Religious Freedom? Not so Much

I originally published this article last May. I had very few followers at that point. Since it pertains somewhat to Thanksgiving and some misplaced traditions about religious freedom and the roots of our country's history, I thought it would be appropriate to repost it here. This is crossposted from my author blog as it contains information of an historical nature.

Contrary to popular historical thought, colonial America was not built upon freedom of religion. Not counting the lost colony of Roanoke, the first settlement in the New World was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Although this colony went through several periods of near abandonment, the colony survived enough to consider that year as its date of establishment.  This colony was NOT founded on any sort of religious pretext whatsoever, but was founded purely on England’s desire to expand its border beyond Europe and to beat its rivals, Spain and France, in founding new territories. The Virginia settlers were Englishmen and were supporters of the Anglican Church. That religion, naturally, became the state religion of the colony. In 1753, the year my novel, Keeping Secrets, opens, colonists were expected to support the church and the priests with their tithes and money, as well as attend Anglican services. Fines were levied against those who chose not to do either. 

The Pilgrims are oftentimes not only hailed as being the first colonists to settle the New World, but they are praised for their courage in leaving England to establish a country for religious freedom. Neither is the case. The Pilgrims did not land at Plymouth, Massachusetts until 1620, nearly 13 years after the settlement at Jamestown. It was, therefore, the second English settlement in the colonies, and ironically, while they left England for freedom of religion, they turned around and held a monopoly on religion much like what they left England to escape. Anyone who has read of the Salem witch trials, or Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, knows the kind of pressure Puritans could bring to bear on those who chose to follow a path different from their own. While they believed in freedom of religion for themselves, they did not believe in it for other people.  

Unlike Virginia and the Plymouth Colony, the colony of Maryland, granted a charter in 1632, was founded by Catholics on the idea of religious freedom. Originally a haven for Catholics, by the early part of the 18th century, it had been supplanted by Protestant factions, and the Catholic Church was driven underground. Mass was not allowed in public, and Catholics never regained their primary standing in any colony. 

 In 1681, William Penn founded Penn’s Colony, or Penn’s Wood, also on the idea of religious freedom.  Penn, himself, was a Friend (Quaker), however, the Friends were eventually disenfranchised there as well despite their large numbers. Part of the problem with Pennsylvania Friends was their western border which endured a constant state of Indian wars from the mid-18th century to well after the Revolution. “Quaker pacifism,” in the face of such brutal hostilities, just didn’t make sense to the vast majority of colonials. 

The Baptists and Methodists arrived in the colonies at around the same time as the Friends. While there were other smaller groups, for example, the Mennonites and the Moravians, they were smaller and of lesser consequence than the main religious sects.  In the south, especially in Virginia, the Church of England was the established religion, so fines were levied against those who refused to participate, including Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and the Society of Friends.

 It was within this hodgepodge of emerging religious availability that Keeping Secrets opens (and our early Quaker ancestors, Crews, Ladd, and Magee lived). While Mary McKechnie is a devout Friend, embracing her religion and all it entails, Amon Cayle is not. The Friends literally controlled every aspect of their members’ lives, and while devout Friends welcomed the structure, many chafed against the restraint. 

For Amon Cayle, the problem is deeper. He doesn’t believe the Friends, as a religious group, have the authority to tell him how to live. Thus, he constantly walks a fine line between raising his kids to follow God, staying in good standing within the Friends so as to honor the promise he made to his late wife, and his quest for inner peace.  Amon Cayle’s turmoil mirrors so many of the Friends at that time.

     Amon laced his fingers together and rested his elbows atop his knees. The heat from the open window warmed his back. “What happened with Jackson?”

     The boy looked away, but not before Amon caught a glimpse of shame.

    “The note from Andrew says thee picked a fight with him.”

     Still nothing.  Amon felt his temper rising. “David, if thou will not speak to me, I will have to punish you with the information I have. After last year, I will not tolerate any fighting.”

     “He said his Pa was trying to keep me out of the test so he had a better chance of winning and . . .”

     “And what?”

    “And that as long as you were a disorderly walker, he just might win.”

    “So you started a fight?”

    “No. He started it.”

    “Who threw the first punch?”

    “I did, but he shoved me into a tree.” David shifted his right shoulder forward. “Tore the last good shirt I have.”

    Amon reached up and pulled the three inch ragged tear apart to reveal a middling patch of inflamed raw skin.  That goodness it wasn’t the other shoulder.  “Tell Rosie to put something on that later.”

     “‘Tis not even my shirt. Aunt Agathy found an old one at her house and gave it to me.”

    “What’s wrong with yours?”

   “They are all too small. I gave them to John. With this torn, I don’t know what I will wear to school tomorrow.”

