The Donlins left Iowa for South Dakota in 1906. Bridget's sons who had come to Iowa stayed in Iowa, as they were each well into adulthood, and had established their own lives there. Within about a year, word of Jim's death would reach the family from Minnesota, and Joseph and William would pass away within five more years. Only Frank would continue to live in Iowa past 1912.

When Michael and family moved to South Dakota, Bessie was age 27, and had probably already married and moved to Canada. Her husband, a Mr. A. C. Dugan, had very likely been raised in Plymouth County, Iowa, so it follows that she was probably married there. We know that she was still living with her parents in June 1900, and that she was married and living in Canada by January 1911^[60].

This family photo, taken around 1915, may have been prompted by a visit from Bessie.
The only living child of Michael not in that photo was Frank, then in Merrill, Iowa.

In mid-1906, Gene was age 23 and George was 19. Each was old enough to have settled in Iowa, but they moved with their parents to South Dakota. It would probably be more realistic to say this was Gene's venture as much as that of his father. Mike Donlin, age 68, would live about a dozen years in Spring Township, then he would be buried back in Iowa next to his daughter Bessie (as would Delia). In contrast, Gene had his entire professional and family life ahead of him, and he lived out that life in Hand County, and he was the first Donlin to be buried in Hand County.

George sold off his Hand County land in May 1918 and took a job with a machine company overseas^[61]. Later, he farmed in Montana. Michael worked on roads for Hand County, and lived in a company trailer^[62]. Art was a sergeant in the quartermasters’ corps at age 24, and later co-founded a business in Detroit painting auto factories, gas stations, and other large structures. Both Michael and George would eventually work for Art’s business. The youngest brother Leo was eighteen when their father died, and probably worked on the farm for several years (the farm was sold off in about 1924), before moving to Montana.

Rose was Gene’s closest sibling, in terms of age. Rose married George Dill, had a family in Orient, and later settled in New York. Gene had two much younger sisters: Glen Marie Meek and Helen Baily. Helen settled in the Detroit area, and had three children.