River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-12-27
A ROMANCE FROM LIFE,
Father. Mother and Son Strangely
United After Long Separation
Condensed from the Cincinnati Commsr-
cial Gszette.


United After a Long Separation.
Condensed from the Cincinnati Commer-
ciaI Gazette.
Twenty yeara ago, in beautiful valley
of Greenbrler county, West Virginia, at
the foot of the Cumberland Mountains,
in that loveliest ofall picturesque regions,
the headwaters of the Great Kanawha,
lived young farmer named Goodman.
He had happy home; in which were g
young wife and baby son, but he en-
listed in the Army of the Cumberland
and left for the front. Reports reached
Mrs. Goodman that her soldier husband
had died at Andersonville. Close upon
the heels of the awful news came the
awakening on a dark night with the roof
of her home ablaze by the incendiary' g
torch, applied by marauding band OF
Confederates to more than one Union
home in the hilbert peaceful valley.
Crushed by the donble loss and having
no relatives near to whom she could ap-
ply for refuge Mrs Goodman made her
way to Cincinnati. where tory ears she
had hard struggle. Having placed her
child in an orphans asylum she
soon lost trace of the boy.
But Goodman did not uie at Ander-
=onvlle. He returned to his home, to
find it desolate and no traces Of his fam
ily. At this time the silver excitement
in Nevada was at its highest and, hav
ing nothing to retard him, Goodman
went West in the hope of forgetting his
great sorrow in the dizzy whirl of the
mining camp. He staked claim and,
being a man Of energy and not addicted
TO the vices so prevalent among the
miners, he succeeded in few months
in amassing quite fortune, which he
invested in real estate in the then al
ready flourishing town Of Virginia City.
success crowned his every undertaking
and it was not long until Goodman was
Onsidered the wealthiest man in all
that region, where scores of men were
counted milllonaire5. In 1876 Good
man removed to san Francisco and he
came senior partner in great banking
firm,
One morning in answer to an adver-
'isement for book-keepers, young man
presented himself in his private Office,
who, by his striking resemblance to
Goodman, led to Inquiries and inyesti-
cation. To make ong story short, the
Young man proved to be the long lost
SON Of Goodman. He had been adopted
from the orphan asylum at Cincinnati
by wealthy and chIldless couple OF
Dayton, Ohio, raised in luxury and given
a good education, Financial reverses
and the death of both his benefactors
threw the young man on his own re-
sources and he had finally drifted to the
far west, carried thither by the fiatter-
ing reports of the new Eldorado. Hen
ry, for such was the young mans name,
was Immediately installed as junior part
ner of the firm.
In October last gentleman named
Warren, an old neighbor of Goodman il,
his Virginia home, aud by the way, one
of the comrades that went out with him
from the quiet a'ley to battle in the
war of the Uni IN, was in San Francisco;
and, having a draft to negotiate, he
stepped into Goodman's bank to tran
sact his business. While the money was
being paid over to hm by the elder
Goodman, Warren casually
remarked that he Goodman
very much resembled an ola
riend whom we knew years 3 20 in
Vest Virginia. Goodman stated he was
from Greenbrier county; exp lanation
followed, the identity of each d isciOsed,
and Warren was invited to the home of
lD0 younger OOOiludut Will WlOi1 Hls
iather Was residing. That evening after
tea the party were drawn around the
lireside exchanging "reminiscences of the
past. Finally Goodman related the dis
appearance and supposed death Ct his
wife, when he was interrupted by War
rem who excitedly stated that Mrs
Goodman was still alive and resident
of Covington, Ky. The revelation came
like a thun1erclaD on q clear clOudless
day, and the shock nearly proved too
much for Goodman. Joy seldom ever
kills, and so it proved in this instance,
Goodman accompanied by his son aid
family took the first train for the east
and IN due time arrived at Cincinnati.
No pen can picture the meeting after
more than twenty years. 4paration, and
the joy that came to at least two hearts
after all these long years of sorrow and
pain. The entire party passed up on the
steamer Fleetwood the other evening,
and happier or more joyous coterie
was never seen aboard thai boat.