   Amon ran his hand along his jaw. He wasn’t going to punish the boy for defending himself, and he didn’t doubt David was telling the truth. His nephew had been caught in too many lies over the years, lies his brother always believed. 

   “What am I going to do Pa? I’ve worked my whole life to take that test.” 

   “I am seeking restitution at the Friend’s next monthly meeting. After that, I will again be a member in good standing.”

   David’s chin jerked upwards. “I don’t want thee lowering yourself to apologize to those people for me.”

   Amon thought his head would burst. “Do you want to take the test?”

David nodded.

   “Then ‘tis a good thing I go to meeting.”

   “But ‘tis not fair. Elizabeth was the one who took off and married a Baptist behind your back. So why apologize?”

   The pressure around Amon’s heart was almost too much to bear. “Because I made a promise to your mother before you children were born that I would try to remain faithful to the Friends, and as long as I remain censured for Elizabeth’s marriage, it puts the rest of you outside their world.”

From the moment Keeping Secrets opens, Amon Cayle’s doubt as to the authority of the Friends collides with his family and his promise to his late wife. Eventually, he is forced to make decisions.

But will those decisions be in the best interest of his children?

And what will they have to do with Mary McKechnie?

Cover Reveal & a Trailer for John Crew & Sarah Gatley

I've been so busy the past week, I find myself realizing I didn't do things at the oddest times.

Oh well, it gives me something to write about on my blog.

I am winding down the final editing changes for Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants. I decided this week to take the beginning chapters on John Crew & Sarah Gatley, the Stanleys, and David Crew and wives Mary Stanley and Mary Ladd-Magee (all of which are greatly expanded from the 1st edition published in the early 90s) and publish those in a smaller work which will be useful to descendants of John & Sarah, but who have no or only minimal interest in David Milton Crews.

For individuals descending from David Milton Crews, these chapters are included in the larger volume. It is not necessary to publish both books.

I also made the decision to published both volumes in a color version, and a black and white version.The black and white is so much cheaper, but the color version is a beautiful book.

I am still on target for a Thanksgiving 2014 release date, if not before. Below is the trailer for The Place of Our Abode: John Crew & Sarah Gatley. My trailers are also on my website, and ordering information is coming soon!

It's the Little Things!

It’s the little things that count!

I have this morning ritual. I eat egg burritos, hopefully have a clementine or something similar, and drink my coffee. (A perfect ritual involves coconut oil in the coffee, but right now it’s not perfect. Sigh . . . ) I eat, then crack open the laptop and check all my accounts.

Needless to say, this morning was super sweet because I have been in the hospital the past week with my son. We went to the ER exactly a week ago today with what turned out to be appendicitis. He had surgery Tuesday afternoon, but since it had turned gangrenous he had to have a drain and also IV antibiotics.

Needless to say, we were both glad to finally come home yesterday. After all, the hospital doesn’t serve egg burritos, and coffee in a styrofoam cup in a hard hospital chair just isn’t the same.

The little things. 

I did manage, with so much time sitting, to finish the 2nd edition of Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants.

I also pulled the first chapters on John Crews and Sarah Gatley, and on his son David Crew and wives Mary Stanley and Mary Ladd-Magee, as well as the chapter on the Stanleys, to create another book. This book will be just for individuals who descend from Crew/Gatley and Crew/Stanley. Anyone descending from them through David Milton Crews (1740-1821) need not purchase the smaller edition as the chapters are in the larger work about his life and descendants.

I also debuted the trailer for Metes & Bounds II last night. 

I should have both books available the week of Thanksgiving. I will post here, on my Facebook page, as well as several other places when they are available. will ask, though, that if you purchase please go through my website which takes you to the publisher Createspace. Amazon literally takes 1/2 my profits.

Purchasing through Createspace is a little thing, yes, but it is the little things that count!

Columbus. Evil Genius? or A Man of His Time?

courtesy of www.freeimages.com

When I was a kid, Columbus Day was the next holiday after Labor Day. It meant another vacation day. The last before the Thanksgiving break almost six weeks away. That’s a long time for a kid.

We were taught in school that Columbus did a remarkable feat.

These days, not only is there an attempt to erase the man and the holiday from our history, but he’s being vilified as a slave trader and an Indian murderer with a heart more than willing to trade gold for humanity. He is being blamed for the decimation of all the Indian tribes in North, South, and Central America, even though he never set foot on the continent proper. He’s being blamed for the Europeans’ thirst for land and all the Indian wars in this nation from the time he landed in Hispaniola to those occurring in the latter part of the 19th century.

I really have to wonder what they are teaching children in school these days. They are obviously not teaching world history or the ability to think.

