In 1821, at age 16, Daniel moved with his parents to a claim in the west where the present city of Springfield, Illinois is now. Daniel married Nancy Owens there. Her father was David Owens, who at the time owened 500 acres on the Sangamon River. He gave his daughter and son-in-law 80 acres on which to begin their life. Their son, E.D. Shinkle was born here. The town of Decatur was later built on this site.

At the end of the Black Hawk War, the Shinkle and Owens families sold all of their Decatur property and moved to Galena, Illinios, where they were engaged in tht lead mines at Fern River. Daniel stayed there until 1835 or 1836, when he went with neighbors, Jesse, Pate, Barney White, Jones Edwards, And hid son-in-law, Ben Copeland, to hunt game and wild bees at the forks of the Maquoketa River in Farmer's Creek township, Jackson County, Iowa. David and Thomas Owens also made the trip. Impressed, they immediatley made plans to move there. Daniel Shinkle took a calim in the northwest quarter of Section 36. He divided his time and attention between the claim and the lead mines untill 1838, when he left Galena for good and moved his family to the claim.

David Owens took a claim in the southwest quarter of Section 25 of Farmer's Creek township. He died there and was buried in the "old parsonage burying groun" in Section 36 of that township.

At the time they took up their claim, the closest cabin was, "at the foot of a long hill south of Bellevue.

On the day Daniel Shinkle left for Fern River for the last time, his meal consosted of two small wild pigions and five small potatoes - which he had to share with the six others at the new settlement.

The trip back from Fern River was arduous. The family crossed the Mississippi River at Smith's Ferry, north of Bellevue, using a small boat that had rails built up around it. It took one whole day to ferry the family and their belongings and livestock across. One heifer apparently did not likethe ride and dove overboard. A rope was thrown over her head and she was towed to shore. When they finally arrived at the claim, they found the pen-like cabin Daniel had built and covered with shakes. The inside was full of nettles and knee-high weeds, as the floor was but dirt. Upon seeing this, Nancy Owaens burst into tears of disouragement.

The first of the grain to be harvested by the settlers had to be taken to Galena to be ground. The first mill built west of the Mississippi River was put up at Cat Fish. They utilized that mill until the McCloy Mill was built on Mill Creek, near Maquoketa. As there was no lumber to be had, Daniel Shinkle rove out shakes, or clapboards to side the structure. David Owens was one of the first millers there. At that time the grain was carried up to the boiler by ladder half-bushel at a time.