Family notes say that a search for an obituary for Elizabeth Jane Farris was made and none was found. Substituting for that, here are excerpts from an interview of Rose Pace Campbell, Elizabeth's daughter, taken in 1924.
Pretty, intrepid, well educated Elizabeth Jane Farris reached the bloom of young womanhood. Many were the socials and parties she charmed with her brilliant presence. Popular, gifted, the young girl became well known for her grace and charm. With her father she attended the gala political meetings of the day, and the colorful dances which usually followed during the afternoon and evening.
It was while she was engrossed in the intricate steps of one of the popular ballroom dances that her father pressed forward, and with him he brought a charming, well-cut young man whom Elizabeth Jane immediately admired, and later came to love very much. For those days, their courtship was in a sense a whirlwind courtship. Charles Pace, then 22 years of age, though a widower with a small son, Edward, was a very charming young man. Substantial and resourceful as the young men of the day, he was yet well educated for his time. He came from a well-bred family of Virginians of whom there were a number of brothers and sisters. In his veins there played the spirit of the pioneers and the call of adventure. Accordingly, after receiving the tearful promise from Elizabeth Jane that she would await his return, in the year of 1850 he set out on the Santa Fe Trail to California in the mad rush for gold.
Sutter's Gold. Placer Gold. Free Gold to be had for the finding. California, the Land of Promise. Facing with optimism the rigours and hardships of the trail, he found himself at Westport, now a part of the city of Kansas City, Missouri. Here he joined a party that was moving forward to Santa Fe, New Mexico..
In California he was among the fortunate few who did make a 'strike'. With thought of his promised bride, he gathered together the gleanings of the gold adventure and departed by way of the sea for home. Going by boat around the point of South America, he finally reached New York and then went overland to his home in Vincennes, Indiana. The young couple were married in Vincennes. They procured the necessary equipment for winning a home in the new West and with hearts full of hope and optimism, they departed from their home on a flatboat and floated down the river to the Mississippi on the broad waters of the Ohio. Here they turned northwest into Iowa.
They finally settled on a section of land which they homesteaded. The location of this farm was on the Nodaway River, in the south- western part of Iowa near the town of Clarinda. Here their family was born in the following order: Frank, Mary, Young, Susanna, Rose, Flora (Florence), and Charles. These children grew to womanhood and manhood loving these broad acres as did their parents.
