What were the impelling motives that caused Margaret Wiley Wylam, widow of Ralph Wanless, to struggle so mightily to find a way for her, and her four children, like thousands before her, to leave their homeland and seek new lives in the American wilderness? A common reason is for a “better life?” But what is a “better” life? Was her life so wretched, and a future for her children so dismal that she would cast it all into an unknown future? This better life would be a commitment to just surviving, hoping to get a toe hold in the wilderness. Dr. Price, that early 20th century historian of Alleghany pioneers, has a little different point of view about this ‘better life: “The emigrant’s lot for centuries was in those sections of the earth whose climates are such that the seasons succeed each other in a manner that requires constant effort for existence. In such latitudes, life is and always must be a more or less arduous struggle. There seems to be something that makes these people feel there is no time for rest.” There must always be a constant struggle for a ‘better life’ tomorrow, through a toiling and a building up of one’s own happiness out of the materials possessed by their neighbors”. An opportunity to give it a try was a powerful motivation by moving to America. Thus, the inherent motivation to move to a new location if it offers a ‘better life’, regardless of the struggle. Of course, the toil and suffering of the pioneer for a ‘better life’ can, at best, only be enjoyed for a very short time. The pay-off comes for a better life for all future generations of these stalwart pioneers. Was this the motivation? Were their lives worth the sacrifice? It would appear from scant information that Margaret Wylam, before he husbands’ death, was middle class for that time, but his passing left limited options for the future. She may have known persons in America, and leveraged these contacts for help, but her heroic efforts to make it happen, is astonishing. She brought to America four Wanless children whose, ancestral blood today flows in the veins of many current citizens of these four children as well as that of their father and Margaret Wiley Wylam. This book my best be described by the Hebrew prophet who told his fellow citizens of ancient Israel the importance on knowing from hence we came. “Tell all your children -- and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” Or as Thucydides told his fellow Greeks a thousand years ago “Both justice and decency requite that we should bestow on our forefathers an honorable remembrance.” Dr. William Price, author of Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County West Virginia (1903) said “Persons knowing but little of those gone before is very likely to care but little of those coming after them.” This book hopes to be in tune with that point of view. Why do we care about our ancestors, or should we? All four of my ancient grandparents sailed the stormy Atlantic, survived in the rugged wilderness (of Pocahontas County) against all odds so that I could exist. If any one of them made a whisper of a different choice, I would have experienced an eternity of nonexistence . This book is to honor their persistence, and thousand like them, which gave us our life. They put down roots and here their families came into existence and expanded. And so, it is with the Wanless family