The following article appeared in:
Aurora Commercial – 17 Dec 1863 – Page 3, Column 2

AURORA, Dec. 9, 1863.

Mr. Editor:–The following is a list of the donations received last Saturday, for the relief of soldiers’ families:

[See newspaper for amount donated.]

• Morton Andrews
• Richard Williams
• S. S. Clark
• Capt. J. Thompson (proceeds of the ball)
• A. Epstein
• John Moffatt
• August Schulze
• Joshua A. Perry
• John Hall
• J. Olser
• C. Cheed
• S. Nicholdson
• T. Thompson
• I. Q. Hayes
• Wm. Edmundson
• Robert Blasdel
• Asa Hubbartt
• Eli McAdams
• Thos. Burgh
• Wm. Burgh
• Levi R. Morrill
• James M. Hayes
• Mrs. Hayes
• Matthias Haring
• Sanford Eldridge
• Dorsy Pierce
• G V Denton
• Henry Walker
• Alexander Lansbury
• Isaac Campbell
• Samuel Langtree
• John A. Platter
• T. M. Gibson
• John A. Conwell
• Mrs. Stark
• Cynthia Griffin
• E. H. Bassett
• Harman Mously
• Adam Ritter
• Philip Erle
• Wm Houser
• S. P. Hill & Co.
• F. Kern
• George Squibb
• Henry Wilky
• John Wenzell
• F. A. York
• A. Tuthill
• M. Kempf
• E. D. Haynes
• George Griffin
• Chambers, Stevens, & Co.
• John N. Milburn
• N. Dyke
• Lorin Stratton
• Joseph Meyer
• T. Owens
• J. Glass
• S. Hattenbach
• Harmon Pick
• Wm. Green
• Henry Basley
• John F. Meneger
• Adolph Schulze
• Wm. R. Miller
• Samuel Trester
• Peter Kastner
• Frank Moran
• George Siemantel
• Newton Watts
• J. J. Bachman
• John A. Wymond
• Marcus Levi
• John Cameron
• J. Cell
• Gaff, Lozier & Co.
• Charles Bienkamp
• Wm. Webber
• E. F. Sibley
• O. P. Cobb & Co.
• Thos. Pattison
• John Hamilton
• George Taylor
• Charles Bauer
• Joseph Ziegelbaur
• Robert Mattock
• Rev. A. W. Freeman
• B N McHenry
• John Maloney
• W E Gibson
• Wm Liebe
• Dr. R C Bond
• J Dews & Co.

Making in all collected up to this time, $459.40

• A. D. Hopping, 1 load wood
• Thomas Hubbart, 1 load wood
• Eli McAdams, 1/2 bbl flour
• Simon Humfeldt, 1 load wood
• Wm. Cunningham, 1 bbl. flour
• Jesse Younker, 5 bushel potatoes
• Wm. Curtis, 1 load wood
• Thos. Curtis, 1 load wood
• Mrs. A. S. Winkley, 25 lbs meat

The amount paid out is as follows:

• O. P. Cobb & Co, $25.00
• Samuel Langtree, $21.00
• John A. Platter, $17.50
• Wood from farmers, $33.50
• Gaff, Lozier & Co., $47.20
• Chambers, Stevens, & Co., $20.00
• Bernhard Schipert, for wine furnished the ball, $7.20
• John Todd, for 136 lbs beef, $5.36
• E. F. Sibley, for printing, $3.00

Total, $179.76

The following article appeared in:
Aurora Commercial – 22 Oct 1863 – Page 3, Column 2

Wooding Of—In accordance with previous arrangements, some forty of fifty of the farmers of the country adjacent to this city came in on Saturday last with the wood and other articles that they intended for the use of soldiers’ families, which having been put away, the kind donors were invited into the vacant room under Schulze’s Hall, where a very nice lunch had been spread for them by the ladies of this city, and to which they paid their respects.

It was intended to get up a wood chopping frolic, to cut wood that had been donated for the purpose, but several circumstances prevented the carrying out of this project, and those who subscribed their names for this purpose agreeing to pay in money instead of labor, some three or four hundred dollars was subscribed, a large part of which has been collected. We give below the names of the donors of wood and provisions:

