Martin Van Buren Coplen and Sarah Severns Coplen (Coplen/Copeland lineage)

Martin Van Buren Copeland (Coplen) was born on November 17, 1836 in Coshocton County, Ohio, to James Copeland and Betsy Horton Copeland. Martin was named after President Martin Van Buren, as Martin Van Buren was just elected as the 8th President of the United States in the same year of Martin’s birth. Additionally, his father James was an avid Democratic Party supporter.

Martin Van Buren Copeland (Coplen) late 1800s
Filson Family Private Photo Collection

Martin or “Van” as many called him, was raised on an Ohio farm along with ten brothers and sisters. His family and the Severns family were lifelong friends, and soon Martin fell in love with Sarah E. Severns, who lived down the road. In 1858 at the age of 22, Martin married Sarah, age 21. Sarah was born in 1837 and was the daughter of William Severns and Hannah Treadway Severns.

Coshocton County, Ohio Marriage Records 1858, Family Search.Org

By 1860 many other Coplen family members from Coshocton County, Ohio relocated to Fulton County, Indiana, along with other families such as the Meredith and Severns families.

If you recall from my previous writings, Martin’s Uncle Asa Coplen moved to Fulton County, Indiana in 1840 and established the little town of Bloomingsburg, Indiana. Today the tiny town is known as Talma, Indiana. During this time, many of the Coplen family members modified their name from Copeland to Coplen. It was not uncommon for a regional accent to modify the sound of a name and because many pronounced Copeland as Coplen, the family members started to use the phonetic spelling.

In 1858 Martin and Sarah gave birth to their first son, Wilson. In 1860, they packed up the wagon and took the thirteen-day journey across the Ohio Valley and into the timberland of Indiana.

When the Civil War began in 1861, many men in Fulton County volunteered. Martin was not asked to serve, so he was able to stay home. In 1863 he registered under the guidelines of the mandatory draft, but once again, was never called upon.

Over time, Martin purchased 370 acres of land from his Uncle Asa among others, and began to clear the lumber and cultivate profitable farmland. The dense forest was covered with tall timber of beech, walnut, oak and ash trees. The first thing they did was build a small cabin for temporary shelter until they were able to build a larger house. They would employ neighborhood men for 50 cents a day to help construction the house along with a barn and other utility buildings.

New Castle Township, Fulton County, Indiana 1880s
1883 A.L. Kingman Combination Atlas Map of Fulton County, Indiana
 

Wild game of deer, turkey and squirrel was plentiful and kept them full. They would plant the spring crops and buy from the neighbors what they needed until the next season.

Martin became a prominent farmer and cattleman. In 1867 he and Sarah gave birth to Elmer, my great grandfather. He was to be their last child, but in 1879 they adopted the daughter of a friend, Rosa A. Emmons, who was 14 years old at the time. Sarah was happy to have a female to help around the house and Rosa soon became a member of the family.

In 1873 Martin donated a section of land to build the Bloomingsburg Disciple Church. The church was located a quarter-mile out of town, across the Tippecanoe River, next to a bridge he helped build. It was a rectangular building with a high belfry and a large iron bell which would ring throughout the town. It was white with four large glass windows on each side. The interior walls were papered and surrounded rows of unvarnished pews with slate backing. Three isles divided the room into two columns of seating and there were two wood stoves, one on each side of the congregation. In the front of the church stood the pulpit which held a large Bible ready for the Sunday Sermon. To the left of the pulpit were seats for the choir and a beautiful Reed Organ. To the right of the pulpit, seats for the elders which Martin was one of. The large churchyard was surrounded with hitching posts to place the horses during church service. Since then, the name of the church has changed, and the building has suffered some damage from tornadoes. Today, the Talma Grace Bible Church stands on this piece of land. Up to the 1960’s, the church baptized their members in the Tippecanoe River across the road.

Bloomingsburg Disciple Church, 1880s,
Fulton County Historical Society Photo Collection

Martin was an honest and resourceful man, evident by the ventures he took in his lifetime.Besides running a farm and raising cattle, he was the owner of a saw mill and grist mill. He was also the County Commissioner for the Third District from 1885 to 1887, running on the Democratic ticket.

