Remembrances of a Pioneer

"I was born May 3, 1824, almost seventy-seven years ago. I think I was just like most children. I loved to play, and I loved to go to school. I remember my first day at school. It was in a little log cabin, with no windows, just a log sawed out and paper greased and pasted over the opening, with little sticks of wood set upright to paste the paper to, or strengthen it, and we had to be as careful of it as if it had been glass windows."

In 1904, Jane Patton, née Cade privately published this chronicle of her life in Indiana and Illinois. Her memories are rich and detailed, and accompanied by names and dates-lots of names and dates. Though her book has been republished (scanned and printed as-is) as an important historical work in the past, this is the only edition that includes an index, timeline of dates, and family tree.

You can now look up your ancestors, or just follow which Martha, William, or David, she's indicating in a given paragraph. Over 400 names are included in the index, and over 150 in the family tree. With clarified names and relationships, standardized spellings, modern punctuation, and chapter breaks, this edition will prove easier to read than the original.

"I have written from memory, and I do not claim that [these lines] are perfect, for the best people are liable to make mistakes. I have written everything as I remember it, without notes, by the way. I hope that my own family may get some good out of it when I am done writing it. It is a pleasure to me to be permitted to do this work, and I am thankful to God for the thoughts that have come to me while writing this book, and the great blessings that have been bestowed on me."

A note on our public domain restorations:
Idle Winter Press selects interesting projects in the public domain to publish. Our books are not simply a PDF of an original version, printed and bound with a sub-standard cover. We painstakingly restore images, professionally format interiors, and design quality covers. If the text warrants it, we add an index (or improve the existing one), create diagrams, and research contexts as necessary. Though the public domain text is available for free on the internet, the high-quality, beautifully printed restoration is only available from Idle Winter Press.