Frosts Migrate to the New State of Iowa, 1841

The Johnson Lyman Frost family moved west to Johnson County, Iowa, in 1841. This was still at the time of "settling the frontier". Mention is made of forts and Indian confrontations, as well as the "last moose sighted" in the “History of Johnson County, Iowa” published in 1883. [found in Google Books online.]

“Furniture was rare, even of the most common sorts. A few settlers brought a little of the most necessary but many coming a long way in ox teams could not be cumbered with anything but the actual necessities of life, using the most primitive and rudest articles. Tables were made of boards attached to the cabins by leather hinges. They were fastened to the wall, and hung down when not in use so as to save room. Three legged stools and rough benches made of slabs furnished seats, while wooden pins fastened in the wall of a corner and an outside piece from one pin to the other, the pins being wound with a cord, furnished couches for the hardy pioneers that afforded as peaceful a slumber as the luxurious springs of the present time…..” "History of Johnson County, Iowa" p. 609

Johnson Lyman Frost, now a widower, his two daughters, Harriett Amelia and Celina Calista, and younger son, Carlos E., came to the frontier town of Iowa City, in Johnson County, Iowa. His older son Luther Paine Frost, and his wife, Caroline, also came to Iowa City, where Luther was listed as a merchant. We find L. P. Frost listed in the local militia. During the years between 1849 and 1858, Luther and Caroline had three daughters, Mary, Belle, and Adelia. Mary was adopted, but may have been a cousin. She is the one who became the second wife of Daniel Shafer, whose story follows.