Excerpt from History and Genealogy of the Descendants of John Lawrence Hester and Godfrey Stough: 1752-1905 We hereby wish to express our sincere thanks to the Hon. M.C. Hester, of Los Angeles, Cal.; to the late George Hester, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio; to Herman M.Smiley, of Lisbon, Ohio; to Geo. C. Howenstein, of Carthage, Mo.; to Capt. John M.McCoy, of Dallas, Texas, and to our daughter, Catharine Er Booth, of Delaware, Ohio, who has been an inspiration as well as a valuable adviser and aid in this effort; and to all others, who by their words of encouragement and material aid in gathering these records, have contributed to this work. The sketch and list of the descendants of Martin Mason, Sr., who was a prisoner of war, was furnished by Lewis H.Mason, of Ashland, Ohio, and is indexed under the name of Mason. Undoubtedly mistakes will be discovered. Many times I have received conflicting dates of the same event, in several instances from the same person. At best it would seem impossible to make a complete record and to gather the data of all who are connected with these families which traces through so many generations. But the kindred may be assured that no small pains have been taken to secure as reliable and as accurate a record as could be made under existing circumstances. In the abundance of material furnished it is evident some one is needed to be the final judge of what should be admitted for publication. With no wish to be arbitrary and with deep interest in all concerned, I have made the necessary decision with all the fairness possible and have endeavored to do justly in every case. The book has been as conveniently arranged as we could make it. Of over eight hundred names in the book, all are numbered in regular order and alphabetically indexed, so that they can be turned to at once. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.