Category Archives: America

Major General Adam Stephen, Real-Life Model for Doctor Spurlock in My Tale, “Captain Stanwick’s Bride”

In my tale “Captain Stanwick’s Bride,” I based Elizabeth Spurlock on my own 8th great-grandmother, a Powhatan Indian Princess. But where did I find the inspiration for the lady’s husband? Easy enough to answer. I am from West Virginia originally, … Continue reading

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What Do You Know of Gail Borden, American Inventor of “Condensed Milk”?

Born November 9, 1801 in New York state, Borden spent parts of his childhood in New York, Kentucky, and Indiana. When his father expressed a desire for more fertile lands than he owned in New York, the elder Borden made … Continue reading

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Celebrating the Release of “Captain Stanwick’s Bride” with The Real Myles Standish

What do we know of the real Myles Standish of Mayflower fame? In truth, not as much as one might think. Much of his life before he traveled to America with the Pilgrims is laced with speculation. For example, where … Continue reading

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Myles Standish’s Career + the Release of “The Courtship of Lord Blackhurst” + a Giveaway

As my previous two posts on John Alden and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow have indicated, my most recent tale, “The Courtship of Lord Blackhurst” was inspired by Longfellow’s narrative poem, “The Courtship of Myles Standish.” Other than the knowledge of Standish … Continue reading

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John Alden and Celebrating the Release of “The Courtship of Lord Blackhurst” + Giveaway

My story, “The Courtship of Lord Blackhurst,” is part of the Regency anthology, Secrets and Soirees, being released 1 July 2020. It is heavily influenced by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” Many of the characters names, for … Continue reading

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Realities of Marriage in the Regency Era + the Release of “The Heartless Earl” + a Giveaway

In chapter six of volume one of Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet provide us several tidbits regarding the success of a marriage during the Georgian era.  ~  “If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill … Continue reading

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The Great Valley Road, Setting for My Novel, “The Road to Understanding”

When I began writing The Road to Understanding, I needed a perfect route to take my characters across the mountains between Virginia and Tennessee in the late 1780s. Who Traveled Across The Great Valley Road? The majority of the settlers in … Continue reading

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The Wilderness Road, Setting for “The Road to Understanding”

According to Ancestry.com, the Wilderness Road “was only a crude trail; only pack teams could cross the mountains. Pioneers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas before 1796 found it necessary to unload their Conestoga Wagons at Sapling Grove … Continue reading

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Chief John Norton, Real-Life Model for a Character in “The Prosecution of Mr. Darcy’s Cousin,” a 2016 Finalist for the Chanticleer International Book Awards

One of the characters in my latest Austenesque novel, The Prosecution of Mr. Darcy’s Cousin, is modeled upon that of John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen), who was a Mohawk Indian chief of Scottish birth. Norton attended school in Scotland and was a … Continue reading

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R. J. Reynolds’s Tobacco Connection to King Edward VII

I live in North Carolina where for many years tobacco was “King.” Tobacco Road was an historic tobacco-producing area of central North Carolina. Among the many who rode the “tobacco wagon” to riches (until the 1980s when the U. S. enacted anti-smoking … Continue reading

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