• A. D. Hopping, load wood, lot potatoes.
• C. Bainan, 3 bu. potatoes
• Henry Shuten, load wood
• Strawder Cheek, load wood
• Christian Bosse, load wood
• John Hill, load wood
• A. L. Bailey, load wood
• W. S. Bailey, load wood
• S. A. Bundy, load wood
• Ephraim Buderfeldt, load wood
• J. D. Curtis, 6 bu. potatoes
• Henry Wood, load wood
• George Givan, load wood
• H. Abbott, load wood
• Charles Goulding, load wood
• Henry Tufts, load wood, lot potatoes
• John Tufts, lot potatoes, lot apples
• S. D. Cole, load wood
• E. G. Herron, load wood
• Jonathan Cole, load wood
• George Greer, load wood, lot potatoes
• John Collins, lot potatoes
• Wm. Chambers, lot potatoes
• Jno. McConnell, load wood, lot potatoes
• Jno. P. Tufts, lot potatoes
• Z. Barker, lot potatoes
• Thomas Davis, load wood
• Joseph Beckett, 2 cords wood
• S. S. Clark, lot turnips, &c.
• Geo. W. Lane, 100 lbs. flour
• D. C. Wright, 6 gals. molasses
• Wm. Sawdon, load wood
• A. D. Baker, load wood
• Jacob Zinn, load wood
• W. C. Buffington, load wood
• A. Stevenson, load wood
• George Wright, 8 bu. potatoes
• R. J. Kilner, lot potatoes
• James Younker, load wood
• John Younker, load wood
• Mrs. H. Winkley, load wood
• Wm. Bruce, load wood
• John E. Wymond, cash, $2
• Samuel Sweet, cash, $1
• George E. Briggs, load wood
• Mrs. Dr. Ebersole, 4 bu. apples
• Mrs. Elizabeth Cole, 6 bush. apples

We have no doubt that the donations, particularly of wood, would have been much larger, if our farmers were not so terribly behind with their work. Thirty loads of wood, with the cash that has been subscribed, will go a little ways in providing against present wants; but it will not last all winter. The next thing to do now is to make some arrangements for provisions, and we hope that our citizens will give the matter their immediate attention. We shall have to open our pockets pretty often this winter to keep our soldiers’ families in comfortable circumstances, and it would be more wise and economical to reduce the matter to a system at once. Who will move first in the matter?

The following article appeared in:
Aurora Commercial – 7 May 1863 – Page 2, Column 2

The Wood Movement last Saturday.

MR. EDITOR:–As your paper is a welcome guest among the soldiers in the different regiments that have men from this place, it is with pleasure that I take up my pen to let them know what the people are doing for their families. Saturday, the 2d May of May, was a great day for the families of our volunteers, and I think it my duty to give full credit to those who turned out so generously in affording them assistance. Our neighboring farmers having been informed that wood was a scarce article in this place, especially among the soldiers’ families, and could not be procured for love or money, the farmers of the Manchester pike opened the ball on Saturday week by bringing in ten loads of as good wood as was ever burned, for distribution among the soldiers’ families, as noticed in your paper last week. This stirred up the farmers living on the other roads leading into our city; and Mr. Joseph Becket and Capt. George Greer, in their respective neighborhoods made an arrangement for executing a similar movement last Saturday. Our citizens had got wind of the arrangement, and Lieut. Green’s squad of Kentucky Calvary, numbering 28 men, mounted and equipped, accompanied by the Aurora Brass Band, who had kindly volunteered their services for the occasion, repaired at 10 o’clock to the toll gate on the Dillsborough turnpike, to escort the procession into town. Arriving there we found forty-five wagons loaded with wood and provisions, the procession formed in the following order:

• Marshalls—Capt. George Greer, S. S. Bussell, Jacob Radspinner, A. Epstein.
• Aurora German Brass Band.
• Lieut. Green’s squad of cavalry.
• The wagons.

Thus formed, the procession started for town, and when near the Trester House was met by Capt. Phalin’s martial band, who fell in line, and the procession moved down Third street to Judiciary, up Judiciary to Second, and up Second to Schulze’s Hall, where the provisions were stored in a room donated by Mr. Schulze for the purpose. The wagons, with the 50 cords of wood, were driven to Wymond’s coal yard, where the wood was stored for distribution. The following are the names of the donors, with articles donated:

