BANDITS, FARMERS, MILITARY LEADERS, PATRIOTS, POLITICIANS, AND PROPHETS: Retracing the Vanishing Footprints of our Ancestors

One interpretation of

early American history suggests that many of the immigrants who fled Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries

were seeking freedom from the intolerable social, economic and religious

injustices that were prevalent at the time. Even after arriving here, they

encountered more hardship. They had to overcome what seemed to be, at times,

insurmountable obstacles in their day-to-day survival. Many did not

survive these harsh conditions. Children frequently survived only a few years.

Mothers died young, leaving small children to be raised by relatives or

neighbors. Young males who joined the military usually did so at an age where

we would still consider them to be youngsters. Disease was rampant; and medical

care was limited. Families were chased from their homes by hostile Indians.

Livestock were killed by wild animals.



The westward migration of

these early settlers was extremely difficult as well. Most travel inland

required transport on foot, by wagon-train or oxcart over rough terrain where

the paths were often shaped by wild animals. Some of the tragedies and

heartaches of our ancestors can be reviewed from limited records, while most of

the information can only be retold from hearsay stories passed down from

generation to generation. Such may be the history, and could well symbolize the

migration patterns of the Adams, Cannon, Hobson, and Pattie families presented

in this book. As a result, it is believed there may be descendants in all

of the fifty states, representing all walks of life- BANDITS, FARMERS, MILITARY

LEADERS, PATROITS, POLITICIANS, and PROPHETS.