The Long Papers

PETER JAMES was born 16 May 1819, but the place of birth is unknown at this time. He married Phoebe Springer (born 18 March 1825) in Carroll County, Ohio on 18 May 1843. Phoebe was the daughter of Jacob Springer Junior and Margaret Allbaugh.

Peter and Phoebe had one of the five covered wagons that made the trip from Carroll County Ohio to Richland County Wisconsin in the summer of 1861. With them they took the first ten of their thirteen children. It is quite understandable why my grandmother Mary Catherine James told me that she walked most of the way.

They lived out the rest of their lives in that area. Phoebe died 8 April 1901 and I suspect that they are buried in either the Bloom City Cemetery or the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, but that still must be investigated.

Pioneer Resident Dies in Bloom (news article)

Mary Catherine James known to all as "Aunt Kate", died at her home in Bloom City on March 6^th at the age of almost 97 years. She was truly a pioneer of Richland county, coming here from Ohio with her parents when she was eight year of age and has resided in the town of Bloom since coming to the county.

Aunt Kate was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter James, born in Ohio on April 5, 1844. The trip from Ohio was made by teams and wagons. In the trek westward to find a new home were five families, Peter James, Jacob and Elijah Allbaugh, Will James and David Huff. Five wagons were in the caravan. They slept in and under the wagons and it was a tiresome trip of many days before Richland county was reached. The wagons were so heavily loaded with household goods it required that the men and children walk most the way and it was a welcome when they finally landed in the town of Bloom.

She was first married to James B. Shaffer and following his death she was joined in wedlock with Peter James who passed away some years ago. Surviving this fine old lady are a son Peter Shaffer of Bloom and two daughters, Mrs Frank Curtis of Bloom, and Mrs. Blanche Long, a brother, John James of Bowman N Dakota, two sisters, Mrs Bella Peckham of Hustler, and Mrs. Doris Lowman of Bloom. She is also survived by six grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren, and eight great great grandchildren and a multitude of friends.

Her’s was a busy life and she passed to the beyond to a rich reward.

Funeral services were held on Saturday afternoon from the Bloom City church, Rev. Daniel Householder and Rev. J. B. Braddock officiating and she was laid to rest in the Bloom City cemetery where ****** relatives and friends of the days long gone. All honor to Aunt Kate, the pioneer.

FRANKLIN PIERCE LONG was born in Allen County, Indiana on November 20, 1852 and emigrated to Wisconsin with his parents in the summer of 1865. Franklin was the oldest of the boys and as a result he helped to clear the land for his father’s farm.

He married Margaret Allbaugh on December 15, 1872 and moved to a cabin on his father’s farm. Here their first child, Orval A. Long was born. About a year later he bought an eighty acre farm in the Township of Bloom, late known as the John Snyder farm, and lived there for about eight years. While living on this farm their first daughter, Lillie also their second son Lester V., were born. Their next move was to a little one-room log cabin on the farm now owned by Ed. Allbaugh, where there youngest son, Edward was born.

THE COVERED WAGON TRAIN

The urge to go west is something that seems to be deep inside all of us. Most generations put it aside but now and then a group of men are born who respond to the call and another page in history must be written. The entire expansion of the United States was made by those men, their women, and their children. Why they were willing to exchange their comparatively comfortable homes for the hardships and the danger of the frontier we do not know; it is probable that they themselves didn’t really know, but when it was time to go they went.

Certainly the spring of 1861 seems to be as poor a time to start a new venture as one could find. Lincoln had been elected the fall before; on February 4, 1861 the delegates from seven states met at Montgomery. Alabama to form a new nation; on April 13, 1861 Major Anderson ran down the flag at Fort Sumter; and that same spring, with seeming indifference to everything else, a small wagon train pulled out for the west. This group was made up of five families consisting of around thirty-five people from Carroll County, Ohio where they lived for years.

