Asahel Foote, Jr., grandson of Jonathan Foot, a founder of Lee MA, was born in 1804. He graduated from Williams College in 1827 and soon married Mary Smedley, granddaughter of Williamstown founding father, Nehemiah Smedley. Asahel ran a successful boarding school, followed by a thriving horticultural enterprise--but left it all behind when he emigrated to Pasadena CA with his grown children and grandchild in 1879. His journal presents a vivid picture of life in rural western MA between 1843 and 1868, and provided an invaluable research resource. Asahel's ancestors are traced from their...