During the 19th century, thousands of poor Irish who immigrated to the United States had one overriding goal in mind: freedom! This is the story of two of those Hibernians and their families. Unknown to each other, they were John Cain and Patrick Butler. At 24, John Cain left his home in County Offaly, Ireland, and risking the perils of a terrifying voyage, came to America in 1844, just one year before the infamous potato famine in the land of his birth. Nearly penniless in the early years, he worked from dawn to dusk as a laborer before getting the opportunity to do what he loved and felt he did best: farming. At first, he rented some land to farm in central Illinois, but in time, with encouragement from local bank officials, he purchased a small amount of land for himself, to which he steadily added acreage as soon as his savings would warrant it. Though his life was built on sacrifice, no small amount of his success was attributable to Bridget, the daughter of his dear friends, Denis and Winnifred Hanrahan. She became his wife and the mother of their 10 children. If one could say that John worked hard - - and indeed he did - - then Bridget worked harder. The first one up, before dawn, she rarely rested for a moment throughout the day, and was the last to bed at night. A model of frugality, she saw to it that the family clothing was worn, patch upon patch, until it was almost threadbare, and the supper menu was mush and milk, night after night, year after year. The dominant characteristics of the 10 Cain children were as varied as the colors in a kaleidoscope: Mary, serenely mature; Margaret, beautiful; James, intellectual; John, quick-tempered and fast-acting; Rose, witty; Winnie,mournful but virtuous; Austin, steadfast; Elizabeth, sunny and long-suffering; Tom, fun-loving; and Harriet, artistic and urbane. All had their own agenda and each had a story to tell. To their biological brood of 10, the Cains added five more when they became foster parents to five