Family history and genealogical information about the descendants of Lewis Sandlin who was born ca. 1776 in North Carolina. He was a descendant of James Sandlin (born ca. 1666) who lived in James River, Virginia. Lewis married Sarah (surname unknown) sometime prior to the year 1798. They lived in Clay Co., Kentucky and were the parents of twelve known children. Descendants lived in Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas and elsewhere.

Jonathan Sandlin (b.1774) and his wife, Sousannah, moved from North Carolina to Walker County, Alabama during or before 1850. Descen- dants and relatives lived in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere.

In The Distancers, seven generations worth of joy and heartache is artfully forged into a family portrait that is at once universally American yet singularly Lee Sandlin's own. From the nineteenth century German immigrants who settled on a small Midwestern farm, to the proud and upright aunts and uncles with whom Sandlin spent the summers of his youth, a whole history of quiet ambition and stoic pride—of successes, failures, and above all endurance—leaps off the page in a sweeping American family epic. Touching on The Great Depression, WWII, and the American immigrant experience, The Distancers is a beautiful and stark Midwestern drama, about a time and place long since vanished, where the author learned the value of family and the art of keeping one's distance.

Thomas Farrar (ca.1662-1740/1742), son and grandson of William, was born on Farrar's Island, married twice, and died in Goochland County, Virginia. Descendants lived in Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere.