The remarkable story of the first american woman in California who played a crucial role in the settlement of the West. In the spring of 1841, a courageous young woman named Nancy Kelsey set out with her husband, Ben, and infant daughter, Martha Ann, from their Missouri homestead on a harrowing trek that would lead her into the pages of history. With a small band of pioneers, Nancy and Ben blazed a trail across a wild and unforgiving continent to find a new life in the golden lands of California. By Cecelia Holland