Laura Cooper Fenimore, a practicing attorney, was inspired to begin family history research in 1989 when her mother died and knew very little about her own family background. Shortly after her mother's death, she was offered a legal position for the federal government in the Washington, D.C. area, which provided her with direct access to the rich resources of the National Archives. She thereafter began a life-long labor of love to discover the family roots her mother had sorely missed, and these volumes are the product of that work. These volumes present her family research in a compelling narrative format -- focusing on the stories of her American family in historical context. With the development of the internet, Ms. Fenimore has been able to relocate home to her native Oregon where she continues her work.