From crossing the Appalachians to fighting on the bloody battlefields of the Civil War and World War II, the history of the Coons and Bowman families springs vividly to life through the words of those who experienced it. Philip M. Coons and his wife, Elizabeth Bowman, piece together a moving story of their ancestors from their earliest days in America to the present, one that consistently heralds the themes of traveling and change. In his research, Coons discovered several letters, diaries, and other correspondence that painted a vibrant portrait of his ancestors and the various challenges they faced. Divided into sections, In Their Own Words explores the world of the Coons and the Bowman families in their daily interactions. Whether it was traveling across the country via train, writing love letters full of longing by spouses separated by war, making the long trek on the Oregon Trail, or expanding on the college experience, the families never failed to find the humor and grace inherent in each situation. To add even further flavor to the anecdotes, Coons also offers a brief biography of each author. Family lore, a nostalgic slice of Americana, and the Hoosier connection that binds them all, make up this intriguing collection. Perfect for those interested in genealogy, early America, or merely hungry for the old-fashioned days. In Their Own Words is a true treasure.

In Their Own Words

Hoosier Ancestor and Family JourneysBy Philip M. Coons

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Philip M. Coons
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-9766-6

Contents

Preface........................................................................................xiAcknowledgments................................................................................xiiiAbout the Authors..............................................................................xvIntroduction...................................................................................xxiChapter 1 Crossing the Appalachians............................................................1Thomas Nelson Baker............................................................................1Daniel Brewer and Nancy Smith..................................................................2James Busenbark and Elizabeth Good.............................................................2The Coons Family...............................................................................3Adeline Elvira Gillette........................................................................4Samuel Gilliland and Mary Trousdell............................................................4William Reynolds and Mary Miller...............................................................5Enoch Richman and Adeline Elvira Gillette......................................................5Michael Rogers.................................................................................5Charles Shumway and Jane Bevins................................................................5The Van Cleave Family..........................................................................6Samuel Bowman and Mary Cain....................................................................6Jacob Metzger and Esther Ulrich................................................................7Chapter 2 Moving West..........................................................................8Alexander Wilson...............................................................................8Nancy Alice Wilson Rogers......................................................................9Memories.......................................................................................10Elizabeth Jane Busenbark Coons.................................................................21William Allen..................................................................................22William Allen's travel account of 1853.........................................................23Chapter 3 War Letters to Wives.................................................................28Civil War Letters of Thomas Nelson Baker to His Wife...........................................28Harold Coons - World War II Letters............................................................38Chapter 4 War Letters to Children..............................................................78Thomas Nelson Baker............................................................................78Harold Coons...................................................................................81Chapter 5 Letters from the Home Front..........................................................85Love Aurilla Shumway...........................................................................85Margaret Catherine Baker Seward................................................................88Margaret Coons - WWII..........................................................................91Chapter 6 Travel by Train......................................................................97Elizabeth Lapp.................................................................................97Harold Coons...................................................................................100Chapter 7 Love Letters.........................................................................103Love Letters from Thomas Nelson Baker to Love Aurilla Shumway..................................103Chapter 8 Work.................................................................................110William Edgar Van Cleave.......................................................................110Edith Rogers Richman...........................................................................114Nurnberg Diary.................................................................................116Nuremberg Trials - The Flick Trial.............................................................126Wayne Arthur Van Cleave - Florida Gig..........................................................137Chapter 9 School...............................................................................143Silas Tevis Richman (1852-1938)................................................................143Margaret Richman Coons.........................................................................145Philip Coons...................................................................................146Chapter 10 Expeditions.........................................................................163Frank Richman..................................................................................163Chapter 11 Travel Diaries......................................................................183Elizabeth S. Bowman............................................................................183Travel Diary Excerpts..........................................................................191Chapter 12 Recreation..........................................................................196Chapter 13 Genealogy Trips.....................................................................211James Bean's Trip..............................................................................211Chapter 14 Family Scandals.....................................................................217Correspondence between Clara Van Cleave Coons and William Edgar Van Cleave.....................217Chapter 15 Pilgrimage..........................................................................222Swimming in Europe.............................................................................223Chapter Notes and References...................................................................231Genealogical Charts............................................................................239

