History of the Boughman Family
Joseph Boughman I and his wife, Catherine Cleaver Boughman, were born in Germany about 1740. they came to this country when quite young. Their own home was located between Carlysle [sic] and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. They died aged 90 and 85 in about 1826.
Catherine Cleaver Boughman and Joseph Boughman I had eight children. The oldest, Rev. Abraham Boughman (1778–1856) and his wife, Mary (1784–1877), are buried in Indiana. The record shows they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Sara (who married Isaac Peterson), and one son, Conrad. The other children are Henry, Phillip, Joseph II, Barbara, Christopher, Elizabeth and John.
This record follows the descendants of Joseph II (1787–1865) who married Barbara Walters (1787–1865). They moved to Ohio in 1834. They had twelve children whose descendants are recorded on the following pages. Both Joseph and Barbara are buried in the family burial plot in Brewster, Ohio.
Like many other names of colonial settlers, variations in spelling occur. Originally the name was spelled Buchmann, (pronounced Boo-gh-mahn) and our ancestors were probably book-binders in Germany at the time they took a family name. To spell the name with English sounds and preserve the German pronunciation, Boughman, Buchman, and Bughman are found in the family records.
Judging from the names given in a “power of attorney” which Barbara granted to her oldest son who returned to Pennsylvania to get his mother’s share of a Walter’s [sic] estate, I believe that Barbara Walter’s [sic] father’s name was probably John or Christopher. He was born in 1744 and died in 1829. Barbara’s mother’s family name was Ballinger [sic: Bollinger is correct]. She was born in 1744 and died in 1834. In the Walters family there were five children: George, who married Rachel Clever and stayed in Pennsylvania; John, who moved to Decatur and died in 1846; Catherine who married Conrad Cleaver and stayed in Pennsylvania; Barbara, and Sarah, who married John Shilling and who came to Ohio before Barbara.
The children of Barbara and Joseph Boughman II were Christina, Sara, David, Joseph III, Elizabeth, Barbara, Christopher, Catherine, John, Daniel, Susanna, and Elias. Information at hand concerning the descendants of each of those children is listed on the following pages. These children of Barbara and Joseph II constitute the third generation in our family record.
Following is the story of the family which was told by Uncle Dan and which gives us an intimate glimpse into the family of more than a century ago.
Told by Daniel Boughman to his son, Malacthon [sic; Melancthon], in the year 1909.
To all the friends and lovers of the Boughman Family, GREETINGS:
Before trying to give a history of the Boughman family, I will say that I depend upon my memory and the instructions of my mother and of my oldest sister Christina Kern, whom I visited in Adams County, Ind. in ‘03.
I shall commence with my Grandparents Boughman. My mother told me they came from Germany when quite young. They were born between 1740 and 1750, about thirty years before the Declaration of Independence. They lived to be 85 to 90 years old. They located in Cumberland County, Pa. in what is known as the Cumberland Valley between Carlisle and Shippensburg. (or Chambersburg.) They lived on a farm and raised a family of eight children: Abraham, Phillip, Joseph, Barbara, Christopher, Elizabeth, and John. They all lived to raise families except Christopher, who was shot by his brother Phillip. The circumstances are these: There is located in this valley what is called “Big Pond,” which has quite an outlet, supplying enough water to run a sawmill. This pond was the only body of water far or near and there would drop into this lake waterbirds of various kinds. Phillip had gone there to shoot at these stray fowls, Chris, the sawmiller, and his wife stood in a row at right angles to shoot his game. When the gun cracked, Chris cried, “I am shot,” and fell dead into the miller’s arms. The conclusion was that the bullet struck a stone and glanced and struck Chris. It produced a wonderful feeling in the family and the neighborhood for the time being.
I don’t remember of seeing my Grandparents Boughman, as they died about the time I was born [in] 1826, but I do remember of seeing my Grandparents Walters. When I was four years old my Grandmother Walters died. On the morning of the funeral I was taken in to see her. There in her coffin she lay, and Grandfather sat in a chair by her side, and looked so pitifully at her. She was 85 years old. Grandfather lived to be 90.
