Hi Todd In the late 1840s and early 50s many settlers went to the gold hills in California. Often the husband would leave for a period of time to see if they could strike it rich and then return broke and down hearted. Others moved their families but that was expensive as they usually took the marine voyage as opposed to over land. All during the 1840s onward was a leakage of families to Iowa setting up farming land but the real migration occurred around the early 1870s. Starting around 1869 a large migration of families left for the Dakota's and Nebraska to acquire homestead lands. The railroad opened up to this area in the early 1870s with a major head around Yankton, SD. Their are a couple of Smith family lines settling in the Yankton SD area, one of which is mine. However, I do not think this one fits your family. There are other Smith families, as usual, in the area as well. Good Luck Doug

[email protected] wrote: Hi Todd In the late 1840s and early 50s many settlers went to the gold hills in California. ... they usually took the marine voyage as opposed to over land. Doug--Can you refer us to some source material for this statement that families migrating to the west coast went by water rather than land? I haven't heard this before and would be interested in reading more about it. ========================== Mary Thiele Fobian Genealogical & Historical Research Pacific Grove, California