Much like the current pandemic, the California Gold Rush started at a specific epicenter and spread across the world. We’re all familiar with the term “Forty-Niners” which originated with the hordes of people flocking to California in 1849 to seek their fortunes in the gold fields. I’ve described in previous […]
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Black History in California
As Black History Month (February) winds to an end, I decided to post a bit of Californian history about African Americans and about my African American characters. I’ve posted before about African American history in the Oregon Territory. California was marginally more receptive to Blacks in that era, but not […]
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Cinderella Through the Decades
I follow This Day in History, watching for events that relate to my historical novels. Every once in a while, I learn something that finds its way into my novels. The information also provides fodder for blog posts, such as this one. Most of what I learn has nothing to […]
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Random Photos: Making Maple Sugar at Middlebury
One of the fun experiences I had during my years at Middlebury College was making maple syrup. Friends of mine knew a local farmer outside Bristol, Vermont, and one winter day I was invited with my friends to visit the farm and watch them make maple syrup. I wouldn’t even […]
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Research for My Next Historical Novel: Oregon in 1864
One of my goals for 2020 is to research Oregon history for my next historical novel. The characters of the book I’m planning will be the same families as in my earlier Oregon Chronicles novels, though I’m sure new characters will demand to be included as well! Part of the […]
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Another Trip to the Nelson-Atkins: California Gold Rush Daguerreotypes
I’ve written before about viewing exhibits at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. I was there again shortly before Christmas, this time to see a temporary exhibit of daguerreotypes taken of miners and locations associated with the California Gold Rush. Since this was the subject of my novel, […]
Continue readingMurders in Oregon Territory: History Is Stranger Than Fiction
I’ve written before that my ancestor, Cyrenus Hooker, was the first person murdered in Polk County, Oregon. His murder took place in February 1852. I recently came across an article about another killing that took place in May 1852, when Nimrod O’Kelly fatally shot Jeremiah Mahoney in Benton County, Oregon, […]
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Writing Historical Fiction: My Odd Research Topics, Including Murder
Many authors these days have very strange browsing histories. Writers of thrillers have to research espionage, weapons, and clandestine operations. Fantasy writers delve deeply into the legends of wizards and dragons and vampires (not my cup of tea). As for me, in addition to the basic timelines and geography of […]
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First Methodist Church in Oregon City—A Setting in My Novels
In my about-to-be-published novel, My Hope Secured, several scenes take place in or around the Methodist Church in Oregon City. This church was also a setting in one of my earlier novels, Now I’m Found. I imagine my characters in worship services, hearing marriage banns read (though the reading of banns […]
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September 11, A Generation Later
A few days ago the topic of September 11 came up during a conversation with a friend. “Can you believe it’s been eighteen years?” she said. “My grandchildren don’t remember it. The youngest one wasn’t even born.” Few days live in infamy across our entire nation. Pearl Harbor, which was […]
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