Sandra Merville Hart's Blog, page 70

Love’s Undoing by Gabrielle Meyer

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Part of The Backcountry Brides Collection – Eight 18th Century Women Seek Love on Colonial America’s Frontier

 This novella is set at Fort McCrea, along the Upper Mississippi River in 1792.

Abi McCrea longs to leave her father’s fur post for her sister’s Montreal home, located in the wilderness within stockade walls, but he will not allow it.

Henry Kingsley works for Abi’s uncle in Montreal. He travels a long way to deliver a letter to Abi’s father. The news of an inheritance may take her father from his family. What will become of Abi and her Chippewa mother?

The author did a great job showing the prejudice that some felt for the Native Americans in the new country of the United States. I enjoyed the story.

A good read! I will look for more books by this author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

 

Breakfast Cookies from Libby’s Cuppa Joe

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Today’s post is written by friend and fellow author, Rebecca Waters, who is sharing a yummy recipe from her latest release. Welcome back, Rebecca!

 Sonja, the young entrepreneur in my new release, Libby’s Cuppa Joe, is excited to introduce fancy West Coast lattes and biscotti to the people of Door County, Wisconsin. She soon learns her customers simply want a good cup of coffee and a delicious homemade cookie. Sonja’s mother shares the recipe for Breakfast Cookies with her daughter. This soon becomes the signature cookie for the coffee shop.

But Libby’s Cuppa Joe is more than the story of a young entrepreneur. It is the story of forgiveness, love, and second chances.

Breakfast Cookies :Yield: 8 dozen

Cream together

2 C brown sugar

1 C. white sugar

1 ½ C. cooking oil

2 t. vanilla

 

Add 4 eggs

4 C. flour

2 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 ½ C oatmeal

4 C. cornflakes

 

Mix together well and drop by teaspoonful on a greased cookie sheet

Bake at 350° for twelve minutes or until brown.

-Rebecca Waters

[image error]Libby’s Cuppa Joe  

Coffee barista and shop owner Sonja Parker is a single mom on her last leg financially and emotionally when Melissa, a college student comes to work at the Door County store. Melissa, with the help of Kevin Hanson, the young and energetic minister in the area, finally bring the message of God’s love and favor to Sonja. But is it too late? Libby’s Cuppa Joe is about second chances.  It’s about forgiveness and about a grown woman making faith in God her own.

 

You can use this link to both buy and review the book:  Amazon

[image error]Meet Rebecca Waters

Libby’s Cuppa Joe is Rebecca Waters’ second novel, following Breathing on Her Own (2014). She has published three books for writers, Designing a Business Plan for Your Writing, Marketing You 101, and Writing with E’s. Rebecca has published five stories in the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul books. To learn more about Rebecca or to read her blog, visit her blog.

 

Civil War Women: Dorothea Dix, Superintendent of Female Nurses

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Dorothea Dix traveled to Washington shortly after the Civil War began. Her federal appointment as Superintendent of Female Nurses bestowed on her the honor of being the first female in this high position.

Dorothea convinced Union military to allow women to serve as nurses. Once they agreed, she began recruiting her nurses.

She set high standards. Fearing that young, unmarried women might use the position to find a husband, she sought plain, older women and insisted on plain clothing.

The oversight of both the large nursing staff across many locations and administration of medical supplies such as bandages fell on Dorothea’s shoulders.

Many army surgeons were against having female nurses. Dorothea pushed for formal training for them.

About 3,000 females served in Union hospitals during the war. They did an admirable job and were a crucial part of caring for sick and wounded soldiers.

Louisa May Alcott, the beloved author of Little Women, was one of the Civil War nurses who served under Dorothea Dix. Though respected, it was Louisa’s opinion that the strict superintendent wasn’t well-liked. Most nurses avoided her.

Beyond Dorothea’s administrative skills, another reason people respected her is that she treated both Union and Confederate soldiers in military hospitals.

Her efforts to place female nurses in Union hospitals began paving the way for women to serve in the medical field.

-Sandra Merville Hart

[image error]Sources

“Dorothea Dix,” United States History, 2019/01/07 https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1092.html.

“Dorothea Lynde Dix,” History, 2019/01/07 https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/dorothea-lynde-dix.

Norwood, Arlisha. “Dorothea Dix.” National Women’s History Museum. National Women’s History Museum, 2017. 2019/01/07.

The Counterfeit Tory by Shannon McNear

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Part of The Backcountry Brides Collection – Eight 18th Century Women Seek Love on Colonial America’s Frontier

 This novella is set in 1781. It starts in Charlotte Town, North Carolina, and moves to the wilderness.

