Product Description
by David W. Jackson (Author), Paul R. Petersen (Author)
For at least the last 25 years, an untold number of people have sought the best way to preserve the pioneer Davis-Smith Cemetery in Jackson County, Missouri. This book illustrates the lives (and sometimes tragic deaths) of the pioneers buried in this local cemetery. It also may serve as an example of how any community might save an historic cemetery for posterity.
Author Biography
Paul R. Petersen is an award-winning author and educator who lectures on the Missouri-Kansas Border War. A highly decorated retired master sergeant with the United States Marine Corps, Petersen is an infantry combat veteran of Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. His combat experience brings insight into the character of William Clarke Quantrill, the man who was responsible for developing modern guerrilla warfare. Author of three books, Quantrill of Missouri, Quantrill in Texas and Quantrill at Lawrence, Petersen's insights brings complex patterns of events into clear focus, identifies the personalities involved along the border and quotes memorably from firsthand accounts giving a clear understanding of the temper of the times. Quantrill at Lawrence is the only account explaining the causes, reasoning and justification for the 1863 Lawrence raid. It is the first time a complete story has been written using accounts by both the victims and the raiders. Researched facts that earlier historians have intentionally omitted have been included. David W. Jackson received a BS magna cum laude in historic preservation, archives studies from Southeast Missouri State University. He is the founder and director of The Orderly Pack Rat [orderlypackrat.com], publisher of Jackson's first book, Direct Your Letters to San Jose: The California Gold Rush Letters of James and David Lee Campbell, 1849-1852 (2000); subsequent, Recipes of Our Past: Morsels from Our Grandmothers' Recipe Boxes (2005; 2011); and, forthcoming Unshackling the African American Slave Ancestry of my Great Great Grandfather, Arthur Jackson (1856-1931) [tentative title for release in 2012]. Since 2000, Jackson has served as director of Archives and Education for the Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society.
