Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family Kerck Kelsey Hardcover, $25.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-299-4 6 x 9, 416 pages, photographs Biography

". . . presents a 'narrative of big dreams' that reflects the physical and economic expansion of nineteenth-century America, and the Washburns' achievements spring to life."
—Publishers Weekly

"Here for the first time is the comprehensive chronicle of one of the most significant American families of all time—the ten Washburn brothers and sisters, who rose from the obscurity of nineteenth-century rural Maine poverty to the pinnacles of economic, military, and political success. This is a uniquely American story, told with the proper balance between intriguing personal detail and broad national perspective."
—Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine State Historian

". . . ambitious, consistently engaging. . . ."
—Kirkus Reviews

"What Kelsey does with such distinction is to bring the family alive as a band with shared DNA, who live up to their collective familial values of hard work, diligence, and ambition. Readers of Remarkable Americans will also enjoy the social and political context for this mobile family's achievements, which Kelsey unravels with perception."
—Jean Baker, Professor of History, Goucher College, author of Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists; James Buchanan; Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

Ten remarkable children grew up on a simple farm in remote Livermore, Maine. Four were elected and reelected to the U.S. Congress from four different states. Two of the four would later be separately considered for Republican nomination for president and vice president of the country. Two were ambassadors, two were state governors, and two others worked to establish the great mills that would become General Mills. Growing up in rural poverty, their advantages were few, but together they left a record of achievement that will probably never be equaled again by a single generation of any American family.

After a career in textbook publishing and banking, Kerck Kelsey received a Master's Degree in History from Harvard University just before his seventieth birthday. He wrote his thesis on the eldest Washburn brother, Israel Jr. It was later published as Israel Washburn, Jr.: Maine's Little-Known Giant of the Civil War. He lives in Freeport, Maine.