From Iowa To Idaho

One of the rewarding aspects of ancestry research is when you get the chance to stand back and take in the big picture of what you have learned about your family. Recently, I was fast and furiously entering information into my Family Tree Maker software when it occurred to me that more than a couple branches of my family happened through Iowa during the same time period.  It turned out that branches of my mom’s and dad’s families lived fairly close for more than a couple decades, and various members of each branch of the family are buried in cemeteries 18 miles apart.  

Mom’s maternal side living in Cass, Boone County, Iowa ca. 1849-1890s:

Sixth great-grandparents:        Abraham Eversoll and Nancy Butts

Fifth great-grandparents:        Moses Eversoll and Lettia Pike         

                                             Joseph H. Rhoads and Jane Noland

Fourth great-grandparents:     Hiram Rhoads and Sarah Eversoll

Third great-grandparents:       William Rhoads and Mary Potter

Dad’s paternal side moved to Linn County, Iowa ca. 1851-1853, to Pocahontas County before 1870, and finally to Dallas County by 1880, living there for four decades.

Fifth great-grandparents:        Stephen Lounsbury and Harriet Post

Fourth great-grandparents:     George Chapin and Oriana Lounsbury

Third great-grandparents:       James B. Chapin and Abigail Jane Breed

Second great-grandparents     George Chapin and Flora Allen

Map of Liberty Cemetery (Rhoads and Eversoll's) to Violet Hill Cemetery (Chapin's) in Iowa.

These families continued to migrate west similarly, as my third great-grandparents on my mom’s side and my second great-grandparents on my dad’s side were laid to rest in cemeteries about 50 miles apart in Montana. Finally, my great-grandparents of these lines are buried in Shoshone County, Idaho, either in the same cemetery or fewer than 10 miles apart.

Even though these families traveled similar paths for a century and a half, there is no indication that they met or knew each other until my parents met. Still, I like to imagine that George Chapin bought supplies from Joseph Rhoads’ shop or that Sarah Eversoll’s jam just barely beat Oriana Chapin’s in the county fair, or that the story of Moses Eversoll fighting with a dear for his life traveled throughout Iowa and amused the Chapin family.