The Rochester Indiana Newspaper dated Wednesday, December 7, 1887 wrote that during his term as Commissioner, he ”…proved himself to be a careful, painstaking and safe man for the responsible position which he held. A dollar never went out of the county treasury by direction of the Board to Commissioners without Mr. Coplen being fully advised as to the benefit of the expenditure and this degree of carefulness and strict fidelity to the taxpayer’s interest was exercised at all times, even though at times he knew a faithful discharge of his duty would make him no friends. Every man who had business with the Board of Commissioners while Mr. Coplen was president will always honor him for his unswerving advocacy of the best interest of the county and the people, and his record is one to which the party that placed him in office can point with pride."

During his term, Martin and the Democratic management of the county added ventilation and heating to the County Asylum, built iron or substantial wood bridges over the rivers and small streams at every point travel demanded, and added an iron fence and a stone walkway around the courthouse. The county was out of debt and had a considerable fund of money on hand towards building a new jail and improving drainage. The article continued, "Mr. Coplen discharged his duties to the satisfaction of his constituents and is duly credited as being an honorable official."

Growing older, in 1892 Martin purchased a sawmill from Otis B. Holman and a year later, a gristmill from Dr. Newton J. Clymer on 7 acres of land between the Tippecanoe River and Talma.   The grist mill was a three story structure painted red with white trim. It was built high to sit on wooden pilings over the mill race. The water from a dam upstream would rush by the mill and turn the wheel to grind the wheat into flour. Elevators would then carry the flour up the floors above to be sifted and stored. Martin could be seen late in the day in his white overalls, white from the dust of the flour. He turned the mill into a successful venture, shipping flour as far as Liverpool, England. He sold the mill in 1900, and it was still in operation until heavy winds blew off the top in 1908.

Bloomingsburg Saw Mill as seen before purchased by Martin.
1883 A.L. Kingman Combination Atlas Map of Fulton County, Indiana

 

 

Bloomingsburg Grist Mill 1880s
Fulton County Folks, Volume 2, Shirley Willard, Fulton County Historical Society

Martin is mentioned in the Pictorial Story of America, by Elia W Peattie, Published 1896, the author writes:

“Martin Van Buren Copeland [Coplen] farmer and miller of Bloomingsburg belongs to the class of representative American citizens who promote the public welfare while advancing individual prosperity…”

Martin died January 3, 1916 of a stroke, leaving behind a wife and two grown sons. A year earlier Martin and Sarah decided to sell the Talma farm and move to Argos, Indiana to live with their son Wilson and his wife Ellen Burkett Coplen. Upon Martin’s death it was of the utmost importance to Sarah that all of her husband’s debts be paid to keep their family’s reputation for honesty intact.

Sarah could not read or write, as was evident by the mark she made on Martin’s death records.  Martin left enough land in Marshall County to help Sarah live the rest of her life in a comfortable manner. She was the woman by the side of my Great Grandma Frances, to bring my Grandma Grace into this world, along with her other siblings. She loved basket weaving, having won first place in a fair and was a very religious woman. 

Sarah Severns Coplen late 1800s
Filson Family Private Photo Collection

Both Martin and Sarah were laid to rest in Reichter Cemetery in Fulton County, Indiana.

Filson Family Private Photo Collection

Notes:
(1) There are two Sarah Severns Coplens' that resided in Fulton County during the 1800s. The other was the wife of Isaac Coplen and should not be confused with this Sarah.

