When Juliana Flora was searching through boxes of her father's mementos after he passed away, she came upon an unexpected treasure - recollections about Historic Joanna Furnace written in 1936 by her great-great-grandmother, who was the daughter of ironmaster Levi Heber Smith. The discovery led Flora to write a book, titled "My Childhood at Joanna: Recollections of Daisy Emily Smith Morris."

Flora, president of the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association (HCVHA), the nonprofit organization that maintains the historic site, held a book launch on Aug. 1 at Joanna Furnace, which was a thriving iron-making community in the 18th and 19th centuries. Flora explained how the book came about and offered visitors signed copies to purchase. A portion of all proceeds from book sales will benefit the HCVHA and Joanna Furnace.

Flora recalled the moment she found the document. "I had many surprise finds in the boxes, but it was the biggest surprise," Flora said. "It wasn't in a binder or anything. It was just 36 pages of handwritten words on what would have been stationery paper at the time. It was like she was speaking to me."

It took Flora a year to transcribe the document and add photographs and commentary with the help of her sister, Edith Bissell, who read excerpts of the book at the recent book launch. "We didn't change very much because she was a very eloquent writer," Flora pointed out.

Flora said that her great-great-grandmother wrote a lot about the ironmaster's mansion, calling it the "the hub of the universe." Daisy lived in the mansion until she was 11 with her family. When she was 11, they moved to Philadelphia, but they would spend their summers at the furnace," Flora said. "Her father would spend more time there because he was in charge of the workers."

The ironmaster's mansion is no longer in existence. It was torn down in the 1950s by Bethlehem Steel, which once owned the furnace property. The company eventually deeded the land to the HCVHA in 1979.

"An interesting story is that Daisy was living in an apartment in Bryn Mawr. She knew that her mansion had been torn down, so my dad went to get one of the bricks from the mansion and brought it to her," Flora said. "He knew how much it meant to her and her heartbreak at it being gone, and he wanted her have a piece to remember."

Flora noted she felt it was important to share the information contained in the document with others. "This is (Daisy's) memory of this place and I'm hoping future generations can enjoy it," she said. "The iron industry was important to the area, but with this book, I want to bring the people (who lived and worked at Joanna Furnace) alive."

To honor her ancestors, Flora remains an active volunteer at Joanna Furnace. "I got (reconnected) with Joanna Furnace and fell in love with the place. Now, I am in my second year of being president of the (HCVHA) and I feel very blessed," she stated. "Every time I go there, I think about the people that lived there. Joanna Furnace is my happy place."

To learn more or purchase the book, visit http://www.brookshackbooks.etsy.com.