In the Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Hamilton and Wright Counties, Iowa, [BDW 06], under H. D. Welch, there is a paragraph about Bold Dighton and Anna Welch:
"...D.B. Welch...was...a well-known pioneer of the county and a native of York state. The mother...was Anna (Bates) Welch, a native of New York State. The family left Huron County (Ohio) in 1854 and came to Linn county, Iowa, where
they lived for two years and then returned to Ohio; here they resided until 1863, when they again returned to Iowa and located in Hardin County; later lived in Marshall County, and in 1868 came to Wright County, and settled on section 36,
Woolstock township. ...[They] lived here for eighteen months and then returned to Ohio. the mother [Anna] died in Wakeman, Ohio, in 1870. The father now lives [1889] in Beadle county, Dakota."
In the Welch Family family history, written by either Elsie or Barbara J. Welch, there are a couple of pages on Bold Dighton Welch, May 26, 1991, which are reproduced here [BDW 07]:
"Bold Dighton grew up in Wakeman [Township, Huron County, Ohio] and eventually became a farmer and self-trained veterinarian. He married Anna Bates on November 01, 1847. She attended Oberlin College (1846-1847) and taught him to read and write.
Anna Bates was also a descendant of Moses Bates, one of the "minute men" who marched to the aid of Concord in April of 1775. She came from New York. Like many another Victorian, She enjoyed the sentimental, often moralistic, poetry of the day.
A copy of one favorite was carefully preserved by her husband in his copy of Dr. Chase's Recipes. It was to become a favorite of Elsie Welch Rushia who sang it while working around the house:
In a graveyard lonely, many miles away.
Lies your dear old mother 'neath the cold, cold clay.
Memories of her now returning of her tears and sighs,
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

Listen to her pleading, "wandering boy come home,"
Lovingly entreating, do not longer roam.
Let thy manhood waken, heaven ward lift thine eyes.
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

It continues in a similar manner for two more stanzas and choruses.

They had one girl and six boys: Eliza, Dighton Carlos, Horace, Harvey ("Harvos"), Delos, and Lewis Massoc. A baby boy was still-born on January 15, 1870.
The history of these years is told rather sketchily by D. C. Welch in his "A little History of My Life" which he wrote in 1932. About 1860, Bold Dighton "traded his Ohio home for some land in Hardin County, Iowa near Eldora." Owing to Bold Dighton's ill health, he returned briefly to Ohio in 1866, leaving his family briefly in Marietta, Iowa. They, then, moved back to Ohio. the family later moved to Marshalltown, Iowa where Bold Dighton bought a one-acre lot. D. C. Welch began attending school there. D. C. Welch recalled:
"My brother and sold garden stuff and we had a two-wheeled cart we hauled all over town. Also, I remember we got the malt from the brewery to feed the mild cow, and I can see the stock crunching down the barley. Of course there was a saloon on every corner." From Marshalltown, the family moved to Wright County, some twenty-five miles between Marshalltown and Clemans Grove. This move was made in a wagon with the cows "following along."
"We had some frontier experiences on the Wright County farm which father traded his Marshalltown property for at four dollars an acre. I think we killed 28 rattlesnakes the year we moved through, breaking up the prairie. Also, I can see in my imagination a great flock of crows, chickens, ducks, and geese. Plovers, wild pigeons, snipes, and other wild birds. This was about 1867. We lived on the farm until about 1870 when father moved back to Ohio and we as a family followed up. That winter my mother died was the commencement of years of trouble and there has been plenty of it ever since."
Anna Bates died on January 18, 1870, three days after giving birth to a still-born child.
Sometime later, Bold Dighton began courting other women, bouncing across the miles in a horse-drawn wagon. It was on one such excursion that he was started to find son Horace hiding in the wagon. Unfortunately, he had driven too far to turn back.
Bold Dighton became a self-taught veterinarian. Shortly before his death, 29 January 1901, he wrote down his General Lineament Recipe for posterity:
"Aqua Amonia 6 oz.
Alcoho l6 oz.
Olive Oi l6 oz.
Oil of Camphor 4 oz.
Oil of Terpentine 2 oz.
Oil of Cloves 2 oz.
Oil of Seneca 2 oz.
Oil of Spike 2 oz.
Tincture of Iodine 1 oz.
Tincture of Capsioum 2 oz.
Tincture of Cautharides 2 oz.
Chloroform 2 oz."
In the Webster City Journal, Webster City, Iowa, 01 February 1901, the following obituary appeared:
"Death of an Old Settler
B. D. Welch died at the home of his son D. C. Welch, in Woolstock, a few minutes after twelve 0'clock Tuesday morning of lung trouble, superinduced by the grip at the age of 72 years.
Deceased was born in the state of New York in 1828 and was married in Ohio to Miss Anna Bates in 1847. They came to Iowa in 1860 and to Wright county in 1868, Mrs. Welch dying the following year. Mr. Welch lived with his sons in this city a couple of years some twenty-four years ago. Mr. Welch was a consistent Christian, a member of the Methodist church since childhood, and was willing to answer the final summons. Deceased leaves four sons, Hiram Delos (H.D.) and Carl Dighton (D.C.), of Woolstock, Harvey B. of this city, and Horace H., of Carthage, South Dakota. The funeral was held Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Methodist church. " [BDW 01]
In the Hamilton County Journal of Thursday, 31 January 1901, the following obituary was posted:
"Death of B. D. Welch
The death of Bold Dighton Welch occurred at Woolstock, Iowa on Tuesday, Jan. 29th at 12:15 O'clock a.m. , at the home of his son D. C. Welch. He was one of the pioneer settlers of this section and his passing will be learned of with regret by many of the older residents of the city and county.
Mr. Welch was born in New York state on July 17, 1828. He moved to Ohio when but a boy. In Ohio he was married in 1848 and came to this state in 1868 settling on a farm north of this city. He has since resided here except for a short time that he and his wife went back to Ohio to live when she died. He leaves four sons, Carl D.C. Welch of Woolstock; Harvey Billings Welch. Welch of this city; Horace H. Welch, of South Dakota; and Hiram Delos Welch who resides north of the city. One daughter died at the age of twenty-one years. He was a man of high character, the best of habits, an earnest christian, a member of the M. E. church of this city and honored and respected by all who knew him.
The funeral was held at the M. E. church at Woolstock this morning at 10:30. The services were conducted by Rev. Bristow, of the M. E. church assisted by the pastor of the Baptist church of that place. The remains were interred at Cass Center cemetery. [BDW 02.]