Yes, my BRUNER'S and FRENCH's who were in Orange County, Indiana went first
to Henderson and Rio, Knox County, Illinois and then to Decatur County,
Iowa...Eden Prairie (isn't that a pretty name)...near Leon, 68 miles south
of Des Moines near the Missouri border. The land in Iowa is "rich, black
soil" and they had much success with crops...living off their farms with no
outside jobs...trading what they had for what they needed...building ice
houses by packing the ice chunks in saw dust to preserve what foodstuffs
needed it...and (this is from an old diary of my Great Grandparents in Iowa,
they had ice for the ice cream freezer in the summer!!! What a luxury!)
Just my 2 cents worth!! Happy New Year! Janice Chastain Lund
Does anyone else on our list have family members that made the same
trek
west to Iowa? The lure of inexpensive, very farmable land just must have
been too much for our ancestors.