• Elijah Greer, 1 cord wood, 1 sack meal, 75 lbs. meat
• James Holmes, 1 cord wood, 100 lbs. meat
• John Bush, 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. meat, 1/2 bu. apples
• Capt. H. F. Wright, 1 cord wood, 1 sack meal
• Henry C. Marshall, 1 cord wood
• Nathan Wallace, 1 cord wood
• John P. Tufts, 1 cord wood
• Thos. Hubbartt, 1 cord wood, 1 sack potatoes
• John Tufts, 1 cord wood
• Robert Chance, 100 lbs. flour
• Piercey Wheeler, 200 lbs. flour, 50 lbs. meat
• Harrison Abbott, 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. meat
• Charles Humes, 50 lbs. meat, 100 lbs. flour, 1 bush. apples
• Thomas Ricketts, 1 cord wood, 100 lbs. flour, 50 lbs. meat
• James Wills, 100 lbs. flour, 1 sack potatoes; also 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. flour, delivered at Chesterville.
• Joseph Beckett, 1 cord wood, 1 bbl. flour
• David Cole, 1 sack flour
• Sylvester Huffman, 2 bush. potatoes
• John P. Walker, 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. meat
• Z. Barker, 1 cord wood, 2 1/2 bush. potatoes
• John Tufts, 1 cord wood
• Joseph Cornforth, 1 cord wood
• Wilkerson Smith, 1 cord wood
• R. C. Sawdon, 1 lot wood
• Wm. Suters, 1 lot wood
• Charles P. Gould, 1 cord wood, 2 bush. potatoes
• Enoch Lindsay, 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. meal, 1 sack potatoes
• B. P. Boardman, 1 cord wood, 2 bush. potatoes, 50 lbs. flour
• James Clemens, 1 bush. potatoes
• John Zeb, 1 cord wood
• John Cornforth, 15 lbs. butter, 15 doz. eggs, 1 sack flour, 1 bush. apples
• Benj. Brewington, 100 lbs. meat
• Jas. Carbaugh, 50 lbs. meat
• John Columbia, 1 cord wood
• Samuel Smith, 1 cord wood
• Job. Little, 1 cord wood
• Isaac M. Davis, 1 cord wood
• Wm. Casby, 1 cord wood
• John Osleseber, 1 cord wood, 50 lbs. meat
• Lewis Nichols, 50 lbs. meat
• Hiram Barricklow, 1 cord wood
• Merrick Hesdick, cash $1
• Ezra Kamp, cash $1
• Jacob Miller, 100 lbs. flour, 100 lbs. meal, 1 bush. potatoes
• Simon Hempfield, 1 cord wood, 1 sack potatoes
• Wm. Olcott, 1 cord wood, 1 sack flour, 1 sack potatoes
• W. S. Bailey, cash $3
• J. S. French, 1 cord wood
• Wm. Morgan, 1 cord wood
• Rudolph Meyer, 1 cord wood
• John R. Cole, 1 cord wood, 50 lb. meat
• Eleazer Cole, 1 cord wood
• Samuel Cole, 1 cord wood
• E. G. Herron, 1 cord wood

The donors number 56. several others who could not leave home last Saturday have promised to contribute their share. Since Saturday several ladies have informed me that they would have taken great pleasure in preparing and serving up a nice lunch for the donors if they had been informed in time. We hope that they will be prepared to give them a proper reception next time.

In the name of the soldiers’ families I heartily thank the farmers of this vicinity for their liberal and timely donations; and I assure them that our brave boys who are fighting in distant fields when they hear of the kind care that is taken of the families they have left behind them, will bear their hardships with cheerfulness, and feel as if the sacrifices they make for the general good are appreciated. We hope that instead of the letters they have sometimes received telling of hardships and filled with gloomy forebodings, they will hear “good news from home,” that their families are well provided for, and beyond the reach of want. Then we can feel that our soldiers will fight bravely and cheerfully, and that we, as well as they, have done our full duty.

A. EPSTEIN.

The following article appeared in:
Aurora Commercial – 30 Apr 1863 – Page 4, Column 2

A GOOD THING.
Lawrenceburg, April 18, 1863.

Mr. Sibley:–A good thing took place here today. The farmers on the pike leading from Lawrenceburg to Madison did it. They brought, for the soldiers’ wives, in a procession headed by two bands, about forty loads of wood, seven hundred pounds of flour, five bushels of meal, fifteen bushels of potatoes, a considerable quantity of meat, of different kinds, and over $9 in money. The affair was concocted and superintended by that whole souled old patriot, Ingols Butterfield. The distribution of the articles was attended to by John Anderegg and John Ferris. After the delivery of the wood a lunch was set for the patriotic donors by the “farmer’s favorite,” Ben Anderson. After the lunch thanks were given to all concerned by Rev. Mr. Tevis. He did it very neatly, saying some very good and very true things. After this the crowd dispersed, each his own way.

Nothing that I have seen lately has appeared to give as much satisfaction, in a small way, as this quiet little affair by the farmers of the Manchester Ridge. Very few in town knew anything about it beforehand.

While this is gratifying to us, and especially to the recipients, will not the news of it be also cheering to the hearts of the boys in the field, who have gone forth to battle for their beloved country? Will it not make them feel that their wives and little ones at home are not entirely forgotten? Will it not assure them, in unmistakable terms, that notwithstanding the unfavorable reports they receive from home, the hearts of the people are loyal and desire to encourage and hold up the hands of those who are in the tented field engaged in crushing this wicked rebellion?