A few things Columbus did and did not do. First, he did not found America. He actually landed on Hispaniola, today’s Dominican Republic. He was the first man brave enough to set sail on the Atlantic Ocean. He was looking for a faster way to the West Indies, for hauling goods to Europe overland was tedious and costly. (Go read about Marco Polo and the Silk Road for more history on those trade routes.) No man was willing to take the risk, and Columbus even had trouble finding men to man his ships. The ocean was scary. It was big. His ships were small. There were bad storms and fearsome beasts. They didn’t have modern equipment that could get boats going when the wind lagged. There was no guiding equipment other than the direction of the sails. And no one had crossed it before. The Italian government was so aghast at the idea, Columbus, an Italian by birth, had to go elsewhere to get the funding. Queen Isabellah, a devout Catholic interested in spreading the Gospel of Christ, and her husband, King Ferdinand, wanting glory and riches for Spain, agreed to fund the expedition. (The Protestant Reformation did not occur until 1517.)

Regardless of what Columbus did or did not do afterwards, he had the bravery to haul off across the ocean to God only knew where. For that, alone, the man deserves his own holiday.  He changed the face of history forever. Prior generations understood this, maybe because they still had a sense of what it was like to have unexplored frontiers. Or perhaps they knew the fear of the unknown. At any rate, anyone with a basic understanding of maritime history will understand Columbus’ remarkable feat.

Columbus was, though, a man of his times. We all are. Don’t kid yourself. Our opinions, our approach to problems, our very goals are formed within the society that we live.  It seems, though, that we as Americans have become too soft. We expect people to act outside of their culture. We have no sense of how fraught world history is with suffering, annihilation, and brutality. The world has always been an ugly, unfair place, where the vast majority of us are pawns in the larger game of politics and the search for the power and wealth of the few.

Did Columbus enslave the Indians?  Sure he did. But, to be blunt, the history of the world is the history of victorious nations subduing conquered nations.  Every empire since the beginning of time, from the Mesopotamians to the Egyptians, to the Greeks, to the Romans, and on and on, went to war to gain more territory and killed and enslaved the conquered at will. In fact, the Romans enslaved the Britons (English) when they invaded England starting in AD 43. That’s 1,449 years before Columbus.  To expect Columbus to act contrary to his culture is just pure silliness. Men and women can only act so far out of the norm of whatever time period they live in. And it is clear, when world history is studied, that slavery has been a part of it since the beginning of time. Anyone living in 1492 would think nothing of it, and a conquered nation would expect it. Our history makes us too hyper-sensitive to even understanding slavery in the context of larger world history. We knee-jerk when the word is mentioned and can’t seem to think any farther back than the Civil War. We really need to buck up as a nation and deal with history realistically, the hard parts and the easy ones. We will be doomed to repeat it if we don’t.

courtesy of www.freeimages.com

Did Columbus take the Indians’ land? Yes, at least in the Dominican Republic. The land of the Native Americans of North and South America? No. He never landed there. Did he pave the way for others to take their land? Yes, but let’s be realistic.  

It was only a matter of time before someone else ventured over the ocean and found this country.

Because countries want land and power, a race war was written in the cards for this nation from the very beginning.  If Columbus hadn’t started the chain reaction, someone else would have eventually, maybe sooner, maybe later, but it would have happened. To think the Indians would have been able to stay here and hang onto their way of life and land is absolutely ridiculous.

The politically correct mantra “we stole their land,” which seems to be in almost constant circulation these days is, of course, meant to make whites, or those with European backgrounds, feel guilty for changing the Indians’ culture forever. It’s a false, ridiculous charge, for in all honesty, those four words pretty much sum up all of human history. That’s the main reason nations go to war. It’s the main reason they have always gone to war. It’s the main reason cities “annex” land. To add to their tax base. To add to their political power.

So don’t blame the desire for land on Europeans or Americans. We didn’t come up with the idea. We were merely acting upon what had been done for thousands and thousands of years before. And for poor Columbus, the blame gets squarely laid at his feet, as if he hadn’t chosen to cross the ocean the Indians would have still been living peacefully on their land. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

And while we’re at it, let’s be clear about what kind of culture the Indians had. The Europeans first encountered the Native Americans in Central and South America, the Incas, the Mayans, and the Aztecs. All of these tribes practiced human sacrifice.  In fact, it was said their altars were always stained with blood.  The Europeans found this practice abominable. Did it take a war to rid the tribes of that practice? You bet. Should the war have been been waged?  You bet. The Aztecs, nor the others, were likely to give up their sacrifices to their own gods out of European reasoning. To think otherwise is just plain ridiculous. If explorers like Cortez had turned a blind eye to the practice would they then be judged for not doing enough? I’m afraid so. Some people are never happy no matter what decision a person makes.