The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown was supposed to have ended everything. Jedidiah Wheeler, who had fought with the Continental Regulars in a war for independence, hates that loyalists still ravage the Carolinas. He accepts a dangerous mission to try to stop them.

Lizzy Cunningham lives in the South Carolina backcountry, keeping house for her ungrateful and abusive father and brothers. She stays busy from morning to night working at their tavern.

When a stranger comes to the tavern one cold evening, Lizzy can’t trust the kindness in his eyes or his respectful manner. Experience has taught her that no man can be trusted.

As danger escalates, she finds herself hoping that Jed is the man he seems to be.

Believable characters in harsh circumstances make this book a page turner. I also loved learning the history after the Revolutionary War ended.

A good read! I will look for more books by this author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

 

 

1870s Advice on Setting Up the Bedroom

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The author of Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping advised homemakers to set up the family bedroom on the first floor if it’s not damp.

Use matting as a thin floor covering as it holds less dust than carpet. Wash matting twice a season. To wash, mix a pint of salt into a half-pail of warm water. It’s not clear if the solution was sponged onto the fabric or if the matting was dipped into the water. Dry immediately with soft cloth.

This was the room where the medicine cabinet was kept, though still out of the reach of children. Items such as camphor, mustard, strips of linen, and hot drops (?) were stored in the cabinet, tucked away in case of illness or accident.

A large closet should have low hooks for children to hang their clothes. Provide a box for them to store their stockings. Shoes should be kept in a bag. Teaching children to care for their belongings at an early age should help them to be organized in adulthood.

Blankets should be of soft wool. Cotton comforters require frequent exposure to sun and air, so these should be used cautiously. In the author’s opinion, delaine fabric made the best comforters. Delaine is a high-grade of wool fabric made of fine combing wool.

The author strongly recommended allowing the bedding to lie open for several hours each morning to air it out. Even though many housekeepers want to tidy the bed soon after rising, this was not recommended. Pillows should be aired in the wind, but kept away from sun.

This is probably good news for those who prefer not to make their beds!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

“Delaine,” Enclyclopedia Brittanica, 2018/12/17 https://www.britannica.com/topic/delaine.

Civil War Women: Rebecca R. Usher, Nurse

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The Maine Camp and Hospital Association was established in 1862 to ensure that soldiers from Maine received the supplies donated for them from folks back home. Its members were ready to serve as nurses whenever needed.

In October of 1862, Almira Quinby invited Miss Rebecca Usher to work at U.S. General Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania. Rebecca was to wear plain, sensible dresses. The only other qualification was “a common experience in nursing.”

The large hospital building used by surgeons and nurses had been a normal school. Nine hundred patients were cared for in barracks, which were divided into wards holding 60—70 patients each. Rebecca, in charge of one ward, felt as if she was in her element.

She wrote to her sister, Ellen Usher Bacon who worked with the Maine Camp Hospital Association, requesting tobacco and flannel shirts for the soldiers.

While working in Pennsylvania, Rebecca traveled to Washington with other nurses. Though she met Mrs. Lincoln, she wrote of her disappointment at not meeting President Lincoln.

The Chester hospital closed in April, 1863, and Rebecca returned to her home in Hollis, Maine. She didn’t return to nursing work until the winter of 1864. At City Point, Virginia, she and two other women lived in a log hut that Union soldiers built for them. The stockade, as Rebecca called the hut, contained three rooms: a reading room for soldiers; a cookhouse; and the nurses’ bedroom, which was also used for supply storage.

Twenty-eight barrels of potatoes were shipped from Baltimore the first week of February. Eight barrels of vegetables, frozen during shipping, had to be thrown away as inedible. Soldiers requested potatoes as if the vegetable was a treat. They roasted them in the reading room’s ashes.

After watching the men savor the luxury of roasted potatoes, Rebecca wrote home that it was worth sending the vegetables—even if a quarter of them were lost.

She remained at City Point until the war ended.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Moore, Frank. Women of the War, Blue Gray Books, 1997.

“Rebecca Usher, Civil War Nurse,” Maine History Online, 2018/01/06, https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2443/slideshow/1482/display?format=list&prev_object_id=3926&prev_object=page&slide_num=1.

 

Across Three Autumns by Denise Weimer

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Part of The Backcountry Brides Collection – Eight 18th Century Women Seek Love on Colonial America’s Frontier

 This novella is set in Wilkes County, Georgia, beginning in 1778.

