Excerpt from The Big Sandy Valley: A History of the People and Country From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time Almost all writers of history dwell on the actions of men in their collective capacity. They describe the political and other machines set up by nations, states, or counties. The author ignores that method in his book, and chooses to follow families and single individuals from their entrance into the Sandy Valley to the end of their career, and tell what they have added to the history of the country. The annals of almost every family noticed in this book have been furnished to us by a member of the family whose deeds we chronicle. We have guessed at nothing; and where necessary to give dates, have freely done so. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.