My original ancestors came from Germany and first settled in Galena, IL and then went to Bellevue,IA. These are Mississippi river towns. The family members came over between 1852 and 1856. One of my great-great-grandfathers daughters met a man by the name of Joseph Bader. That was Katarina Altfillisch. They married in 1854 and went upriver and settled in Wabasha, MN. They had 7 children in Wabasha. Four died in childhood. In 1873 they moved to St. Paul. In 1876 they moved to Yankton, South Dakota. She died in 1906 and he died in 1909. William Bader (their son) has a biography in "The History of the Dakota Territory" by Kingsbury (1915). I have tried to come up with records in Wabasha for the period between 1854 and 1873. No luck there. Do you know of any records for this period that have births, deaths, marriages and land purchases?