A.O. Brodie and other principals involved with the Walnut Grove company branched out into other mining ventures. (See the Walnut Grove project here on Geni)

" (Alexander) Brodie established a permanent residence in Prescott while working around the territory as a civil and mining engineer. From 1887 till 1890 he worked as superintendent and chief engineer of the Walnut Grove Dam on the Hassayampa River north of Wickenburg. As the dam was nearing completion, in February 1890, a flood caused the dam to collapse, causing 70+ deaths and millions of dollars in damage. Brodie himself was held innocent of wrongdoing in the failure (...) In 1891, Brodie was appointed commander of the Arizona Territorial National Guard by Governor John N. Irwin, a position he held till May 1892.

On December 15, 1892, Brodie married Mary Louise Hanlon. Her guardian during this era a relative: Henry Spingler van Beuren, the president of the Walnut Grove Water Storage Co.

It is interesting that a town, founded later, near the dam break was named Morristown, evidently for the Bonsall family area of residence back in Morris Co., NJ.

Mary and Alexander had two sons, the first dying in 1896. The second lived to adulthood, born in 1898."

sources

• http://www.oldlivery.com/pdm/files/WalnutGroveElec.pdf
• profile mgr. MMvB has copies of her letter to her mother written in the days following the disaster. These are held in Tucson AZ with the notes to the book on Alexander Brodie written by the Tucson history teacher: Charles Herner http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/uoa/UAMS565.xml
  • 3 30 Hanlon family, Morristown Public Library, New Jersey undated
  • 5 31 Walnut Grove Dam, personal account of Mary circa 1889
• http://www.oocities.org/rocki47/wittmannsaga.html
• Hanlon-Spingler Pedigree Chart see also: chart

Greenfield Hall

The Brodie family lived in this historic landmark after Alexander Brodie retired:

• https://haddonfieldhistory.org/greenfield-hall-history/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfield_Hall