SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

July 26, 2020   Dennis and I took a trip up to Woodland township, Sauk county to see if we could find the old Goodman homestead and then to visit Goodman graves at St. Patrick’s cemetery outside Hillsboro.  Using a combination of 1859 and 1906 plat maps, a modern highway map of Wisconsin, two pictures of the homestead, one from about 1901, the other from 1992, and relying on my memory of a visit many years ago, we were able to locate the homestead.  It had changed greatly since I had seen it last.  The barn that had stood to the left of the house was gone and there was a new pole barn standing to the right of the house.  The house looked dilapidated, but it did look like it was being worked on.  There was a new roof and a portion of the exterior was covered in sheathing.  There was a lot of vegetation standing in front of it which made it difficult to see the entire building.  When I had seen the house previously there was a pretty pond that stood...

Cecilia Goodman was born to Irish immigrant parents on a homestead located on the headwaters of Plum Creek in Woodland township, Sauk county, Wisconsin.  The setting was idyllic with large trees surrounding the cabin and a small pond located just steps from the front door.  But the homestead was isolated.  The closest towns were Wonewoc and Hillsboro, small villages with little to offer a young woman looking for excitement and opportunity.  Luckily for Cecilia, she had an uncle, a brother-in-law and nieces and nephews that lived in the city of Janesville, located in southern Wisconsin.   Cecilia Goodman Moyer Cecilia got more excitement than she was hoping for when she met young Ira Sankey Moyer in Janesville.  Ira was born in Indiana but was attending a school in Janesville studying telegraphy.  Ira and Cecilia married on 2 August 1904 in Union City, Juneau county, Wisconsin.  At the time of their marriage Ira was living in Harvard, Illinois...

Problem:  Place and date of birth for Benjamin Coffman (Kauffman, Kaufman) The process of finding the date and place of birth for Benjamin Coffman was probably no different than what other researchers have faced.   Family stories led us all astray for many years.  The family told us that Benjamin was born in Germany.  The tales went on to say that on the journey from Germany, Benjamin's father died.  We were told that Benjamin had 12 brothers that also traveled with him and his parents to America.  The one kernel of truth that was related to us was that a name associated with the family, besides Kauffman, was Omlör.   Unraveling the family stories Through DNA analysis, I found a match with the surname Omlor.  A record was found for Catherine Omlor who married Lewis Kauffman in Lorain County, Ohio on 27 SEP 1835.  In the 1840 U.S. Census a record was found for a Lewis Coffman household in Sherman township, in the adjoining county of ...