Martin Metzger is a German farmer who travels with his wife and eight children in 1846 to settle in mid-America. They are nearly trapped between the Mexican and United States armies in Texas. Based on actual events, the family travels from New Orleans up the Mississippi River by steamboat while gradually learning how to work and live in America where slavery exists in some states, multiple paper currencies circulate, opportunities abound, love beckons, and dangers lurk. The successes and challenges of three generations of the family in Illinois are chronicled (Martin, his son John, and his son Arthur), as national historical developments become entwined with events in the family. John is bright and draws the attention of prominent politicians, including Abraham Lincoln. John must decide how best to contribute to the Union's war effort, and he becomes a wealthy businessman and co-founder and president of an insurance company. His son, Arthur, faces challenges growing up in the shadow of his illustrious father as he must navigate disruptive changes in the family and the Depression. In 1901, fifteen-year-old Eilish knows vital clues (left in the family Bible by her mother) to the location of a valuable treasure. Trusting no one, she must solve the clues to recover the treasure while avoiding violent criminals, resolving police suspicions about her, and completing her education at the University of Chicago. The saga of the Metzgers proves that truth may be stranger than fiction, while the tale of clever, kind Eilish illustrates the challenges faced by bright, young women in the first decade of the twentieth century.
