Author of award-winning history of the Scots-Irish families who emigrated from Franklin County Pennsylvania to pioneer in Hancock County in the period 1836-1850. Many the Illinois pioneers are buried in the McConnell-Geddes Cemetery in Fountain Green Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Many of the relatives left behind are interred in the Lower Path Valley Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Pennsylvania. In My Dear Aunt Martha: A 19th Century American Epic from Letters of Those Who Lived It, the letter writers relate everyday hardships and joys along with first-person perspectives on that century's historical characters and events. Findagrave and other resource sites helped me to identify the writers and recipients. (See URL)

Author of award-winning history of the Scots-Irish families who emigrated from Franklin County Pennsylvania to pioneer in Hancock County in the period 1836-1850. Many the Illinois pioneers are buried in the McConnell-Geddes Cemetery in Fountain Green Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Many of the relatives left behind are interred in the Lower Path Valley Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Pennsylvania. In My Dear Aunt Martha: A 19th Century American Epic from Letters of Those Who Lived It, the letter writers relate everyday hardships and joys along with first-person perspectives on that century's historical characters and events. Findagrave and other resource sites helped me to identify the writers and recipients. (See URL)