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A Page Dedicated to The Lost Town of Buncombe Wisconsin and Its Families
ABOUT BUNCOMBE:
Spelling Variations- Buncome, Buncomb
Named For- According to the Hon. G.A. Marshalls account in The Men Who Made Lafayette County published Apr. 15, 1909 by the Republican Journal, Darlington, Wisconsin ""Glllett's" house is located near the middle of the east line of 32-1-1; this was Benoni R. Gillett, popularly known as "Buncombe", from whom the railway station there built was so named. Buncombe Gillett died in 1849, and in the settlement of his estate his brother, W.W. Gillett, became the owner of several hundred acres. Including this place."
Location- Buncombe, Wisconsin was a town located in southwest Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Loren Farreys book A Tour Guide to the Mines of Lafayette County gives the Buncombe location as follows, "The former community of Buncombe was located just to the west of the turn onto Kennedy Road, where the Bull and the Hardscrabble Branches join the Fever River. It was at this location that a railroad spur went north to the Kennedy Mine and another northwest to the Village of Hazel Green. Although the little community of Buncombe was served by a post office from 1875-1903, today only a few broken foundations remain where once a store, school, and several houses existed well into the 1950s."
Beginnings- Buncombe is referenced in the 1881 writings of C.W. Butterfields History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin.. on Page 554 saying "In 1828, Charles Gear made his appearance, and put up a cabin on the line between New Diggings and Benton, on Fever River; Benoni R. Gillett made a claim at Buncombe, and Ahab Bean farmed and mined at a point on Coon Branch, near the present Benton Station of the narrow-gauge road." and page 555 "Between 1835 and 1849 were flush times in the mining portion of the town of Benton. Mineral was plenty and prices generally ruled high. The more prominent mines then operated in those times were those worked on Langworthy Ridge, Buncombe Diggings, near Gillets, Buzzard Roost, owned by the Carr's, and Bull and Scrabble Branches; all of these were immeasurably fruitful and enriched their owners and workers."
Buncombe/Buncome Diggings- The Buncome Diggings form a sub-district belonging to Hazel Green. They are situated on the Galena River, near the mouth of Bull Branch. They were formerly very productive diggings, and a few parties are still working in them. They are situated in the brown rock, which is the lowest bed of the Galena limestone, and is here from twenty to thirty feet thick, and extends down to the creek-bed at the State line, where the top of the blue limestone may be seen. At the mouth of the Bull Branch the top of the blue limestone is found to be twenty feet above the bed of the stream. Mining is generally carried on here by drifting into the side of the hill. An example of this is seen on the land of Mr. Gabriel Mills, on the northwest quarter of Section 32, Township 1, Range 1 east, where a flat sheet of ore was found on the top of the brown rock, on which a number of short levels were run. Mr. Mills is now engaged in running a level on the top of the blue limestone from Section 32, westward, to prove the ground for blende, of which ore in small quantities has been occasionally found. The Buncome ground is also remarkable as being the only locality in which native sulphur appears in sheet form. Sourced from 1881 writings of C.W. Butterfields History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin.. on Page 364.
BUNCOMBE WI MAPS:
Interactive Map Here
BUNCOMBE WI PHOTOS:
Believed to be on North side of ridge facing South, with bridge over Fever River. Postcard post dated 1913
Believed to be on North side of ridge facing South, with bridge over Fever River. Postcard post dated 1913