Chapter One

Crossing the Appalachians

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost [The Road Not Taken, 1920]

No first hand accounts exist of my Hoosier ancestors' crossings of the Appalachian Mountains. The only accounts that do exist are a few brief references to their journeys in county and local histories, obituaries, and a few oral accounts that have been passed down from generation to generation. It is time to collect these accounts and put them in writing before they are lost. What follows are brief vignettes from a number of my Hoosier ancestors.

Thomas Nelson Baker

The parents of Thomas Nelson Baker were Samuel Baker (1804-1849) and Jincy Ellis (1810-1873). Both were born in Rowan County, North Carolina. Their son Thomas was born March 1, 1831 near Lexington in Davie County, North Carolina. In September of that year the Bakers and their first-born child crossed the Appalachian Mountains on horseback and settled in Sandcreek Township, Bartholomew County, Indiana. Their new farm was located near Azalia, a Quaker settlement. They traveled on horseback; Samuel walked while his wife Jincy rode and cradled six-month-old Thomas in her arms. According to Arbuckle, settlers from North Carolina to Bartholomew County took the Wilderness Road across the mountains through the Cumberland Gap. They then followed an Indian trail through Indiana starting from the Ohio River. It must have been a rather long arduous journey and it would have been necessary to arrive in Indiana before the winter snows came which would have made travel treacherous to impossible.

Daniel Brewer and Nancy Smith

Daniel was born in Conewago, York County, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1784 and died in Putnam County, Indiana about 1861. On October 5, 1805 he married Nancy Smith who was born in Kentucky. Their first and only child, Charity Brewer, my great-great-grandmother, was born January 28, 1815.

Daniel's father John was born in 1761 in Bergen County, New Jersey and died in 1822 in Shelby County, Kentucky. He married Janetje Van Arsdalen on April 3, 1781 in Conewago. An unsourced web document on Roots Web mentions that Daniel's brother Garrett moved to Mercer County, Kentucky about 1791. Thus it appears that Daniel must have traveled from Pennsylvania to Kentucky with his parents when he was a seven-year-old child.

Daniel's fourth great grandfather, Adam Brouwer (1620-1692), had emigrated from Holland on the Ship Stetyn in September 1642. He settled in New Amsterdam and his son Pieter (1646-1700) settled in Bergen County, New Jersey. It was Pieter's grandson Daniel who moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky.

Daniel's ancestors were part of the Low Dutch Company. They were from Holland originally and of Dutch and French Huguenot background. They migrated together across the American frontier and maintained their ethnic identity for nearly two hundred years. In the 1760s they moved from New Jersey to their newly formed settlement, Conewago, in Adams County, Pennsylvania. A number of groups of families moved on to Kentucky. Their favored route took them on the Pennsylvania Road over the Appalachian Mountains to Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) and then down the Ohio River to the Falls of the Ohio, near present day Louisville. They then traveled overland to Henry and Shelby Counties, Kentucky where the group had purchased a large tract of land from Squire Boone. Because of Indian attacks many in the group relocated to a second settlement in Mercer County, Kentucky. From there, beginning in the mid-1820s, groups of families began a migration to Johnson County, Indiana.

