John C. McDONALD, a pioneer of Appanoose County, related an incident regarding the KEMERY family:

"I spoke of John KEMERY living south of town. He owned one hundred and twenty acres, which was afterward known as the A. S. BROWN place, while later it was owned by his daughter Jennie and still later sold to J. F. WOODBURN. This man KEMERY had a wife and several children, the youngest an infant. One day when he came in from work he found all the children, but his wife was missing. The husband made search and then gave alarm to the neighbors, who joined in the search. They dipped the well dry, fearing she had gone for water and fallen in. They searched the cornfields. The news spread like wild fire. People came for miles around and an all night search through timber and brush and prairies resulted hopelessly. People came and went speaking in whispers. School at the little log schoolhouse was demoralized, we boys and girls attending more to the latest news from the search for the lost woman than to our studies. At the end of the second day's search she was found in the woods up Middle Shoal, in the neighborhood where Logan McCLURE now lives. She was scratched and torn with brush and briers and was demented. Mr. KEMERY sold out soon after to A. S. BROWN, Sr., and removed to Decatur or Ringgold county. I remember the deal for the farm from Mr. KEMERY to Mr. BROWN, as the business was transacted in my father's house. The terms were cash. I do not remember the amount but Mr. BROWN counted the money out in gold and piled it on my father's dining table, which made quite a "pile," and it looked like great riches to me. In olden times people carried their money on their person, in their socks, or hats, or coat linings, or in a belt buckled around their waist, and for defense against possible attack or robbery, they carried a bowie knife or a small pistol called a Derringer."

SOURCE:  TAYLOR, L. L., editor Past and Present of Appanoose County, Iowa  p. 378  S. J. Clarke Publ. Co. Chicago. 1913.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2008