Jean Wilson Murray's Blog, page 3

Anita Garibaldi – A Warrior and Adventurer for Love

Anita Garibaldi was a bright flame who shone briefly in her native Brazil and Italy.  She was the companion in arms and wife to Giuseppe Garibaldi and a hero in her own right. Her story is wonderfully romantic and tragic. Anita’s Early Life Born in 1821 in Brazil, Anita (named Anninha) was her father’s daughter. […]

Rose Zar – A Courageous Woman In World War II Poland

Like many Jewish women in World War II, Rose fought for her life. Hers is a story of courage in the face of the threat of Auschwitz and death. Some of this is difficult to read but I wanted to share Rose’s story with you. She was truly a courageous adventurous woman. Rose tells her […]

Caroline Weldon and Sitting Bull – The True Story

Caroline Weldon was an Indian rights activist who decided she wanted to help the Sioux Indians in their fight against the Indian Affairs people. She also wanted to paint Sitting Bull, the head of the Hunkpapa Sioux Indian tribe and one of the most famous Native Americans of all time. Her story has been told […]

Alexine Tinne – Intrepid Adventurer or Spoiled Tourist?

Alexandrina Petronella Francine Tinne in this image gives us a hint of her strong will. They say our character flaws are our strengths in excess. This was certainly true of Alexine, whose strong will may have been the cause of her downfall. Her various biographers differ on whether she was a true adventurer or just a […]

Isabella Bird – Rocky Mountain Adventurer Falls in Love

Isabella Bird Bishop was feminine, dressed in women’s clothes and rode side saddle (only in town). She also was an experienced traveler who wasn’t afraid of anything or anyplace. Miss Bird, as many called her, was a world traveler, but I have been especially interested in her travels in the Rockies in the 1870s, in […]

Joey Guerrero – Spy and Heroine of World War II

Josefina (Joey) Guerrero was a true heroine and a woman of immense courage. Not only did she risk death by spying for the Americans in the Philippines during World War II, but she had to live much of her life as a leper. Her story doesn’t even rate an entry in Wikipedia, but it’s inspiring […]

Narcissa Whitman – Doomed Missionary to the Indians

Did you read about the young missionary who was killed by a remote tribe on an island in the Bay of Bengal? Against many warnings and official sanctions against his going, John Chau went to one of these islands and was shot with arrows on the beach as he landed. His story reminded me of […]

My Absolute Favorite Mystery Novels and Writers

I love books and my favorite books are mysteries. I’ve been reading them, buying them, collecting them, and dragging them home from the library since I was very young. Among the first mysteries I read were the Agatha Christie books. At one point, I had almost all of them; right now I have most but […]

Delia Akeley – From Hunting Elephants to Living with Pygmies

Delia Akeley began her adventures in Africa as an elephant hunter, but she turned into a cracker-jack explorer and ethnographer, spending three weeks with a Pygmy tribe (maybe cannibals?). Delia Akeley was a rebellious child. Born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in 1869, she was deliberately silent about her past. She was described as a “little […]

Isabel Godin – Surviving the Amazon with Faith and Determination

Surviving both the Andes Mountains and the Amazon River isn’t an easy task even in modern times. Isabel Godin des Odonais did it in 1769. She began her journey with all her worldly possessions and 39 other people; she ended up finishing it alone, with nothing. This is quite a story. It began with a […]