Mary Andersen

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noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 18:40:00 +0000

Historical Photos and Research

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:50:00 +0000

Although the characters in the Souls of Indenture series are fictional, the setting and historical references are real. Clicking on the following public domain images will take you to summaries of my research and explanations of how each topic relates to by novels. Varying degrees of liberty were taken with the historical content in this series, and these are explained as well.

THIRD ANGLO-DUTCH WAR 1672-1674
~The war that caused the death of Sarah's father~

BRISTOL, ENGLAND
~Sarah's childhood home~

BATH, ENGLAND
~Residence of Sarah's aunt Elizabeth~

BACON'S REBELLION 1676
~Previous owner of John's plantation~
~Joe's parents & siblings~

COLONIAL MARYLAND
~Oxford - Providence - Shipping of supplies - Sickness & death~
~Marriage customs - Puritan funerals - Colonial views on infertility & alcohol abuse~

INDENTURED SERVANTS
~Sarah - Joe - Nathaniel~

TOBACCO NOTES - COLONIAL CURRENCY
~Sale of Sarah's indenture & Susannah's shop~

OLD WHITE MARSH CHAPEL
~John & Sarah's wedding - James' burial~

COLONIAL FARMING TECHNIQUES
~Location of John's plantation - Rolling roads~
~Girding trees - Stone boats - Fencing - Ear notching~

FAMILY BIBLES
~Geneva Edition - 1576~
~Sarah's parents - John - Susannah~

Local Indians Tribes of the Time

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:17:00 +0000

By the time the Souls of Indenture series takes place, much of the friction had lessened. Many of the local Indians were peaceable. Among these were the Choptank Indians who lived along the Choptank River. Theirs was one of the earliest reservations in the colonies, established in 1669. It would not surprise me if some of the settlers really did trade with them from time to time, as I mentioned in A Willing Heart. As for them being nearly as tall as giants, some of them really did push the height of seven feet. They must have been a rather frightening sight for those first Maryland settlers to behold, before an understanding was reached that ensured peace.

Oxford, Maryland

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:16:00 +0000

Oxford, Maryland, a central part of the setting of the Souls of Indenture series, is a port village along the Chesapeake Bay, and is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Though it was officially founded in 1683, its beginning stretches back to between 1666 and 1668, when 30 acres of land was laid out for the town. One of the first houses to be built there was for an innkeeper, thus my inclusion of a conversation with an innkeeper in A Trusting Heart. By 1694, Oxford was one of only two ports of entry to Maryland Province.

Shipping of Supplies to the Colonies

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:15:00 +0000

It was very difficult and time consuming to get supplies to the colonies, back then. Some items could be made by the settlers, though time was limited since their lifestyle was so labor intensive. Many items were brought over from England by ships that only came once per year, in the fall, for the harvested tobacco. Therefore, residents had to wait a long time for imported supplies, if they could afford them at all. Merchandise would be off-loaded at a port such as the one in Oxford, Maryland, and the tobacco loaded in its place. The ships remained at port through the winter until they could travel again, with their barrels of tobacco, back to England. They would then return to America the next fall with the new batch of supplies which the colonists had ordered.

Early Views on Infertility

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:10:00 +0000

Susannah's supposed inability to have children was a reoccurring theme throughout the book. As far as I can figure, at one time, blame was placed solely on the woman if no offspring came from a union. Some even believed, as did Susannah’s mother in that if a wife was barren it was because of her own wickedness or lack of faith. I do not know for sure when it was discovered that fertility was a medical issue and not a spiritual one, or when the idea evolved that a man's fertility also entered into the picture, but I chose to include it in the plot anyway. It seemed a valuable addition to the story and allowed for some sweet moments to be included.

Early Colonial Marriages

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:09:00 +0000

The method of marriage used by James and Susannah years before, called handfasting, was a sort of colonial version of common-law marriage. If the bride was under the age of 21, she needed permission from her parents to wed. If this could not be obtained, as was the case here, some couples chose to say their vows privately, even if their marriage was not lawfully recognized. Oddly enough, this was sometimes done with a blacksmith officiating. As for Susannah being pursued mercilessly in by potential suitors following James’ death, I would consider this to be fairly realistic. With the shortage of eligible women in the colonies back then, competition among the single men must have been almost fierce at times. In doing genealogical research, I’ve seen cases of widows remarrying quickly. By the time Susannah married Joe, in Maryland it was required by law that couples be married in an Anglican ceremony. I chose the wording for the marriage ceremony from a 1589 version of the Book of Common Prayer, though I did change it a bit as well as abbreviate it so that the scene would not go on overlong.

