What follows is meant primarily for my dependants and my direct descendants. I suppose any personal journal or memoir is, by its nature, self centered. Part of what prompted me to write this is the story of Joseph Desilva (1749), (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~burrowes/desilva.html) as told to his grandson John DeSilva. This story documents one of the oldest of our know ancestors. I found the story extremely interesting and hope that some day my decendants will find my story equally interesting. It is simply a means of documenting one person's life for those who follow. The story covers the two aspects of my life – my ancestry and my experiences. The Journal is meant more for the members of my family and their descendants.

First, my ancestry - this is a collection of information going back to the year 1340. There are also a variety of pictures and a few documents that might be of interest. The purpose of this section is so that those who follow will have the benefit of knowing their heritage and something of the individuals they came from. The content, I owe primarily to the efforts of my mother. She collected much of the information and passed it on to me for safekeeping. Consider this a similar gesture in wanting the history to live on.

Secondly, a journal of my experiences, with bits and pieces of how I became the person I am. This section is probably more a recollection of memories and significant events in my life, than a true journal. The experiences are however, what gives shape to ones life.

I decided to use HTML to compose the document because I felt that HTML would outlast any version of word processing software. I also expect the media that this is contained on to be replicated for future generations and I wanted to insure its longevity to the degree possible. HTML also provides additional functionality in navigating through the document and only requires an Internet browser to view everything.

I have included links at the end of each chapter to go to the next or previous chapter and also to return to the table of contents. This should provide the necessary navigation.

All of us are affected by our heredity and our environment. This, I suppose is one persons view of how some of the pieces came to fit together in his life. Enjoy the reading and enjoy the memories of a life that I have been fortunate enough to live.