Agency and Batavia

"Second day morning 7th [October 7, 1867] Got 4 miles past Ottumwa & camped in a nicer place than we had night before last & got an earlier start than we did yesterday morning. Came through Agency City & Batavia. Now 3 miles of Fairfield & boiling meat and turnips for dinner. Think we will have a feast. A little cloudy & windy this morning, clear now & the wind pretty brisk from S. East."


My cousins and I spent the night in
Ottumwa. We had Mexican food which sounds much better than boiled meat and turnips. (I haven't eaten a turnip since I left for college!) Agency City is now just called Agency. Most of the streets were paved. A few miles down the road we pulled into Batavia. These small towns all seem to have the same four things: a water tower with the town's name, a United Methodist Church, a Masonic or IOOF (Oddfellows) Lodge, and a cemetery.

I have not seen one Starbucks in all of Iowa! Of course, we are sort of... um... off the beaten path!

Motorcycles at Eddyville

"First day morning - 6th [October 6, 1867] Beautifully clear this morning. Had a little frost this & yesterday morning. got in 4 miles of Eddyville last night. A nice place to camp. I enjoy camp life so well in nice weather. Bought 20 cts. worth of good timothy hay last night. Cheap. Heard the cars last night coming down from Oskaloosa to Eddyville."

We found Eddyville to be a pleasant community with several stores and even a post office! Motorcycles parked in front of one old building caught our interest and we asked a gentleman smoking outside about it. He said they are headed for the "Wing Ding" in Des Moines. Oh... maybe that explains all the motorcycles we saw headed west on I-80 yesterday.

Much of Iowa is green and rolling hills planted with corn. When Ann & Henry Way crossed the state, it must have been mostly native grasses and trees. At each turn in the road, we try to imagine what the trail might have looked like 143 years ago.

Looking for Green Plain and Newbern

Today we tried to find Green Plain, Iowa -- the starting point of Grandmother Ann's diary. She writes, "Green Plain. 10th Mo. 3rd. [October 3, 1867] In a real bustle loading up to start to Indiana." When we asked some locals in Lacona, IA for the location, we got directions that included driving a significant distance on gravel roads. There is no longer a community of Green Plain, so I took some photos of the general area. In Lacona, we found a historic cabin dating from 1846, the year Iowa became a state. Did Ann & Henry Way live in a cabin like this when they came to Iowa in 1855?

"Seventh day. morning 5th. [October 5, 1867] Had an affectionate and solemn parting with the children about 11 o'clock yesterday. David came with us to Newbern. We
bought Eddie a cap for a dollar & a quarter and a couple of watering buckets for 55 cts. Came on to L. Chance's about 1 and had a good warm dinner prepared for us. Then we took leave of our kind friends and came to the Knoxville road to camp. Had a good fire, & all slept in the wagon."

Newbern was another mystery we were not able to solve today. After driving several miles on a different gravel road, we decided to turn around and get back on paved roads to towns that actually exist on a map. Here's where we pick up the rest of Ann's entry:

"Got to Marysville about 11 and bought a coal oil lantern for a dollar & a horse brush for seventy five cts & a plug of tobacco for twenty. Went on about half a mile & fed where Elma cut her dress out on the ground as we went to Henry Co. 4 years ago. Then came 3 miles to Hamilton & watered."

Marysville is on the map, but not much of a town exists. It's pretty much one paved street and several gravel roads. A peaceful hilltop cemetery overlooks a handful of houses. We didn't see any businesses or even a post office.

Hamilton turned out to be another very small community. We saw a few houses, a post office and a church that was founded in 1869.

Since leaving Omaha this morning, we have logged over 220 miles
and crossed nearly the entire state of Iowa. As my cousins and I drove, we reflected on how our great-great grandparents traveled. If they got in 20 miles, it was a good day. We have gone 10 times as far in only a few hours. More adventures are ahead tomorrow as we meander toward the Mississippi River.

A look inside...

This is the first page of Ann's diary. It begins: "Green Plain. 10th Mo. 3rd. In a real bustle loading up to start to Indiana. All middling well, only tired. Mind calm, but feel much leaving our pleasant home. Had much company this & last week. Had a little rain this morning & thunder & threatens more. Sun shines now."

Ann's diary is a small soft-cover booklet approximately 4" x 6 3/4". She wrote in pencil on faintly printed blue lines. It is bound with string sewn through the center fold and is in remarkably good condition for being 143 years old!

My cousins and I take up Ann's trail on Tuesday June 29th. We still aren't quite sure where Green Plain is, but the historical society may be able to help.

I hope you will enjoy traveling along with us!

Ann & Henry Way's family

Ann & Henry Way had nine children and eight of them lived to adulthood. In this picture, they are: [top back] Jane Ellen b. 1850, Tryphena Elma b.1844, Alson Elwood b. 1853. [middle row] Lotin Edwin b. 1860, Lucinda Malinda b. 1857, Mary Matilda b. 1841. [seated] Hulda Elizabeth b. 1840, Henry Ozbun b. 1816 (father), Ann Millis b. 1817 (mother), Curtis Elna b. 1847.
Ann & Henry's daughter, Mary Matilda, was my great-grandmother.

The four youngest children made the trip with Ann & Henry. Three are mentioned by name -- Alson, age 14, Jane age 17, and Lotin ("Eddie") who would have been 7. Nothing is said about Lucinda, but she undoubtedly was with them as she was only 10.

Would it have been that hard to smile?

First, they had to get to Iowa

Iowa became a state in 1846 and was soon settled by restless pioneers looking for land. An eye-witness described migration to Iowa in 1854: "The immigration into Iowa the present season is astonishing and unprecedented. For miles and miles, day after day, the prairies of Illinois are lined with cattle and wagons pushing on towards this prosperous state. At a point beyond Peoria, during a single month, seventeen hundred and forty three wagons had passed, and all for Iowa. (The Friend, Vol. XXVII, p. 319)

Quakers were part of this throng, crossing the Mississippi River and settling in the fertile valleys. It was said that ferrymen on the river became familiar with the Quaker salutation 'thee' and 'thou'.

Ann and Henry Way were part of this migration, moving to Iowa in 1855.

Quaker meeting records show that the Way family moved several times during their 12 years in Iowa including Cedar Creek Meeting, Salem Meeting, Western Plains Meeting, Bangor Meeting, South River, Ackworth Meeting, and Rosemount Meeting.

Eventually in 1867, the family made the decision to return to Indiana. They stayed another 18 years in Indiana before coming west... which is why I am a Californian and not a Hoosier.

I can't wait to see the Iowa towns where Great-great-grandmother Ann lived!

Iowa to Indiana 1867

In October of 1867, my great-great-grandmother Ann Millis Frazier Way and her family traveled by wagon from Iowa to Indiana. She kept a diary along the way, recording towns, roads, river crossings, and places where they camped.

Now in 2010, one hundred forty three years later, my cousins and I are following Ann's trail. Ann and her husband Henry took 26 days to make the journey. We will drive it in less than 5.

Ann's family had a long Quaker lineage, extending back to England. Because it was felt that the "idolatrous Saxons" named the days of the week after their gods (Sunday for the sun, Monday for the moon and so forth), Quakers kept their diaries by numbering the days of the week. Thus Ann's diary begins "10th month, 3rd day" in Green Plain, Iowa.

Does Green Plain still exist? Is it accessible by car? How does it look 140 years after Ann began her journey?

We will find out as we follow Ann's diary. The journey begins June 28, 2010!