The Risk Takers: The Story of Two American Families

About the Book

The author believes that genealogy (the study of one’s ancestors) should involve far more than the mere gathering of names, dates and places. Our ancestors were real people who were so much more than a mere collection of birth, marriage and death dates. This book attempts to put ‘meat on the bones’ of the genealogical facts for four individuals, grandparents of the author.

This book captures the family histories of the author’s four grandparents, all born in the 1890s. Utilizing social history methods the author adds depth and detail to the simple facts of the two couples’ vital statistics. By weaving the story of her grandparents lives with interesting information about how they lived their day-to-day lives and the social changes that impacted them, the author paints a fascinating picture that brings the individuals to life. Maternal grandparents, the Crislers, were Hoosiers, born in rural farming communities of northwestern Indiana in the early 1890s who left their familiar agrarian existence for life in the big city of Chicago just prior to the Great Depression. The Simpsons, her paternal grandparents, also born in the 1890s were city dwellers from Glasgow Scotland who emigrated to America settling in Chicago in the mid 1920s in search of steady employment and a better life.

About the Author

Leslie Hall has been researching her family’s genealogy for the past ten years. After becoming frustrated with the mere gathering of dates and places she realized that there was more to a family’s history than just those facts. Writing this book about her four grandparents, the author hopes to leave a tangible legacy for her children and grandchildren. Leslie resides in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband.