Katherine Dimancescu's narrative offers readers a window into the lives of some of her well-known and also little known maternal ancestors who helped shape the New England communities they called home. These discoveries include Mayflower passengers John Alden and his future wife Priscilla Mullins, ancestral homesteads from the 1600s, veterans of The Pequot War (1637) and King Philip's War (1675-76), slave-owning ancestors in New England, 17th and 18th century diary keepers whose original diaries are in archives, persecuted Quakers including Mary (Barrett) Dyer who was hanged on Boston Common, and signers of The Flushing Remonstrance.