Enos Jones of Augusta County, Virginia, was the son of Robert Jones & Anne Coulston of the Welsh settlement of Gwyndd in what is today Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. They were Friends or Quakers if you prefer, as were the majority of the first settlers of Gwyndd, fleeing from the religious intolerance of 17th Century England. These early Quakers were soon joined by a host of 18th Century settlers from Germany, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England who also contributed their unique heritage to the growth of our country's culture. They were quickly followed by others from almost every corner of the world. Around the time of the American Revolution, Enos Jones and his wife Lydia, daughter of Palatine Germans, packed up their family and, along with Lydia's brothers, made their way west into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The following generations moved on west in search of new lands to farm stopping in Ross County, Ohio, then Linn County, Iowa, and finally in Page County, Iowa where the tale ends.

This book is a story of the people who gave birth to my father's family and the times in which they lived. The Ferguson and Schneider families are fairly recent arrivals in America by genealogical standards. My great-grandfather Ferguson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, arriving in the United States while still an infant in 1848. My great-grandfather Schneider was born in Germany and came here in 1868. The Burnet side of the family goes back to the earliest settlers of this country and has its roots on Long Island, New York, in 1643 while still under Dutch rule. That family intermarried with the Dutch of New York City and flourished in trade and medicine, playing significant roles in the early growth of this nation. Throughout the book, I've tried to present stories of who these long-dead ancestors were - what their lives were like and the circumstances that shaped their destinies.