One Beginning: 1850's? [sic]

Frankfurt, Germany. William and Amelia (Nee Bonert) Raasch wanted to migrate to the New World- America. Amelia awarded five hundred dollars in an essay contest, was enabled to purchase steerage. the journey began. Aboard ship a storm raged for days. People feared for their lives. William, a German Baptist lay preacher trusted God for whatever would happen. The ship arrived safely. The people were eating "moldy" bread but all survived. (Forerunner of penicillin.)
 William and Amelia settled in Wisconsin. Many children were born: Robert, Gustavus (remember this one called Gus), August, Ida, Hulda, Martha (special), William, Emma, Amos, Lewis and Henry. father William and son Gus set out for Kansas to homestead. Gus, a young teenager was left at the one room log house in Kansas while is father returned to Wisconsin to move the family. The trip was over six months duration. Martha with he other younger brothers driving geese most of the way. The Raasch family settled on a farm. Things going well. All working "hard to succeed".

Another family moved to Kansas from New York state. Sometime in the seventeen hundreds a Lovelace family moved from England to North America settling in New York. The one we are concerned with was named Daniel, who married a widow, Elizabeth (Graham) Stevens. Elizabeth had two sons by Stevens who served in the Union Army (Civil War), both died in Andersonville prison, a confederate military prison in Georgia. Daniel Lovelace and Elizabeth had four children. George, William Benjamin (remember Will), John and Harriet. Daniel drove a freight wagon from Kansas City to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gone six months at a time. Elizabeth managed well. Son Will attended Illinois University studying law. As a farmer in the North he was often a County Officer requiring a knowledge of legal practice.  Will rode a black stallion to school. Popular method of transportation in those days. Had a brief encounter with Jesse James that proved uneventful. Will's brother George found a wife in that large Raasch family, Ida. Many children were born of this union. Will had his eye on Ida's little red haired sister, Martha. Will was ten years older than sixteen year old Martha. Theirs was a clandestine romance. One winter's evening, heavy deep snow on the ground, Hulda and Martha were milking the cows in the barn. Martha's cow was moving a lot (Martha was causing this) not being able to milk the cow. Hulda the stern, impatient one said "I'm not waiting for you to finish milking" off to the house she went. Martha was waiting for that moment. Leaving the pail by the cow, walking backward through the snow, to a grove of trees. A sleigh was waiting. Will Lovelace had wanted to get his bride to be. They eloped that winter evening. After awhile it was decided in the Raasch household to check on Martha. Amelia, of a stern nature suspected a run away, proclaimed dire punishment for Martha, even a flogging with a harness trace. Martha's brother, Gus who had been her confidant made the calm statement, "The next time you see Martha, she will be a wife."
Will was eventually accepted as a loved son in law, getting along with the stern Amelia. William, Martha's father was a serene man with a smiling face that came down the generations.
Four children were born to Will & Martha.  Alphonso William, 1880, Desdemona (Dessie), 1883, Gustavus Adolphus, October 9th, 1887 -Dad-, Harriet Rovilla, 1891 -Aunt Hattie-.