[WED]Re: Dyersville - sent again

[Roger Roper]

Hi Mary=20

I read that Field of dreams was filmed at Dyersville. Wasnt  Kevin =
Costners character called Kinsella? I could be thinking of a different =
film.

Good luck=20
Roger

>>> Mary Jackes <mjackes@telusplanet.net> 11/26 4:05 pm >>>
Dyersville, Iowa - seems a hotbed of Wedmore and area settlement - at =
least
in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

I note on the web a family history type called Roger Nute who is descended
from the Dyers from near Wedmore who established Dyersville.  Anyone come
across him?

I am going to post a listing of the English people who lived near the =
Dyers
(I don't have land grant information, so I can't pinpoint where people
lived), and are recorded in the 1850 Census, Dubuque County, Iowa, on =
pages
46 and following.=20

The message will be long, but I gather we are not meant to send attachments=
.

There are other English people in the census:
http://members.tripod.com/~Doreen_3/P31850DIST7.htm=20
will give you some idea - but I think there are many errors in this
transcription - actually the census taker had awful handwriting! On =
several
occasions I had to look at the Wedmore parish records to get an idea of =
the
name. You might be able to help me with getting the names right.

Other English people round about are mostly listed as miners rather than
farmers, perhaps not Wedmore area people, or had children born in the US
rather early, and so would not have been in the appropriate time-frame of
arrival in the mid to late 1840s. The fact, is however, that Dubuque =
County
had lots of English people. By contrast, in Minnesota there were just a =
few
isolated individual English men in 1850.

I note how often stray individuals are in these houses: the log houses =
must
have been packed to the rafters.  The strays are not listed as servants
(perhaps the few young non-relatives born in the US might have been
servants). Others are clearly single men newly arrived from England and
sharing with others; some are obviously awaiting the arrival of wives and
children once frontier life gets sorted out; the occasional stray children
are a bit of a puzzle.  It's interesting that some elderly mums and dads
are along on the adventure.  Extra comment - often the wives are older =
than
the husbands - I've seen that in the later Minnesota census records, too.

Sandi McGinnis tells me her family moved on to Alta, Iowa from Dyersville.
My Days moved on to St. Charles, and eventually, Graceville, MN.  I note
that some other people from Dyersville moved on to St. Charles, too - they
must all have lined up at the Winona Land Office to be the first in on the
land sales in 1853.=20

Sandi has quoted for me the names of some of the families that arrived in
Dyersville, from a Dysersville history by Halbach, as follows:

About 60 persons were reported ready=20
to emigrate from Wedmere (assume this meant Wedmore) the following month
(April
1848) and a great number from the villages around...John Young & wife, =
Jane
Dyer & children... were sailing...leaving Liverpool by the Constitution on =
Aug
6, 1848...accompanied by Edward Rich, Joseph Porch of Meare & Alfred
Hewlett of
Saxton...other English pioneers ...Robert Whiting & family, his father =
James
Whiting (Baptist circuit preacher)...according to one pioneer there were
thirty-two families in this colony (Whitings)...(names listed incl:  Henry
Pompham, John Gould, John Bailey, Joseph Counsell...)...1849 James Dyer, =
Sr
with youngest son & son-in-law, James Plaister, & George Gibbs.  William =
Trick
came in June 1849...Dr & Mrs Charles Hancock...1850...Caleb C. Chesterman =
&
Charles Toogood.

I certainly see some of these names (variant spellings, sometimes) in the
1850 census.

Declarations of intent for naturalization from 1849-1850 on would no doubt
have useful information.  And Halbach implies there were letters home - =
how
about local newspapers in Somerset?  Might be reports from Dyersville?

Final note: - I see from the web that Edmonton's own WP Kinsella has a
connection with Dyersville.  In spite of preferring cricket to baseball
(Tim Curtin accuses me of describing cricket as "archaic", so I must say
this), I'll have to get the film "Field of Dreams", and get a feel for the
area.
Mary Jackes
Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 0N8, Canada.

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