![[1906 - The Coppock Barn, Monroe Township, Miami County, Ohio]](images/index/CoppockBarnMasthead2.jpg)
For the most part, the entries presented here are verbatim as originally recorded. However, most misspellings or word omissions have been corrected, while grammar and punctuation have not been. In a few cases, the language has been softened. The author sometimes became very frustrated with events, and that frustration was sometimes strongly reflected in an entry. On some occasions, entries stray a bit from the barn work at hand, but they none-the-less reflect what was on the author's mind at the time, and as such have been included here.
A number of identical footnotes appear throughout the log from month-to-month, so that each month's entries can be better understood on their own. For example, when a person is named in multiple month's log entries, that person is introduced by footnote at their first invocation in each month's log.
It should be noted that the author's primary concern was preserving the Pennsylvania Barn built by the Coppocks in 1857. As such, a great majority of the log entries concern work done there, as opposed to portions of the barn complex built many decades later, such as the milking parlor or grain storage bins.
When photographs were taken on the same day that a log entry was made, those photos can be viewed via the links in the calendar. In many cases, links to the photos can also be found within the log entry for that day.
Admittedly, reading this entire log would be a tedious task for almost all. It is, however, the only contemporaneous record of what occurred at the barn (along with photographs) during the period from its sale out of the Coppock family until it was demolished, and thus is rightly included on this website.
Days Logged in September: 2
Hours/Minutes Logged in September: Ken 1/45; Jim 0/0; Other(s) 1/0
Amount Expended in September: $30,000.00 (Purchase of barn, with future promise of grounds and access)
| September 2003 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | ||||
I buy the barn at BS's 1 house after seeing an attorney earlier in the day. Spent about thirty minutes looking around the barn after leaving his house, waiting to hear "congratulations" 2; none heard. Noticed north wall is sagging. Looked on the Internet for bottle jacks. Sent mail to Kent 3 letting him know about my purchase. Told mother too. Sent mail to Tom Kielbaso 4 letting him know. Sent e-mails to Gordon at Ohio Historical 5 and Charles Whitney 6 telling them. Worry. Called Patsy 7, left message.
1. BS (Barn Seller) refers to the person who purchased the Coppock Homestead lands, including the barn, from the estate of Audrey Coppock in 2001. I delivered a certified check to him in the amount of $30,000.00 for the barn itself, with a future promise of a parcel of land immediately surrounding the barn, as well as proper access to it. These promised items were to be covered within the $30,000.00 payment. The barn purchase was memorialized by a brief contract to which he and I were signatories. The future promises were not addressed in the contract. I realized at the time that this was very risky proposition, but if I did not agree to these "my way or the highway terms", BS simply wouldn't have sold the barn to me. Return to September 29 entry
2. Throughout the time I worked at the house and barn, I sometimes half-heartedly thought about receiving a "sign" from long-dead ancestors, acknowledging my presence there. In the hundreds of hours on the property, the only thing I remember as unusual was in the Spring/Summer of 2001, when I was going through discarded belongings in the house. I distinctly felt the house shake. This wasn't a shake things off the shelves tremor, but a noticeable tremor, none-the-less. I peeked outside looking for some heavy vehicle perhaps passing nearby or other cause, but saw none. If this was a "sign" from long dead Coppocks, I wish they'd have come up with something more spectacular, such as a blinding light and thunderous noise of some sort. Return to September 29 entry
3. My brother Kent Noffsinger (January 1, 1947 - June 15, 2011). Return to September 29 entry
4. Tom Kielbaso was a co-worker of mine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Return to September 29 entry
5. I met Gordon in 2003 at the Barn Again! seminar put on by a group of people in Ohio concerned about preserving its barns. While at the seminar I told him about the Coppock barn and how it appeared it would be torn down. I was happy to send him and e-mail telling him the good news about my purchase of the barn. Return to September 29 entry
6. Charles Whitney (July 27, 1918 - July 6, 2009) was a barn expert I brought in from Mt. Vernon, Ohio to look at the barn in 2001. I was thinking that it might be demolished at any time, and he very kindly worked me into his schedule very quickly. A very knowledgeable, nice man, at an advanced age at that time. He dated the barn at ten years on either side of the Civil War. I have since determined the build date as likely 1857, or if not, then 1858. Return to September 29 entry
7. Patsy Coppock, my cousin who grew up on the farm and the daughter of Audrey Coppock, the last Coppock to live on the farm prior to its sale in 2001. Return to September 29 entry
8. David Dalton, a co-worker of mine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Return to September 30 entry
9. Lally Columns turned out to be the best solution for us. Return to September 30 entry
10. Sarah Werling, whom I met at the 2003 Barn Again! seminar held in Preble County, Ohio. Return to September 30 entry
11. Longtime friend John Gumbert, brother of Jim Gumbert. Return to September 30 entry
12. Paul Lee, a friend of mine, as well as of John and Jim Gumbert. Paul has been an auto mechanic all of his life, and at this writing, operates Lee's Garage on West Main in Tipp City. Paul was always willing to lend a tool or his expertise to me on this project. Return to September 30 entry
13. Emilie Lesher - she and husband Joe (April 18, 1941 - June 3, 2019) purchased the Coppock Homestead house and immediate surrounding grounds (not including the barn and most out-buildings) from BS on May 29, 2002. Emilie and Joe kindly permitted Jim Gumbert and I access to the barn via their driveway. Without permission to use their drive, the barn work would have been impossible. For that, I'll always appreciate their kindness. Return to September 30 entry
14. Co-workers Jason Snowden, Lois Goldberg and David Black at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Return to September 30 entry