ABOUT WHIT’S END….
In the story of Whit’s End, an English detective, Sergeant Devon Walpole, uncovers one woman’s challenge to the rule of Queen Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor. The Queen has met an adversary unlike any other in English history. The Hanover Whitingtons of Illinois seem destined to occupy the throne of England and we aren’t talking about the loo (bathroom).
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“Steve Smith has never spent a minute of his life on the New York Times bestseller list and this book provides ample reasons why!” –Anita Littleton of The Pauntley Press
“This book is a must read for anyone who has difficulty falling asleep. I tossed my ambien out the window after only a few nights of reading this. I can sleep again!” –David Rathborne Whitingham
“In Whit’s End, the obscure author, Steve Smith, confronts his greatest challenge: writing something, someone might want to read.” –Dee Shaw, Dubuque IA
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In this illustrated volume, Dr. Stephen Smith, explores the history of the Hanover Whitington family of the Driftless Region of northwestern Illinois. Beginning with the early Welsh, Saxon and Viking rulers in the first millennia, Smith charts the history of a family tree that began as a kernel of evidence and grew into a sequoia. The author provides pedigree charts that spiral into the present day, including the descendants of a woman affectionately known as ‘Whit.’
This book is filled with the names of men and women who created history, waged war, developed empires and did it all without a cellphone, Facebook account or Twitter feed. William the Conqueror, Charlemagne and Alfred the Great are but a few of the legendary men of Europe who are forefathers to Whitingtons. Eleanor of Aquitaine and Matilda, the first women to have a go at ruling England, are also found among these pages.
Along with the monarchs of Europe one also finds numerous preachers who risked their lives to worship God. After reviewing one thousand years of family history in Europe, the author brings the Whitington ancestors to Virginia and New England in 1609 and 1638. Incredible stories emerge of survival on the high seas, and in the wilderness villages of a New World fraught with danger and exploitation. Every character is a great grandparent.
This historical and factual account, laden with research and historical evidence, takes an unfortunate twist when Smith guides his family through a seemingly innocent tour of his mother-in-law’s ancestral home in England. ‘Whit’ discovers a family secret that could change everything for her Midwestern American farm family and descendants to come. What began as a two-week family vacation evolved into a classical detective drama that has stirred the imagination of every person whoever charted a family tree.
