On the Frontier

Pioneer and patriarch Jefferson Toulouse passed away in 1890 and, by 1900, his nine surviving children, "the Civil War Generation," were in their fifties and sixties. It was their children, Jefferson's seventy-three grandchildren, that would experience the wonders of a new century.

The first grandchild arrived in 1850 and the last was born in 1903. In the interim years, their families grew. They migrated westward from Wisconsin, assisted by the Homestead Act, to pioneer new communities as far north as Montana and south as New Mexico. They were among the earliest settlers in Sonoma County, California and helped build Spokane.

Some would fight in Mexico and against Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. Their sons would experience the horrors of World War I. Five family members would die as a result of "the Great Influenza." Some would endure the Dust Bowl years and all would experience the sacrifices brought on by the 1930s Depression.

On the Frontier: Jefferson's Grandchildren is a epic story of challenge and change, progress and peril, lived by everyday heros struggling to make a better life for their children.