Chancy Clothier was born near Buffalo, New York, in 1818, left home when he was seventeen and began a forty-year odyssey across the wilderness of frontier America. He, with his family and close friends, established the Missouri Settlement on the banks of Peace Creek in central Kansas. These stories describe the hardships encountered and the ultimate triumphs of these hardy pioneers. Although it is the story of one family, in a larger sense it is a tribute to all those who experienced similar difficulties in settling the heartland of our great nation.