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The Trees
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The Trees by Conrad Richter
Yes! Brian, that was horrifying to read. I slowed down to make sure that was what was happening. Yikes!I keep thinking about Worth’s heritage. It was mentioned that he was part Delaware Indian which would make sense. I would venture to say that many of us, myself included, have some fraction of a tribe in our blood. My 8 times great grandmother, Jenny Wiley, was captured by a group consisting of Cherokee, Shawnee, Wyandotts and Delaware in October 1789 and escaped after 11 months. They killed her brother and children. This was in Johnson County, KY where my parents grew up. Jenny Wiley State Park is located in Prestonsburg, KY. I have a book about her called White Squaw: The True Story of Jennie Wiley. I was always aware that she was captured by Cherokee but Wikipedia includes the other tribes.
How interesting about your 8th grandmother, Lori! You are so lucky to have a written account! There was a rumor on my mother's side that we were part Native American (also part Jewish), but the only person who could be that link was my grandmother's mother, and I have hit many brick walls in researching her. The first problem is that her last name could be spelled a gazillion ways, such as Bias, Byce, Byse, Byas, Bice, Bois, Boyce, Buis, Buyce, etc., and she even spelled it multiple ways in what records do exist.
The second problem is that she and her sister were apparently orphans, taken in by another family when young. She and her sister are listed in some census in Arkansas as a niece, with a mother from Tennessee and father from Alabama. The third problem is that her sister was a deaf mute, and there appears to be no trace of any husband or progeny who might have the story.
Then, hampering all genealogists everywhere in the US, the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire. And Dunklin County, Missouri, where my grandmother was born, has had very few records posted online -- perhaps some of them were lost as well. Like I say -- brick wall!
I know I am slow on the boat but I just got my copy from the library! Will be starting in the next few days or so.
Mod
Lori How nice to have such a detailed account of her! A book and a State Park. Wow. Such abductions were fairly common, but finding your way back home, I think, was not.
re: Sulie (please finish the book before reading) (view spoiler)
Terry - I have done a good bit of genealogical research and hit several brick walls. In the South, particularly the part of Georgia I am from, Sherman's scorched earth policy destroyed every trace of documentation.
On a personal note, the verbal tradition in our family was that my 3-great grandmother was Cherokee. My grandmother absolutely believed that. When my sisters and I took a DNA test we found not even the slightest bit of Native American bloodline. So, where did that come from? Was she abducted and unaware? She had a complexion that supported the idea, but she worked fields all her life and may have just been deeply tanned. I have not been able to get to the bottom of it, but still trying.
Sara, similarly, my DNA test also does not support our family legend. I should have mentioned that!
Oh my goodness, what frustration you must have experienced, Terry. I applaud your efforts to find out the truth of your ancestry. And Sara, I’ve never done a DNA test but have only gone off of family trees done when I was little. My mom’s niece had done a lot of the research and was keeping it from the family. I remember my mom’s insistence that she share the family trees. I’ve got a copy in a file somewhere I should get out and verify sometime.
Lori, there are a lot more resources available now than there used to be, many easily accessed online. So it has become much easier to make discoveries and verify information. No more searching through microfilms!
It is interesting to me how simple and raw the writing in this book feels. The dialogue is full of rough and rural period vernacular, something I expect in a novel vying for an authentic portrait; not dissimilar to Thomas Hardy’s dialect for some of his more rustic Wessex inhabitants.However, while Hardy can contrast his more ‘primitive’ (for lack of a better word) dialogue with some elegant descriptive prose in his narrative, Richter has chosen to write his narrative in prose that complements the dialogue and setting. His prose is direct, simple and never ornate. An example:
“He had no notion it was this far home. He felt he had walked half the night. He should have got to the cabin and back by this time. The path kept making strange turns this way and that.” Ch. 8, p.95
Richter also likes to replicate the characters’ own language when he writes about them:
“Leastwise, that’s how Sayward and Genny reckoned a lemon would taste.” Ch.11, p.126
Granted, the two examples above deal with the characters and their thoughts, so it is not anything unique to try to ape their own words when writing about them or their thoughts. But even when not writing about the characters, which is seldom, Richter uses a simple style with straight-forward sentences
.