Talma, Indiana (Coplen Lineage)

Looking for my ancestors in rural America has its challenges. The biggest one is looking for communities that do not exist anymore. I have previously written about Inwood, Indiana, the town of five generations of the Filson family and the beginnings of Talma, Indiana aka Bloomingsburg. It is the little town of Talma which three generations of my Coplen family have lived, which I continue to write about today. My curiosity wants to know what the town was like in the early 1900s when my grandmother was a child. Though it was never a big town, according to Kingman 1898 Atlas, it consisted of two general stores, one drugstore, a meat market, a hotel, two doctors, a wagon-maker, a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a harness maker, a sawmill and a gristmill. It also had an “International Order of Odd Fellows Lodge,” a grange hall officially referred to as “The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry,” a church of 80 members, and a two story school house which was built in 1903. The railroad wanted to come through Bloomingsburg but the community fought against it and this, along with fires and tornadoes, contributed to the demise of Talma.

International Order of Odd Fellows, Talma Indiana
Collection of Fulton County Historical Society

A few years back while attending a wedding in Indiana, I had a wonderful two-day trip to Plymouth with my two brothers to hunt down our genealogical heritage. We started out at the Fulton County Historical Society outside of Rochester Indiana. This is a wonderful historical society with a very impressive museum and I look forward to visiting again. We searched through records for pictures of our grandmother and her life in the early 1900s, in the town of Talma in New Castle Township, Indiana. We found bits and pieces, but not a lot, until my brother approached me with a silly grin on his face, a grin I have seen before, softly holding in the palm of his hand a little homemade 2x4 remembrance book from the year 1915. It consisted of three cut construction paper pages tied together with a small red ribbon. On the front was an oval frame encasing a photograph of the ruins of a burnt down school and inside were the names of the fourth and fifth graders of Talma School. And there was the name of our grandmother – Grace Coplen, HE FOUND HER. A few moments later my other brother found a school picture of Grace in the fifth grade and another school picture. They were both hooked! I could see in their eyes— the excitement of discovery intrinsic to unraveling the history of their ancestors.

Three page Remembrance Book of the class of Talma School, 1914-1915
Collection of Fulton County Historical Society

Class Picture Talma School, 1912
Grace Coplen, 1st row, 3rd from the left
Collection of Fulton County Historical Society

Grandma’s school was built in 1903 and sadly destroyed the night before Thanksgiving 1915 by a fire. They rebuilt the school in 1917 but in the interim, classes were held in Hatfield’s Store and Chapman’s Hardware, along with the church and I.O.O.F. lodge hall. Grandma Grace continued attending school in Talma until 1920 when her family moved to Inwood. Sadly for the school, it was completely destroyed in 1974 by a tornado that I previously wrote about.

Talma, Indiana School 1903-1915
before fire of 1915
Collection of Fulton County Historical Society

Grace and the other children rode to school in a hackney carriage that would go around and pickup them up. In the winter the wheels were changed out for sleds. The older boys would only go to school when there was no need for them at their farms.

Fulton County Folks, Volume 2, Shirley Willard, Fulton County Historical Society

While at the Fulton County Historical Society, I found two wonderful documents; The first, Fulton County Folks, Volume 1 & 2, edited by Shirley Willard and complied by The Fulton County Historical Society. It is a compilation of the History of Fulton County, Indiana and the pioneers that built it. It is a wonderful book and well worth owning for anyone doing genealogy in that area.

The second being a five page typed manuscript by Cleo Hatfield Teeter Nye, a woman I later realized was my grandmother’s fourth grade teacher. Her father, Loring Hatfield, owned the general store in Talma.

Collection of Fulton County Historical Society

The document is entitled “Incidents of the Early Days That Stand Out in My Mind.” Cleo was born in 1893 and passed in 1983. She was 22 when she was a teacher to my grandmother. Even though this document was not written by my family member, it is a great resource to get insight into the community in which they lived. I was thrill when I got back to California and I was able to share the document with a direct decent of someone that worked in that same general store.

Cleo talks about many things in her document (see above). Among them she mentions our cousin:

“12. Chancey Coplen reading the sports news from her dad’s Chicago paper”

“22. Going to Sunday School across the river in a white dress, high shoes, bracelet, parasol, penny tied in a hankie, Leghorn hat, …” This is the same church my Coplen family attended.