Puritan Funeral Customs

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:07:00 +0000

Earlier in the 17th century, Puritan funerals were very simple and solemn, little more than a simple prayer, if that, and a silent burial. They were well acquainted with death, since roughly one in ten rural-born babies died in their first year, and as many as three in ten within more populated centers. Only just over half could be expected to reach adulthood. Beginning in the mid 1650s, Puritan funerals started becoming more elaborate. There was normally a funeral procession, and gloves were given out as invitations, as mentioned in the story. By this time, it was likely that words would be spoken at the grave site, and a feast would be offered afterward to those in attendance. Again, this was incorporated into the plot. As far as I understand, the idea that they would have left a newly occupied grave open, if they expected another person to die soon, is also accurate. Though, in A Trusting Heart, I tried to make many of the funeral details realistic for the era and in keeping with the Puritan customs, I did stretch things a bit. For example, I doubt that a man of Joe’s standing would have been given the honor of helping to carry Caleb’s coffin. That was normally done by respected, older men of the community and of the Puritan faith. However, I thought it a nice touch to have him involved in this manner.

Puritans and the Providence Settlement

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:06:00 +0000

I've taken some liberties with the history of the Puritans near Annapolis in A Trusting Heart. They settled there in about 1650 after fleeing Virginia. Though I make it sound like Providence was a village, it was really more of a group of small plantations. Upon arriving, one of the first things they did was build a meetinghouse, which still stood strong for years to come. Thus, it still remained when Joe and Susannah arrived. The Puritans only stayed there for a few years, having been gone by 1658. Most of the original settlers either died or took up land on the other side of the river where Annapolis eventually stood. Annapolis was originally called Town at Proctor's, then Town at the Severn and later Anne Arundel's Towne. It was renamed Annapolis in 1694, a year before this story opens. I wanted it to seem like the Providence settlement had not disappeared until after Susannah had married James and left the area, even if the timing isn’t historically correct. Thus it would allow for her to feel unexpectedly lost and alone when she returned and found the area abandoned. Many Puritans in the Severn River area also gradually converted to Quakerism and, after much persecution, moved across the Chesapeake Bay and settled there. I thought this conversion might over complicate the story and, thus, chose not to address it. Therefore, Susannah's parents and others, though they moved across the bay, were considered to be of the Puritan faith.

Colonial Era Views on the Effects of Alcohol Abuse

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:55:00 +0000

Pertaining to the use of alcoholic beverages during this time period, it appears that hard cider and ale, among others, were commonly used. It was customary to drink something of that sort with meals or at a tavern with other villagers, and it was believed to be a healthy endeavor. This was likely, at least partially, due to the fear of illness from drinking contaminated water. It is also my understanding that they had not yet discovered that drinking alcohol to excess could cause violence in some people. They seemed to believe, rather, that those same people were just already inclined toward violence, and that the strong drink did not play a factor at all. So, making this something that Joe and Susannah understood during that era, as addressed in, was a liberty that I took with their story.

Sicknesses in the Southern Colonies

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:50:00 +0000

Many settlers became very ill their first summer, and this was called their “seasoning”. Colonists had not yet built up an immunity to diseases such as malaria, which were prevalent with the warm, moist climate, and many died. Other epidemics also periodically killed off some of the population at various times.

Even among the locals, a high percentage of children died young, and numerous adults didn't live to be very old either. Many were married multiple times during their lifetimes, as spouses died. There was a multitude of hardships and dangers in their primitive lifestyles that shortened their lives. Other than disease and starvation, there was the ever present danger of Indian raids since the colonists were infringing upon lands that the Indians had inhabited and hunted for many years.

Colonial Farming Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:34:00 +0000

The location of John Clark's plantation, though fictional, was carefully planned out to coincide with actual settlements and waterways. His land is set about seven miles east of Oxford and a little south along the Miles River, which is a tributary to the larger Choptank River beyond.

Old Indian trails, as mentioned, really did exist. Some that led to the coast or a river's edge were called rolling roads because of the planters rolling hogsheads of tobacco down them to where they could be loaded onto barges or ships. This also could be where the phrase, 'Let's get rolling', originated which means that it's time to 'get to work' or 'get going'.

Tobacco quickly exhausted the soil. To ready new areas for planting more quickly, men sometimes stripped a length of bark from around the perimeter of the trees, as John did, so that the trees would die and drop their branches. This allowed sufficient sunlight in, so that the crop could be planted among the trees and still thrive.

Stone boats were real as well, although I’ve not been able to establish exactly when they came into existence. They were wooden structures, similar to a sled, which were dragged behind a horse and were useful for hauling items such as rocks.

The worm fence, or snake fence, mentioned in A Willing Heart is historically correct also, as is moving it from field to field and using it to fence animals out rather than in. Livestock really did run free in those early days, and were marked for identification purposes. If a pig's ear was notched, as was the case in the story, the shape of the notch would indicate the owner of the animal.

