Sometime in the 1830s, John and his wife Sarah and their children, John's brother Jonathan and the children of his brother Samuel embarked on a journey toward the southwest. Following an arduous trip of nearly a thousand miles, they arrived in Dearborn County, in southeastern Indiana.

The county, the third oldest in the state, was organized in 1803 by Governor William Henry Harrison (later famous for being the President with the shortest term in office--30 days). Harrison named the place after General Henry Dearborn, at that time the Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. The region lay on the Ohio River, just north of Kentucky and just west of Cinncinati, Ohio. This large county was broken up in 1845. The Dibbles settled near the town of Davis' Corner in the southernmost region, in what is now Switzerland County. Later they spread out, establishing a homestead at Quercus Grove in central Switzerland County, and into the central region (now Ohio County), and perhaps also into the northern portion (today's Dearborn County).

On December 15, 1837, Sarah gave birth to her son Jonathan. Her next--and last--child was born on July 26, 1840. His name was Sylvanus. Less than a week later, on August 1, 1840, his father, John, died in "Jefferson, Indiana".

In 1850, Jonathan's older brother Alonzo, then 24, got gold fever. He crossed the plains to California to strike it rich with the '49ers. Luck was not with him though, and he returned 16 months later to become a boatman on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He visited the metropolises of Memphis and New Orleans on the riverboats. But even this regular travel did not sate his wanderlust. Stories of a healthful new land to the north, with great growth potential, had filtered down to the Ohio River valley. Just two or three years after his failed western trip, Alonzo set out on a new trek, this time with Jonathan, to southeastern Minnesota.

The brothers and sisters of Jonathan and Alonzo, and their descendants, continued to prosper in Indiana and other places. As they are not in our direct line, we must leave them there. But the reader is urged to discover their story as well.