The Wayfarers

About the Book

Imagine you are a witness to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, or aboard The Mayflower as it leaves England for America. Or, perhaps you are among the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord, or present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Or, you are among the victors at Big Round Top, surveying the Gettysburg Battlefield, or on the beach at Iwo Jima, suddenly confronted by withering Japanese gunfire. Or, you are with an in-flight refueling aircrew over the north Atlantic during the Cold War.

These are experiences of individuals known as The Wayfarers. They are members of an extended family line, an American family, and the stories are a blend of fact and fiction. Where fragments of information are available, they are used. To that extent, the stories are biographical. But, beyond that, they are fiction. To the fragments of known information are blended figments of imagination and stories result. They are intended to be representative of all who qualify as Wayfarers. By telling of some, tribute is paid to all.

Join the Wayfarers in the journey through time. Enjoy the experiences of a family progenitor in 900 AD, a Norwegian Viking ashore in Scotland. Visit colonial New England. Experience the Indian wars of the 1600s, the turbulence of the American Revolution and the shock of Civil War battles. Sail on a whaler in the vast North Pacific in the 1850s. Travel on the transcontinental railroad just two months after its completion in 1869, by steamship to Ireland and England in 1884, by auto on the Old National Road in 1919, and to Europe again by sea in 1929.

Come,  join the journey of the Wayfarers. 

About the Author

Writing has been a lifelong passion for Cal Patterson. And during retirement he has found time to write novels, a dream he had nourished for years.

Since publication of two earlier novels, both targeted to teens and young adults, he has turned to a different and more challenging project, nothing less than bringing to life stories of individuals he calls The Wayfarers, family members from the past and present, figures drawn from the genealogical record.

His career included three years in the United States Air Force, thirty in the telephone industry and ten as executive director of a private foundation. In the Air Force he was a pilot in an air refueling squadron of the Strategic Air Command. During his years in the telephone business he worked for Northwestern Bell in Iowa and Michigan Bell in the Detroit area. One of his assignments with Michigan Bell was oversight of corporate contributions. This led to the opportunity to retire and move to the McGregor Fund, a private foundation in Detroit. He retired from the McGregor Fund at year end, 1994 and has enjoyed time in Florida and Michigan since. Home is now in northern Michigan, “in the woods about a half a mile from Higgins Lake.”