Leydia Connable 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.
Leydia Connable was born in Bernardston, Massachusetts on April 23 1795. She was the third of John and Sarah Dewey Connable’s 8 kids. She also had 5 siblings from her dad’s first marriage. Leydia married Obed Gaines in 1815. They have 2 marriage records. One dated August 10 and another dated September 23. The August record was probably an ‘intention of marriage’.

By 1820 Leydia and Obed had 5 kids, 3 of them triplets. So Leydia was caring for 3 infants, a 2 year old and a 4 year old- all at the same time! The 1820, 1840 and 1850 censuses show Leydia and family in Cazenovia, New York, then Steuben, Indiana, then Van Buren, Indiana. Leydia’s 6th child William Gaines, great grandpa of Faber Miller, was in Bremer County, Iowa in 1850. In 1854, probably in August, most likely in a covered wagon with a coupe horses, Leydia, husband and 2 kids made the 500 mile trip to Iowa. They would have traveled 10-20 miles per day probably for about 37 days. When the family entered Iowa they’d traveled 1,200 miles and 6 states.

A Connable family history book tells that Leydia died of cholera October 23, 1854. Her death date is verified in Iowa Cemetery Records. She is buried in Old Barclay Cemetery near Dunkerton, Iowa. Leydia is the only Gaines buried in the cemetery. Her family would have arranged a funeral, buried Lydia, then kept moving on to son William’s location about 50 mile north near Plainfield, Iowa. When Leydia was buried in 1854 Iowa was 80% native prairie. Barclay township was founded in August 1854, so the town was just beginning when Leydia was buried there.