And make no mistake about it, in this country, even before the Europeans landed, the Indians were not simply smoking peace pipes, loving each other in their tepees and longhouses, communing with wolves and eagles, and hugging trees. They were waging their own brutal wars against each other. They were taking each other’s land and enslaving each other. They forced prisoners from other tribes to run the gauntlet. They burned other Indians at the stake. They slit open the bellies of their enemies, both red and white, tied their entrails to stakes, and then laughed and jabbed at the victim with hot coals as he trotted and danced around the stake trying to escape the heat of the coals, his intestines unwinding as he did so. If the victim showed no fear, they might kill him sooner. The slightest whimper and they would find ways to make sure the victim didn’t die any time soon.

Was that hard to read? I hope so. Only then will you get an idea of the tribes encountered by the European settlers. Were there a few peaceful tribes? Yes, but the vast majority were brutal and bloodthirsty, and even the peaceful ones lived in fear of the more ruthless. They were not innocent in their dealings with each other, nor in their dealings with the colonists. Their inhumane practices started long before the Europeans arrived, so don’t blame them for the brutality. And please don’t say the Europeans brought those tortures with them and introduced them to the Indians. That is absolutely ridiculous. The records are rife with the horror the Europeans felt at such practices.  Had they known of such violence they would not have been so shocked.

The bald, flat out truth, which is largely ignored in favor of the more “politically correct” idea that the Indians were somehow innocent children who were grievously taken advantage of, is that if the Indians could have set aside their own grievances with each other they could have easily ousted the Europeans from the continent. The Indian Pontiac, in 1763, tried to do just that. He was unsuccessful, but he waged a bloody war all along the Pennsylvania-Virginia border before he was subdued.

The area of present day Kentucky is another example of not only the Indians’ failed attempt at rallying with each other, but at the wars they waged amongst themselves. This area was dubbed by the Indians themselves  as “the dark and bloody ground.” They, themselves, said the land ran “red with blood” from all the wars between the Indians that had taken place there. It was known clearly as no-man’s land among the tribes, because the tribes couldn’t agree on who should have it. By the 1750s, no one lived there. The long hunters easily made their way into the area, followed by Daniel Boone in 1774 and more settlers after that.  The Indians waged war after war to drive them out, but it was too late. The land had been vacant for too long because of the Natives’ own inability to come together and make a united front.

Why are the Native Americans not blamed for their part in their own failure to hang onto their land?  Personally, I think it’s because they have become the poster child for environmental issues and peace (which they didn’t even practice before the European came along). They are also propaganda tools for people who want to somehow discredit white European American contributions  to this country. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the most grease. If the grievances and untruths are constantly aired, people will believe that and not look deeper into the truth.  And if you make a country despise their history, then the people will accept whatever new ideas are foisted on them.

And why is this venom against Columbus so disturbing to me? Because it totally forgets the little person caught in the middle. I myself have a Jacobite rebel that was exiled and a possible Acadian ancestress that was exiled. I have at least one indentured servant in my background, and probably more. These individuals were given no choice about whether to come or not. They were the pawns in a much larger game. Once here they had to survive. If that meant killing Indians, they had no choice. If that mean moving west for more land because there was none left in the east, then so be it. Those choices were no different than my German ancestor who left the Rhine River in the 1800s to go to Russia for a better life.

It is grossly unfair to judge these people. We did not live in their time. Even the best person, with the most active imagination, can’t understand the society, culture, or world of someone in 1492, in 1550, 1620, 1800, or any other time.  We can seek to understand the political and social forces that drove them to make the decisions they did, but that is all. And we should not be judging those decisions as good or bad in light of our own culture. In fact, good historians do not do so. Political activists, with hidden agendas and who are willing to propagandize history to further their own ends, do.

Dominic & Elizabeth (Dietz) Hechler

We have a LOT to be proud of. My Jacobite ancestor, who would likely have been a chief in the Highlands, endured seven years of servitude on a tobacco plantation, chose to stay here rather than go back to Scotland, and eventually owned his own acreage. My ancestress, possibly an Acadian exile, married a Scotsman and made a life for herself after exiled from her home, and the Acadian exile was truly one filled with terror. 

I am profoundly moved by the decision of my Hechler ancestors to leave Russia in 1890 and to come to America, sight unseen, with nothing but the clothes on their back, in search of a better life. There was a reason people like them came. When did we as Americans lose sight of that? When did we forget the opportunities this nation provided, and still provides, to people? How can we overlook the fact that people are still flooding our borders legally and illegally? Why is it that these people want to be here, but we do not?  How is it that some people have become so ungrateful they can’t even look to the good, and vow to not repeat the bad, of past generations? Are we so shallow that we can’t look in two directions at once?  

As for the Native Americans, do I feel sorry for them? You bet. In fact, my heart breaks for them. But it also breaks for the Jacobites, for the Acadians, for the Irish immigrants of the potato famine, for the Jews and Christians killed in World War II, for the people in parts of our world today who live in brutal regimes under constant threat of slavery, imprisonment, or torture. The Indians were not the only ones disenfranchised and driven from their home land. They, alone, cannot be singled out for a mere struggle for survival that has been going on in nation after nation since the beginning of time.  Neither can Europeans be singled out and villified for doing what every empire before them has done.