This was intended to be an observation rather than as evaluation. However, as I am enjoying this book, Richter’s chosen writing style and presentation of the story must be working for me. It does help with getting a feel for the story setting and life. As it is likely that this is not Richter’s chosen style but is his only style, I’d have to say that Richter was wise in his choice of subject matter to write about.
Brian wrote: "It is interesting to me how simple and raw the writing in this book feels. The dialogue is full of rough and rural period vernacular, something I expect in a novel vying for an authentic portrait; ..."Brian. I had the exact same thought about Hardy. For me it was not only the vernacular, but the consonant heavy prose with hardly an alliterative line, I am not criticizing either but I find myself mouthing the words and my jaw gets tired. I wouldn't want tk have picked this to read out loud as a bedtime story. I am listening to an audiobook as I read and have pity for tbe narrator.
After the scene with the wolf in Chapter 8, it was a nice change to have so much humor in Chapter 9. (view spoiler)
Mod
Brian, I find the dialect very authentic. I like the comparison with Hardy (one of my favorite authors). I think they are able to pull you into the story and the reality of the situation in a way that would not be so easy if the language seemed to stand apart from the characters.
Sara wrote: "Sue, I don't know if you mind reading online, but this is available at archive.org . Just in case it is something you might consider."Thank you, Sara. I hate reading online but I tried a little and decided I had to spring for the Kindle version. I don't want to wait for the intra library loan.
Terry wrote: "Some historical background:“In the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, Great Britain handed the newly minted United States a huge package of land—a region that includes the current ..."
Thank yo u for that great Smithsonian article, Terry.
Lori wrote: "Yes! Brian, that was horrifying to read. I slowed down to make sure that was what was happening. Yikes!I keep thinking about Worth’s heritage. It was mentioned that he was part Delaware Indian wh..."
That is amazing about your 8X Great Grandmother Lori. It's wonderful that there is documentation to pass down to the generations.
Glad you’re joining us Sue.
Mod
Glad you’re here, Sue!
Wondering if I'm too late for this, but hoping not; the Conrad Richter trilogy has been on my TBR radar for longer than I care to admit... hope I can get to it this month!
Hello, Helen! You are not at all too late. Please jump right in and join our conversation here any time. It’s quite a good read and we’d love to have you.
Lori wrote: "Hello, Helen! You are not at all too late. Please jump right in and join our conversation here any time. It’s quite a good read and we’d love to have you."Thanks! Going to bump it up my Currently Reading.
Thanks for joining us, Helen! You are not too late to join and we will look forward to your comments!
This was such an engaging book that I flew through the second half. I enjoyed going back and reading Conrad Richter's Foreward to the book again where he tells about his research into rare documents, manuscripts, and letters. They helped him document the speech of the early pioneers of the Ohio Valley. It did not take long to get used to the unusual expressions since the author used them in context.
@ Lori and Terry : It is interesting to read about your ancestries , especially about Lori's ( 8 times ) great grandmother Jenny Wiley . She was a courageous lady and , eventually , she had luck on her side .
Savita, this novel has me thinking about my ancestor and now I want to read about her as an adult rather than when I was a child listen to my mom tell about her. I've just finished chapter 14 (view spoiler)
Mod
Lori wrote: "Savita, this novel has me thinking about my ancestor and now I want to read about her as an adult rather than when I was a child listen to my mom tell about her. I've just finished chapter 14 [s..."
Yes , Lori , actually , this book is a must read for you . It will be strange , exciting but sometimes a little tough reading about your own ancestor .
I think I will also be reading this book myself sometime . I will have to check whether a Kindle version of the book is available on Amazon. I want to read it because it's a real life story .
Mod
Great way to describe it, Katy.
Mod
Sara wrote: "Thinking about your connection to Jenny Wiley, Lori. Do you ever think how close we come sometimes to not being here? I have a couple of ancestors who died very young and/or escaped terrible fates...."Oh , God ! 🤔
We are all the progeny of survivors when you think about it.