Jenny White protects her mother and sisters from Creek warriors while her father fights in the war for independence with the British. Since the local tribes have sided with Great Britain, they are her enemy.

Caylan McIntosh, a Scotsman scout, comes to fetch her father back to the militia after Savannah falls. The muscular man towers over Jenny as few men do. He captivates not only Jenny’s attention but also Hester’s—her beautiful, younger sister.

The war of the revolution spreads to the Georgia wilderness, demanding all of Jenny’s courage and love.

The author drew me into the action from the beginning where Jenny’s bravery and protectiveness toward her family are immediately evident. Lovable, heroic characters are stretched to their limits, touching readers with the tragedy of a country at war. A page turner!

I will look for more books by this author.

Recommend.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

 

1870s Advice on Exterminating Bedbugs

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The problem of bedbugs is not a new one. My dad used to say to us, “Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” We never had bedbugs but that didn’t sound pleasant. It must have been a Southern way to say “good night.”

The author of Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, an 1877 book, gives a few remedies to exterminate bedbugs.

Inspect beds for vermin in July and August. Proper steps should take care of the problem.

Scald every crack with hot water, taking care not to damage bed furniture. If the hot water harms the varnish, wet a cloth with oil or turpentine and rub the spot immediately.
Another method of extermination is to fill crevices with salt. Wash the bed furniture with either a strong brine (salty water) or kerosene. (Kerosene seems like it would injure the furniture to me.)
A third method is to mix 1 part quicksilver to twenty parts egg whites. Using a feather, apply this mixture in every crevice on bed and throughout the room. This will kill bedbugs.

The original author advises that, if any of the above recipes are followed faithfully, the pests will be removed.

I (Sandra Merville Hart) cannot vouch for any of the recipes since I’ve not tried them. I share them because it’s an interesting part of our history. As a writer of historical novels, I’m always looking for fascinating facts to include in my stories.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

Civil War Women: Elizabeth Mendenhall

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Early in the Civil War, Cincinnati resident Mrs. Elizabeth Mendenhall began to visit sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals. Cincinnati hospitals cared for wounded soldiers from the summer of 1861 through the end of the war and the important Ohio border city became a hospital center for the Union army under General Grant early in 1862.

Elizabeth worked as a nurse. She also actively sought donations from citizens for military patients, especially around Independence Day and Thanksgiving. The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) appreciated her work as a nurse and allowed her access to their supplies to serve her patients.

Members of the Cincinnati chapter of the USSC helped in the creations of 8 hospitals as well as a soldiers’ home in the area. They also converted 33 steamboats into hospital ships.

Elizabeth also inspired Cincinnati residents to raise money for the USSC by hosting a Sanitary Fair patterned after one held in Chicago. She led a group of ladies in planning the Great Western Sanitary Fair.

She wrote to communities in the Northwest, appealing to all professions for donations to the fair. Money raised was to benefit sick and wounded soldiers.

The Great Western Sanitary Fair opened at the Mozart Hall in Cincinnati on December 21, 1863. General William S. Rosecrans attended. The event lasted through the holidays. A Grand Soiree and Promenade in the Ladies’ Bazaar ended the fair on January 4, 1864. Railroad and steamboat companies sold tickets at half fare, according to an advertisement.

The event was an outstanding success, earning $235,406 for the USSC.

After the fair ended, Elizabeth worked at the hospitals through the end of the war when Cincinnati military hospitals were disorganized.

-Sandra Merville Hart

 

Sources

Cincinnati Branch, U.S. Sanitary Commission, “Great Western Sanitary Fair,” in Ohio Civil War 150 | Collections Y Exhibits, Item #1749, http://www.ohiocivilwar150.org/omeka/items/show/1749 (accessed January 4, 2019).

“The Great Western Sanitary Fair opens in Cincinnati, Ohio,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/41528.

Moore, Frank. Women of the War, Blue Gray Books, 1997.

 

A Worthy Groom by Angela K. Couch

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Part of The Backcountry Brides Collection – Eight 18th Century Women Seek Love on Colonial America’s Frontier

 This novella is set at Sapling Grove on the Holston River in 1771.

Lucinda Cowden is finally free of her abusive husband’s fists. She can’t mourn as she stares down at his grave. Yet her relief is short-lived. Her father-in-law forces her to marry in order to get her land.

Marcus Cowden wrestles with the violence that he and his siblings were raised in. Can he break the cycle? His cousin’s widow needs a husband.

A heart-wrenching story that touches on the far-reaching effects of an abusive father.

Recommend.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com