Jack Brill and Martha Spiers BrillNiagara Falls - 1946
After their marriage in 1889, Martha and Jack Brill lived in North Bay, Ontario. Jack worked as a steam railway conductor. Two children are known to be born in North Bay - Clifford Lyle and Lawrence Dewitt. In 1899 Jack emigrated to Missoula, Montana where he was employed as a railway conductor. Martha and the children followed in 1900. The family is listed in the 1910 Census for Missoula; Clifford Brill is an apprentice newspaper pressman and Lawrence is a student.
A photograph of a daughter, Montana Brill, is dated April 28, 1905 and the picture would suggest that she was born two or three years earlier. The 1910 Census for Missoula, however, does not list her under the Jack Brill family and it is assumed that she was not living at that time.
The 1910 Census did list a son named John Jay Brill who was born in 1906. His obituary is on the note page under his name. It is apparent from this obituary that John Jay was then a California resident and did not have any children.
The 1920 Census listed Lawrence Dewitt Brill, a railway brakeman, age 25, as being married to Myrtle, age 28, born in Kentucky. A boy, Harlan, was also listed as being 9 years old and born in Kentucky. It is suggested therefore that Harlan would be the wife's child. No further information is available about this family.
Older members of the Spiers family have indicated that Jack Brill was a bicycle messenger for a telegraph company in San Francisco during the second World War. He would have been close to 80 years of age at that time. When and where he died has not been ascertained; the same is true for Martha.