James Busenbark and Elizabeth Good

My Busenbark line began with Johannes Busenberger (1686-1781) who came from the Village of Sehelen, County of Braunfels, Germany to America in 1710 and settled in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. His great grandson, James Busenbark, my third great grandfather, was born in Amwell Township on March 28, 1796 and died in Montgomery County, Indiana on February 10, 1784. James married Elizabeth Good in on December 3, 1818 in Butler County, Ohio. James' father John (1767-1837) joined his family in Butler County after serving in the Revolutionary War. We also know from census data that James was in Montgomery County, Indiana as early as 1830. James' third child Mary was born in December 1824 in Ohio and his fourth child, Henry, was born in 1827 in Indiana so James would have moved to Indiana between Mary and Henry's births in the mid to late 1820s. The only account of the Busenbark family's migration from New Jersey to Ohio reports that "Late in the seventeenth century, they having heard so much of the advantages in the far west, decided to brave the frontier. They started out with their children and baggage in a one horse wagon." Their exact route is unknown, but they might have followed the same route as the aforementioned Brewer family but stopping near present-day Cincinnati and then traveling a short distance overland to Butler County, Ohio. The probable route that the James Busenbark family took from Ohio to Indiana would have taken them overland to Brookville, Indiana and from there on the Wetzel and Berry Traces to Putnam and Montgomery counties.

The Coons Family

From me, the Coons family extends back seven generations to Michael and Rebecca Coons. Michael was born in Frederick County, Virginia between 1730 and 1740 and died about 1813 in Jefferson County Tennessee. Michael and Rebecca had ten children. Their ninth child Abigail was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia so it's likely that they followed the Great Valley Road which extends from southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina. It passes through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west. Michael's son John (1767-1834) and his wife Catherine Carlock (1770-1849) were both born in Virginia but died in Montgomery County, Indiana. They had thirteen children, the first six being born in Jefferson County, Tennessee and the last five in Overton County, Tennessee. John's son, George Washington Coons (1797-1864), and his grandson, James Madison Coons (1826-1916), my great-great-grandfather all moved from Overton County Tennessee to Montgomery County, Indiana sometime between 1821 and 1829. Census data put them in Overton County in 1820 and Montgomery County in 1830. It is not known exactly when John arrived in Montgomery County, but James Madison Coons and his parents, George Washington Coons and Julia Ferree (1804-1893) arrived in 1830 before the 1830 census was enumerated Census data confirms that their fourth child, Robert, was born in 1829 in Tennessee and their fifth child, William, was born in Montgomery County in 1833. The exact route of the Coons from Tennessee to Indiana is unknown. They may have taken the Wilderness Trail which bisects with the Great Valley Road or they could have taken the Cumberland Trace to near present day Paducah, Kentucky and then gone up the Ohio River to the Wabash River and thence up Sugar Creek. Another route could have taken them from Terre Haute up the Terre Haute Road, built in 1824, to Montgomery County.

Adeline Elvira Gillette

Adeline Elvira Gillette, my great-great-grandmother, was born on January 29, 1814 in New York and died on February 10, 1880 in Hope, Bartholomew County, Indiana. She was the daughter of Asahel Gillett (1784-1835) and Lydia Hickok (1785-1887). She married Enoch Richman on March 20, 1834 in Darrtown in Butler County, Ohio. Although she and her family moved from New York (probably Ontario County) to Butler County, Ohio in 1820 nothing is known about the route of their move. It is clear that they did not take the Erie Canal because it was not opened until 1825. It's likely that at least part of their trip was on the Ohio River as that is the route that most emigrants from the east took to southwestern Ohio. Adeline's mother, Lydia Hickok, who was born in Massachusetts remarried after her first husband's death and eventually died at her daughter Calista Keever's home in Scircleville in Clinton County, Indiana.

Samuel Gilliland and Mary Trousdell

Samuel Gilliland, my third great grandfather, was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania on May 2, 1807 and died in Montgomery County, Indiana on May 19, 1889. At age 16 he left home and traveled to Butler County, Ohio. Although we have no account of his route traveled it is reasonable to assume that he took the Pennsylvania Road to Pittsburgh and then traveled down the Ohio to Cincinnati. He lived in Ohio six years and married his first wife Mary (Polly) Trousdell on December 20, 1832. In October 1834 he moved to Montgomery County by using a wagon and two-horse team. He probably followed the same route as the James Busenbark family.

