Publisher's Synopsis
Levi's journal tells the story of three generations of the Broas family. Levi's father Charles decided he needed to escape his domineering father Peter. So in 1837 Charles took his family from New York State to western Michigan on a journey that both threatened and enriched their lives. They took an Erie Canal boat from Syracuse to Buffalo, weathered a violent storm on a Lake Erie steamship, then made their way into the Michigan wilderness. During one encampment they were attacked by renegades from an Indian tribe. Levi barely survived being shot with a poisoned arrow. In Ionia County they established a homesite in the dense forests east of Grand Rapids. Their property attracted other settlers and would later become the town of Belding. And to climax this adventurous year, Levi fell in love with Ruth Ann Just, a girl he met on the Erie Canal boat.
