Ordinary people can have extraordinary lives. Sara "Sadie" Johnston Mead (1885-1966) wasnt famous. If you hadnt known her personally, you probably would have never known her name. But her life was far from ordinary, as were the lives of the individuals from whom she descended.

Until now, Sadies descendants never knew her whole story. Nothing had been known of her early ancestral roots in New England. No one knew Sadie had been adopted and instead of being an only child, had seven biological siblings and half-siblings. Few knew that she married young, experienced the death of a child,...