Missouri History Museum

In 1824, Irish émigré Robert Campbell settled in St. Louis as a fur trapper and trader. Over 57 years he accumulated a fortune that today would be worth $69 million. In his private life, however, he was not so prosperous. Of his 13 children, only three lived past childhood. Two of the surviving sons died before the estate could be settled, and the third was judged mentally incompetent. It would take 68 years of litigation before the money was distributed to his ultimate heirs.

The author, whose father was one of the heirs, unearthed more than 200 family letters and diaries in archives in America and Europe, which provide firsthand accounts of pioneer life on the American western frontier. They also show how wealth caused a close and loving Irish family to disintegrate into discord and personal violence.