Welcome, Dave, and thanks for this additional information on the Edith Cutting collection, and specifically on "Aunt Lois." Also, thanks for double checking the dating of the "Willard" manuscript. 1869 it is. I have spent the evening searching for "Lois Lobdell" in or around the area of Moriah Center. I found Lobdells as some of the earliest settlers at nearby Elizabethtown:

http://www.archive.org/stream/pleasantvalleyhi00brown#page/43/mode/2up

But I was not able to trace them down to a Lois Lobdell. A number of them did end up in Westport, which is/was the home of the daughter of "Aunt Lois". I feel like I'm close but I can't close the gap. In looking at the descendants of Simon Lobdell, I even found an Abigal Lobdell who married a Willard, but they were over in Vermont, and I couldn't trace it on down to anything.   And now I've gone cross-eyed! Maybe somebody else will have better luck than me connecting some of these dots. Thanks again for your help, Dave.