Clashes Between the Settlers and the Indians

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:10:00 +0000

1895 Engraving Depicting Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

I meant for the uprising which widowed the previous owner of John's plantation, as mentioned in A Willing Heart, as well as caused the tragic death of Joe’s parents and siblings in A Trusting Heart, to have coincided with Bacon's Rebellion of 1676.

This uprising began in Virginia, where they had once lived. The altercation started when a group of Indians supposedly stole some hogs from a planter, as a means of reclaiming payment believed to be owed to them. Colonists retaliated against the Indians, even killing some friendly ones of another tribe in the process, as mentioned in this story, and the situation escalated. Raids on the settlers followed and trouble continued for a time.

So there is some historical basis to that part of the plot, though I definitely took liberties with it as well. I don't know how brutal the attacks were on either side, but I chose to make this particular one be rather heinous, and thus it haunted Joe’s dreams and his life for a great long while afterward.

For additional information:

Local Indian Tribes of the Time

Province of Maryland

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:48:00 +0000

Maryland was an English colony from 1632-1776, one of the original 13 colonies. As a place of religious tolerance, it was much less restraining than some of the colonies to the north.

Many of its inhabitants, during this era, predominantly raised tobacco, which was a labor intensive crop. Those who couldn't afford indentured servants or slaves had to manage the work on their plantations with the help of family members and neighbors, until they became prosperous enough to enlist further help.

ADDITIONAL HISTORICAL INFORMATION:

Oxford, Maryland
Puritan Funeral Customs
Early Colonial Marriages
Early Views on Infertility
Shipping of Supplies to the Colonies
Puritans and the Providence Settlement
Sickness and Death in the Southern Colonies
Colonial Era Views on the Effects of Alcohol Abuse

Bath, England

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:30:00 +0000

Bath is located about 13 miles southeast of Bristol, and was a resort and spa town during this era. It seemed an appropriate setting for Sarah Clark's free-spirited aunt, Elizabeth, to have lived in A Willing Heart.

It is fascinating to note that the Romans built Bath's first bathing complex and it took them 300 years to complete, beginning in 60-70 AD.

Bristol, England

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:09:00 +0000

1478 Map of Bristol by town clerk,
Robert Ricart (the first of its kind)

Bristol, the nearest trading center to Sarah Clark's childhood home, was a booming city when A Willing Heart began. The city itself dates back to about 1000 AD, its name being derived from an Old English word meaning 'the place of the bridge'. Bristol was the second most important England port by the 14th century and was the starting point for many who sailed to America, including a great number of indentured servants, by the 1600's.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674)

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 18:25:00 +0000

1683 Painting depicting the Battle of Texel

The Third Anglo-Dutch War was a conflict between England and the Dutch Republic. It was this conflict that I meant to coincide with the death of Sarah Clark's father, roughly a decade before the opening of A Willing Heart. At this time Sarah was 13 years old.

Family Bibles Available During This Time

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 18:12:00 +0000

The Geneva Bible was published in 1560, and printed in England in 1576. This provided, for the first time, an English Bible that was affordable and widely available to the masses, regardless of their status. This is believed to be the translation that many early English colonists brought with them to America.

It would be plausible that Sarah and others in the story would have had a copy of the Bible in their homes, and passed it down in their families.

I don't know when the tradition of writing family names and important events in the front of family Bibles began, but I thought that including this would make A Willing Heart more endearing.

Colonial Currency

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 17:42:00 +0000

Paper money and coins were scarce at that time in the southern colonies. Land and goods, as well as slaves and indentured servants, were paid for in pounds of tobacco. John’s mention of tobacco brides in A Willing Heart is also accurate. The first shipload of English women was sold in Jamestown, Virginia in 1620, and the purchase price of 120 pounds of tobacco covered the cost of each woman’s transport. Tobacco notes were used to represent a particular poundage of tobacco. Thus, this would have been how John would have paid for Sarah's indenture contract in A Willing Heart, and also the method by which Susannah would have been paid for the sale of her husband's candle shop in A Trusting Heart.

The account in a Willing Heart of some settlers neglecting to grow much else besides tobacco, namely food for their families, is also true. A law was passed requiring them to plant two acres of corn for each person, ensuring that their greed would not cause them to starve.

Indentured Servants

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 17:16:00 +0000

Many of the colonial settlers came to America as indentured servants. For example, between 1630 and 1680, about two thirds of those who immigrated to Virginia were contracted in this manner. It provided a way for those, with little or no money, to make a start in the New World and eventually own land of their own, something they likely never hoped to be able to obtain in their homeland.

