As a child, I became curious about my "real" grandfather who disappeared around the turn of the century. Learning that he imported shire horses from England to America, I discovered he made fourteen trips back and forth across the Atlantic and had traveled in every state and territory of the U.S. Little more was known about his life or disappearance until years later when a gentleman's writing box containing twenty-two of his letters was found in the bottom of an old trunk. Efforts to find out more met with failure until the advent of the internet. Five years of research on-line and off, including trips to Iowa, California, and England, made me come to know the grandfather I had never met. From the facts I learned, I was able to write an account of his life as I imagine it.