I have assembled and written this story for the benefit of my children and grandchildren and those other family members who don’t know very much about the history of our family. It is as true as my memory of the stories I have heard many times and events I have witnessed in my own life. I have taken some liberty with words in conversations but have kept them in character as I remember them.
Written in story form, I have attempted to show that although it was a different era, these people made mistakes, had small triumphs and big problems much as we do now. We cannot deny our genes and we will see ourselves between the lines. We look like them, we have many of the same mannerisms and colloquial expressions. I hope we are fortunate enough to have inherited their stamina.