“36. [Chancey]Coplen’s carrying the mail each day – leaving for Rochester at 8:00 and back by 3:00…Their faithful horse Barney made the trip every week day for many years”

I was curious about her first comment “Gum Burning in Talma street after McKinley’s second election.” I have never heard of gum burning. A little research leads me to understand this was actually a reference to burning of logs which had a lot of sap (gum). They were burnt to celebrate The 4th of July, elections, etc… These logs lite the night, along with fireworks, speeches and a parade were the order of the day.

Tiny Bloomimgsburg aka Talma, Indiana (Coplen lineage)

My grandmother Grace Coplen Filson was born in 1905 to Elmer R. Coplen and Frances A. Rodabough in the little country town of Talma, Indiana. Situated on the Tippecanoe River, Talma is in Newcastle Township, Fulton County, Indiana. It is so small you would be hard pressed to find documentation of the population.

Talma was originally named Bloomingsburg by my third great granduncle, Asa Coplen. When Asa was asked why he named the area Bloomingsburg, he replied, "Because it is the most bloom-ingest place I’ve ever seen."

Asa was born to Richard Copeland and Euphamine Henderson in Coshocton, Ohio in 1805 and traveled to Fulton County, Indiana in 1840. Many other Coplen family members followed him, including my 2nd great grandfather Martin Van Buren Coplen. Asa bought land from the federal government for $1.25 an acre and soon had four farms. He married Lucretia Abbott in 1830 and they had a family of seven children.

He surveyed the land and by 1854 he was selling lots. The 1854 map of Bloomingsburg below shows the lots southwest of the original town. Make note of the Grist Mill next to the river, which would one day be owned by my 2nd great grandfather Martin Van Buren Coplen.

 

 

In 1858 Asa grew restless, sold three farms and headed west. But financial misfortune came upon him and his family, he grew tired of the windy country and he lost his beloved wife Lucretia in 1859 and laid her to rest in Kansas. Before she died she made Asa promise to return to Indiana with the children. He kept his promise and by 1860 he had returned to his farm in Bloomingsburg. In 1869, he married Minerva Jane Fisher and had two additional daughters. 1

Asa and Mirerva Coplen 1875  4

When the civil war came along he was eager to offer his service but was told he was too old. He proudly sent his three sons Lyman, James and Chauncey off to war. Fortunantly all returned.

In 1888 Asa and Minerva moved to Joliet, IL where they lived until 1896 when he was laid to rest at the age of 91.

Uncle Asa, as many people called him, was an honest man and a good friend. He was always willing to help someone who was down on their luck and his motto was The Golden Rule. He was very active with Fulton County Democratic party.

In 1896 the United States Post Office wanted to rename the tiny town of Bloomingsburg, claiming the name was too long. They ran a contest in the local paper and the winner was William R. Kubley. Kubley was a resident of Talma at the time and had a reputation as a puzzle wizard and avid contestant. His obituary states in one year he won 12 cars, also that he found the word Talma in a crossword puzzle. 3

In 1976 a historical marker was placed in Talma honoring both Asa and William for their roles in the naming of Bloomimgsburg and Talma.  2

 

THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE photo taken by By Alice Mathews, July 12, 2011 5

Sources:

1) Fulton County  Historical Society, Talma The Blooming Burg, Shirley Willard, Fulton Co Folks,Vol. 2

2) Roch Sen oct 4 1976

3) News-Sentinel, Friday, February 5, 1954

4) Fulton County Historical Society Collection

 

5) HMdb.org

The tornado that took my history away (Coplen/Severns lineage)

"The forecast for Wednesday April 3, 1974 was for showers on the East coast and for thunderstorms across the Midwest. In the heavens, a storm of an overwhelming magnitude was forming. Children went to school, people went to work and lives went on as normal until the second worst storm of the 1900's struck. Tornadoes broke across the heartland with such an intensity and frequency never seen before in the United States. Homes and schools destroyed. Loved ones lost..... 315 people who lost their lives in this storm and to the over 5,000 people who were injured."  - Scott Koerner.  1

I remember the day vividly. I was anxiously staring out of the Filson family farm window, watching a massive tornado cut across the Indiana cornfields. I didn't know at the time where the tornado had come from or where it was going. I was just glad it was passing the farm instead of heading towards it. What I didn't realize at the time was the significance the event would have on my genealogical research today. It wasn't until recently I realized the tornado was heading for my ancestral town. In a few minutes the tiny town of Talma, Indiana would be hit. Talma lies in New Castle Township in Fulton County, Indiana. This is the birthplace of my grandmother Grace Coplen and my great grandfather Elmer Coplen, and the home of my great grandfather Martin Van Buren Coplen.
 