I am proud of my family tree. I’m proud to say I hope their blood, filled with the ability to adjust to hardship, to shed despair, to forget the past and forge a future, runs through my veins freely and in massive quantities. Life is hard, brutal, and the human condition is frail. Life’s challenges require courage, fortitude, perseverance,  and the ability to make hard decisions. We all have to live within the culture and constraint of our times, just as the generations before us had to do, including men like Columbus. Nothing else is possible, for we only have so much control over the world we live in.  

We, as Americans, really need to move past the “or” of history and move to the “and.” History is not black or white, good or bad, completely right or totally wrong. It is black and white. It is good and bad. It is somewhat right and it is oftentimes wrong.  We can embrace both beliefs in whatever context we are studying. 

And we need to honor the Native Americans and their good alongside the Europeans and their good. We need to learn of the bad of the Native Americans and the bad of the Europeans.

Surely, it's not too late to teach our children to do both. Our nation’s very survival depends upon it.  

New Websites for Research

Well, I am either never on here, or I have a lot to say and post almost every day it seems!

I have three websites which some of you may be interested in.

For descendants of the Crews family that left Hanover, Henrico, Charles City, and New Kent Counties and headed south, David Crews and some others have a nice website called Wiregrass Genealogy. There are some nice family histories of various families, but there are a lot of Crews histories on their page. This family migrated to the South Carolina area around 1800. These families are connected to our own families that came to Kentucky having come from the Quaker families around Tidewater Virginia. Ours went west into Kentucky, and those branches went south.

Another website of interest that I have found is Genealogy Wise. It is chock full of resources, web pages, web page links (like to Facebook pages), etc. Great resource for anyone starting out on their genealogy adventure or who has been doing it for a number of years. I have met some Crews cousins through this website and am hopefully going to be the recipient of information to round out some of the lines for my second Metes & Bounds book that I would otherwise not have uncovered.

Third, I have created a Facebook for The Descendants of John McQueen & Nancy Crews. This is for all those lines that include and descend from the Barclays, Beans, Taylors, etc. I will be posting some snippets and facts as well as answering questions or exchanging information. My goal is to locate and/or reconnect with as many of John and Nancy's descendants as possible now that the 3rd book in my Metes & Bounds series is nearing completion. (I have had to push the publication back to early 2015.)

Changes to Metes & Bounds II

In my last post I said I would detail some of the changes to the 2nd edition of Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants.

One of the major differences will be the listing of descendants. I will only detail five generations past David. First, I am concerned about the amount of information available and the risk of identity theft. This cutoff effectively eliminates anyone still alive. I also don't want to have to find everyone and get them to sign a disclaimer stating they are alright with having their information in the book. Twenty years ago those things weren't necessary. Today, unfortunately, they are.

Also, twenty more years is a lot to add to a book that is already almost 300 pages long. I am adding more information on the Stanleys (they now have their own chapter), rounding out David Crew's chapter (the father of David Milton), and adding quite a bit more on David Milton himself, including some more information on his Bedford County years, his Washington County years, his early years in Boonesborough, and his service in Forbes Expedition in 1758. That takes up space as well.

The information on the early Quaker families has been expanded, too. When I wrote the first book, I threw this stuff in at the last minute because I had just found it. I want to include it in a broader more readable context.

I will have more maps (Bedford County, Forbes Expedition movements, etc.), more pictures (which as of now are in color), a new numbering system (Microsoft Word makes it impossible to do an outline system like I did before), a new cover (see my previous post), and I will be producing a trailer which should be available in the next month for viewing.

In addition to all that, I am updating as much misinformation or adding to missing information as possible. I appreciate any and all help in that regard, and as always I will credit information to individuals even if it is in a footnote at the bottom of the page. I still believe in sourcing this information. (It's one reason I'm so frustrated with the Stanleys and early Crews families at the moment.)

More to come real soon! Keep checking back, or better yet, sign up to follow my page through email and you'll be notified of updates as they occur.

Cover Reveal for Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants

Alright, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth (just kidding!) I have decided on a cover for the 2nd edition of my Metes & Bounds book on David Crews. One of the neat things about publishing today as opposed to 20 years ago, when I did the first book, is the fact I can produce a book with a more interesting cover. Don't get me wrong, I thought at the time the leather-like cover was nice. But, let's face it, a picture is always worth a thousand words!

Anyway, after posting both covers on my author Facebook page and asking for opinions, and then mulling it over some more, I have chosen this one. My son may tweak it a bit with some highlighting, but it won't change in substance.

