Hi Barbara, If you can't find any descendants, an option available to you would be to donate the book to "The Museum of Art & History" at McPherson Center in Santa Cruz. They have a large collection of historical artifacts available for research purposes. <http://www.santacruzmah.org/index.php?page=archives> They are an active group and for a number of years have published an annual "Santa Cruz County History Journal" covering a wide range of topics with lots of specific name information. While it's true that many books, manuscripts, and documents collect dust on library and museum shelves, they are accessible to the members of the general public who are specifically interested in the information contained in those items. For example, years ago a family genealogist donated a copy of his family research to Steinbeck Library in Salinas. One day while browsing the local history selections, I came across the manuscript and recognizing the surname as being the same as one of the neighbors of my ancestors I decided to browse through the manuscript. It was the neighbor all right and one of my ancestors had swindled the man. I hadn't a clue until I read about the incident in that manuscript. I did some cross-referencing and was able to confirm the event happened and that my ancestor made restitution. A couple of years later I happened to be present when a representative of a large winery company was inquiring about background information on this same man. The winery had purchased the man's extensive property and were in the first stages of restoring the man's pioneer residence. I was able to direct them to the manuscript at the library. Hope this helps, Anita C. Monterey County