A journal entry and some researcher notes regarding the trip from Vermont to Iowa in 1867. The author is likely a Prescott.
A neighbor took us all to Waterbury Center, Vermont. Where we boarded a train to
Burlington, Vermont. At Lake Champlain, we were put on a towboat that was pulled by a
team of horses along the shore then, through a place where they shut the Canal gates to
raise the water and lift our boat to the level of the Great Lakes, then on the same boat to
Chicago, Illinois. We took a train to Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Crossed the
Mississippi river by barge to McGregor, Iowa. Boarded a train to Cresco, Iowa. Roswell,
hired a team of horses and a wagon bring us all about 8 miles north of Nashua. 2 miles
east of Bassett, 2 miles north of Dover (IONIA) 10 miles east of Charles city, 5 miles
South of North Washington. (Why all the explanation ??)
We arrived in Chickasaw Co. in North Eastern Iowa in June. 1867. Planted beans and
buckwheat and for a while we all lived together.
The passengers:Roswell and his 2 sons; James and Eri, Fanny and her children; Lydia,
Althinea, Harvey and Alma Prescott. Roswell’s son Eri. Plus Roswell and Fannie’s son,
Clarence. Born November 23, 1866 in Vermont. Fanny’s sister; Maria, with her husband,
William Gillette and Maria’s little girl, Viola Goodall.Viola her father had died of smallpox
about the same time as Fanny’s husband Amos Prescott died. Maria and Bill (see above)
were married in Vermont just before the trip.Fanny’s sister; Rhoda, with her son; Walter
Atkins. Rhoda married George Butler after she arrived in Iowa.Fanny’s sister; Ida, and a
brother William Wrisley who went on to California and returned later to Vermont.Also a
hired man; Mr. Tomkins.In all about 20 people were in the trip from Vermont to Iowa the
last part of April 1867 to the end of June 1867. In 1908 Roswell and Fannie and some of
the Family arrived in Iona, South Dakota from Iowa. Rearing their children in Brule and
Lyman Counties and have many descendants still there today.The family was among of
the first filing for homesteads in South Dakota. See cemeteries in Brule and Lyman
counties. Roswell’s first born from his first marriage (my grandfather) James EUGENE
Lillie and Brother Eri also filed for a homestead but never proved on the land.Great Great
Grandfather, Zebina born in Vermont and the only information is from a page copy of the
Hannah Young Lillie’s Bible and a Marriage certification for Zebina and Electa and
information of Electa’s headstone.
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A neighbor took us all to Waterbury Center, Vermont. Where we boarded a train to Burlington, Vermont. At Lake Champlain, we were put on a towboat that was pulled by a team of horses along the shore then, through a place where they shut the Canal gates to raise the water and lift our boat to the level of the Great Lakes, then on the same boat to Chicago, Illinois. We took a train to Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Crossed the Mississippi river by barge to McGregor, Iowa. Boarded a train to Cresco, Iowa. Roswell, hired a team of horses and a wagon bring us all about 8 miles north of Nashua. 2 miles east of Bassett, 2 miles north of Dover (IONIA) 10 miles east of Charles city, 5 miles South of North Washington. (Why all the explanation ??) We arrived in Chickasaw Co. in North Eastern Iowa in June. 1867. Planted beans and buckwheat and for a while we all lived together. The passengers:Roswell and his 2 sons; James and Eri, Fanny and her children; Lydia, Althinea, Harvey and Alma Prescott. Roswell’s son Eri. Plus Roswell and Fannie’s son, Clarence. Born November 23, 1866 in Vermont. Fanny’s sister; Maria, with her husband, William Gillette and Maria’s little girl, Viola Goodall.Viola her father had died of smallpox about the same time as Fanny’s husband Amos Prescott died. Maria and Bill (see above) were married in Vermont just before the trip.Fanny’s sister; Rhoda, with her son; Walter Atkins. Rhoda married George Butler after she arrived in Iowa.Fanny’s sister; Ida, and a brother William Wrisley who went on to California and returned later to Vermont.Also a hired man; Mr. Tomkins.In all about 20 people were in the trip from Vermont to Iowa the last part of April 1867 to the end of June 1867. In 1908 Roswell and Fannie and some of the Family arrived in Iona, South Dakota from Iowa. Rearing their children in Brule and Lyman Counties and have many descendants still there today.The family was among of the first filing for homesteads in South Dakota. See cemeteries in Brule and Lyman counties. Roswell’s first born from his first marriage (my grandfather) James EUGENE Lillie and Brother Eri also filed for a homestead but never proved on the land.Great Great Grandfather, Zebina born in Vermont and the only information is from a page copy of the Hannah Young Lillie’s Bible and a Marriage certification for Zebina and Electa and information of Electa’s headstone.