Hannah - A Woman of Spirit and Heart (Paperback)

Born into an upper middle class family in 1843, Hannah Preston grows up knowing the advantages of music, books and education in the settled life of a farming community near Chicago. Her life changes irrevocably when Robert Cargill, a restless Scots-Irish immigrant, sweeps into it like a strong wind off Lake Michigan. Marriage to Robert brings her separation from a comfortable life with parents, siblings, and friends and carries her on a journey across prairies and mountains by emigrant train to a small ranch in California. There the hardships of raising seven children begin in a two-room adobe house where water had to be hauled daily from a neighbor's well. During the following quarter century, Hannah sees her children educated beyond the local country school by sending them to San Jose. She helps her husband claim a homestead some twenty miles away. Often apart from him for days or weeks, she finds it necessary to care for family at home while Robert works on the homestead. Through births, deaths, separations, and physical hardships, Hannah gains strength while retaining her faith, her love for family, and her spirit of gratitude and deep joy.