Timothy James  married Kristen Boege. Tim earned an Associate Degree from Anoka-Ramsey Technical College and is a mechanic. Kris is a licensed pharmacist.

Stephen Joseph graduated from Anoka High. He served in the U.S. Army and presently works in sales in Los Angeles.

Marcia Jean married Michael Cleys. He is a lock technician for a banking equipment company. Marcia works for General Mills in Golden Valley, MN as an administrative assistant. They have three children: Zachery Michael, Jake and Joseph.

Robert Bruce (b. 4 Sep 1967) was a Down's Syndrome child. He died at home from cancer 2 Feb 1988.

Hanna - Hoyt Family

(Janice W. Relf)

Bio Photo

Sarah “Sadie” Hanna Relf

Living in Ireland in Antrim Co. was a family named O'Hanna. In the spirit of adventure they came to the United States and were living the pioneer life in western PA, near Hannastown, a short distance from Pittsburgh. Here they dropped the “0” from Hanna.

During the bleak winter of 1777, when General Washington encamped at Valley Forge and the final campaign with the Indians and burning of Hannastown, the Hanna family started the long trek to the West and the unknown.

Meanwhile events were taking place among the Scotch-Irish people in the Highlands of Scotland. Beginning in 1796, groups were emigrating into Canada and the U.S. The Black Hawk Purchase opened to public entry a segment of the Iowa Territory. One group made a four month and one thousand mile journey by covered wagon to the Iowa prairie lands, their destination being Scotch Grove, IA in the east central part along the Maquoketa River timberline. Government surveys were completed in Oct of 1838 when Eastern Iowa was opened for settlement.

In 1872 the Milwaukee Railroad erected a depot in Scotch Grove. A store building was built at the intersection of Main & Market Sts., on the corner now occupied by the Balster General Store. A second store was opened by H.D. Hanna in 1874. A promising evergreen nursery was founded in 1862 by Edward Hoyt. Lyman P Hoyt was one of the Elders in the new Presbyterian Church organized in 1841.

Charles Madison Hanna of Jackson Co, IA and Sara (Hoyt) ofTiega, PA were married 5 Jan 1882 at Osceola, PA according to the family Bible record. They moved to Scotch Grove. Charles was a pioneer creamery operator also owning creameries at Center Jet, Onslow and Delhi continuing in this business for 27 years. They had 2 children: Harvev Edward and Sarah Mav (also known as “Sadie”) born 8 Mar 1892.

Scotch Grove was saddened by the death of the new mother, Sara, who died 20 Mar 1892 of birth complications. Harvey was raised by the Hanna family and the baby Sarah, 12 days old, was raised by close Hanna and Hoyt relatives until she was 3 years old.

On 18 Sep 1893 Charles was married to Minerva McKinnis at Greeley, IA. Their wedding trip was to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL. At this time the Hanna family was again reunited and lived in Scotch Grove.

Here Sarah had many memories. When she was 5 years old her father took her to the barn to see "Flossie" the dog and her 5 little Pug dogs. She chose “Fritz” who became her constant companion for many years. She started to school at the “Slough Schoolhouse" one mile across the field from home. According to Sarah’s diary, when Charles was driving his team named “Kit” and “Queen” home from Monticello, the horses started to run and then jumped the fence with the buggy, her father and brother Harvey both being thrown out. Sarah and her mother remained in the buggy for the wild ride. A man up the road stopped the team which had been frightened by the scent of a dead horse in the road.

Sarah always wore a sunbonnet, even after sundown, that her mother had made from tea matting. This was a woven straw that came around big packages of tea sold in grocery stores. In 1900 the family moved to Manchester, IA on a farm one mile West of town. Her father took her in a wagon, buggy or bob-sled to the town school.

Threshing day was a big event and help came from the men neighbors. The ladies helped Mrs. Hanna with the roast beef dinner and berry pie. The men said it was the best meal of all the farms they worked at.

In 1908 they moved to a small farm in North Manchester. Sarah (Sadie) attended the Manchester High School graduating with honors from the Latin Course and received a scholarship to Drake University in Des Moines, IA graduating in 1912. She was offered a teaching position in the Decorah schools. She roomed at the Episcopal parsonage for $4.00 a month.

Sarah later married a young jeweler, Roy Whittier Relf. With this union we bring together the Scotch-lrish family, Hanna-Hoyt and the English family, Relf-Whittier. (See Relf-Whittier story)

H-18
Partial OCR transcription, some sensitive personal information such as birth dates of people that maybe living is not included. See the associated scan to compare with the published information.

Please, contact the County Coordinator to submit additions or corrections.

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this page was last updated on Sunday, 28 March 2021