Beginning with John Aiken (1689-1750) and concluding with Elizabeth Burt - Aiken (1834-1922), this history covers five generations of an American family that forged their way in nascent communities. The family migrated from the New Hampshire Colony to Vermont to the Midwest, and finally to California, and along the way, pivotal local and national events that affected their lives are carefully infused into this unique family history. In archives from New Hampshire to California, the author thoroughly researched and then synthesized thousands of scattered, mind-numbing raw facts to augment nineteenth century family poetry, letters, and photos. Finally, the author studied the contextual history, painstakingly pinpointed several locations where his ancestors lived, and coalesced it into a factual and fascinating account of a pioneering family that reaches back three hundred years.