Hanson-Keyes Family Reunion - 1928

ASHTON, BECKER, BOYD, FAWCETT, HANSON, HAYS, KEYES, KIMBERLY, LOMAX, MARITZ, METLER, MONTGOMERY, PEASE, SIEBELL, SINCLAIR, SKINNER, STONE, THORSEN TRAMEL, WHITTAKER

Posted By: JCGS Volunteer
Date: 7/21/2022 at 14:15:55

The reunion of the Hans Hanson and Ann Dorothy Hanson (Keyes) families resulted in over fifty meeting at Hanson farm north of Mingo, Sunday, Aug. 12, 1928.
This is the old Hanson farm home. The Hanson family came from Tarvestead, Norway, leaving the port of Stavanger on May 11, 1836. They came direct to Illinois about “roasting ear time.” The exact date has not been remembered but as this was the first time the family had ever seen any roasting ears it was referred to in this way.
Martin Van Buren was president at this time and was making a tour of the country and these children remember their father coming to their uncle’s home where they were staying and telling the family that he had shaken hands with the president of the United States.
They were urged to join the Norwegian settlement but the parents said that they had come to America that their family might enjoy the privileges of this country and become Americans and that they wished to go further west and join an American settlement. This they did, going to LaSalle County and buying land there. This is where Ann Dorothy met E. H. Keys and married him. They came to Iowa in 1847 and to the home north of Mingo, and still owned by the family in 1855. They spent the first night in the Kintz log cabin. The stairs from this cabin are still in use in one of Geo. Hanson’s granaries.
Hans Hanson went to California during the gold rush, staying there for four years, then on to Australia for another four years. While in Australia he found a single gold nugget which brot him over two thousand dollars in U.S. money. He came home around the point of South America and by way of Liverpool. After coming to Iowa he made his home for a while with his sister and afterwards married Mary Ashton.
He first bought land on Clear Creek and then through Mr. Ashton acquired the farm where George now lives. He afterwards traded his land on Clear Creek for a piece of land south of the home place. A town was surveyed and laid out on this piece just north of the Keyes farm and named Palmyra but it was never developed. This was before the time of railroads and nearby towns.
Hans Hanson belonged to the early day “Vigilantes” and helped to keep law and order in the new settlement. At one time he helped capture a man who had been doing considerable thieving and took him to Newton turning him over to the sheriff.
The meeting next year will be the second Sunday in August at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hanson near Collins. The officers elected were:
Grace Hanson Kimberly, Mingo, President; Mrs. Mable Hanson Stone, Nevada, Secretary; Mrs. Vesta Pease, Colfax, Historian.
Those attending the reunion were, Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Hanson, Lars, Hollis and James Hanson; Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Kimberly, Jean, George and Dick, Mingo; Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Hanson, Minnie and Mary Hanson and Marian, Nevada; Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hanson, Collins; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hanson, Des Moines; Mrs. Dorah Maritz and Bob of Stronghurst, Ill., Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Fawcett, and grandson; Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Hanson, Nevada; Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hanson and sons, Hans and Amos, Jr., Collins; Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Hays, Mingo; Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Skinner and daughter, Zella, Collins; Geo. Boyd and daughter Gladys, Mingo; Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Tramel, Mingo, Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Pease, Colfax; Mr. and Mrs. B. O. Montgomery and son Roy and Miss Clarice Metler, Des Moines. They were represented at the reunion by Mr. and Mrs. John J. Becker, Mr. Dan and Miss Margaret Becker, Marseilles, Ill., and Miss Helen Whittaker, Seneca, Ill.
There were letters from Mrs. Ella (J. B.) Hanson and daughter, Mrs. Mildred Siebell, Pasadena, Cal. Mrs. Siebell expressed a wish to come by airplane so that she might get here for the reunion but some of the family did not think it advisable to do so.
Mrs. Carrie Thorsen Sinclair, sent greeting from her brother and her family, located in Petaluma, Calif. There were also greetings from Mrs. Martha Hanson Lomax who was recently married and now in Abingdon, Illinois.
Source: Colfax (IA) Tribune; Thursday, August 16, 1928