"The Ankenys were prominent and influential early Iowans. They lived adventurous, interesting and successful lives as settlers, gold miners, civil war officers, business developers, elected officials, suffragettes, city founders and much more. Their remarkable lives are chronicled and woven within interpretive story-telling to create an entertaining and educational memorial to their legacy. Feelings of love and sorrow, achievement and loss, joy and anguish, trust and abandonment within the Ankeny family are told through the eyes of Miss Harriet Louise Ankeny. She was a precocious child born in 1844 who grew into a woman with unique ambitions for her time. She was known for hosting family parties and political events. She traveled throughout America and the world by horse and carriage, stage coach, train, steam ship and eventually motor car. She was patriotic, a D.A.R. member and delegate from Iowa to the national convention in Washington, D.C. She loved traveling but loved homecomings even more. This book is fiction but based on real lives. The relationships, feelings and beliefs have been developed to create an interesting story. The names, dates and places are real and over 200 end notes provide documentation. The book is a combination of story-telling, genealogy, Iowa and American history." --