Jeanette Edith “Nettie” Farlinger Bremenkampf Rogers

Daughter of Nevada pioneer families treasured women’s right to vote

Jeanette “Nettie” Edith Farlinger was born July 24, 1885, in Eureka, Nevada. She was one of 10 children born to pioneer parents Malcolm and Ella Perse Farlinger. She attended schools in Eureka, Nev., where she was an honor student as well as active in musical and theater activities. On April 1, 1904, she married Herman G. Bremenkampf, youngest son of Frederick J. and Rovenia Bremenkampf, also pioneer Nevadans. The Eureka Sentinel noted the wedding had been a “surprise” to the young couple’s friends. Nettie continued her musical, theatrical and organizational activities in the community and the Bremenkampfs became parents to their first child, Herman Jr. in December 1905.

In March 1907, Herman purchased a stationary store in Carson City, Nev. The family moved to Carson City where daughter Frances was born on July 25, 1907. By December  1907, Herman had sold his business in Carson City and the family returned to Eureka, Nev.  Nettie now had two children ages 2 and younger to care for, in addition to a husband whose employment history may have been unsteady. Somehow the family soldiered on, and in 1909 the Eureka Sentinel was reporting Nettie was on the “Arrangements Committee” for a number of various social organizations. 

The early 1900s are the years of suffrage activity in Nevada.  Nettie did have two small children during the years 1905 – 1910 and when Nevada passed the suffrage legislation, she was pregnant with her last child, my mother, Naomi, who was born May 4, 1914.  Time constraints in caring for three small children and running a household where money was most likely scarce may have prevented her from actively participating in the suffrage movement but her name is on a list of registered voters for the 1918 General election in Nevada. And by 1922, Nettie Bremenkampf had been appointed by the Eureka County Commissioners as an election officer for the Eureka County September Primary Election. 

Nettie lived in Eureka, Nev.  through 1931 when Naomi graduated from high school. Herman had passed away in December  1930 at the age of 55 leaving her a young widow at 45 years of age. He had been ill for some time with chronic nephritis and uremia. After Herman’s death and Naomi’s high school graduation, both Nettie and Naomi moved to Elko, Nev.,  where Nettie’s daughter Frances was teaching school. On September 23, 1933, Nettie married a childhood sweetheart, Edward H. Rogers, who had begun corresponding with her after he had extended his sympathies on the death of her husband. Ed’s family was also a pioneer Nevada family from Eureka, Nev.  Both Nettie and Edward were listed in a Nevada State Journal article dated November 1, 1934, that listed pioneer families of Nevada.

One of my early memories of my grandmother is of her taking me with her on Election Day to the polls in Reno where she was a poll watcher. Voting was a special privilege for women because they had been unable to vote in Nevada until 1914 and in the country until 1920. Nettie Rogers can be found in the lists of Washoe County registered voters in every election after she moved to Reno, with her second husband in 1933, voting at the Mary S. Doten School.  

Her second marriage brought her the opportunity to travel throughout the Western states and a measure of financial stability that she didn’t have while living in Eureka. Nettie was quite a seamstress and she had a clientele that kept her in the alteration business. That skill most likely contributed to the family income during the years she and Herman G. Bremenkampf lived in Eureka, Nev.  Her second husband, Edward Rogers, was a carpenter and a financial officer for the Carpenters Union Local 971. Nettie’s sewing and alterations continued to supplement the Rogers income and both Don and Patti Bernard remember Nettie providing daily meals to her neighbor, Charles F. Cutts, who was a “world traveler and dilettante.” His art collection became the foundation of the Nevada  Museum of Art in Reno after his death.  Cutts remunerated Nettie for his meals with money and an occasional piece of artwork. 

Nettie and Ed owned a home in northwest Reno, near Whitaker Park. They lived near both Nettie’s daughters – one in Carson City and one in Reno – and she had the opportunity to watch four of her six grandchildren grow into adulthood. Nettie passed away on August 15, 1964, after an extended illness. She was 79 years of age. 

Researched and written by Marcia Bernard Cuccaro