As eluded to in the last, I was led to this “what the…?" moment by a friend of the family who has traveled extensively in Nicaragua. My...

For many on the East Coast of the United States during the California Gold Rush, sailing around Cape Horn was a very popular option...

In our modern life of being able to communicate instantly, it is hard to imagine that historically, it could take as long as six months...

I’ve touched on the political and nationalism ambitions of President Polk when he took office, especially when it came to Mexico’s...

Most of you know that I’m an organic farmer (although I recently learned I can’t use the “o-word” since I refuse to be forced down the...

Technology is everywhere. Most of us wouldn’t be able to function without it in our lives. As a late baby boomer, I remember the first...

I’ve mentioned, in earlier blogs, my joy when I stumble upon a new idea or inspiration befitting my story’s time period of which I was...

I’ve written some pretty heavy blogs of late so I thought it might be refreshing for all of us to explore a lighter subject, one that...

A trip to Newbu

One benefit about having our children go to college out-of-state was the opportunity to visit them when they had a break and didn’t want...

Comparing the 44th American President with James K. Polk, the 11th , makes for an interesting study. Both share enormous ambition,...

I will likely never know what it is like to go somewhere without an understanding of what I am going to do once I arrive. Technology...

Social reformers are not, by nature, passive nor necessarily polite. They have a vision, a calling, to right wrongs and at the cost of...

As has been the case for so much of my story’s time period, another event is coinciding with the current coronavirus outbreak. Cholera,...

It’s amazing to me that I can do so much research from the comfort of my home but there comes a time when a visit has to happen. I’ve...

Our current headlines are full of the immigration debate. As I did my research, I learned that this topic isn’t new. Nor are political...

By 1790, there is no federal census record of buying and selling of slaves in Massachusetts. But, if someone came to the state with a...

When Charles Sumner addressed the Boston Mercantile Library Association in February, 1847, he gave an oration on the chattel slavery of...

My story forced me to understand Irish immigration in 1849, into Boston specifically. Here’s what I learned. The first wave of Irish...

As a woman of the western United States, the concept of servants and slaves has no specific ancestral significance to me. But, in 1849,...