From the East to the far West these are personal accounts of migrations and communities that created the United States. Readers who have affection for history and the workings of human nature will be captured by the rich content and style of this collection of letters and photographs. Informal in style, the emotional tone set by the editors commentary provides context and highlights sustaining threads of family and community.

Most letters have not been previously published and most were written over 100 years ago. They were authored primarily by members of the editors’ paternal hereditary lines; Watkins, Clark, Hirst & Proffitt. The lives represented occupy the history and much of the geography of the nation. No ancestor achieved any degree of fame, or fortune. Unconscious of being actors in great events they are just there; as they were; in the majesty of drama written by ordinary people. The collection is of particular interest to genealogists seeking information of mid and late nineteenth century families living in Ohio, Wisconsin, the Southwestern U.S. and the Pacific Northwest. One may even hope to discover their proverbial “brick wall” breached by a gossipy comment.