We hope to see more of this kind of doings. It makes us feel good. We shall be none the poorer for it. We ought, all of us, to look about us, in our immediate neighborhood, and see to it that none want. God forbid that in a country so overflowing with plenty, any should go cold or hungry, more especially the wives and children of those who are in their country’s service.

Forty loads of wood came from the Manchester Ridge, and ten from Tanner’s Creek.

The following are the names of the donors:

• Ingots Butterfield
• E. Butterfield
• A. Kern
• James Walser
• M. P. Butterfield
• Ralph collier
• J. Collier
• C. C. Jaquith
• G. S. Jaquith
• Samuel Wright
• Anthony Chase
• Thomas Annis
• H. Poose
• C. L. Crocker
• William Dills
• Linas Hamlin
• Thomas Hansell
• C. Pierce
• Jacob H. Blasdell
• Charles Sutton
• George True
• James Burke
• Robert Mason, Jr.
• Jacob B. Chase
• Mrs. L. B. Ludlow
• Mrs. Mary A. Mason
• David Frasier
• John Daniels
• David A. Annis
• Gilbert Parsons
• Henry F. Mason
• Henry M. Farrar
• Herman Wanke
• John Heustis
• Edwin Jaquith
• Joseph Vaughn
• John Cooper
• B. Plummer
• Jesse Sloan
• Wm. Emerson
• Joseph Hall
• George Wilhelm
• C. O. Bartley
• George W. Moore
• Henry Helman
• Carson Baker
• Dr. Flood

The following families were furnished with provisions, on the occasion:

• Mrs. Undinner
• Mrs. Feuss
• Mrs. Stack
• Mrs. Allen
• Mrs. Skelton
• Mrs. Jos’a Alped
• Mrs. Gaebler
• Mrs. Godfrey
• Mrs. Rork
• Mrs. Rhinearson
• Mrs. Gruga
• Mrs. Hennings
• Mrs. Heilfrish
• Mrs. Fashagg
• Mrs. Pitcher
• Mrs. North
• Mrs. Larsaman
• Mrs. Marshall
• Mrs. Fowler
• Mrs. Douglass
• Mrs. Dorn
• Mrs. Ingathorn
• Mrs. Shrei
• Mrs. S’n Alped
• Mrs. Walters
• Mrs. Miller
• Mrs. Stein
• Mrs. Sullivan
• Mrs. Darragh
• Mrs. Kirsh
• Mrs. Dan Godfrey
• Mrs. Bartholomew
• Mrs. Sturne
• Mrs. Rehleman
• Mrs. Berk
• Mrs. Learcy
• Mrs. Lambertson
• Mrs. Robins
• Mrs. Barrett
• Mrs. Sander
• Mrs. Getz
• Mrs. Hawell
• Mrs. Stahl
• Mrs. Merrill
• Mrs. Welch
• Mrs. Johnson
• Mrs. Glardon
• Mrs. Knable
• Mrs. Lewis
• Mrs. Mirrick
• Mrs. Shafee
• Mrs. Mitchell
• Mrs. Shaw
• Mrs. Neff
• Mrs. Knowles
• Mrs. Carter

The following families were furnished with wood:

• Mrs. Brown
• Mrs. Stahl
• Mrs. Bart’mew
• Mrs. Dorn
• Mrs. Lewis
• Mrs. Godfrey
• Mrs. Merrill
• Mrs. Knaw
• Mrs. Kohleman
• Mrs. Gruter
• Mrs. Bush
• Mrs. Keitel
• Mrs. Walters
• Mrs. Shaw
• Mrs. Johnson
• Mrs. Marshall
• Mrs. Douglass
• Mrs. McRight
• Mrs. Glerdon
• Mrs. Rork
• Mrs. Bitner
• Mrs. Barrett
• Mrs. Harmell
• Mrs. Knable
• Mrs. Carter
• Mrs. Danagh
• Mrs. Ingathron
• Mrs. Untwiner
• Mrs. S. Alfred
• Mrs. Shumaker
• Mrs. Sullivan
• Mrs. Fowler
• Mrs. Pitcher
• Mrs. Kirk
• Mrs. Sanders
• Mrs. Fashagg
• Mrs. Young
• Mrs. Robins
• Mrs. Goupey
• Mrs. Shaffee
• Mrs. Dixon
• Mrs. Neff
• Mrs. Rhinerson
• Mrs. Stein
• Mrs. Alfred
• Mrs. Miller
• Mrs. Moules
• Mrs. Ferress
• Mrs. Brooks
• Mrs. Truett
• Mrs. Heilbush