Hello fellow Knox County subscribers: Twelve years ago, I was in my mother’s childhood home with several family members as we were examining an antique shipping trunk. I noticed an object lying at the bottom of the trunk; it was an 1884 journal written by my great-grandmother Mary Wikoff Oliver. The first chapter describes Mary's upbringing, the area she was raised in and her education at Knox College. Several years later I was given Mary Wikoff Oliver’s 1881 leather-bound handwritten journal, which described Mary's wedding day, honeymoon, and their newlywed lives in Hastings, Nebraska. Those two journals, literally, changed my life. I began a quest to learn as much about Mary as I possibly could and as a consequence, I have just finished writing a book of Mary's life entitled "The Life and Times of Mary Wikoff Oliver 1861-1896". This 248-page biography has 15 chapters and over 100 illustrations. Please visit www.lulu.com/content/591340 or http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/claydon/marywoliver.html if you are interested in purchasing this book. Or check with your local library about obtaining a copy. The publisher is Lulu Press and the ISBN is 978-1-4303-0660-3. Thank you, Julie Claydon