The tornado that hit Talma was known as the “Monticello, Indiana Tornado”. Along with Talma, the nearby community of Rochester, Indiana was also devastated. The News Sentinel Newspaper of Thursday April 4, 1974 stated, “17 people were killed in the Rochester area, and law enforcement officers said the town of Talma was virtually wiped out.”
 

The F4 Tornado path as it passes Talma and Inwood, Indiana  2

I don’t remember Grandma Grace ever mentioning Talma to me. Most likely I never asked. I was too busy as a teenager to even care of such things. By the 1930s all my immediate family had left Talma and it was just another piece of land.

Talma school after the 1974 tornado  3

Arial photograph of the tornado destruction of Talma  3

Over the next few posting I will be writing about Talma, Indiana and the little community that is all but gone, but alive with my family’s history.

Sources:
1) Scott Koerner http://www.april31974.com
 

2) Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Outbreak
 

3) The Rochester Sentinel, April 4, 1974, via The National Weather Service

     http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/?n=rochester

4) Accuweather.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYtMvY-eOGM

Surnames

I write this blog for my family and others that may be interested in our ancestors’ journey through time. With this blog I concentrate on the linage of Filson, Hunter, Manuwal, Zimmerman, Coplen (Copeland), Severns, Rodabaugh and Hynes. I concentrate only on the deceased and will only use the names of the living, if I have permission. Our journey starts in Indiana and will move to Ohio. From there the journey is a surprise. I hope to write this blog chronologically, but I get easily distracted and excited about my findings, so I may jump ahead. Some post will be about a particular person, some may be about a place, some may be about a historical moment in time that our ancestor experienced first hand. Also, I may include some of my own personal experiences. Remember it is not the destination, but the journey that is the exciting part. So I invite you to take this journey with me and I look forward to your comments and insights. I also look forward to other distant family members joining this forum. I will try and stay on topic, but sometimes the most exciting thing about genealogy is how I came to find a piece of treasure.

First a little background on how I came to have this obsession: It was 2010 and I sat down on a Friday evening to do some channel surfing when I came upon the show "Who Do You Think You Are?" The show tracks the ancestral lineage of a celebrity with the help of genealogical experts. On this night it was Sarah Jessica Parker. Her journey took her to Massachusetts, where she found out her tenth great grandmother was accused of being a witch in Salem. It made me curious to see if I could find any witches in my lineage. When I enrolled on Ancestry.com, I realized I had been sucked into a marketing scheme but figured I would subscribe for a month and then cancel my account. It took me about a year before I cut the cable because the website had so much information. When you start doing genealogy you are told to start off with what you know and what is known by others in your family. Then you look for evidence to confirm the information and along the way you track your sources. While working on your genealogy you need to work backwards through time. So you will research and learn about someone's death before their birth. The first sources you seek are primary records, i.e. death, marriage and birth records. Many states only started requiring vital records in the early 1900s. Sometimes they are hard to acquire so then you look for secondary records. One of the best sources for secondary information is the United States Census. The U.S. Census has been performed since the early 1800s, in the early census records only the head of household is named and the number of people in the house. Therefore, you can never be sure you have the right family. Starting in 1850, it was requiring that every person in the household be recorded. This is a wonderful thing for genealogist. For more information on the federal census visit:

http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/

I will not go any further in depth about being a genealogist but I will let you know about the resources as I go along. They are too vast to explain in this post.

Oh, and by the way, I still haven't found any witches.