Garden Club of the Back Bay member Glenda Mattes writes, in the introduction of Touching Dirt, Volume 1, that “Family history is my passion partly because I believe that our present is shaped by the past.”  This is a family history discovering the origins, stories, descendants and siblings of Jans Garrelts and Christina Hagen of Ostfriesland, George Milton of Banffshire, Scotland, Evan Nightingale, Ann Kollin, David Williams and Elizabeth Nightingale of Cardiganshire, Wales.

Learn about the East Friesian Tea Ceremony, with recipes, the travels of Jan and Christina Garrelts, including time spent living with their four children in a dugout in Barton County, Kansas in the 1870’s, and stories of Evan (a Civil War casualty) and Ann Nightingale.  There is much more to interest and delight.  The book, which prints in 3 – 5 days, may be ordered at http://www.lulu.com/shop/glenda-garrelts-mattes/touching-dirt-v-1/hardcover/product-22884916.html