I warred with myself over this one or one showing the feet of some Continental troops and militiamen. (You can go to my Facebook page to see that cover.) Actually, I had another cover I preferred over this one showing militiamen behind a fence and fighting, but that was an editorial only picture and couldn't be used for the purposes of a book cover.

I think this picture shows us the susbstance of David Crews' life as a teen and a young man. He grew up in a Quaker household, even if his father never completely embraced the faith of his own childhood. The English settlers, like David Crews, were going about their business in the late 1740s and early 1750s until the Old French War exploded in their faces. It was, as we all know, followed within another fifteen years by the American Revolution. David may have grown up in peace, but his young adult years were filled with war. He chose to leave the faith of his childhood and willingly took part in those wars.

This book is a 2nd edition. I have made some changes to the text and included more information I have since uncovered. I will detail those changes and the differences in my post next week.

Negligent Nelly or Project Polly

Oh my! I could be a Negligent Nelly. After all, I haven't posted on here since June.

On the other hand, I could argue I've been a Project Polly. I have been busy retyping the manuscript on David Crews as well as working on my second novel, Breaking Promises. In the meanwhile I've worked my part-time job at Leapforce and held the fort down. Well, not the fort, but the house. But down is about all I can say. Something has to give when a person is this busy. I've cooked meals, washed laundry, and chauffeured children around town and beyond. What have I not done? Housework. Oh well, it will keep. (See the picture on the right. Even the supplies are keeping.) 

Oh, and I haven't posted on here. I knew there was something else. 

Another reason for my negligence is the fact that all my smaller files, none of which are large enough to be put into books, are on my zip discs and I am still in need of a zip drive to access those files since my other broke. (Actually, it burned up. But I caught it before it burned the fort, er, the house down. Or, at least in this instance, the kitchen table.) I am hoping to purchase one soon, but I have had other things at the moment more pressing financially. As soon as I get one I can pull together much of what I have on various families and begin posting small snippets. I can also get back to working on my third Metes & Bounds book about John McQueen and Nancy Crews. It is finished except for the chapters on the Civil War which I need the files to access.

In the meantime, I have been not only working on my second novel, Breaking Promises, but have also been heavily into retyping my second Metes & Bounds book on David Crews. After much debate with myself, thinking of various alternatives, and changing my mind a thousand times, I have decided to rework a great deal of the manuscript. I was originally going to print it as is and then do an additional addendum, but I couldn't stomach publishing the original with mistakes. I'm sorry. I tried, but I couldn't do it. Nor could I see any sense, with the amount of new information to include on both David Crews (son of John) and David Crews (son of David), in publishing an addendum which would be choppy and not cohesive, and which would require future buyers to purchase two books. For all those individuals who purchased the first book, if you choose to purchase this one as well you won't be disappointed. 

I won't address or change much in the early families - Leads, Crews, Stanleys, or Magees. Honestly, working with the early John Crewses gives me a headache. All I want to do is reach for a bottle of aspirin (which I can't have because of my prior history with ulcers) and lay down for a nap. Trying to make sense of the others isn't much better. I have read a lot on the internet, some of which contradicts what I wrote, but no one lists their sources. Without sources, I won't change what I have. I will add footnotes when I can, but I can't spend a lot of time on these families right now. In order to do those people and families justice I would have to dig in their and really work the lines. Add that to my list of things to do.

The most changes will occur with David Crew Sr., father of David Crews, born 1742. I have found out quite a bit more on both men, as well as some original records, and I have fleshed out the history around them. David Crews was in Forbes Expedition, and it appears he was also at the Siege of Fort Boonesborough. I was not aware of the expedition when I wrote the first book, and I wasn't sure he was at the siege either so I did not include history pertinent to those events. I will include that in this edition, as well as some other related information I have uncovered in my research. 

The pictures in the second edition will be in color, and I have included a few more that I did not put in the first edition due to cost. It will also have a new cover, some additional maps, and a new and easier to read typeset. (I was surprised how difficult the first edition is to read. The print quality is so much better now than it was twenty years ago.) 

I hope to have the book ready on Amazon for an October availability. 

Look for a cover reveal in the next few weeks, followed by a trailer reveal before the book is available. 

Now, forgive Writing Wanda, for she has to get back to work. 

The Parting of the Candles

It is said in Scotland that misfortune will follow those who give away gifts from the fairies.  But, when a man is forced to choose loyalty to his friends over the fairies’ gifts, what is he to do?

John Macqueen, known as “Black John of Pollochaig,” was faced with just such a dilemma.  The Macqueens of Pollochaig, which means “Pool of the Little Black One,” had always been favorites of the fairy folk, and in times before Black John, the fairies of Strathdearn had given the Macqueens three magic candles. The candles were talismans of great virtue. Supposedly, it was the parting of the candles, the generation previous to Dugal McQueen,  that brought destruction upon the McQueens of Pollachaig.

