The authors of this book span five generations of Americans. As with all families, some people write, some people sing, some people express their faith through art, and some people reveal God's love in their caring for others. This book is a compilation of poetry and prose focusing on the every day life and faith, trials and successes, and meaning of family. Through these generations, the family has maintained its roots in the Midwest, where George Smith opened Smith's New Cass Hotel in Detroit, offering rooms for $1.00 per day and giving advice on how to spend a pleasant day in Detroit for 33 cents. Here Rose Plumb lived to be 104 years old. Children have been born and buried. Families have grown, celebrating their triumphs and supporting each other during difficult times. Cousins have grown up together. People have laughed and cried, loved and lived, and most of all, celebrated the God who made everything possible. The voices in this book are the words of children, the expressions of teenagers, the voices of adults, and the wisdom of the aging. They are the cries of delight, the wails of despair, the laughter of the absurd, and the celebration of family.

The Genealogy and Family History Collection is a unique set of materials that describes the histories and narratives of particular American families. The Collection brings to life pre-1923 books that contain information such as birth, death, marriage, property and migration records of specific families. Many of these families followed interesting migration and movement patterns from Western Europe and beyond to the United States well over 200 years ago. Included in these volumes is information such as last wills and testaments, period photographs of towns, buildings and landscapes, portraits of family members, and descriptions of business interactions. Encompassing such comprehensive and personal information, this collection will appeal to genealogists, family history researchers, as well as descendants and casual historians.

Attempts to trace all male lines from the lairds of Halkerton beginning with Alexander Falconer of Halkerton, who died about 1499. Nearly all of the cadet lines descend from his great-grandson, Alexander Falconer of Halkerton, who died in 1587.

"Contrary to popular wisdom, American Quakers did not first appear in Pennsylvania, the Quaker State, in 1682. Rather they appeared in 1655 in Virginia. In the 330-odd years thereafter, the Friendly Virginians, as I have come to call them, have stood for peace and against violence, for religious freedom, civil rights and women's rights. They have striven to end war, change the penal system and aid Native Americans. Their world view has affected their lives and characters and also, as you read, the ways of the larger society." *From the Preface. Chapters include: The Quaker Way Comes to Virginia, 1655-1660 which opens on a street corner in the city of London in the summer of 1654; Virginia's Quakers and the Right to Worship as One Wishes, 1660-1663; In Which the Truth is Crushed to Earth, 1664-1677; The Friendly Virginians Become Somewhat Respectable, 1677-1700; At Last within the Law, 1700-1733; West of the Blue Ridge, 1733-1750; The Quaker Way Alters Course, 1750-1763; Farewell, Britannia, 1763-1775; The Friendly Virginians and the American Revolution, 1775-1781; After So Many Ages, 1782-1800; To the Westward Waters, 1800-1820; The Blood of Christ, 1820-1833; On Laying Down Virginia Yearly Meeting, 1833-1850; O, Virginia Virginia 1850-1865; They Leap the Hedge, 1865-1900; Thee Interests Me, 1900-1950; and, I Think of the Great Work, 1950-Now. Photographs, a map, an appendix listing Quaker Meetings in Virginia, a bibliography, and a full-name index enhance the text.