By 1885, the Hultman and Hanson families were reunited once again, living on farms near Randolph in Riley County, Kansas. The Hultmans were in Swede Creek Township and the Hansons were in Jackson Township,  their farms separated by only a few miles.

As Louis and Lisa Stina settled into their new home in Kansas, Lisa Stina’s parent Jonas and Anna Hultman remained in Illinois with their young children. In this post, we’ll follow both of these families from 1865 to about 1890.

After the Civil War ended, Louis Hanson quickly took steps to move his family to Kansas. Homestead land was available in the Big Blue River Valley near Manhattan, and Louis was more prepared than most people to accept the challenge.

Census records show Louis and Lisa Stina comfortably settled in Sparta Township, Knox County Illinois with their infant daughter Emma in 1860. The Civil War started in April 1861 – I wanted to know how the war impacted this young family. Here’s what I found.

In this installment, we’ll examine the early years of the Hultman family in Illinois, and my great-great-grandmother Lisa Stina‘s marriage to my great-great-grandfather Louis Hanson.