As the sun is simultaneously setting on the second millennium of the Christian calendar and my slice of that time the arrival of this "searcher" aroused my heart with a thirst for a way to enrich the context within which he will live life in this "next" millennium. He was soon joined by his cousin and now this past month our "Summer Rose ." They are representatives of the twelfth generation directly descending from Edward of Boston. It is to them that these pages are dedicated.

The majority of my time in the immediate future will be occupied in the preparation for and publication of the large volume of letters and somewhat lesser volume of photographs in the family collection, thus preserving them as a whole archive while making them more available for researchers and any other interested parties. For me they have brought to life the minds and spirits of our ancestors as participants in the history of this country and expanded my understanding of context as well as more joy in my everyday life.

Please see Creation and Credits for more completed acknowledgments of all that have contributed so much. However I must here make especial comment of appreciation for "Aunt Emma" Watkins Reynolds who mentors me so long since her passing. Treasures beyond price are her intellectual and emotional acuity coupled with the written accounts of personal conversations with those who knew the Revolutionary War directly, and as well, as her own living experience extending from before the Civil War into the New Deal era.

The "boys of summer" and, most recent, Anna, are the only in their generation who carry the name and who are direct descendants of John the physician of Pomfret, Vermont (1778-1828). As with all the other of whom I know or can find record they entered this world much wished for and much treasured and continue reciprocal gifts of love with all who know them. Their genes make the introductions. Their nature developed in love makes them precious. It is to these three that I dedicate these pages. And so we begin the look back to their American roots.