This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Wise, Wennemark, Copeland, Brockie, Ricketts, Smith, Ivens, Hoyt, Cash, Robinson Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/1433.1.2 Message Board Post: Bill.--I need to tell you that these notes on John Copeland have been put together over a span of 30 or 40 years, from many separate sources. I can only hope all of the notes were supposed to have been included in this composite. SSssOOoo, be very critical while you are reading over them. 12/7/1975: The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a querry regarding John Copeland and wife Emaline Wise from Phyllis Wise Wennermark, 746 Old Marion road NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 52402. JOHN COPELAND, b. Feb. 21, 1821 at Leesbrug, Loudon county, Virginia -d. Feb. 25, 1898 at his home three miles north of Percival; married EMOLINE WISE, b. in Ohio circa 1824 - died at South English, Iowa (in 1875?), where she is buried with her brother Jack Wise who died in 1916. Married on _____?____. Had a steamboat wood yard along the Missouri river, and a stock farm in section 12. Had come to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1846, and in 1854 to Fremont county. He is shown in the 1856, 1860 and 1870 census reports for Benton township, Fremont county. He is buried at Rector/Grandview Cemetery in Fremont county. Bill: I can be reasonably certain that there was no ferry at Copeland Bend, but instead, a wood yard for steamboats. This steamboat wood yard is well documented, and since it was steamboats which could tie up along the shore, it almost precludes any landing for a ferry. The site of this wood yard has had continuous residences since the 1830's, and I believe Copeland followed Lambert as the operator.--W.F. CHILDREN: (4 sons and 1 daughter). 1. Mary E., b. 10/22/1845 -d. 3/30/1900; married James Brockie on Sept. 5, 1871. (I wonder if her death date is correct, because the Percival news of this date does not mention it!--W.F.) 2. Charles Emmett, b. Jan. 10, 1847 at Iowa City, Iowa - d. Sept. 16, 1919. Unmarried. Bur. at Knox. Freighted across the plains to Deadwood, S.D. and to Cheyenne, WY. 3. James Harvey, b. May 26, 1852 -d. DEc. 8, 1917; md. Elmyra G. Ricketts, b. Apr. 13, 1857 - d. May 25, 1924; married on July 23, 1874 in Fremont county. Burial at Mt. Olive east of Hamburg, Iowa. 4. Willard Hall, b. March 6, 1855 -d. Aug. 22, 1925; married Susan Caroline Smith, b. Dec. 17, 1860 - d. Feb. 18, 1928. Daughter of Emanuel and Eliza (Ivens) Smith. 5. Sterling Morton, b. Oct. 24, 1862 - d. Apr. 30, 1943; married Jennie E. Hoyt, b. May 21, 1869 -d. Jan. 17, 1945; married on Oct. 28, 1888. Daughter of Amherst and Anna Elizabeth (Cash) Hoyt. Burial at Grandview. No surviving issue. In 1903 moved to Fargo.N.D. 4/4/1932: "S.M. Copeland was the uncle of Mrs. Lela Robinson of Seattle, Washington".

The book, SOMEDAY, a Tale of Civil Bend by the River, by Gertrude and her son Bob Handy, pub 1973, ISBN: O9600732-1-3. provides at least four or five references to the ferry at Civil Bend. It ran from Copelands Landing to California Junction. It was reported to be active with the Underground Railway and was used as an alternate crossing when the slave chasers were active in Nebraska City. The Mormons used it also. If this book is not available to you, let me know and I will extract the references. The data source, Phyllis Wise Wennermark, is now deceased. The spelling of Emoline Wise is incorrect and should be Emmaline. The date of death for Mary E. (Copeland) Brockie, 30 Mar 1900, is correct to the best of my knowledge. The maiden name of Eliza Ivens (wife of Emanuel Smith) is Evans, per marriage license. The note that Sterling Morton moved to Fargo, SD is incorrect. His wife, Jennie Cash, did move to Fargo just before her death. Sterling was living on the family farm, west of Percival, in 1943 when he died. Incidentally he was named after the Sterling Morton, a family friend, of Arbor Day fame. Do you have an obituary for Emmaline (Wise) Copeland. She died 22SEP1877and is buried in South English, Keokuk, IA. I don't know if she died in Fremont or Keokuk county. She is buried in the Wise family plot with her brother and Mother and recorded as Emmaline Copeland Wise.