A Runaway Marriage: The year was 1886, and Mary Cosser and William John Swail knew what they wanted – each other. But the would-be bride’s parent were apparently less than excited about the match. The fact that Mary was just 16 while her sweetheart was eight years older might have had something […]
Poison Parsnip & Fun Facts From 1887
I’m working on a third time-travel novella, set in 1887. And what a fun trip back in time it’s been, reading the old newspapers to capture the period flavor! There were wonderful ads, of course, like Genoa barber David DeLong, who doubled as a dentist. And then there […]
Widows In The Civil War
When Life Gives You Lemons: Widows In the Civil War Love stories come with all kinds of surprising twists and turns. Handed down through my own family is the fascinating story of a Civil War widow – with a quirky happy ending. As the tale goes, Sarah Jane Dukes […]
Ever heard of ‘Bastardy Bonds’?
Ever heard of “bastardy bonds”? I certainly hadn’t. Not until I was researching my own family history, when TMCC genealogy librarian Sue Malek helped me discover a whole book about North Carolina Bastardy Bonds (with, yes, a few family surnames inside!) Turns out bastardy bonds were an early way […]
Forgotten Victoriana: Stickaline
You gotta love forgotten bits of Victoriana. I was scrolling through a Scribner’s Magazine from 1880 when this ad for Stickaline caught my eye. The label graphics are just so Gilded Age. But what was this stuff? Turns out Stickaline was a simple adhesive and it was cheap: just 20 […]