Lindsey Coppock was born October 23, 1823, in
Columbinan County, Ohio. He was the son of Aaron and Amy Coppock. Aaron
was the son of Samuel and Ellen Coppock and was born in PA. Some will
probably wonder if Lindsey relates to the Coppock brothers who rode with
John Brown. Barclay and Edwin's gg grandparents would be Samuel and
Ellen Coppock. Barclay, Edwin and their mother Ann Lynch Coppock came to
Salem in 1850. The Aaron Coppock family came in 1842. Lindsey was a
Quaker when he came to Salem, Iowa but he married out and was disowned
on 9-26-1846 by Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends. He had married
Catherine L. Baldwin on Jan 31, 1846 in Henry County, Iowa.
The below story would have had to take place before the of winter 1848,
if the "father" is Lindsey's father; as his father went to California
during the gold rush, in the spring of 1849 and is listed on the 1850
census in CA.
(If "father" in the below quote is Father Baldwin, his father-in-law,
then it could be 1850, as the article I found said.)
Lindsey Coppock lived near Albert Button and Nelson Gibbs on the 1850
Salem census. Where the mill was I do not know, probably closer
downtown.
Lindsey Coppock is quoted as writing, "I was working one night in the
mill when a man rushed in saying the town was surrounded by
Missourians." Coppock recorded, "Father Baldwin was hurrying past my
store to see what the crowd meant. I rushed out and overtook him. When
we got to the Quaker Church we found the two slaves in the center of a
ring with an old Quaker lady, Mrs. Thomas Frazier, praying that the good
Lord would not let the Missourians take this boy and father back to
slavery. Father parted the crowd and said in a loud voice, 'They will
not take these Negroes back to slavery unless they take them over my
dead body.'"
(It was not uncommon for Salem Quakers to intervene, as incidents
involving fugitive slaves in Salem date back to 1839 when two fugitive
slaves were captures and taken back to Missouri through Salem. The
residents of Salem reportedly challenged their authority to capture the
slaves, who managed to escape with some likely assistance while they
were preparing for a hearing.)
The story goes that a group of nine slaves escaped their Missouri
masters and headed north. Seven of the party arrived in Washington, Iowa
and were arrested to be returned to slavery. But two escapees, an old
man and a young boy, found their way to Salem, and there the Quakers
resolved to protect them from their pursuers. Arrangements were made to
move the two from town, but before they could flee the town was
surrounded by a party of armed Missourians who demanded the town turn
over the fugitives. But the raiders underestimated the determination of
the small village.
A local school teacher, Reuben Dorland, went to the Missourians and
demanded they show their papers, but the night riders confessed they had
none. The crowd then declared the runaways freed and enlisted the help
of a farmer named Way to sneak them out of town. The Missourians were
furious when they discovered their prey had escaped and a rider was sent
back to Missouri, where he falsely reported that two of his party has
been killed in Salem.
A party of 75 angry, armed men then set out to avenge the deaths and
teach this small Iowa town a lesson it would not soon forget. Clark
Frazier was hunting south of town when he saw the approaching raiders
and rode home to spread the warning. The Missourians had been drinking
and when they rode into town they terrorized the citizens and seized 14
town men and reportedly locked them in the meetinghouse (whether
Anti-Slavery or regular meetinghouse we do not know). They began to
search homes for the runaways. The town exits were blocked and no one
was able to ride for help. A Mr. Jessep (maybe Eli) dressed as a woman
managed to get out of town and before he could return things got even
worse.
Coppock continues, " About 10 o'clock that night I came across a group
of Missouri men and heard them plotting to take the 14 men out of town.
They had Father Baldwin, both lawyers and the justice. I went back and
told Arnold to shut down the mill as they were going to take prisoners
to Missouri that night about one o'clock. I went across the street to
Ansalem Stanley, a Quaker cousin, to get his rifle. He first refused but
finally let me have it. We went to the store where I assembled 18 men
and they kept watch all night and the Missourians did not attempt to
remove their prisoners."
Help arrived the next morning in the form of a sheriff's posse from
Mount Pleasant and the Missourians were given 17 minutes to leave town.
That demand was given more muscle when the 25 armed men from Denmark
arrived and also word that the militia company from Burlington was
approaching.
(This may be the same incident or a similar one as recorded on the
Peter Collins page. (Chart comparing on
this page Chart of Runaways) How much
is fact and how much is folklore one does not know and stories may have
been easily mixed up. The depot owners and conductors kept no records of
run-a-way slaves, including their numbers, for should such records fall
into the hands of those who tried to enforce the fugitive slave law they
would constitute most incriminating evidence. Enough of its story is
known, however, to show that the Underground Railroad has played its
part in the history of Salem. )
Lindsey left Salem and went to the gold mines of California. see
below article
From [Clarke County Historical and Biographical Record,
Lewis Publishing, 1886, pg. 178]:
The family resided in Ohio until 1842 [Aaron] owning 1000 acres of land
there, but engaging in the disastrous speculation of buying $10,000
worth of butter and shipping the same to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Little
Rock, Arkansas, lost every cent of the venture through the fault and
dishonesty of others. He sold out his property, and paying his
indebtedness, with some $1,800 in 1842, came to Iowa, and locating in
the town of Salem, Henry County, opened a store, but after about three
years failed at that.
In 1849 the gold fever broke out and [Aaron and son] Benjamin . . .
joined a party who went across the plains to the new-found Eldorado of
the West, on the golden shores of California. They landed at Hangtown,
now Placerville, during the summer of 1849, and opened a small store,
but three months later sold out and removed to Sacramento, where the
elder Mr. Coppock purchased a lot and started a small store in a tent.
In company with another party he purchased a schooner, and loaded it
with goods at San Francisco, they having gone there for that purpose. On
their way back they encountered a gale and were wrecked, losing
everything except their lives and the clothes they had on, only pants
and shirts. Seeing a whaleboat floating by they secured it, and sold it
to the first passing steamboat for their passage to Sacramento as they
had not a dollar in their pockets.
On arrival at the latter city, Aaron Coppock was so disheartened that he
would not stay there, but leaving Benjamin in charge of his place
started back to Hangtown, fifty-five miles distant, afoot, and then went
to mining. Three months later Benjamin closed out the business and
joined his father and engaged in the same, digging. When the Gold Lake
excitement broke out in June,1850, the younger Mr. Coppock started for
that camp with fifty-five pounds of provisions on his back, but when
part way there met the returning prospectors and stopped to prospect,
and on the Yuba River struck a rich find, paying two ounces to the man
per day, although they had to carry the dirt some distance to wash it.
His father started to join him, but missing his road, wandered around a
while and spent the winter in Donnersville, near the head waters of the
Yuba River, where he died about the 1st of May, 1851, and was buried on
Big Rich Bar. Benjamin in the meantime was looking for him, and at last,
at Shasta, heard the mournful tidings of his father’s death, and at once
proceeded to Donnersville, and commenced mining operations. Here he was
joined by his brother, Lindsay, in 1852, and after having spent three
years there and at Pine Grove returned to Iowa.
**Note: In 1854 Benjamin Coppock and his brother Lindsay Coppock came to
Clarke County, Iowa and entered land, Benjamin 200 acres and Lindsay 160
acres. Census of 1854 for Salem, Iowa lists Linsay Coppoc two males and
four females living beside Moses Baldwin with four males and one female.
By 1856 Lindsey lives in Clark County. |
