52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks: Landed

Brother Bill,

Finally, we have landed on our feet at our new home. When I last saw you in Morristown (Minnesota), we had decided to move on to Wisconsin and Iowa. My Andrew (Storer) is a man with wanderlust in his soul and visions in his brain. So kerplunk, here we are in Kansas, Osborne County to be exact.

The trip by wagon from Iowa to Kansas was bone jarring to say the least. Had to pack up our most precious possessions and supplies. I will be darned, but Andrew insisted that we bring a pig along. Most days it rode in the wagon as we walked! Some folks say it was the first pig in the county. That Andrew always thinking and dreaming.

Lots of plentiful pasture land out here. Andrew says it is just right for sheep farming. There he goes again with a vision. Most folks around here are planting crops and wondering just what he is thinking. Also, he has applied to a farming college in Mississippi about getting a grant to plant trees out here on the prairie. Cottonwoods is what he says he wants to plant. He talked a couple of other fellows to going along with him. So I guess we are also tree farmers.

I must say that all this moving has been hard on me. It is lonely for a woman out on the prairie. At times, I feel isolated with neighbors not nearby. Does keep me busy, though, teaching my girls how to be a farmer’s wife. How my day is never done! I guess this is the lot the good Lord gave me so I will count my blessings.

Hope to hear from you and give sweet Ellen my best.

Your sister, Mary Etta

Note: Mary Etta Soule was my 2nd great grandmother who was born in New York in 1833. She met her future husband Andrew Storer in Minnesota around 1852. She worked in the brickyard of which he was the manager. They married that year. Andrew was born in Maine in 1817. Together with their family for the next 20 years, they migrated through the Midwest where they finally settled in Osborne County, Kansas…along with the pig.

Brother Bill was William Riley Soule, a Civil War veteran, who lived in Morristown, Rice County, Minnesota.