Primary sources for the following information include:

[1] Dr. Van Sickle's 1880 book, "History of the Van Sickle Family in the United States of America" beginning on page 189,  http://homepage.mac.com/radewanc/VanSickleBook/Chapters/189vsb.pdf

[2] an interview of Ann Drusilla from a newspaper article entitled "Oldest Woman in Iowa Celebrates her Birthday" published August 14, 1909 shortly before her death.
http://iagenweb.org/boards/clayton/biographies/index.cgi?rev=63798

[3] an article from "Memoirs of Clayton County" pp 421-424 entitled "Reminiscences by Mrs. Ann Dickens," 

[4] a manuscript "by Zilla Ellyson Rutherford Flagg and her sister Ila, granddaughters of Edward and Andrewzilla Van Sickle Dickens." (Note: Ann Drusilla is spelled several different ways. I use Ann Drusilla.) This manuscript was dictated in the 1960s. The authors remembered a lot of what grandma Ann Drusilla told them when they were children..
For instance from page 5,  para 19, "And you will recall that when she was baby sitting with us in North McGregor - she was in her 70s and we were both pre-school age - she would read ... to us." And page 29 para 97, "It was during those years just before and after our father and Grandpa Dickens died ---about 1893 ---that Grandma told us so many stories of her early days in Iowa."

That manuscript is available from the McGregor Public Library in Clayton Co. Iowa.

When those sources are quoted, I will use the numbers [1], [2], [3] and [4] to identify them.

In addition those sources, it helps to understand the conditions of the time by looking at old maps of the areas involved beginning in about 1827. Also read a little about the Black Hawk War, The Lead Mining District, The Territory of Michigan, The Territory of Wisconsin, and The establishment of Iowa state (not to be confused with Iowa County, Wisconsin). There are many good articles on the Internet which are brief and very informative.

Ann DrusillaVan Sickle married Edward Glover Dickens on May 27, 1837. Her life from then onward is very well documented. When I studied the early migrations of her husband, E.G. (Ned) Dickens and his ties to my Tennessee Dickens family, I began questioning what I read from various sources about Ann's childhood and family. As the months passed, those questions continued to bother me. I found several inconsistencies on the Internet and I spent many hours trying to solve them.

Now I have a choice. I can forget it because it doesn't involve my family or write what I've found in an attempt to set the records straight. As you read this, you know what my choice was.   

As I searched census records, legal documents, cemetery records, genealogy accounts
and personal writings for family information about Edward Glover Dickens and his wife
Ann Drusilla Van Sickle Dickens one thing became very clear - very few people knew anything about the life of Ann Drusilla's mother, Sarah Courtright Van Sickle Redmond.

Each genealogy listing (there are many of them) for Sarah Courtright or Sarah Van Sickle, lists her as dying a widow in Jo Daviess County, Illinois in 1849 - the source for that place and date is Dr. Van Sickle's 1880 History of the Van Sickle family. After much consideration and procrastination, I decided that it was time to tell what we know of Sarah's life after her husband Andrew Van Sickle died in 1822.  

Some spelling variations used on the Internet in connection with the people mentioned in this site: Courtright, Cortright, Courtrite, Van Sickle, Van Sicklin, Vansickle, Vansikle, Redmond, Redman, Redmon, Harding, Hardin, Ann Drusilla, Andrewzilla, Ann Druzilla, Ann is sometimes Anne. There may be others. We are all innovative.