Bingman Family file
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BINGMAN family files


Read the Isaac N. Bingman family history

View photos of Isaac N. and Mary Louisa (Renick) Bingman

View map of Forest township, Vernon county, Wisconsin
    (Note: Property of  "I. N. Bingman" can be seen in section 3, top left quadrant, far right side and top, 60 acres.)

 Updates:
1/2/08 - A copy of a "Registration of Marriage" form for Isaac and Mary includes the following new information:
 Isaac is listed on this form as Isaac "M" Bingman. Mary's mother is listed as Lucy "L" Renick.


The Isaac N. Bingman family, a history:

The Brohmer and Bingman families intersect through the marriage of Adolph Brohmer and Mabel B. Bingman. In visiting with Adolph's son Dwight in August of 2005, he spoke very well of his grandpa Isaac Bingman, Mabel's father, and photos of his grandma and grandpa Isaac and Mary Bingman grace his walls. Perhaps this is because one of the things Dwight remembers about his grandpa was that he would "get down on the floor and play with the kids." Another story related by Dwight was that his grandpa Isaac had fought in the Civil War and had been captured. The story has been passed down that, while a prisoner, Isaac was fed only cornbread and water. As a result, he got rickets.

A starting point. Everything known about the Bingman family was pretty much what was noted in the paragraph above. So, where to start to learn more? Ancestry.com has databases for military service. Indeed, Isaac N. Bingman was listed in the Ancestry.com "American Civil War Soldiers" database. It was noted that Isaac enlisted on February 22, 1862 as a Union soldier. He was a Private in Company A, 19th Infantry Regiment Wisconsin. This brief listing confirms that he was "POW on October 27, 1864 at Fair Oaks, Virginia." It also states that he "mustered out" on May 30, 1865. It is noted that he received recognition for Distinguished Service. Further databases list more specific information on the 19th Infantry Regiment WI. Most pertinent to Bingman family history is that during the engagement at Fair Oaks, where Isaac was captured, the regiment "participated in the engagement at Fair Oaks, a force of less than 200 men being engaged and suffering a loss of 136 wounded and captured." Regarding the regiment, the report states that "Its original strength was 973. Gain by recruits, 187; substitutes, 54; veteran reenlistments, 270; total, 1,484. Loss by death, 136; desertion, 46; transfer, 152; discharge, 345; mustered out, 805." In all, the regiment participated in 28 battles, with Fair Oaks being the last battle listed. For military history buffs, detailed information is available on the Fair Oaks, Virginia battle of October 27th - 28th, 1864.

Our hero! Wow! We really have a Civil War hero in the family! Isaac was just 17 years old at enlistment in February, 1862 and fought with the regiment for over two and one-half years before being captured, at age 19. There were seven months between his capture date and the date "mustered out." It is unknown how long Isaac was in enemy hands within that period of time.

In August 1870, at the time of the U.S. Federal census recording, Isaac would have been 25 years old. We find Isaac in the town of Forest, Vernon County, Wisconsin, where he would live most or all of his adult life. Isaac is living with "Frank Bingman," who is age 28 at the time. While there is no "hard" proof that this is Isaac's brother, all available documentation points to that fact. However, this is the only record where we see the name Frank used. This is a good point to digress to what may be the first documented record for Isaac. Census data for Isaac and family all show that he was born in Ohio. Indeed, there is a listing for Isaac N. Bingman on the 1850 census, at age 4, in Perry township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He is part of the householdwhich also includes Elijamrah Bingman, age 27, and "William F." Bingman, age 6. No mother is listed. This census does not list relationships of members in a household, but it could be assumed that this is a father and two sons. However, this could be an uncle, older cousin, or other relative. In fact, Elijamrah lists his birthplace as Ohio, whereas Isaac always listed his father's birthplace as Pennsylvania. No other records relating to Elijamrah could be found. Back to the 1870 census, with "Frank" Bingman and Isaac living together. Frank is listed as a school teacher, and Isaac as a farmer. Other records linking Isaac and W. F. Bingman lead us to formulate a full name for this probable brother as William Frank Bingman, choosing to use variant forms of the name as he went through his life.

