"My Paternal grandparents were George Echelberger and Jane Echelberger (nee Mowrey).

My maternal grandparents were Henry and Margaret Slagel. He was born in 1763 and she in 1773.

My mother Keziah Slagel was born near Pittsburgh, Pa. on August 25, 1823.
My father, Jacob Daniel was born in Mansfield, Ohio October 6, 1829. He was a soldier in the Civil War and was wounded in battle-- one finger was shot off.
Father and mother were married in Mansfield February 2, 1848. They lived there until 1862 when they moved west to Clinton County, Iowa.

The government opened for settlement other lands along the Des Moines river, so after the Civil War was over my parents decided to take up a river claim in Webster County, Iowa. They waited until the fall of 1867 when I was five months old and moved by covered wagon to a claim south of Homer, Iowa. They lived there until all the children were grown-up and them moved into Lehigh where "Pap" could follow the line of work he loved--carpentering and blacksmithing. He also made all the burial caskets used in our surrounding territory. He made them from black walnut wood. Then he would polish and varnish them and my sister "Vinnie" and I would line them with white muslin. The most famous casket "Pap" ever made was for the remains of Alfred Daniels of Lehigh, a 500 pound former circus fat man. That casket was so big it barely fit into a wagon box.

Father was considered the best horse shoer in Webster County. He went so far as to make his own shoes and also shod many oxen in his day. He was always interested in politics and served many terms in public offices such as Constable, Justice of The Peace, and Township Clerk. In fact, my son Delmege who has been Township Clerk for many years uses the very same docket my father used. Incidentally, Delmege's other grandfather, N.J. Williams used that same docket. So did Delmege's father John Williams.

J.D. Echelberger was a large man and proved his prowess many times by winning fights which usually settled the arguments in those days. (Lehigh had kind of a tough reputation up till the 1940's) I have talked to people from Fort Dodge and surrounding area who's father's would not let them come to Lehigh because of that reputation. These are people who then went to WWII.

I'll never forget the occasions when father left for Webster City to sell the hogs, we kids would yell "Don't forget to bring us copper-toed shoes."(We got one pair of shoes each year). "Pap" was a good fiddler and was much in demand at the nearby dances.

My mother was always busy, sewing by hand all of the clothes for her large family, first spinning then weaving the woolen yarn. She combined the wool and flax to make what we called "linsy-woolseys." The men's work shirts were made of heavy blue and white striped cloth called "hickory." Their pants were made of jeancloth in gray or black. All underwear was made of cotton flannel. She spun the woolen yarn and knit all of our sox, stocking, and mittens. As a small child I recall sitting with my mother in the evenings helping her patch mittens by candlelight.

During the summer months mother picked and dried wild grapes, wild plums, apples, rhubarb and pumpkin. She made lots of crabapple butter, using sorghum as the sweetening agent. She fermented sorghum to make our vinegar. In the fall she put up barrels of salt pork, pickles, sauerkraut and the like and we always had at least one barrel of sorghum. Father took the wheat thirty miles to Boone to the flour mill where it was ground. It took at least two days to "go to the mill." Yes, we were always prepared to be well fed during the long, cold winters.

Father died of Bright's Disease and Diabetes February 28, 1905, aged 75. Mother died March 28, 1908, aged 84, after a stroke of apoplexy suffered two days previously. My parents are buried in West Lawn cemetery at Lehigh.

In the Jacob Daniel Echelberger family there were nine of us children that grew to manhood and womanhood. Also one child Benjamin who died from burns when a year old and a pair of stillborn twins, a boy and a girl.

The children who reached maturity were George the eldest, then Roseann "Rose," Henry Slagel "Hence," Jacob Franklin "Frank", William Leroy "Bill" , Edwin Lincoln "Link", Charley Fay, Carrie Lovina "Vinnie", and Ina. I was the youngest.

George born March 20, 1849 married Julia Ann Ross. Julia died of cancer (buried in Homer, Ia cem). George suffered many years in later life but he seldom complained. He died of pneumonia on March 14, 1925. (buried in Homer cem)

I was born "on the banks of the Wapsie" (Wapsipinicon river) in Clinton county May 18, 1867. My family migrated in October, 1867 by covered wagon to a river claim about three miles south of Homer. There my father built a one room log cabin in which we lived for one year. Then father built on another large room and a loft where the boys slept.

When I was about seven years old a band of Indians made camp along Brushy Creek to trap and to make syrup in the Spring. My mother was extremely afraid of them and had warned us repeatedly to stay away from their camp. Nevertheless, one morning I decided to go see the Indian baby. I slipped away and went to the Indian Tepee. Mother became alarmed when the other children came in for the noon meal and I wasn't with them. She sent Link and Charley to hunt for me. Well, they found me in the tepee contentedly rocking the cute little papoose and crooning the lullaby it's mother had taught me. It sounded like this: "Ah - pi - nee - nee, Ah - pee - nee - nee."

I married John Albert Williams July 3, 1887. We were married in the Lehigh Methodist Parsonage by pastor "Uncle Walter" Goodrich. Walter "Daunt" Williams and Rachel Linn (Williams) were our attendants.

There were nine children born to us: Daisy Eleanor (Newkirk, Lynch), Merritt Fay, Lovina May, Esther Eulalia (Hinds, Bales), Melvin Shelby, Delmege Lincoln "Ching", the twins Glida Glenadeth (Miller, Woodbury), and Vida Valeen (Ellenwood) and Winona M. Swalla.

Daisy married Roscoe Newkirk and they raised three children: Cyril, Doris, and Helen. Later Daisy married Joseph Lynch. They had two children: Dr. William and Mary. Daisy's daughter Doris is a grandmother three times so, of course that makes me a Great - Great - Grandmother.

Esther wed William V. Hinds and they had Neil and Dorothy. Years after Mr. Hinds death Esther married John Bales.

My son D.L. ("Ching") married Winifred Diggins. They lost a son John and have a daughter Leatrice.

Glida married Claude Miller and had two boys Bruce and Donald. She is now Mrs. Leland Woodbury.

Vida married S.O. Ellenwood and has a daughter Rosalie. Many years ago the twins moved to Los Angeles and opened "The Twins Beauty Salon".

I live with Winona who is married to Charles H. Swalla: they have three children: Charlene, Sharon Kay, and Charles.

Merritt when 14 years old shot himself accidently while cleaning his rifle.

Lovina May died of pneumonia when three months old.

Melvin Shelby died of whooping cough at 18 days.

My husband John A. Williams was a Barber and also sold Fire Insurance. He was mayor of Lehigh three terms, Justice of The Peace 20 years and President of our Board of Education 19 years. He was accidently killed by the C.G.W. (Chicago Great Western) train that ran down the main street of Lehigh. That happened October 4, 1927.

Brother George died at 77, Henry at 65, Frank 56, William 72, Lincoln 70, Charley 76, Rose 70 and Lovina at 26.

As I finish this brief history I am in my eighty-eighth year. It has been a new experience attempting to be an author but I've loved it and hope that you get some enjoyment reading this short history of a family of which I am proud to be a member."
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