Two versions of the story exist. One involves the beautiful wife of Mackintosh of Daviot who was supposedly stolen by the fairies and was hidden in their banqueting chamber. The wise men of the country declared that the only way of entering the chamber was by the use of the Macqueen “magic” candles.  The other story involves the wife of a humble McGillivray clansmen.  In both versions, "Black John” Macqueen was reluctantly convinced to use the candles to light the way into the hillock. In the second version, he loses first one candle, and then the other, and finally the last before the lady is rescued and given back to her husband.

In both stories, Macqueen paid dearly as he had expected. Having parted with a gift from the fairies, the house at Pollochaig was beset with one bad fortune after another. Dugal, possibly Black John's son (but for sure his grandson or great-grandson) was taken prisoner after the Battle of Preston and banished to the colonies. Even the house at Pollochaig later fell to ruins.

But one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. Dugal McQueen, as stated before, did well for himself in the colonies, and he never chose to go back to Scotland.

The fairies, it seemed, didn’t get the last laugh after all.  

Sources

The Spectator Archive, “The River Findhorn,” 6 April 1912, pg 10, found at http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/6th-april-1912/10/the-river-findhorn.

Deerhound, “Hallowe’en, The Bairn Eating Wolf and the Hound,” Wednesday, October 31, 2007, found at http://deerhounds.blogspot.com/2007/10/halloween-and-hounds-of-wolf-hunt.html. 

Well, after quite a bit of wrangling, I finally have my rights back to my first two Metes & Bounds books: Metes & Bounds I: Dugal McQueen and Some Descendants, and Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors and Descendants. For the next little bit of time, there are no Crews books available. Gregath Publishing Company does have, as of this date, three more of the McQueen books left. I will allow them to sell those. After that, they will not be available either.

I am deep into finishing the third book of the series Metes & Bounds III: John McQueen and Nancy Crews, Children and Grandchildren. It has been a long time coming. As many of you know, I had originally projected the three books to be published back to back, but I never got the third one done for a variety of reasons.

My goal is to not only finish the third book, but to reformat the first two and offer them in second editions, with some updated information, new covers, in paperback, and in a better looking product (because the technology has improved). When they are all finished, I will be offering them individually or as a boxed set.

Since I am writing my second novel at the same time, Breaking Promises, which is Book 2 of my Children of the Light Series, it will take some doing to meet my deadlines. But, I am going to do my best to reach my goals.

Stay tuned!

"Your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day."

I am in the midst of doing a well-deserved cleaning and reorganizing of over 30 years of genealogical files. In the process, I have come across several interesting stories sent to me by people over the past thirty years. Many of those people I have lost contact with. I will be posting some of these tidbits over the next few weeks. 

This week, and for at least the next two, I’ll be putting some scattered information about the McQueens of Scotland.

I have never been one to put much stock in "fairy stories" or fortune-telling. While interesting, and perhaps a bit titillating, I find they almost never come true.  However, the following story about the McQueens might cause me to change my mind. 

According to Clan Chattan history, John McQueen, possibly the father of our Dugal McQueen,[i] was known as a great hunter. He was also a man who could foretell the future, even speaking with witches, trolls and fairies. He supposedly had in his possession some “magic candles” that he would use when going to caves to speak with the fairy folk.  The stories about the “McQueen candles” were told to children in the Findhorn River Valley well into the 19th century.  I will speak more of these “candles” in a later post and how they were lost. By the time the following story was told, the McQueen family had been in the Corryborough region of Scotland for nearly 300 years and lived at the family seat at Pollochraig.[ii]

One day, while John McQueen was out hunting, he shot a deer right through the heart. However, when he went in search of the deer, he couldn’t find it. He looked everywhere, but as darkness was coming, he gave up the search and went home. That night around the peat fire, he told his family he was sure he shot it and he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t find it.

The next morning, he went out again to search. He came across a witch that he knew and asked her if she had seen the deer or not.

    "John McQueen, you shot no deer, you shot ME in the leg.” She answered. “And if you take the lead out of my leg, I will tell you a prophecy.”

    John did what he was asked.

    The witch then said, "John McQueen, your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day.”

    John said: “I’m not sure what you mean by that, but if I hadn’t shot you in the leg, would the prophecy have been different?”[iii]

    “Aye, it would have been,” she replied.

Prophecies are tricky things. They are often clouded and couched with terms that could be taken in a variety of ways, even after the events seem to have happened. For most families, "worst" and "best" are interchangeable terms that could be applied to many situations. That's why I usually discount such tales. For the McQueens, however, this particularly prophecy seems to have come true in a number of different ways. 

