Far of out in the distant prairie there was a lone rider heading east. His form was that of a weary traveler. He was tall in the saddle, his mount was a shiny black stallion of Spanish origin, and his complexion was dark. His broad brimmed Stetson  was weather worn pulled down over his eyes , his long cattleman’s grey coat draped his tired frame  and if you could look under that brim you would see  tired sad eyes that if they could speak would tell a heart rendering story.

 

They say the eyes are the window to the soul and if that is true, then this weary soul had a lot to tell.

His heart was heavy laden of a father that had been searching for a lost son who had strayed from home many years ago. It had been the winter if 1661 and the family had been heading west from New York; they had lived there since they first got of the boat from Italy. They had settled in the 5 points district, which back then was the unnamed hub of the soon to be called United States of America. It was the melting pot of all new emigrants where they were molded into citizens before embarking on the west award journey if they so chose.

Civil war had been declared and Lincoln was busy building his Yankee army, after there baptism in the 5 points the Ganbinin family had endured their share of neighborhood gang fighting and wished to have no part in a battle waged between relatives, after all that was why they left Italy because of a family vendetta.

 

So on a bright sunny April morning they moved out with the rest of the travelers going east. John Gamboni rode out ahead of the wagon train with his brother Philip to scout ahead. George G stayed back with the family wagon riding along side on his favorite stallion he had purchased in Boston 2 years back. His wife Ellen and daughter Sara rode on the wagon side by side. They were all in great spirits as they moved west out of Boston…..to be continued