“The home of fear is the future, for it is unknown. Experience of man teaches what to expect in the future and so dissipates fear. Our ancestors too are our experience. In truth we are them - and they us - and our children are both of us. Like the care of the olive tree so often symbolizing genealogy, the search for our ancestors is painstaking and careful work. But it reaps the sweetest fruits because we get to know them and how they lived. We learn from them and their experiences, teach our young, and therefore fear nothing.”
                                                      - Anonymous

Our ancestors lived rugged lives, overcame great obstacles, built this county and provided the stock for generations. Oh, what lessons we can learn from such people. Won’t you join us in this marvelous work and wonder. Most people now living in the county are related one to another in some way. And many others live far away but have roots here. Wouldn’t it be great to meet together and assist ourselves AND others who are unable to travel here? And now armed with broadband internet access we can accomplish great things.

Yes, they lived hard lives. Just like the Hans Skott family of Nashville in SFTWN. The challenges were great but what couldn’t be bought, they built and in the process they built civilization. And, Like Hans and his family, most of ALL of us came from somewhere else, tamed the prairie, and turned it into rich and productive farm land. Then came the railroads, the mills, the cities and towns full of stores and shops. And they left a legacy - US. The value of what we pass to our descendants depends on what we know of and teach about the great men and women like the Skotts who built this country.

And if we are prone to think that the city folk were a lot better off, consider the Brandt family at their Herald Leader offices in Bellevue. Hardly the plush surrounding to be found in modern newspaper plant. No giant presses or hundreds of gallons of ink or expensive computers. Everything was poured into the product even in these relatively primitive days. If they didn’t have it or couldn’t buy it, their ingenuity took over and they MADE the next edition on time. And the newspaper? Yep. It’s still alive and kicking - and still in Bellevue. Sounds a lot like the Skott family to us but in different surroundings. So, it isn’t the precise