"Finding Home" is now available on Amazon.
A labor of love, years in the making.
PIONEERS OF ORLEANS COUNTY, NY
My family has been very patient over the last eighteen months as I’ve been locked away in my office for days, weeks and months working on this book series.
What started as an exploration into my family’s history became an audiobook remake of the history book. This “small” project grew into three books with over 1000 pages total, along with pictures, a glossary, and an index. I’ve learned so much!
Having grown up in an American single-parent household, separated from my grandparents by thousands of miles, I had only a vague understanding of my family’s history. In 1989, I was a young adult, hungry to learn more. My mother gave me a stack of documents detailing our family’s past. Among them was an old book with hundreds of stories written in a language from a bygone era. This book was an original copy of “Pioneer History of Orleans County, New York,” by Arad Thomas, which had been passed down through generations of my family.
Within its pages are over thirty chapters detailing the history of Western New York, the Holland Purchase, the county’s settlement, biographies, and first-hand stories told in the pioneer’s own words.
Despite my repeated attempts, I found it difficult to read more than a few pages at a time. Yet, I felt a strong connection to its content and the stories of my pioneer ancestors. For years, I have felt called to share these tales with a wider audience but lacked the resources to do so until now. Recently retired, and with new advancements in technology, I finally had the time and means to turn this dream into reality.
My goal was to update the language of the original piece for a contemporary audience. While refreshing the language, I have worked hard to maintain its elegance and preserve every detail to ensure my fellow pioneer descendants will find the information valuable in their own journey of discovery. Arad Thomas’s poignant 1851 speech to the Pioneer Association and the first-hand accounts of the Pioneers remain unchanged.
I’m delighted to present this new version of Arad Thomas’s original work along with two companion volumes, completed just in time for the Orleans County Bicentennial Celebration in 2025.
If you, like me, feel disconnected from your family roots, I hope this book instills in you a sense of strength and pride in our shared heritage. For history enthusiasts, this book series offers a detailed glimpse into the lives of early Americans during the birth of our nation. Stories that have been lost in time but that deserve remembrance.
The series includes Pioneer History, Pioneer Handbook, and Pioneer Cookbook, available in both eBook and Paperback formats on Amazon.com and other book sites.
We currently plan to offer language translations in Spanish, German, and Norwegian.