Sara wrote: "Thinking about your connection to Jenny Wiley, Lori. Do you ever think how close we come sometimes to not being here? I have a couple of ancestors who died very young and/or escaped terrible fates...."Chills! That's very sobering to think about.
Mod
How true, Terry! There was a particular event in my ancestry in which it became suddenly evident to me that the fact that the line didn't end right there was a miracle and Lori's tale struck me as the same kind of miracle...but I bet you are right that every family tree could present the same kind of miracles. I think every person descended from slaves constitutes a miracle.
Connie wrote: "The setting was dark with so many towering trees that they could not see the sky, and only an occasional ray of sun peaked through. I read that Ohio was 90% forested in 1800. When autumn came and t..."I loved the descriptions of the forest and the comparison to the forest in PA, Connie
Sara wrote: "Lori - Chapter 14: [spoilers removed]Chapter 11 - I loved this quote: “but Worth said sternly any tree that blossomed on the wrong side of the year had no good in it. Bees and flies that were foo..."
I agree about the quote and traditions, Sara. (view spoiler)
Mod
Sara wrote: "I know, Sue. And yet he was trying to do his best for her."Sara wrote: "I know, Sue. And yet he was trying to do his best for her."
oh and how the fever started (view spoiler)
Sue, I had not even realized that the fever began that way. (view spoiler)Sara , about Genny(view spoiler)
The Northwest Territory (formed July 13, 1787) is mentioned and I guess I needed a refresher on the states that were a part of this. It was all the land west of Pennsylvania. northwest of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes. 6 eventual states Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. from wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwe...
I finished the book this morning but will hold off on final comments until we think everyone has caught up.Does anyone have a guess as to the time frame of the novel? I think pre-1816, but how much earlier?
My image isn't coming through. Anyone here an expert? I'm just learning. I used
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I put what I thought was a url in between the quotation marks. Hmmm.....
Ok, I may have just figured it out! YAY!
I know something about clearing trees, not from my own personal experience, but from my parents. When I was about 12, we moved up on a mountain into a new house. The lot was large enough that later they were able to subdivide and sell the other half for another house to be built next door.The lot was forested with Ponderosa Pine, California Incense Cedar and Douglas Fir, what I would now consider softwoods — easier to cut than the hardwoods that Sayward would encounter in an oak-hickory forest. There were also a couple of oaks on our property, and later my parents learned that the oaks made the longest burning fires in our fireplace (which was a very important part of our heating in the winter, with fuel being very expensive).
My parents had chain saws for the felling. Still it was hard work to clear, and once the tree was down, it had to be cleared of limbs which would be chopped into kindling, and then the trunks cut into firewood logs, and also frequently split with a hatchet into something that a person could handle with ease. We children would stack the small wood, sometimes would split the cedar. The cedar would go on top of the kindling, and under the oak in the fireplace.
I will continue in another post.
Just chopping the tree down is only half the job, though.The thing that got me thinking about this was what my dad would do with the stumps. He didn’t have any equipment yo grind out the stumps. But he would did a hole next to the stump and sort of tunnel down a bit if he could. Then he would set some kind of explosive (dynamite), make sure we were in the house out of the way, yell out “Fire in the hole,” light the fuse, take cover and blow the damn thing up! BOOM! It shook the house.
Then he would clean off, chop up what he could and set fire to it, tending it with a hose, I suppose. I think he must have needed permits for the fires, because we lived in fire country, but what I remember was the smoke. From the age of 12 to 18, my parents worked on clearing trees every summer so we would have lots of firewood for winter. When it snowed, the electricity would frequently go out, so that firewood kept us warm enough to camp out in the room where it was.
So, anyway, imagine how hard it would be to clear a forest with no modern tools!
Terry wrote: "Does anyone have a guess as to the time frame of the novel? I think pre-1816, but how mu..."Clues to time frame:
US flag had 15 stars from 1795 to 1818.
At the end of the book, they still lived in the Northwest Territory. Ohio became a state on February 19, 1803.
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I was thinking the same thing, Brian, but my July is packed so that might help me cool my heals.