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Our McLaren Ancestors

Voyage from Scotland

Lanark, Ontario, Canada

Vienna, South Dakota

California

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Peter McLaren, Sr. entered the United States at Port Huron, Michigan in March of 1884. From there he proceeded to the Dakota Territories with his wife and three children. He was forty five years old and his wife Elizabeth was forty three. In the Dakotas he would establish the Vienna Homestead.

Once established and farming the land, Peter Sr.'s family began to experience the highs and lows typical of the times. The McLarens would spend more than three decades in and around Vienna. Here is a Family Timeline.

By 1910 Peter Jr. had abandoned the farming life to become a rural delivery postman. The family legends have him in a sleigh during the Dakota Winters, moving directly from farmhouse to farmhouse, with the roads invisible under the snow. He received a post card from a friend in California in 1909. The card planted a seed. Here are some Reasons to Move.