The time period you are referencing may be during the same period that the Grandin Lumber Company built a company town two saw mills, a railroad, and a lake in the area east of Willow Springs close to another Missouri town, Eminence. The company cut all of the pine trees for several counties around for lumber to be sent East. Later it started cutting a couple of varieties of oak trees for railroad ties. A wild shot at explaining why the relatives may have stopped in Willow Springs.