Dear DescendantsColumbia J. Mankin, was born in Ava, MO, when the town, founded in 1871, was only two years old. Essentially, Columbia Lum grew up with Ava. As a keen observer and good listener, she retained much about Ava and Douglas County. In the 1950s, Mrs. Mankin began dictating the stories to her youngest daughter, Orla (Mankin) Vaughan. Then Mrs. Vaughan typed them into what became a 373 page book titled Dear Descendants. They finished just a few months before