Nineteenth-century residents of America's small, midwestern towns saw in influx of people from all over the world moving across the country in search of better lives. Some found them, but many simply could not overcome overwhelming odds to succeed in a young and rapidly developing country. And when they died many ended up buried as paupers in Potter's Field. This book tells some of their stories, mostly true, written in verse and beautifully illustrated. The stories are sometimes sad, sometimes humorous, and often heroic. Together they tell the other side of the story of the land of opportunity, one that is critical to the understanding of what it took to build this country and the price that some paid.