As a child growing up in Pipestone, Minnesota, in the 1930s, William Morgan marveled over his great-grandmother's salt-filled chimney lantern. Full of sea salt and mementos and drawings that commemorated her British home and her journey to America in 1855, this Victorian artifact became the inspiration both for Morgan's pilgrimage to find the original salt lantern house and, after many journeys both external and internal, for this multifaceted family journey.
Morgan began his research by visiting England and Scotland, then traveled to Vermont, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North Dakota searching for the buildings and the landscapes related to his mother's ancestors. Tracing his father's family took him to Ireland, where he discovered the thatched-roof house in which his grandmother was born. By studying his family's houses, farm buildings, landforms, letters, and heirlooms, Bill Morgan tells the stories of his ancestors' lives. By adding fresh memoirs written by his sister and brothers as well as journals and other family documents, he builds upon these stories to create a full life of an American family.
"Using barns, houses, fences, and orchards as his guides and bumble, intimate possessions as his clues, William Morgan has searched for history, meaning, and substance of an American family from its European roots to its Midwest fruition. A fascinating odyssey." - Faith Sullivan, author of The Cape Ann
"In this remarkable personal and family history, Morgan reminds us of the importance and omnipresence of artifacts in shaping our daily lives and our perceptions of the past. Salt Lanterns should be required reading for anyone interested in family and community history." - Richard V. Francaviglia, author of Main Street Revisited
