Some family stories that are just so special they cry out to be shared. This is one of those stories. It’s “history in a different way” – real lives of ordinary people caught up in the history we’ve only read about in books: wars, social struggles, economic upheaval. Thanks to my friend Corine Bickley for sharing […]
Henry Flagler Didn’t Give Up
Fresh from his embarrassing failure in the Saginaw salt business, Henry Flagler moved his young family to Cleveland in the summer of 1866. (Missed his earlier drama? Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of Flagler’s tale!) Cleveland meant a fresh start. And for the ever-optimistic Flagler, it must have felt like a welcome one. He’d managed to secure a […]
Flagler’s Story – Part 2
Flagler Goes from Rags to Riches When we left Henry Flagler in Part 1 of this story, he was living in Ohio and the Civil War had recently broken out. But it would be family tragedy, rather than any casualty of war, that devastated the Flagler household in 1861. As you’ll remember, Flagler […]
The Early Life of Henry Flagler
The Early Life of Henry Flagler It was January 22, 1912, when Henry Flagler steamed into Key West aboard his private rail car – a hero. His Florida East Coast Railway had just completed the some-said-impossible task of connecting that southernmost key with Florida’s mainland by rail. Flagler had just […]
An 1853 Cabin in Marshfield, MO
An 1853 Ozarks Original . . . . Marshfield, Missouri wasn’t on my list of must-see places, I confess. It is now! When history-friend Hellen Newman reached out to me recently about this “sleepy little town” in the Ozarks, she described it as “nothing fancy. . . Just good, honest folks with small-town […]
Legacy of a 1926 Disaster
How Miami’s 1926 Great Hurricane Changed Florida . . . . In 1926, a vicious monster of a storm – a Category 4 – walloped the small-but-growing city of Miami. For years afterward, those who survived called it the “Great Hurricane.” My dad was one of them . . . and never forgot the shattering […]
Harriet Walley, a Hidden Heroine
A TALE OF A HIDDEN HEROINE: Just a few days from now would be Harriet Walley’s 210th birthday — April 19th to be precise. But unlike her famous husband, David Walley, Harriet’s name has been largely forgotten. Born Harriet Jane Talmadge, she entered the world in 1815 in the scenic Berkshire mountains […]
A Legacy From Empire, NV
A Legacy From Empire, NV. . . . The fledgling town of Empire, Nevada was less than five years old when Ab (Charles Albert) Ambrose was born there in 1866. Ab’s father, known to all as “Dutch Nick,” was the high-flying founder of not only the local hotel and saloon, but […]
Healing Old Memories
Healing Old Memories It’s inevitable, when you write memoir. . . Writing about the past is bound to dredge up a few old memories of the not-so-fun kind. How can you deal with those? Ah, that’s where the memoir process can truly be helpful. Don’t overlook therapy if a memory becomes overwhelming, or you find yourself deeply mired […]
New London: A Whale of an Excitement
A Whale of an “Excitement”: Today, New London, Connecticut, prides itself on its whaling legacy. But the town’s whaling “excitement” during the 1840s and ’50s wasn’t actually the first but the third episode in the town’s economic history. (For the story of New London’s founding and its early role in coastal shipping, […]
Grandparent Stories That Shaped Your Life
Grandparent Stories That Shaped Your Life: We lived nearly 1,500 miles from my only remaining grandmother while I was a child. So I only met her five, maybe six times. I remember her as a tiny, almost fragile woman, with a sweet, quiet disposition. But there was clearly another side! Photos […]
The Slough House Cemetery: From Walking the Plank to Finding Gold
It started with a near-murder. . . The Slough House Pioneer cemetery is a tiny gem in Cosumnes Valley, just over an acre and a half in size. Dating back to 1850, it’s one of the oldest pioneer cemeteries in Northern California. So how did this little cemetery come to be? […]