The Dyer family was originally from Indiana, then they traveled through the Indian Territory and stayed in Oklahoma for a year on the way up to Idaho. They ended up in Athol, Idaho. Ina's mother was Sarah (Sally) Elizabeth Neil (it was O'Neill but they dropped the "O" after they came out west.  Sarah's uncle was Stonewall Jackson. Ina's father was Henry Dyer. Grandma Dyer was a very good shot. Grandpa Dyer was the only boy from a large family of girls, and when he got married he thought his wife should wait on him. This made it very hard on Grandma Dyer because he wanted fresh bread every day. He often went on fishing and hunting trips, leaving the family to fend for itself. We have a letter from one of his trips that he wrote when he was up near Bonner's Ferry.

Their children were:

Jim, Harley, Ross, Essie, Ina. Alberta, Edward,

Ina Amanda was born in 1886.

One of them, Ross, was killed by lightning on his ninth birthday. There was a thunderstorm at Rathdrum, Idaho and Ross and Grandpa Dyer and a friend of the family went into the lodge hall to get away from the storm. Ross and the friend were leaning against a wall. Grandpa just started to walk across the floor when the lightning struck the building. Ross and the friend were killed and the building caught on fire. Grandpa Dyer carried both Ross and the other friend out of the building before it burnt down, only to find that they were dead. Later on the oldest boy, Jim was on his way home from California to see his wife and newborn daughter in Idaho, who had just returned from Dodge City. His wife wanted to come back from Dodge City before the birth, so the baby could be born in Idaho. He came to a horse camp filled with outlaws. One guy was beating up on a kid that was there with a halter. Jim told him to leave the kid alone and Jim took the halter away and beat the tar out of the guy with the halter. They had supper and when Jim was leaving to go on to Idaho, the guy grabbed a rifle and shot Jim in the back and killed him. They buried Jim where he had died. It was several months before they found out what happened to Jim. Harley spent months searching for his brother Jim before he finally ran across someone that told him about what had happened to Jim that night. Jim never got to see his infant daughter before he was killed. Harley, Ed and Albert homesteaded in Montana and got "dried out" prior to the 1930's. Harley went out to the coast and lived on a small farm at Bellingham till he died. Albert lived in Big Sandy Montana till he died. Ed and his wife Edna moved to California during the 2nd World War where he and his son Edward started a chrome plating plant. They ended up being millionaires. Ed and Edna both died in California. Essie married Charlie Truitt. She worked in a cedar shingle mill near Bellingham and got cedar dust in her lungs. Essie died of consumption (tuberculosis). She and Charlie are buried in Bellingham, Washington. I was named after my Aunt Essie.