Susanna was born on June 10, 1832. She was the daughter of Jacob Wise and Amelia Clapper.
In 1848, Susanna Wise, age 16, married 49 year old Jacob Mosey in Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. They became the parents of Annie Oakley.
When they married, Jacob had owned a small hotel near his father's tavern in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. When it burned down in 1855, the couple migrated to Ohio in a covered wagon to start a new life.
The Mosey children were:
Susanna's husband Jacob Mosey died on February 11, 1866 of exposure and other maladies he suffered when he was caught in a blizzard in the winter of 1865.
Jacob's death left the family destitute. The only solution Susanna saw was to get a job. Susanna obtained work as a nurse-housekeeper in an upper-class home in Cincinnati, earning $1.25 per week (which was about $21.63 per week in 2019 dollars). She left six-year old Annie and the younger children in the care of her two oldest girls, Mary Jane and Lidia.
Susanna didn't work at her job for very long because by October of 1866, she married Daniel Brumbaugh who was 22 years older. He was a widower who had five children from his first marriage to Susan Houser which ended with her death in 1856 leaving him with five children from 4 to 15. Ten years later when he married Susanna, the oldest four were on their own and Daniel had only his youngest child, 14-year old Mary Ann, still living with him and Susanna welcomed her in their home.
She got along with Susanna's older girls and helped out a lot. Money was tight and after Susanna told Daniel that she was having another baby, Daniel demanded that her two oldest daughters get jobs as domestics. Susanna refused.
On May 2, 1868, Susanna gave birth to Emaline, her last child who was called Emily. By now there was much discord in the household, mostly from Daniel Brumbaugh who complained that he shouldn't have to support so many children when some of them could work. He especially didn't get along with eight-year old Annie who was allowed to come and go as she pleased because she hunted and trapped game for their dinner.
Daniel tried other tactics to reduce expenditures but failed. Annie and her sister Sara Ellen came down with pneumonia and were sent for medical attention to the Darke County Infirmary, also referred to as the poor house. It was unlikely that the girls would return home due to the facility's high mortality rate.
After they recovered, Sara Ellen was sent home but Annie stayed on in the care of the facility's managers Samuel and Nancy Edington. When Sara Ellen arrived home, she found that Daniel Brumbaugh had abandoned the family. It is assumed, but no record was found to say that Susanna obtained a divorce from Samuel .
On November 25, 1868 Susanna married for the third time to widower Joseph Shaw, who was 30 years older than Susanna. His first wife had died in 1864 at the age of 62. There were no children from the marriage.
Daniel Martin Brumbaugh died on November 4, 1870. He was buried in Tea Cup Cemetery in Darke County, Ohio.
The US Census in 1880 shows three children still living with Joseph and Susanna Shaw: John Henry Mosey age 17, Hulda Mosey, age 14, & Emaline Brumbaugh, age 10.
Phoebe (Annie Oakley) didn't live at home after her mother married. She was employed by a family who abused her, then returned to work in the infirmary until she went out on her own in 1875 when she was 15.
Joseph Shaw died on April 25, 1887 at the age of 85. He was buried in Old Brock Boyd Cemetery in Frenchtown, Darke County, Ohio.
Susanna died on August 18, 1908 in Willowdell, Darke County, Ohio. She was buried near her first husband Jacob Mosey in Mendenhall Cemetery in Yorkshire, Darke County, Ohio.
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