Why did William Kludt move from Iowa to Minnesota then back to Iowa then to Washington State? All in a span of about five years. I really don’t know.
William’s parents moved
to Iowa from Wisconsin in 1878. He
married his wife, Susan Reisner, in February 1889. Their three oldest children were all born in
Iowa in 1890, 1892, and 1895, respectively.
Their youngest (and fourth) child was born in Minnesota in 1900.
Let’s look at land
records. William purchased land in Sept
1892 in Fayette Co, Iowa. He later sold
it in Feb 1906. He purchased land (127 ½
acres) in May 1906 in Lewis County, Washington.
This land he sold parcels over the next few years. He had purchased a town lot in March 1920
(but didn’t move there until the 1940’s).
He also purchased two lots of property in Adna in January 1922. They sold this land in March 1943 before
moving into the house in Chehalis. No
mention of the sale of the first purchase of land in Lewis County as it was leased
to his oldest son to farm.
Ok, what
about newspaper articles. That always
gives clues. West Union Gazette,
published October 14, 1892 indicates that William had lived on the farm he
purchased for the past three years. That
means, he and Susan were renting the land soon after their marriage. He paid $2400 for 160 acres. The Argo newspaper (also published in West
Union, Iowa) had an announcement about a public sale being held on the farm in
February 1899, selling livestock and crops.
The March 1st edition indicated that the farm was rented out
and the family moved to Minnesota where they rented a farm until 1903, when
they returned to the Iowa farm. In
February 1906, an exchange was done between William and a Mr Ostrander of farms
in Center Township with William’s land in Auburn (in Iowa). This article mentioned that William is
leaving for Oregon. Still no mention as
to the why.
Guess we’ll
never know why William moved between Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State.
