Mower County transcript., 1904-12-14

the steamer for Milwaukee. We had
been on the boat only couple OF hours
when q terrible gale arose. The boat
tossed. heayed and tumbled and it was
not long before something within US
began 70 heave, toss and tumble until
| thought nothing would be lett OF me,
but this proved a great blessing to me
for my dyspepsia was gone.
when we reached our destination,
wheat harvest had commenced and ono
of nv old acquaintance said to me:
Obadiah you are the man l have been
looking for. l have fourteen acres OF
wheat ready for the cradle and Will
give you So a day if you will lay it i'll
tho swath.' So at it / went and IN three
day it was in shock. was "a years
old then and I concluded that before
another birthday came around would
find home in the west somewhere: /
haa bargained for a. woman before
taking this trip and when got back TO
old Walpeck, we commenced our plans
and on Dec. Is, 1854, at Walpeck we
were married and on the second day
of April, 1855, we bade farewell to
friends in Sussex county, NJ.
II had an uncle living near Coles
burg, Iowa, and we stayed there year
and a half farming some OF his land
on shares. In the fall Of 1855 man by
the name OF Porter came from Austin.
! happened to meet him and he gave
such a glowing picture OF Austin and
its PROSPECTS that with a friend start
ed out on foot to view the land.
Leverich was town proprietor OF Aus
tin and he offered me 81 day and
board and the choice Of any lot or lots
at IS each except where the Snow &
Wilbour hotel was located. There we're
. only a few shanties in Austin then and
the Indian tepees were more numerous
than we're the faces of white men,
which gave me notion that l had
made mistake in coming here to look
mo a home. But l had promised my
hrother-in-law, J.S. Decker, to look up
some land for him and [ bargained for
q claim of a man named Nigus, provid-
ed Decker wanted it. When 1 went
hack. T gave him description of the
country and he decided to try it. In
March, 1856, he commenced the journey
with oxen and wagon, snow being
about gone at Colesburg. he came as
far as West Union when he was com
PEELED to buy sled upon which ne
loaded his household goods, wagon and
all, and make another start.
After being at Austin while, he
wrote me about a claim which he
thought [ could get. So after crops
were in [ started out on foot for Aus
tin. the second time. It took me three
days to walk that l40 miles, and here
let me say that the man who could out
walk me in those days had to get up
before breakfast. At that time l
bought the claim where I now live, on
the west line OF the township of Win
dom. three miles east of Austin, OF
Henry Zero who owned the place where
Austin Felch now lives, paying him
1895 for the claim. In the fall OF 1896,
Il Oct. l8. We arrived iD Austin with all our
earthly possessions loaded on q wagon.
That winter we lived in little log
house owned 10y Willard Smith situated
about half way between Dobbin's creek
and the house where Mr.. Decker then
lived. It was lovely fall and worked
for Dan Tubbs up to the last day of
November on a sawmill situated at the
mouth of Turtle Greek. ~5,@..
'On the first day Of December, 1856,
our first baby, David, was born, he
being the second baby born in the
vicinity of Austin. On the very next
day. winter commenced in earnest.
There has been only one blizzard since
that which equalled the one on the
second day of December, 1856. The
little log house we lived in had board
roof and I had to take aclothesline and
tie the roof down to keep it from blow
inp off. There was no chamber floor
& and 90 the snow drifted upon our bed
4 and the blankets would be frozen every
5morning from our breath. You will
G not wonder when tell you that we
could see stars through the cracks in
\ the roof. The weather was forty below
Il zero Tor two whole months. But We