From the day John McQueen shot the witch, the fortunes of the McQueens of Pollocraig declined. John’s son, Dugal, married the sister to the Chief of Clan Chattan, Elizabeth Mackintosh. She had a daughter named Ann, but not long afterward, Dugal was captured at the Battle of Preston and sent to America, never to be seen again.[iv]

Castle at Inverness, Scotland

Ann McQueen, Dugal’s daughter, never came to America to see her father, but inherited the entire Clan Chattan estates from her uncle as the sole heir. She was forced, however, as per Scottish custom, to cede the land to the next Chief of Clan Chattan. She later married Robert Mackintosh and held lands in other places. She had at least two sons.[v]

For the McQueens, as for the Highland clans, one of the best and worst days was the loss of the Jacobite cause at the Battle of Preston. Dugal was not killed, but he was banished to the colonies. To many Highlanders, banishment was a worse punishment than death, for they were passionately attached to the Highlands. Not to mention the fact that death was more honorable.

But banishment for the McQueens meant life as well. While the circumstances of Dugal's "worst and best day" was likely never realized by him, it enabled him to found a dynasty of descendants in the colonies, likely something he would never have been able to do in Pollochraig. 

"Your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day."

Perhaps that old witch knew exactly what she was talking about. 

Hmmm . . . . .

---

[i] Buried deep in the midst of my files were some emails from a man named John McQueen whom I corresponded with in the summer of 2002. He was a descendant of Dugal McQueen. He lived overseas, I believe in Germany, and had been to Scotland in the area the McQueens were from.  He believed, which I will relate in future posts, that Dugal was the son of John, and that John was the son of Dugal. 

[ii] Mr. John McQueen, mentioned in footnote i, was the person who originally told me the story. I have since then found it online at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/inverness/chapter30.htm  which is a page titled “Antiquarian Notes, Historical, Genealogical and Social, (Second Series) Inverness-Shire, Parish by Parish, Chapter XXX. Moy and Dalarossie.” This may have been the same book Mr. John McQueen found the story in.

[iii] Another variation states:  “If I had asked for the prophecy before I took the ball out, would it have been different?”

[iv] Information from Mr. John McQueen and his subsequent research.

[v] Information from Mr. John McQueen and his subsequent research.

A Sad History

With downtime from my novel, Keeping Secrets, last week (I was waiting on the proof copy to come), I pulled out the third book in my Metes & Bounds Series and started editing. I had done so after a conversation the night before with Rose Darden Jackson, a descendant of not only the Tyler County Darden family, but the McQueen slaves as well. She is a lovely woman, and cleared up some mysteries and questions I had about the Milton McQueen family and the years before the Civil War and Emancipation.

Let me say, though, that while working on editing the book this week, a profound, deep sadness overwhelmed me. I had not experienced such while writing the first two books or while writing my book on the Hechlers. Maybe its because I'm older now. Maybe its because there is so much more history in this book than in the first two. Maybe its because I have more information and resources to reconstruct the family in these years than in previous ones.

Or, maybe, its just that the story is sad.

The third book begins with some recapping of John McQueen's childhood and history as a young adult. The book then goes to his move to Kentucky, his marriage to Nancy Crews (daughter of David Crews and Annie Magee), his lawsuit against his father-in-law, and his subsequent move to Tennessee. There is nothing unusual or heartbreaking in that part.

But after David Crews McQueen's death in 1832, and John McQueen's death two years later in 1834, the entire family, including McQueens, Barclays, Beans, and Taylors, enter into a period of almost constant loss both materially and physically.

One of the saddest episodes in all of this is the lives of the McQueen family, both black and white. It is a disorder of that time that masters, in order to put food on the table or clothes on the backs of their black and white family, had to resort to "meanness" to do so. It's a travesty that blacks, out of no fault of their own, were enslaved to work a crop that they themselves never benefited from directly. As such, they were oftentimes labeled "lazy" and "unproductive."

And then, there are all the stories of slaves that had white fathers.

All of these issues will be dealt with in my third book. It will be difficult to write it, but sad or not, these stories need to be told. The lives of these people were too important, and their decisions impact out own lives today.

Civil War Cemetery

I Will Go With You is now available!

I Will Go With You: The Hechlers, Germany to Russia to America is now ready in both kindle and paperback. The only difference between the two is that there is no table of contents for the pictures and diagrams, nor is there a chart detailing the pedigree of Dominic Hechler in the kindle edition. The formatting for kindle made both of these difficult to put in the book.

Through my Createspace page you can purchase a paperback version for $14.99 plus shipping and handling.

Through my product page on Amazon's site you can order either the paperback or the kindle version. I would prefer, if possible, for you to order a paperback through Createspace simply because I get a greater percentage of the royalty. The price is still $14.99 on Amazon. The kindle version is $4.99.

As of this posting date, it may be 5 to 7 days before the paperback is available on Amazon's page. It should be available through Createspace as of this date. If not, let me know. The kindle is available now.