52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks: Resolution

1 December 1853 New Albin, Allamakee County, Iowa

Dearest Mother,
Sending our love to you this Christmas. In fact, I hope this reaches you in time to wish you the best of greetings.

As I write, baby Charlie sleeps beside me. He is all of nine months now. So sweet, so little. I spend most of my days caring for him as it is too snowy and windy to be outside. Andrew is busy outside tending the livestock and caring for the farm. I know he is daydreaming of where we will go next…that man has wanderlust in his soul.

Mother, I have made a resolution for myself. It is this: wherever my husband Andrew wants to venture next, baby Charlie and I will follow without complaint. It has been hard on us to move across the prairies to the next territory. We just made it here to Iowa. Now he talks of moving on to Minnesota. We have been married for less than 2 years and have moved twice.

I further resolve that one day the move will be our last one. I resolve we will build a real home, on a real farm, and live a real life in an established place. I resolve I will gather my children around me and teach them the ways of the Lord.

So, Mother, I wish you a Christmas filled with knowing that we love you and miss you all.

Lovingly,
Your daughter Mary Etta

Note: Mary Etta (Soule) Storer was my second great grandmother. After this date, she and Andrew and their children would move three more times in 22 years. They would raise nine children. In the year 1875, they finally made their permanent home in Osborne County, Kansas. Here they built a real home on a real farm and became successful sheep farmers.