Robert Ewers, never adjusted or inured to clearing the fertile soil of virgin forest, left his parental houme in the clearing north of Fredericktown, Ohio wehn he was sixteen to learn the cabinet trade in Fredericktown. Meanwhile he studied, was good in mathematics, and was an avid reader on all subjects. For his health (chronic cough) he moved westward to Wiscotta near Redfield, Iowa in 1857, and soon afterward to Stuart, Iowa. His family traveled by train from Fredericktown, Ohio to Davenport, Iowa where they were met by the men, evidently relatives, who had driven the household goods and live stock through by oxen teams. From there they completed the fourney in a body. In Stuart, Iowa at the east end Robert Ewers built an octagonal home with a room for a look-out on top of the second story. This home became a mecca for all types of persons passing westward. There was no other place to stop. Here with his background of learning and his high intelligence Robert Ewers with the power of attorney wrote deeds, sold land, and married people as Justice of the Peace. His kind disposition and deep-felt responsibility toward his family his Quaker faith mad him an adored father and husband.