Jumping forward to the Civil War

 I'm intrigued about what moved my 2nd great-grandfather, Levi M Shephard from his farm in Minnesota to Miner, South Dakota. I have no direct information about the reasons, so this is all speculation based upon what was going on in the US leading up to the move.

Levi was born in Buffalo, New York in 1828. He met his wife in or near McHenry, Illinois and married in 1849 so something caused his family to move to Illinois between 1828 and 1849. Perhaps the family was caught up in the depression caused by the Panic of 1837 and departed to farm in Illinois as the industries in Buffalo were likely hit hard during the depression.

By 1857, he and his growing family had moved to Fillmore County, Minnesota where he is listed as a farmer in the territorial census of that year. In the 1820s, the US government had signed a treaty with the Dakota Indians and over a course of years took control of most of the land in Minnesota and opened it up for farming and the timber industry. It would seem that Levi took advantage of the government program to encourage people to move to Minnesota. In 1858, there were enough residents that Minnesota was admitted to the union as the 32nd state.

In 1859, he was granted 160 acres of land in Fillmore County Minnesota by a transfer from Private Robert Starbird of the Maine Militia who received the land for his service in the war of 1812. I do not know how Private Starbird knew Levi or what led to the transfer of the land grant. Perhaps the land abutted Levi's farm and he searched out Robert Starbird in order to expand his farm.

In 1862, the Dakota Indians started warring with the settlers as their crops had failed and their traditional hunting grounds had been turned into farmland. The Dakota were trying to force the settlers out as the government was delaying agreed upon payments to them. This war started near Acton, but moved south 70 miles to New Ulm. This was only 150 miles from the seat of Fillmore County, so I'm sure there was some concern in the local townships. The war ended in 1863 with the hanging of 38 men by the US Army in Mankato. Abraham Lincoln granted clemency to the remaining prisoners of war and they served prison terms instead. With the exception of one Sioux tribe that had converted to Christianity and helped the settlers, the Sioux were exiled from the state and wound up living with the Crow in Nebraska.

When he was 36 years old, in February 1864, Levi enlisted for 3 years in the 2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment to fight in the Civil War for the Union. He left his wife and 6 children, aged 2-14 to look after the farm.  Fortunately, this infantry regiment mustered out of service in July 1865 so he served only 18 months of his 3 years. The 2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry sent troops to help attack Atlanta and to aid in General Sherman's March to the Sea. After that, they battled in the Carolinas and were part of the surrender of General Johnston at Bennett Place, the largest surrender during the Civil War.

Beginning in 1875, Levi and his wife began making moves off of the Fillmore County farm. In 1875, Levi moved to Spring Valley, the nearby town. then in 1880, with his wife and 5 youngest children, they moved 100 miles west to Decoria, MN in Blue Earth county. Decoria had been opened up for settlement by the arrival of the railroad in the 1860s. I can find no explanation for the move from Fillmore to Blue Earth. His occupation is still noted as farmer on the 1880 census from Decoria.

The closest explanation I could find relates to Minnesota having become a wheat mono-culture, primarily located in the south-eastern part of the state. Minnesota was the major provider of wheat to the US at that time. In 1873, a 4-year plague of grasshoppers hit the state. Perhaps they sold their farm in the high-priced south-eastern portion of the state and moved to the northwest where land was still cheap. This would have provided the family with the money needed to survive until farming became profitable again.

Around 1886, Levi and his wife moved to Miner, South Dakota to live with his daughter, Esther Means. Perhaps they moved because his wife's health was failing. She lived until March 1897, but died after suffering from a lingering illness for a number of years. Levi died in July of that year of a heart attack while helping his son-in-law harvest the corn. 

Esther met and married Lafayette Freeman Means in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. They married before 1874. In 1876, their first child was born in Howard, South Dakota. This was before Howard was declared a township in 1881 shortly after the Southern Minnesota railroad completed their route to there. Perhaps Lafayette, a young man of 34, was working on the railroad and that is why they were there on the frontier. Their next two children were born in Minnesota and they moved to Howard between 1875 and 1876. At that point Lafayette bought some land and began farming. Perhaps they loved the area after having spent time there earlier.

Around 1881, my great-grandfather, Levi's son Edgar also moved to Howard. This was the year after he married. My grandfather was born in Howard, South Dakota.

So the hard life spent farming, the expansion of the railroad and young men looking to the new frontier took my Civil War ancestor and his son to South Dakota. Levi was noted as a true friend to many in his obituary. He lived an honorable and productive life.