William Reynolds and Mary Miller

William Reynolds was born on December 7, 1796 in Henry County, Kentucky and died in Montgomery County, Indiana on September 19, 1834. He married Mary Polly Miller (1801-1872) in about 1822 near Frankfort, Kentucky and they had seven children. They moved to Indiana in 1830 after their fifth child was born. According to Armstrong, [They] "came on with a covered wagon with all the household goods and Mother Reynolds with two-year-old Napoleon in her lap; some on foot, some on horseback." Their route is unknown.

Enoch Richman and Adeline Elvira Gillette

Enoch Richman was born in Camden County, New Jersey on February 14, 1800 and died on October 31, 1882 in Hope, Bartholomew County, Indiana. He married Adeline Gillette on March 20, 1834 in Darrtown, Butler County, Ohio. It is not clear how Enoch Richman got from New Jersey to Ohio, but it is certain that older brother Samuel and younger brother Eli "walked ... and carried their packs on their back from Philadelphia to Cincinnati, before there was a railroad." Enoch may have accompanied them. Enoch and Adeline Richman moved to Decatur County, Indiana between the births of their third child, Samuel in 1846 and their fourth child, John, in 1848.

Michael Rogers

Michael Rogers, my third great grandfather, was born in October 1796 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts and died December 10, 1882 in Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. His parents were Samuel Rogers (1761-1823) and Mary Davis (1762- ). He married Rachael Sherwood (1769- ) on December 19, 1843 in Guernsey County, Ohio. He lived in Licking County, Ohio from about 1840 to at least 1860. He was both a farmer and "boat captain." According to family lore, he would flatboat his farm produce down Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and then he would return via the Natchez Trace. He would, of course, have skirted southern Indiana as he made his way down the Ohio River.

Charles Shumway and Jane Bevins

Charles Shumway, my third great grandfather, was born on August 12, 1798 in Oxford, Worcester County Massachusetts and died on December 29, 1871 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. In 1819 he married Jane Bevins (1801-1860) in Conesus, Livingston County, New York. They moved to Bartholomew County, Indiana some time between the birth of their sixth child, James, in 1841 and the tax collection in 1842. Charles and Jane Shumway moved with their five children as recorded in their daughter, Love Aurilla Shumway Bland's obituary: "Mrs. Bland, who was eighty-four years old, was a native of New York state, but came to Indiana with her parents, Charles and Jane Shumway, when a small child. The family traversed the Erie Canal part of the distance, and arrived at Cincinnati, Ohio, from where they moved to a place near Jonesville. Later they moved to Azalia, where on March 25, 1855 Miss Shumway, was married to Thomas N. Baker, my great-great-grandfather."

The Van Cleave Family

Nearly all of my Van cleave relatives followed Daniel Boone from North Carolina over the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Many settled in Shelby County, Kentucky and later most removed to Montgomery County, Indiana. In fact, Squire Boone, Jr., (1744-1815), bother to the famous Daniel Boone, married Jane Van Cleave (1749-1829) in Rowan County, North Carolina on August 8, 1765. Squire and Jane moved from North Carolina to Kentucky in the mid 1780s.

My fourth great grandfather Ralph Van Cleave, sister of Jane Van Cleave above, was born on May 10, 1747 in New Brunswick, Monmouth County, New Jersey and died on September 15, 1798 in Shelby County, Kentucky. He and Lydia Combs (1746-1823) were married in 1768 in Rowan County, North Carolina. Ralph and Lydia moved to Kentucky in about 1785. They likely would have traversed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Ralph's tenth child Thomas G. Van Cleave (1792-1856) and his wife Mary Van Cleave (1793-1870) moved to Montgomery County, Indiana sometime between the birth of their fifth child, Mary Jane, in 1826 and their sixth child, Matilda, in 1828.

