PREFACE

I have no authentic records or traditions of my ancestors that extend back more than three generations. If I could find some definite and reliable scrap of information in regard to some of them, and the times in which they lived, it would be a source of great interest to me. I get the impression that some of my descendants may have the same desire to know something of their forefathers. Therefore I write this book for their special benefit. I have had a wide and varied experience in life. I have not followed beaten paths in thought or action, but have blazed my own pathway, sometimes in open defiance of public sentiment.

In this book I have tried to present myself just as I am and have been, without polish or style, and make no pretence to either literary or scientific attainments.

It is not my present purpose to place this book on sale, because most of it would be of but little interest to the general reader. But there are some things in it that I desire to place in durable form.

My prophecy in regard to the future of the negro race will be substantially fulfilled and will be a lasting monument to my memory. This book will be better appreciated fifty years hence than at the present time.

The facts in regard to spiritual phenomena as narrated in the appendix are of vast importance to every human being. In time those phenomena and similar ones will be the basis of the religion of the civilized world.

I dedicate this book to my descendants and all lovers of religious liberty and progressive thought.

Simeon Henry West.