We found our first records of the Buswell's in the Bible that had belonged to John Henry Buswell, the second son of Moses Colby and Lucy Jane (Jennie) Gardner Buswell. We felt these records to be right and will enter them in this book just as our ancestors had entered them in their family Bible. From then on we (Iva and Violet) have kept track from year to year as to deaths, births, and marriages.

It was stated in their Bible that Moses Colby Buswell, born January 2, 1823, and his wife, Lucy Jane (Jennie) Gardner Buswell came from New York to Wisconsin. Their second child, John Henry Buswell, was born January 25, 1846, and on May 12, 1868, was united in marriage to Florence Adelaide Parker. It is the descendants of these ancestors that we will enter in this book.

Their first four children were born in Kenosha Co., Wisconsin. Then, about 1875, they came to Hardin Township, Greene County, Iowa. They put up a sod house on a farm and lived there until about 1881. This farm was bought many years later by a grandson of John Henry Buswell, Verle Buswell, and his wife Violet. Verle died March 10, 1951. Violet later married J.H. Dickerson and they still own the Buswell farm. Verle and Violet's son, Donald Buswell, and family now reside on the home place.

From here, John Henry and Florence Buswell moved to Highland Township, Greene Country, Iowa, near the town of Churdan. They farmed 140 acres in Section 12. In addition to this, they did many other jobs such as running a milk route and selling feed and Red Rose Flour.

From time to time, old friends and neighbors of the John Henry Buswell's would relate to Verle and Violet Buswell some of the happenings they remembered of the older Buswells. They were always eager to visit about their relatives. In the spring, the assessor, Frances Mullins, would come to assess the Buswell property. He had been a neighbor and close friend of John Henry and loved to tell stories of things that had happened. Frances told of the time a stranger had ridden into the Buswell yard on horseback and as he was leaving, he grabbed up their first-born son, Elmer Grant, and rode off with him. The stranger let Elmer off the horse at Farnhamville, Iowa and some farmers who had been looking for him found him a few days later.

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There were no schools in the county in those early days, so Florence (John Henry's wife) started a school and taught the children of the neighborhood in their small home. They even had Church in their home. After the schoolhouse was built, Florence taught until a regular schoolteacher could be found.

After each of John Henry and Florence's children were married, they moved to their own homes. Their son Elmer was a farmer in Wisconsin. Their son Laurence made his home near Gowrie, Iowa. Their daughter Lucy married John Clark and they farmed near Churdan, Iowa. Their son Howard was a Chiropractor and made his home in Jefferson, Iowa. Their son Henry was a carpenter and moved with his family to Garrison, North Dakota, and later moved to Oregon. The state of Oregon has always seemed so many miles away in the past but in more recent years with modern transportation and modern highways, the distance seems to become shorter. Henry was able to visit his Iowa cousins on one or two occasions before his death. More recently, Verle and Violet Buswell, Alta and Myron Dudley, Carl and Iva Ogren and Clara Hade have all made trips to visit the Oregon Buswells. John Henry Buswell, tenth child of Henry Buswell and the namesake of this grandfather, and his family have come from Oregon to visit their Iowa cousins. These visits have helped us so much in getting these records for our family book.

John and Florence Buswell's ninth child, Mary, married Clyde Athey and they moved to a farm in Minnesota. Their tenth child, Flora, married Floyd Elliott and they reside in Greene County, Iowa, where they farmed for a time and ran a Dray Line.

Just as the children of John Henry and Florence Buswell married and have moved to their own homes, so have their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and great-great-great-grandchildren; until presently the Buswell clan has scattered "to the ends of the Earth" … or so it would seem … which has made our task very challenging. It has meant a lot of letter writing, but everyone has been so good to help.

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