AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A REAL
DAUGHTER Mrs. Lydia Ann
Cline Simmons
My venerable father, William
Cline, Sr., was a native of Pennsylvania and of German ancestry. His
education was German. He was
a soldier in the Revolutionary War, enlisting in Taneytown, Md., in
Capt. Key's Co. and served to
the end of the war. He died
in Jay County, Indiana, August 23,
1853, aged 106 years and two months.
He was twice married. He chose
for his first wife Miss Susannah Lance. To this union was born eight children, all now deceased. Their names are as follows : Anna Mary Cline Wigner, deceased, aged 100 years; William Cline, deceased (met
an untimely death while diving; his body was never found ; he left a
wife and three children) ; Elizabeth Wigner deceased, aged 87 years ;
Abraham Cline, deceased, aged 96 Years ; Mary Ross, deceased, aged 102
years ; Sarah Warnock, deceased, aged 89 years ; Margaret Cunningham,
deceased, aged 96 years ; Conrad Cline, deceased, aged 17 years.
Four years after the death of his wife, when all of his children were
in homes of their own, he chose for his second wife Miss Jane Woten. To
this union were born three sons and four daughters. Their names are as
follows: Susannah Bird, deceased, aged 73 years ; Cynthia Rice,
deceased, aged 81 years; Alexander H. Cline, deceased, aged 53 years, a Civil War soldier ; Jerusha A. Mongar, deceased, aged 72 years ; Jacob Cline, deceased, aged 5 years; Charles W. Kline, enlisted at the age of 20 years in Civil War in 110th O. V. I. at Piqua, O.; was home on furlough spring of 1862, then returned to his regiment ; his last service was in the Battle of the Wilderness ; was reported among the missing; heard that he was taken prisoner, but never got any information concerning him. Lydia Cline Simmons. I am now nearing my 80th birthday, which will be August 24, 1916. I was born August 24, 1836, in Perry Township, Gallia County, Ohio, near the town of Patriot.
My earliest recollection was when I was about three years and six months old, when we moved from our home farm to another farm joining the home place which father had recently bought. Some time after this father built a new house, I believe in the year 1840. The people made most of their own clothing from wool and flax and also made the larger portion of their sugar from the sap of the sugar trees. They also dried their fruit, which we always had in abundance. In the spring of 1843 my little brother was killed by falling backward off of a rail fence and a rail falling on his breast. The cherry trees were white with bloom at the time was a bright, clear day, and in
a moment all was in mourning.
We felt that we did not want
to live there so moved back
to the home place the same
year.
The next year I commenced going to school. The first Sunday School that
I remember attending was at a Baptist Church; Sunday Schools those days
were not conducted as they arc at the present time.
Now I will leave the hilly country of Gallia County, Ohio, and travel
towards the State of Indiana, this being the last week in September, 1847. We bade
good-bye to my native home and started on our journey to the wilderness
of Indiana. First day we ate our dinner at Point Pleasant, second day
by the roadside, where there was a large chestnut tree. Sister and I
did not rest much as we were busy gathering chestnuts. I had never seen
such large chestnut trees and I thought it was grand. We moved in
covered wagons in those days as there were no railroads. We had plank
roads to travel on part of our journey, and part of it was very rough
and very dangerous. The weather being fine we had a very pleasant
journey. It rained one night, and that was the only night we failed to
have a comfortable house to stay in. It was close to where a German
family lived, and when they learned that father was German, and being
so old, they begged of him to stay in their house. He told them that he
was no better than his family and would not go. He was then 100 years
old. We were two weeks on the road and arrived at Fort Recovery, Ohio,
early in October, stopping there to visit with mother's sister and
family ; leaving there we soon crossed the state line and were in
Indiana, and traveled south six miles to where my grand-parents, and
also an uncle lived, in Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana. Here we
made our home until father within a few days bought 160 acres of choice
land for $450. It was heavy timber land, with no improvements. Then
they began work and built two cabins right in the woods, and they soon
had them finished, cleared away timber and brush, and built a fence
enclosing those cabins. We moved in and called it home. This was my
first experience in living in the wild woods. The deer and wild turkeys
would come quite close ; our nearest Post Office was six miles away, in
Randolph County, Indiana, and no church house nearer than Ft. Recovery,
Ohio. Meetings were held in the dwelling houses. In the Autumn of 1849
my father and brother made a
trip back to Gallia County, Ohio, and were gone about three weeks ;
came home feeling well, and enjoyed their visit.
Soon after his return from Ohio, father bought 80 acres of land joining
our home, which he gave to his son, A. H. Cline. The home place is now
owned by his grandson, Wm. H. Cline, and is a valuable farm. I enjoy
very much visiting the old (once cabin) home.
December 28, 1856, I was married to Thomas W. Simmons, who was then
engaged in teaching school. At the expiration of the school, we then
commenced keeping house April 8, 1857, about half a mile from mother's,
and the same distance from his parents. Here we lived until the Civil
War, when we moved in the "house with Father Simmons, their two sons
being in the Army ; this was in the fall of 1861. As Father and Mother
Simmons were left alone they thought it best that we should move in
part of their house, to .take care of them as they were not able to for
themselves. My own mother died Jan. 27, 1862, aged 65 years and
16 days. Father Simmons died March 16, 1872. Before his death he
divided his land, giving each child 40 acres. Mother Simmons remained
with us until her death,, July 21, 1889, aged 92 years.
My husband, Thomas W. Simmons, a Civil War veteran, died September 20,
1889, aged 57 years, 8 months. I, being left alone, rented my place,
reserving a part of the house and barn so I could keep a horse and
buggy. I owned 30 acres of land which was a part of the land my father
bought when he first came to Indiana. I gave this to my only child,
Mrs. Jane Roush. Some time after this I also gave her the 40 acres, the
home place, after I had bought property in the Village of Salem, three
miles from our old home, still remaining on the farm where we first
commenced keeping house, and never out of sight of where we
settled in the woods, after coming to Indiana in the year 1847. March
5, 1898. I moved to the Village of Salem and lived there until November
I5, 1903, when I moved to Portland, Jay County, Indiana, to make my
home with my daughter, Mrs. Jane R. Roush, my only child. "
I have eight grandchildren and four- great-grandchildren.
Source: Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine
By Daughters of the American Revolution
