Little Ilse Traubel was still a baby when her family came from Germany on a sailing ship to find freedom in the New World. These were troubled days in our country with the North and South at odds over the slavery question, and soon the Traubels joined the movement of Northern families who went to settle in Kansas to keep a majority vote for their side.

It was a long journey by train and wagon, and even after they had built their little house there were difficult times with prairie fires, hardships, and unfriendly neighbors. But Ilse's family stood by their beliefs, and it was not long before other families from the East joined them to make good neighbors.