Samuel Bowman and Mary Cain

Of my wife's family, a number of families including the Bowmans, Metzgers, and Ulrichs have Indiana Connections. My wife's third great grandfather, Samuel Bowman, was born in 1825 in Pennsylvania and died on January 29, 1895 in Kosciusko County, Indiana. He married Mary Cain (1828-1880) in 1846 in Montgomery County, Ohio. They moved from Ohio to Indiana between their marriage in 1846 and the birth of their first child, Barbara Ellen, in 1848. The Bowmans were members of the German Baptist Brethren Church. This group immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania and Maryland during the early to mid-eighteenth century. During the late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth centuries they moved to Montgomery County, Ohio. This tight-knit group consisted of such family names as Bowman, Butterbaugh, Cripe, Metzger, Miller, Peterbaugh, Rench, Replogle, Shively, Ullery, and Ulrich. Replogle speculates that when these families left Pennsylvania that they took the Pennsylvania Road to Pittsburgh and then traveled by boat down the Ohio River to southwestern Ohio.

Jacob Metzger and Esther Ulrich

My wife's third great grandfather, Jacob Metzger, Jr., was born on January 24, 1808 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and died on January 18, 1884. On March 3, 1831 he married Esther Ulrich (1813-1896) in Montgomery County, Ohio. Jacob's father, Jacob, Sr., (1781-1862) moved with his wife Mary Peterbaugh (1783-1852) and five children, including Jacob, Jr., from Bedford County, Pennsylvania to Montgomery, Ohio in 1813. Jacob, Jr., and his wife Esther, moved from Ohio to Kosciusko County, Indiana sometime between the birth of their child, Isaac, in 1832 and their second child, Jacob, in 1834.

Interested readers may want to consult books or maps on American migration routes, of which there are many.

Chapter Two

Moving West

"Go West, young man, go west." John Babsone Lane Soule in the Terre Haute Express, 1851

Alexander Wilson

Although Alexander Wilson never lived in Indiana, his granddaughter Nancy Alice Wilson died in Indiana while living her last nineteen years of her life with her daughter Edith Rogers Richman, my grandmother. He may have taken the same route to Iowa that his son Allen had taken when his family went down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi when they moved to Iowa in 1860.

The following inscription appears on Alexander Wilson's tombstone in the Callensburg Cemetery in Clarion County, Pennsylvania:

"Father Wilson was born in Westmoreland County; came to this county in 1801 and settled on Licking Creek Curllsville; lived three months among the Indians without seeing a white man; was friendly with Turkey John the giant Indian, great hunter of that day. Removed to Clarion River, built the first gristmill near Callensburg. He blazed a road from Callensburg through the woods to Curllsville and conveyed Rob't McYarrah back to Concord Church, who preached the first sermon there. In 1857 he moved to the West; remained 6 or 7 years; returned to Clarion County where he died in 1876."

So, even before he moved further west, Alexander Wilson had proven his mettle by blazing a road into the Pennsylvania wilderness.

Alexander Wilson was born on June 24, 1779 in Harrisburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and died on October 9, 1878 in Callensburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. He outlived three wives: Jane McCombs (1781-1833) who bore him ten children, Jane Gwin (1771-1844), and Mary Ann Graham 1778-1864). He moved west to Delaware County, Iowa in the mid 1850s and was back in Clarion County, Pennsylvania by 1864. In Pennsylvania he was a farmer and saw mill operator. In Iowa he was a farmer. According to the 1860 Agricultural Census of Milo Township in Delaware County Iowa, he owned 120 acres, of which 80 were improved. He owned two horses and 12 cows and his farm was valued at $1200. The 1870 Agricultural census in Licking Township in Clarion County, Pennsylvania showed that he owned 185 acres, of which 20 were unimproved. By that time his farm was worth $9840 and he owned 8 horses, 21 cows, 40 sheep, and 8 pigs.

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