Bernice Benedict Popelka

Branches of the Family Tree Bernice Benedict Popelka

"Branches of the Family Tree" is the story of a Puritan family and its generations in the New World. Add to that the story of an English family and its generations in English countryside. In the early 1900s a descendent of the Puritan family and a descendent of the English meet in America and marry and create a new family amid the rapid influx of other Europeans into the industrial city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The story tells the effects on the couple's son and daughter as they both try to find their places in this new world. The author brings to light important aspects of history not readily covered in history books. We forget that people walked farther and worked harder. They coped energetically without complaining about their hardships. In her book Bernice reveals the unsympathetic sternness in human relationships in the past. She shows how that softened through the decades.