Beyond the Trees

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Historians generally focus on the big picture. American history is for the most part ugly. It's easier to concentrate on large groups of people because the more narrow the focus the more personal history becomes. When real history honest-to-goodness truth is presented the tendency is to look away. At the same time we want to learn about individual bravery endurance sacrifice and accomplishments that collectively molded a vast wilderness into the United States. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Within these pages are stories from the 1600s 1700s and 1800s about members of my families and their contributions to the settlement of this nation. These stories evolved from my genealogical research. You too undoubtedly have ancestors with similar stories waiting to be discovered. Hopefully this work will inspire you to explore your family history and learn from dynamic ancestors. Seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity people came from England in the early 1600s on wooden ships. Many died from disease and starvation. Others froze to death. Natives killed the unwary. More ships arrived. Even the lucky endured unimaginable hardships to survive. With this inauspicious start our European ancestors began laying claim to the New World. They settled in New England and along the many waterways in Virginia and what later became West Virginia. They grew large families while maintaining their strong Christian faith. A century later many migrated south along wilderness roads through the mountains into North Carolina and what would become Tennessee. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>America was built one individual one dream one step one skirmish at a time. Beyond the Trees: Stories of Settlement in America contains eighteen honest stories about dynamic individuals who built our past and continue to impact America's future.</span></p>