After we came to Ohio when I was coming seven years old, I used to stand by my mother’s chair as she spun tow and flax for our Sunday linen pants. She would tell me time and again that her parents lived in Baltimore, Md. when only three families lived there. The Walters family consisted of George, John, Catherine, Barbara, and Sarah. John moved to Ind., Barbara, my mother, moved to Ohio, while the others remained in the Pines.
I shall now give you the history of my parents. They commenced housekeeping in 1806. I often heared [sic] them tell how they commenced. Father had on hand 40 barrels of flour and this was money if he had it at Baltimore. Transportation was made by six-horse wagons. He had 40 acres of land that had to be cleared and cultivated. They raised a family of 12 children: Christina, Sarah, David, Joseph, Elizabeth, Barbara, Christopher, Catherine, John, Daniel, Susanna, and Elias. After living in Pa. for over 20 years, their two girls got married and went West to Ohio, locating in Sugarcrest Twp. After living here two years they kept writing that they were getting along well and Father stirred up to come out her with his six boys. He took a notion to go and see. The facilities for coming were not very good—either take it afoot, by horse back, or by stagecoach which was rather expensive. He got astride a horse and came to see, stayed two weeks and bought a quarter section of land. I remember the evening he came home. The neighbors came in and filled the house.
He had a contract with a neighbor to take the farm, and the following spring we had a sale and we started for Ohio the last Monday in March. I remember the time we started. The whole neighborhood came in to see us off. It was nearly noon when we got started. Our flitting consisted of a four horse wagon with an English wagon bed and a canvas cover, and a one horse Dearborn wagon for Mother and the kids, of whom I was one, but many a mile I had to walk over the Alleghanies [sic].
An incident occurred soon after we got started. Not over half a mile from our house lived an old aunt of mine. She would not come to see us off, but when we passed her door-yard, she came running out crying and hollering at the top of her voice, “You are lost, you are lost. You’ll never come back. Good-bye, goodbye.”
We had good weather and good luck and we got to Uncle John Shilling’s [note: husband of Catharina “Barbara” Boughman] on Saturday, April 10, 1834, being on the road 11 days. My father soon after we got her bought the Ritter farm. Brother David got married the same year and he moved into the house we lived in and father moved into the house on the farm which he bought. It was not long until three or four more got married and this made quite a change in our family. In about five years after we came here my father [Joseph Boughman II] met with an accident which was the cause of his early death. He had fallen on the ice and sustaining internal injuries died in the Spring of 1839, at the age of 57. Mother lived a widow for 36 years and was nearly 77 when she died.
Soon after we left our home in Pennsylvania, the western fever struck the friends and it was not long until four of my Uncles moved west to Mansfield, Ohio. Then to Indiana, and quite a number of cousins, some here and some there all over the country. It was not long until some of our family got dissatisfied with Ohio and had to go West. We have two sisters and one brother buried in Indiana and one sister buried in Pennsylvania.
Now, when I was appointed to write our family history again, I made a request of Miss Jennie Smith who had been staying at Baughman’s [sic] and was making arrangements to go back to her old home in Cumberland County, Pa. I asked her to find out if there were any friends living in and around Shippensburgh [sic] by the name of Boughman, Clever, or Walters. After two months a letter came to Mary Baughman, saying that she had not found any Boughmans, but a Miss Jennie Clever, who told her she knew little about the Boughmans but had often heard her parents talk about them.
Miss Jennie Clever had friends living in Akron, Ohio whom she would visit soon and said if she could make arrangements she would come to see me and tell me what she knew about us. When she finally came we soon found out how we were related. We were second cousins. Her father and I are first cousins. She told me more of my sister’s family than I ever knew. Some things pleasant and some not so pleasant. There are I think five of my sister’s family living in around Shippensburgh, Pa.
The above history was read for the first time at the twelfth Annual Boughman Reunion held at Crystal Springs Tabernacle, on Thursday, June 10, 1909.