It is probable that there was much talk among the families of the section but by spring it had been settled that Elijah Allbaugh, Jacob William, William James, Peter James,  and Dave Huff were to take their families and go as a group; each family to furnish its own heavy linchpin wagon to be drawn by horses.  It may be well to note at this point that all the families with the exception of Dave Huff were related by blood.

The trail that they followed cannot be exactly traced today but we do know that they saw the southern tip of Lake Michigan and then swung wide to avoid Chicago.  The five wagons had pulled out as soon as the ground dried out in the spring and worked westward day after day. Beyond a doubt the days were deadly in their monotony but things did happen along the way to help pass the time.  My grandmother, who was a girl at the time, told me that the best time of the day was in the evening after supper when the musical instruments came out.   If the Allbaughs’ had the musical talent in that generation that they had in the next, the music was good.

Sunday was the big break in the week; there was no travel. After breakfast was cleared away the entire group would get together in a big circle and hold a prayer meeting.   The remainder of the day would be spent in rest and in talk. One wonders what they had to talk about after six weeks on the trail, but no doubt there was plenty. Certainly when the wagons pulled out the next morning the people and the horses were better off for their rest.

It is unfortunate that the story of the trip was never written by one of the members. As it is now, we can get glimpses of the happenings along the way as sudden bits of light along a forgotten road. It is known that now and then they would have to stop early so the women could bake bread.   It is also remembered that in many of the towns along their route they saw soldiers drilling. "Training for the storm of war, whose clouds were very low."

One picture of the trip is rather puzzling. My grandmother, Catherine James, told me that when they came near a town or village the children, who otherwise had to walk every mile of the way, were forced to get into their own wagon and remain hidden until the town was passed.   When I asked why this was done grandmother seemed surprised that anyone should question the rightness of the action but at the same time could give no reason for it; unfortunately she was, at the same time of the questioning, in her nineties and her mind was not as clear as it had been.

The story must have been much the same "through Madison, Wisconsin, thence to Lone Rock, then through Richland Center, up the Fancy Creek to Gillingham, over the ridge and down the other side and their last campfire was at the spring…about ¼ or ½ mile along the road south of the Bloom City Cemetery. On the evening of their last campfire the word went round the countryside that they had arrived and a lot of old friends who had emigrated before them drove into camp to see them.   We can only guess at the feeling of relief that they had when they saw those friends and when, on the next morning, the train broke up and the search for a farm began.

Morris Allbaugh is, at this time is very much in the shadows of the unknown. I don’t know when or where he was born.  He first comes to light with the birth of his son George, 13 June 1789 in Frederick County, Maryland.   The 1890 census for that county does not list him (or at least I couldn’t find him), It does list his brother John as having three boys over fifteen, and a total of five females,  his brother Peter as having one son over 15, one son under 16 and a total of 4 females. His brother William was also there with two sons under 16 and two females.

Morris married Catherine Beamer  and they had nine children:

1. Adam
2. Elizabeth
3. Catherine
4. Barbara (Peggy)
5. Priscilla
6. George
7. Solomon
8. Morris Jr.
9. William

CATHERINE BEAMER - This page is pure speculation – with the exception of the facts based on the 1790 census of Frederick County, Maryland.

I don’t know how old Catherine was when her son George was born, so I’ll take the standard generation and say she was 30 years of age. That would mean she was born about 1760.

Mathias Beamer can probably be eliminated as the father of Catherine as he had one child under 16 and none over that age. He could have been her brother.

Henry Beamer could have been Catherine’s father as he had, in 1790, 2 sons over 16 years of age, but the fact that he also had 2 sons under sixteen when he was over 60 weakens his case somewhat – but it most certainly does not eliminate him.

Adam had, in 1790, four sons all over 15 years of age and none under that age (Note: Women and girls are not considered here as the 1790 census gives no hint as to their age.) This could certainly place him in the right age group to be Catherine’s father.

Eli Pellett & Amanda Allbaugh were united in marriage November 2, 1876.