If you haven't read it, "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin, it will give you an idea what it was like during a blizzard on the prairie. It is about the Jan. 1888 blizzard which took the lives of many people. Grace You wrote: I learned that five of my Rief family members, the mother and the four youngest children, all had died in 1885. That many deaths in so short of a time had me wondering. Some research and a weather forcast lead me to a blizzard that happened in Iowa, including Pottawattamie County. There were a few record lows with temps more than twenty degrees below zero.

My gr.-gr.-grandfather, Daniel Nolan, died in the blizzard of January 1888, which was written about in the David Laskin's book, "The Children's Blizzard." He lived in South Dakota with his wife and children. The storm was all over that area, Iowa included. The family had to return to Iowa. Patricia (Engle) Morris -------------------------------------------------- From: "Karen Conroy" <karen.conroy@virgin.net> Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 10:35 AM To: "Grace Keir" <gkeir@hickorytech.net>; "'Mark Hadlund'" <KRAM95@cox.net>; <IOWA@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [IOWA] Iowa Winters > I read it. It was so sad and so amazing. > > Karen > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Grace Keir" <gkeir@hickorytech.net> > To: "'Mark Hadlund'" <KRAM95@cox.net>; <IOWA@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 3:17 PM > Subject: Re: [IOWA] Iowa Winters > > >> If you haven't read it, "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin, it >> will >> give you an idea what it was like during a blizzard on the prairie. It >> is >> about the Jan. 1888 blizzard which took the lives of many people. >> >> Grace >> >> You wrote: >> I learned that five of my Rief family members, the mother and the four >> youngest children, all had died in 1885. That many deaths in so short of >> a >> time had me wondering. Some research and a weather forcast lead me to a >> blizzard that happened in Iowa, including Pottawattamie County. There >> were >> a >> few record lows with temps more than twenty degrees below zero. >> >> >> >> _____________________________________________ >> >> For additional information concerning how the list >> works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit >> http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ >> _____________________________________________ >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

I read it. It was so sad and so amazing. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Grace Keir" <gkeir@hickorytech.net> To: "'Mark Hadlund'" <KRAM95@cox.net>; <IOWA@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 3:17 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] Iowa Winters > If you haven't read it, "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin, it will > give you an idea what it was like during a blizzard on the prairie. It is > about the Jan. 1888 blizzard which took the lives of many people. > > Grace > > You wrote: > I learned that five of my Rief family members, the mother and the four > youngest children, all had died in 1885. That many deaths in so short of a > time had me wondering. Some research and a weather forcast lead me to a > blizzard that happened in Iowa, including Pottawattamie County. There were > a > few record lows with temps more than twenty degrees below zero. > > > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

These stories are all to the good for me as I want to understand what life was like for my ancestors who lived in Iowa although my main line was only there from 1850 to 1865 or so in Henry, Mahaska, and Van Buren counties. I still don't know why they decided to move there from the grandfather down to four of his sons and two of his daughters and their families from Kentucky. Karen _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

When Iowa opened up as a state, many new arrivals came from the eastern and southern states seeking land on which to farm. By 1850, land was plentiful and many of the early settlers were either Mormons (Latter Day Saints) who came in the 1840's with that movement, or were foreign immigrants seeking a new life. If your family was like mine, they moved from Kentucky to Illinois or Indiana, and then into Iowa and points west. My ancestors seemed to be always on the move and finally settled on a farm in Nebraska. I love all old books, brochures, pamphlets and other ephemera about Iowa and have a lovely little book (about 4 inches by 6 inches) privately published originally in 1836 by Henry S. Tanner of Philadelphia, and re-published by the Iowa State Historical Society in 1935. It is called "The Book That Gave Iowa Its Name; Notes on The Wisconsin Territory; particularly with reference to The Iowa District or Black Hawk Purchase," by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, United States Dragoons. It contains a wonderful original map in the back of the book. Because the book was designed to entice settlers, he gives a very different description of Iowa winters, as follows: "The Winter is generally dry, cold, and bracing; the waters are all bridged with ice; the snow is frequently deep enough to afford good sleighing, and it is considered the best season for travelling, by those who are able to bear exposure to a cold atmosphere. The winter usually commences about the 1st of December, and ends early in March; although the southern part of the District, we often have fine pleasant weather in mid-winter. There is never so much snow, even as far north as Prairie du Chien, as to interrupt the travelling; and as every prairie is a high road, we scarcely feel the obclusion of the icy season." A romantic but not very accurate description of winters in Iowa, I'd say. I grew up in Council Bluffs and still remember standing waiting for the school bus in minus-20 wind chills! I've lived in Arizona for the last 25 years, and last January moved to North Carolina. Today it's sleeting and raining ice in the Carolinas. What am I doing here?! Mona ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Conroy" <karen.conroy@virgin.net> To: <IOWA@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 1:39 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] Iowa Winters > These stories are all to the good for me as I want to understand what life > was like for my ancestors who lived in Iowa although my main line was only > there from 1850 to 1865 or so in Henry, Mahaska, and Van Buren counties. > I > still don't know why they decided to move there from the grandfather down > to > four of his sons and two of his daughters and their families from > Kentucky. > > Karen > > > _____________________________________________ >> >> For additional information concerning how the list >> works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit >> http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ >> _____________________________________________ >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message