Preston Family When the Preston family selected the Maple Valley as their home in the new county, they quickly took their place as leaders In the community Deeply religious, the Prestons were probably most responsible for founding the Presbyterian church in Battle Creek The family origins are in Scotland After the death of Mr and Mrs Preston in the late sixties, the eight Preston children decided to strike out for the new world with Andrew, then nineteen as the one selected to open the way. In the summer of 1869 he took passage by steerage ticket on a slow moving over- crowded ship Then, after workings for a time on a dairy farm in Dundee, Illinois he sought land of his own. Iowa seemed to be the place to buy a farm so he made a preliminary trip ended up renting 320 equipped acres from a wealthy farmer, then sent for James Preston in Scotland to come work the farm with him Andrew met James in Storm Lake then traveled with him back to Willow Dale James told. the story in a memoir The brothers hatched a ride with the mail hack which ran from Storm Lake to Ida, a forty-mile trip Along the way they passed only one sod house as they bumped along in an open wagon unprotected from sun and rain For some time before they entered the valley, the Prestons had been traveling through a section of burned prairie with no trees, bushes or roads anywhere just a pair of ruts stretching out to an empty horizon At about four o'clock in the afternoon the brothers spotted the grove of trees which had attracted many other settlers James Preston give his reaction "This then is the land of my dreams, come true. "When we take into consideration the green rolling prairie running back each way for miles without a house or a sign of life it looked like this was the promised land compared to the bleak. burned. black level country we had come through Any of this rich land could have been bought for five dollars an acre '' However, the Prestons worried about gathering enough money to bring the rest of the family to this country Had no capital to buy land. Soon after arriving from Storm Lake the Prestons discovered. though, that the owner of the 320 acres Andrew had been renting wanted to head back east He agreed to sell the entire farm to them on a promise to pay basis In 1873 the Preston sowed 150 acres of wheat expecting enough harvest to pays off the notes But wind and hail pounded their crop on the fourth of July. and what in the morning was waving grain with the promise of a big crop, in the evening was all crushed into the ground as though herds of cattle had stampeded though it. It was not worth harvesting. The Preston has the promissory notes extended ''and tried it again and again. until they finally won.