sion and kitsie seemed to have stayed close to kitsie's family, the chanceys. her brother, irv, farmed on neighboring land in section 27, in fact he bought those 40 acres a half year earlier than sion. and in early 1855, kitsie's father bought 40 acres about a mile east of them; his land application stated that he already owned and farmed on adjacent land, so had been there awhile. her uncle amos chancey had taken out land patents as early as 1841.
looking east
this image is looking east from sion & kitsie's land towards alexander chancey's land, probably somewhere just over the middle ridge in the distance.
sion and kitsie are not found in any census prior to 1860. a not infrequent happenstance, the censustaker did not ride down a creek far enough and missed a farm. but her father is found in the 1850 census in the county just east of coffee. it is probable that sion and kitsie lived near them. what is interesting is that they pulled up stakes and moved no more than 40 miles west to establish new farms. why? did they need more open land for grazing hogs and acattle? or more, and cheaper, land for the next generation? whatever the immediate reason, it speaks, if not to restlessness, an unsettledness, a willingness to move when prospects appeared better, even if only 40 miles away, and it speaks to no strong attachment to place, no sentiment. kitsie's father had already moved the family 20 years earlier from south carolina. 40 more miles westward was merely a refinement.
as you ponder the lives of your ancestors, sion and kitsie, know that their little family was a satellite to a larger chancey family unit. at least at that time and place. the coming war disrupted that.
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