Lela's grandfather was Thomas James Williams. Thomas James had ten brothers and sisters, all Lela's great aunts and uncles. The eldest of the siblings was her great aunt Rachel
Here is Rachel's story
"You asked me to tell you something of my earliest recollections.
"I was born in New Castle, Indiana on July 25, 1844. My father, Henry Williams was born in Hamilton Co. Ohio in 1825. His father used to cut cardwood on the land where Cincinnati now stands.
"My mother, Leah Stanbrough Williams, was born in Clinton Co. Ohio in 1826. Her parents moved to Hamilton Co. Ohio when she was 8 years old.
"My grandfather Williams name was William Williams and he was born in Maryland about the year 1790. He moved from there to Virginia while quite young and afterwards moved to Ohio and then to Indiana. He died in 1861.
"My grandmother Rebecca Lore Williams, was born in Pennsylvania about 1793 and died in 1855.
"My mother's father was William Stanbrough, he was born in North Carolina about 1800, and died in 1842. His wife was Rachel Pike Stanbrough, who was born in 1802, I think in Virginia. She and her husband and their only son Samuel, died in the same year 1842 of Winter Fever, as Typhoid was called then.
"Mother was the oldest of six girls left orphaned, the youngest being only three months old. They lived at the time in Westfield, Indiana. When mother was eight years old her parents had moved from Ohio to Westfield. All this was absolutely virgin country at this time. They had to cut down heavy timber to get room to build their cabins. There were several families in the crowd, among them was my great grandmother Stanbrough and her maiden daughter Betsy.
"They bought a farm with the rest of the party and began to hew a farm out of heavy timber. When they were leaving Ohio a married daughter, who was not moving, asked her when she would be back to visit them. Great-grandmother said in two years. My grandmother said she wondered how she expected to get there.
"When the two years were up the old lady saddled up her old horse and started out. She made the trip on horseback a distance of between two and three hundred miles, through a particularly unsettled country and with scarcely any roads. A married man, my grandfather, I think, went with her.
"All that I have told so far happened of course, before I was born. I am only repeating what my mother has told us.
"I well remember the first day I went to school in the spring when I was five years old. School began at 8 in the morning and closed at 5. The school house was a large square building made of logs. The seats were slab benches without backs, my feet could not touch the floor. The only desk in the room was a long shelf on the west side of the room for those who were old enough to take lessons in writing.
"When I got to the fourth reader class the teacher said I must bring a copy book. Mother took foolscap paper and made a copy book. Father hunted up a goosequill and made me a pen, that was the only kind we had then.
"I can well remember when we first heard of steel pens. When I took my outfit to school teacher set me to copy and what scratching and sputtering I made. Sad to relate that I have never done much better since.
"When we took third reader in school we had to spell all hard words and give definitions. We were not taught anything about reading until we had learned to spell several pages in the spelling book when pronounced to us and still I was in the fourth reader before I was nine years old.
"It was about this time that my great grandmother Stanbrough, two of her daughters and a son-in-law came to visit us. She was eighty-four years old at the time. Neither she nor her maiden daughter Betsy lived very long after this. My great grandmother was raised in North Carolina and was 7 years old at the time of the Revolutionary War. She was near enough to one battle to hear the cannon. She told her father it was going to rain because she heard it thunder. His answer was, "I wish it was only thunder". I never heard if any of her folks were in the war, in fact I think it was very likely that they were not, as all of mother's people were Quakers and conscientiously opposed to war.
"I have been told however, that my grandfather Williams had an uncle who was sent over with the British troop but he deserted to the Continental Army and fought with them until the end of the war.
"The year I was nine the first railroad was built to New Castle. This was the first railroad between Cincinnati and Chicago. There being but a few railroads in Indiana at that time.
"In the spring of 1856 Father traded his farm in Indiana for one in Butler Co. Iowa, and we moved to our new home. There were six of us children at the time and three cousins came with us. WE had 6 horses and 29 head of cattle. A tent and a covered wagon were our home from April 10th to May 11th when we arrived in Clarksville, Iowa. We moved onto the newly purchased land on May 20th. We endured the usual experiences of the pioneers during the hard times that began in 1856 and lasted until the close of the Civil War.
"The nearest railroad was in Dubuque, one hundred miles away. Everything was freighted in with horses and oxen. We got our mail once a week from Jonesville. The mail for Bristow and Coldwater came in with the Clarksville mail. The settlers came to claim it as often as they could. Once the mailman was held up for two weeks by a blizzard. When he finally got through he had a two-bushel sack of mail. In one year we received 30 letters. The neighbors thought we had a lot of mail.
"The railroad got through to Waterloo in 1860 or 61. Did not reach Waverly until the war was over in 1865. This was the Illinois Central. The Burlington, now called the Rock Island, got to Clarksville in 1871. There is one thing more I'd like to mention although it is not such ancient history.
"At the time of this move in May of 1856, my father was 31, and my mother 30. Five more children were born on this place making a total of eleven. We lived there until father's death at 1879. All the children were still living. When we had lived on this place for 9 years, I had heard my father say this total doctor bills were nine dollars.
"Their children were: Rachel-July 1844, Rebecca Aug 9, 1846, Thomas Feb 9, 1849, George Dec 29, 1852, Willie Oct 21, 1858, Abbie Feb 25, 1854, Nancy Dec 29, 1855, Sarah Sept 12, 1860, Cynthia Oct 8, 1862, Lida Oct 15, 1864 and Mary April 7, 1867."
Rachel Williams Shaw
February 2, 1928.
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