The typescript includes several sections or chapters, starting with the author's early childhood in Georgia. The author moved to Kansas in 1855 because her father, a physician and surgeon, wished to join the Free State cause. She describes her first winter there and the kind of food they ate. She describes the scenery and plants; encounters with snakes; and being removed to Lena, Illinois because of concerns about "Border Ruffians" attacking the family home due to her father's politics.

Simpson was back in Kansas Territory by 1857 and went to school in Lawrence before eventually going to live with her grandparents and attend school in Salem, Ohio. She again returned to Kansas and describes Quantrill's Raid of 1863 and Price's Raid of 1864, as well as the first Fourth of July celebrated in Lawrence. She also describes her marriage to Simpson just before he left with the military to scout out Sterling Price and his men.

There are pencil illustrations included throughout the text. The author specifically mentions S.N. Simpson [Samuel Newell Simpson (1826-1915)] and her encounters with Native Americans and African Americans in both Georgia and Kansas, including enslaved African Americans.