The Hall Tree begins with John and Mary Hall, who were born in colonial South Carolina in the late Eighteenth Century, and ends nine generations later with the great-granddaughter of the author, Miss Courtney Lea Grimes, who was born in Springfield, Missouri, on August 19, 2001. It is not merely a listing of births and deaths, with names attached, but a compilation of family legends and stories, records, and a great deal more. It is an attempt to compress into a single volume the story of a family that grew as the American nation grew, enlarged as it enlarged, and today is truly a prototype family of the American salad bowl. Today, we are Native Americans, Latin-Americans, Irish-Americans, Scotch-Americans, German-Americans, Dutch-Americans, French-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Armenian-Americans, and Italian-Americans; and our name is now Herron, Knuckles, Johnson, Pearson, Hanson, Allred, Prestwich, Van Wagoner, Anderson, Holinsworth, Smith, Lloyd, Wright, Gragg, Hales, Hoenshell, Hendrickson, Domyan, Nelson, Helton, Browne, Lanphear, Beard, Peak, Landers, Cardona, Ramsey, Schornick, Kandarian, Papagni, Swann, Potter, Finley, Terrill, Sheppard, Holmes, Bernard, Ceccarelli, Williams, Patterson, French, Mellow, Randolph, Robinson, Aquilar, Bell, Lawyer, McKay, Brown, FitzPatrick, Cannon, Harris, Hyder, Burney, Crisler, Dawson, Sisemore, Rainey, Hines, Thomas, Rogers, and Tobias—as well as Hall.
