Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

CHAPTER XV
JOSEPH RAY WATKINS
HIS story, I feel, should be clearly drawn, with
particulars illustrating how we are led in ways
we know not, for as our father used to say, "I
see the hand of Providence." In beginning
this story of Brother Joseph 's youth I will
state that more than fifty years ago, when
emigrants were coming from Ohio and Indiana
to Minnesota, a family came from Cadiz, Ohio, by the name
of Snyder. Minnesota in those days assumed to be a health
resort, and so it was when contrasted with the low marsh lands
of Ohio and Indiana. The recommendation of its healthful
climate brought a young man by the name of William Fox
from his old home in Cadiz. He was broken down in health
and needed a change of air, so his parents wrote asking the
advice of their old friends, the Snyders, as to the climate of
Minnesota. Testimonials are always plentiful, and the old
neighbors thought it would be a fine thing for "Will" to come
north, which he did about 1863 or 1864.
It so happened that Mr. Frost was doing evangelistic work
in the vicinity of Hoka, Minnesota, where the Snyders lived,
and there he met William Fox. The young man was eager to
travel and see the new country, and as Mr. Frost had a good
horse and buggy he asked Mr. Fox to accompany him on his
tour. Together they studied the route, which was northward
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