Hastings, my mother's name was Edith
Edwards. Father and mother were both born in North Carolina; father
in 1905, mother in 1808. They were married in 1826. My two older
brothers were born in North Carolina. The rest of us were born in
Indiana. The parents, with their two little boys came to Indiana in
1830. They made the entire trip in a one-horse wagon; crossing the
Cumberland Mountains, and passing through the states of Tennessee,
Virginia and Kentucky. Of course they had but little in their wagon;
a box or two containing their wearing apparel, and a little bedding,
and also a little tin box containing just one-hundred dollars in gold
coin and a few valuable papers, which was kept, locked and hidden, in
one of the larger boxes. This hundred dollars was all the money
father had except what he had in his pocket purse, which he supposed
would be enough to meet the expenses of the trip.

All went well for about two weeks when a man, traveling on horseback,
overtook them, who slackened his gait and traveled along with
them, forming an acquaintance. He said to them that he too, was
going to the far west (Indiana was called the far west then), to seek
his fortune. He was very kind, helpful and generous; and traveled
along with them for two days, but, on the third day morning, when
father awoke, his fellow traveler was gone. Father and the man had
slept under the wagon. Father usually slept in or under the wagon
while mother and the little boys would sleep in the house of some
family who lived by the road-side. Just as they were ready to start
that morning, mother said to father, "Have you looked to see if the
tin box is safe?" "No" said father. "Well, you better look," said
mother. Father looked among the stuff in the big box where they had
kept it, but it was not there. The man had stolen it and all that
was in it. The kind family, whose hospitality mother had shared
during the night, kept her and her children in their home while
father and the husband of the home and an officer of the law spent
two days hunting for the thief, but could not find him. So, father
and mother had to pursue their journey without their little tin box
which was the most valuable of their temporal assets. A man that
steals, should steal no more.

In due time, (1830) father and mother with their two little boys,
Thomas and Henry arrived in Lawrence County, Indiana, and settled in
the rich valley of the east fork of the White r