Four American Families: A History

 

For the past 25 plus years, I have been collecting and organizing information on my ancestors.  Nine years ago, I began writing narratives based on that information.  COVID provided me with the impetus and opportunity to expand those narratives and gather them into a book.  I completed that work by end of 2022 and began work on preparing it for printing.  Finally, it is completed and is available for purchase either as a paperback ($15.57) or an e-book (.99).

This 239 page book tells the stories of the Pickett, Muir, Platt, and Campbell families.  These families came to America at different times and under different circumstances.  Two were here before the Revolutionary War and had significant financial resources.  Another came from Scotland and Ireland and struggled to establish itself.  The history of the fourth is murky and can only be traced to the early 19th Century.  In different ways, all four ended up in Kansas City, both Missouri and Kansas.

These narratives work backwards from my four grandparents and trace the ancestors along the male line.  Souurces include family documents and photographs, a wonderful 19th Century family history, DNA analysis, maps, legal documents, scholarly articles, census records, newspaper articles, interviews and family stories...many of which are true.  There are unsolved mysteries, a lurid murder and trail, and plenty of local history.  The text is annotated and extensively illustrated.

The narratives also focus on Ruth Marie Platt and William Lee Pickett, Sr., a daughter and a son of the above grandparents, whose marraiage in 1934 created my family of origin.

Thee book is available on Lulu.com and is only acessible thrrough the following direct links:

Paperback:  https://www.lulu.com/shop/william-pickett/four-american-families/paperback/product-e94de9.html?page=1&pageSize=4

E-book:  https://www.lulu.com/shop/william-pickett/four-american-families/ebook/product-ppe9mp.html?page=1&pageSize=4