Pennsylvania to Iowa 1860

I am thinking that I need a "new system" to alert my readers to which family tree I am climbing now that I am starting to jump around a bit.  The post from July 1 was about my maternal side. Today, the information is about my husband's maternal side. I am open to ideas. Anyone? Anyone? 

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Minerva Jane Marsh Reeder (1860-1953) was the fourth of six children. They were the children of Richard and Celestia Phillips Marsh who moved from Pennsylvania when Minerva Jane was just a baby. They stopped in Illinois first.

The baby of this family was Fanny. See Aunt Fanny (1873-1956) It is Fanny's research and writing that I am using to share this part of my husband's maternal family story. Among these records is a writing by Dwight, the third child of the family. I just have a feeling that Aunt Fanny convinced him to do this.

He writes of the family home in Warren County, Pennsylvania and their move to Illinois about 1860.  He says they started out with a team and a wagon.  There were four children. Joseph Merritt about 8 years old, Florence about 6, Dwight about 4, and the baby Minerva Jane (direct line ancestor). The trip included arriving at a railroad, loading everything on the train and eventually arriving in Princeton, Illinois.

He included a story that I found to be very, very sad. "My uncle and family started with us but we had not travelled many days when one of my cousins fell out of the wagon and was run over and killed so the family returned to Warren County". I wonder if this uncle and family were on Dwight's mother's side or father's side.

His mother's maiden name was Phillips.  Celestia Phillips was the daughter of Elijah Phillips and Ellen Thompson Phillips. I am explaining this lineage because Dwight mentions one of his great-grandfathers in his writing.

He mentions that Great Grandfather Thompson came from Pennsylvania to Illinois at the age of 99 years.  While there he jumped on a horse and rode.  He lived to be over 100 years old. So, Dwight and our Minerva Jane's mother Celestia was the daughter of Ellen Thompson Phillips and her father would have been Caleb Thompson, the Great Grandfather Thompson to whom Dwight is referring.

He also mentions that his great grandmother Phillips lived to be 97. So, longevity is on not just from Grandpa Halle Augustus (1890-1990) my husband's maternal grandfather, but from my husband's maternal, maternal, maternal, maternal, paternal side too. Doris/Ina/Minerva Jane/Celestia/Ellen/Caleb Thompson.

Ina Reeder Augustus, Minerva Jane Marsh Reeder, Celestia Phillips Marsh

Three generations of Grandmothers