This blog was created to allow me to write at greater depth about the tidbits of family lore and family history that I have collected from family members and my own research. The title of the blog is taken from a traditional American folk song, Going to the West. I'm partial to the Bill Staines recording, from his album of the same name. The song speaks to the determination of our ancestors to take a risk and seek opportunity in a new land.
In this fair land, I cannot stay,
Here labor is in vain
I'll leave the mountains of my birth
to seek the fertile plains,
I'm going to the West.
