Donald G. Brooks – författare

We are a great chain! Each of us is forged into shape by the things we do in life. Yet, we remain, connected to the previous link. We arrive, as a spot of hot molten metal, pliable and ready to be crafted, as if by the blacksmiths of old. Following the time of childhood we gain mastery over our life working so feverishly to form it and shape it, an exciting new link! Albeit, we are inextricably tied to the previous link who has by now, become solid and hard with age. As time passes, each of us will issue new links, our children. Later, we too, will, in time, become hardened and set in our ways as we slowly slip into the pages of history with our ancestors. Interestingly, this is a chain that cannot be broken; but it will be tried, twisted and stretched during our times of trouble. A link can be weak or strong. We will manifest both our strengths and our weakness to all who follow us. Our responsibility is to bring something good to the chain and not to shame, defile or weaken it!

Travel along as this non-fictional family is brought back to life once more. Walk with them as we retrace 400 years of history that carries them to the present.William Brooks was the grandson of Jonathan, who arrived from Swansea, England, aboard the Matthew in 1635. William and others left Boston in the late 1600s, heading south in search of peace and a better land.Their experience begins as William and his young wife, Amanda, move into the vast wilderness of New Jersey. There they carve out a small farm of their own. Each of their real life descendants opens new lands and new experiences. Those staying on the eastern seaboard are quickly drawn into a Revolutionary War. For those who move to Virginia, thinking to avoid it, it follows them there.Two generations later they travel by wagons to Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. On a flatboat, they continue westward into the wild Kentucky frontier. Life is very good there, that is until Civil War erupts. Listen as they tell their story of trials and celebrations. They live the dream that rests in the hearts of free men. They are the masters of their destiny. It brings true wealth, a state of mind, not position or money!They rejoice in good times and suffer the bad. One quality stands out, however. Thats a special and unique courage, courage birthed from deep within the American soul. Truly it is a Distinctly American Quality!