In 1836 Darwin Ford loaded his wife and baby in the back of an oxcart, and left Medina, Ohio for the wilderness of southern Michigan. There he labored to carve a homestead out of the forest while his sons fought and died in the Civil War. Later his descendants struggled through the Great Depression, served as military pilots in World War II and Vietnam, and pursued careers in the ministry, education, and the law. For five generations they left detailed accounts of the events that were important in their lives as the world evolved from oxcarts and candles to airplanes and computers.