In 1866 his landlord asked him what he would take to move out and let he and his bride move in. He thought $25.00 would probably be enough as the grasshoppers had destroyed his crop, but was only offered $20.00, so he took it and that constituted the pay for his summer’s work.
He then moved his wife back with her parents to help win and weave for their winter clothing while he went six miles north of St. Jospeh, Missouri, to spend the winter with his uncle, G.L. Gore, hauling cord wood to St. Joe.
G.R. Carrico, his wife’s cousin came to A.D. Simmons on a visit that winter and seeing Overton’s picture remarked that he looked like a “Judge.” Ever since he has been known far and near as Judge Ellison.
In the spring of ’67, he and his wife went on a visit to Uncle Peter Cummings near Atchison. Uncle Peter told Overton he had one hundred and twenty acres of land within two miles of Atchison which he wanted Overton to improve and move on. Overton accepted the proposition and began work. After cutting the cotton wood trees on Deer Creek and making a raft of them, they hired a man to take them down the Missouri river to Atchison, to the saw mill where it was made into lumber and fencing for the new house. They remained there four years.
(Estimated date)