Several members of these Northeast Iowa families later settled in Carroll County, Iowa, including parts of the Brincks, Gehling, and Greteman families. Carroll County is about 230 miles to the Southwest, not a easy trip in the latter 19th century.
A small group from Dubuque, Iowa bought land and formed a German Catholic community there and actively recruited other Northeast Iowans to join them. See this transcription of the History of Carroll County for further explanation. The recruiting effort was an apparent success, because these people in my database because of their connections to Ossian, Festina, and St. Lucas, also have facts (birth, death, or marriage) in or near Carroll County.