By 1880, Isaac had been married for about five years. He and wife "Mary L." have three children: John, age 4, Mabel, age 3, and Lora E., just two months old. The family can be followed along through the1930 census, with Eva L. added to the family in 1883. Son John stays close by and marries a young woman named Hattie. Census listings for nearby Juneau county also list William F. Bingman and his family. However, as far as learning more about Isaac's parents, it looked like research for this family was at a "brick wall" as it is commonly referred to in genealogy circles. But where there is a brick wall, there are individual bricks and mortar seams, and with genealogy, I have explained to family and friends, it is as if there is a long hallway with rows and rows of doors. You walk along and try every knob, looking for an open door. Sometimes a lot of knobs need to be turned before turning one that will open.

An open door! Bless the heart of the volunteer in the Richland County History Room in Richland Center, Wisconsin who documented newspaper articles from late 1800's newspapers in the county, making her data available online to others. As she went through the papers, looking for information on her own great great grandfather, she classified events as to whether they were a news item, birth, marriage or death record, or legal notice. She would list the names of the people involved and the page of the newspaper the item was on. In her online database was mention of an item involving Isaac Bingman as well as wife Mabel, all his children, W.F. Bingman and someone named Edie. As this was in a different county than either Isaac or W. F. lived, and there was mention of a "new" Bingman, my curiosity got the best of me and I found out how to secure a copy of the pertinent article from the library history room.

Links to generations past.  The newsy article turned out to be report of a birthday party held for Isaac's mother-in-law. It was from the Richland County Republican newspaper, dated November 9, 1882. As it happens, this family researcher's generation knew nothing beyond our ancestor Isaac, and that his wife's name was Mary, from the census records. Now, this article opens a new door to the whole of Mary's family history. The article states that Mary's mother is Mrs. L. Renick. Several of her children and their families were in attendance. While there were still some mysteries after reading this article, more research would clear up some of them. For example, looking up Renick in Richland County led to an online biography for Mary's father, Lattimore Renick, and spells out more connections. It was learned that W. F. Bingman (misspelled Bingham) had also married into this family, marrying Mary's sister Emma. The "unknown" Bingman from the original article, Edie, or Edith, was their daughter. Unfortunately, the biography goes on to report that Emma died at just 30 years of age. Daughter Edie was being raised by her grandparents. We know from subsequest censuses that W. F. marries again and has two sons, George and (James) Clyde Bingman.

VIEW  the "key" article, linking the Bingman family to RENICK, JOSLIN, LATTIMORE, STOCKTON and other family tree branches.

LINK to an online published biography of Mary (Renick) Bingman's father, Lattimore Renick

See also the link for more information on the RENICK, JOSLIN, LATTIMORE, STOCKTON and other family tree branches.

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Photo File, Isaac and Mary Bingman:
Photo of Isaac and Mary (Renick) Bingman

                                                                          Isaac N. Bingman and Mary (Renick) Bingman
                                                                                     (Copy of photograph belonging to grandson Dwight Brohmer, August, 2005)

Photo of Isaac N. Bingman		 Photo of Mary L. (Renick) Bingman
Isaac N. Bingman  (1845 - 1925)
(Copy of photograph belonging to grandson Dwight Brohmer, August, 2005)		 Mary Louisa (Renick) Bingman  (1846 -           )
(Copy of photograph belonging to grandson Dwight Brohmer, August, 2005)


Photo of Mary and Isaac Bingman
Photo of Mary Louisa (Renick) Bingman and Isaac N. Bingman
(Copy of photograph belonging to grandson Dwight Brohmer, August, 2005)





Rev. March 2006
A. Brohmer, [email protected]