A great number of the early immigrants of the time came voluntarily, contracting themselves out for a particular period of time in exchange for the cost of their passage, as occurred with Joe and his family in A Trusting Heart. Others were kidnapped from the streets and forced to make the journey, and were sold as servants against their will, as I decided to have happen to Sarah in A Willing Heart. In some cases, these unfortunate souls were passed out from drunkenness and were, thus, easy pray to the 'spirits' (men who's job was to recruit or 'spirit away' these people from their poverty stricken neighborhoods). There were even cases in which young children were enticed by candy to follow these men on board. Still others were convicts, transported as a punishment for their often very minimal crimes. Malnutrition, overcrowding and disease were common during the ocean voyage and many died before reaching the shores of America.

Typically, adults could be expected to remain in service for 4-7 years, although the sentence of a convict was determined according to his or her crime. The term of servitude, in general, could be lengthened legally for women who became pregnant during their indenture, men who impregnated a female servant, and for anyone who tried to escape before their agreed upon term was concluded.

Children served until they came of age. I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that there were cases in which some were forced to serve past the conclusion of their contract, like Joe experienced in A Trusting Heart, since there have always been cases throughout history where people have had no regard for the laws of the land. Indentured servants had few rights during the term of their contract since they were considered property of the man who bought their papers. Servants were generally not permitted to leave the plantation without permission and, likely, without being under guard. Thus, Joe would have found it very difficult to report his master's illegal conduct, which is why he finally resorted to trying to escape.

I am confident that many of them were treated relatively well during their indentured period, but there was also a great deal of abuse by some particularly brutal masters and overseers. I chose for Joe to be a victim of such violence. Though it happened long before the opening of his story, it altered the course of his life, and its effects followed him for years to come. Women had a particularly hard go of it, sometimes suffering sexual abuse and other atrocities at the hands of their masters or others.

After their indenture was up, men might be given clothing, tools and even, in some instances, their own small plot of land. Some were fortunate enough to eventually make a good life for themselves. Others wandered and begged for food, longing for the familiarity of home, feel as though America was not at all what they thought it would be.

Contact

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 06:24:00 +0000

It is a joy to hear from my readers, other authors and aspiring writers! Send me a note and I will reply to you personally!

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Books

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 07:44:00 +0000

Trivia Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 05:55:00 +0000

Test your knowledge of my novels with these
trivia questions, and then share your results with your friends!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Capturing the Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 20:46:00 +0000

November 7, 2014

Every once in a while I like to saunter about on our property and capture scenes of beauty when something stands out to me. Here are a few of the photos that I have taken over the years, right here in our yard and pasture. The last four were taken off our property, along the dirt road we live on. I hope you enjoy them, and that you are able to slow down enough each day to take a few minutes to appreciate your surroundings. What a gorgeous and fascinating world we live in!

Even though we live in Canada, everyone in our household is also a US citizen, and we are a very patriotic family. We take our roots very seriously, and so we celebrate the 4th of July every year. I'm not much of a decorator, but I thought this old stagecoach and trunk made such a cool background for Old Glory.

It's funny how sometimes frost can be so beautiful when it clings to everything it possibly can. Plus, I'm a fanatic for old wagon wheels, frost-covered or not.

I have a hunch that my old horse isn't going to starve any time soon!

Usually in the wintertime our air is rather dry. When it is humid and cold we often get this gorgeous hoar frost clinging to fences and to every branch and blade of grass. It is truly breathtaking, and not just because the frigid temperatures frost my lungs while my numb fingers snap the photo. Hoar frost is about the only thing I like about winter, except for the Northern Lights, but I'm always too busy staring up at the night sky in awe to think of trying to take a picture when they are out.

Here's a closeup of what the hoar frost looks like. It's truly amazing.

One of our neighbors races sled dogs, and we sometimes see them out training. The trail on which they exercise the dogs exits a cut line and crosses our dead end road here, so the "Caution Please - Dog Team Crossing" sign is for real. In the summertime the dogs pull a quad and in the winter, of course, their training involves pulling a dog sled. The matriarch of this family was my kindergarten teacher, once upon a time.

There was a forest fire nearby, back in 2010. Our property is on the left in the foreground, so you can see how close the fire was, just behind that little range of hills in the distance. Even though it was a little nerve-wracking, I thought it was pretty enough to warrant taking a picture.

This one shows the incredible effect that was produced when hoar frost clung to bits of horse hair that had gotten snagged on our neighbor's barbed wire fence. How cool is that?!

Here is some more hoar frost. I couldn't capture it adequately, but the lighting was so interesting.

Some sad news ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Andersen) — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 05:57:00 +0000

November 4, 2014

Well, there's been some very sad news at our house. Our sweet dog went missing about a week ago and we are pretty sure that a cougar got him. We didn't realize there was one hanging around until I started asking the neighbors if, by chance, they had seen our dog. Come to find out, Nixon is one of three dogs in our area to go missing recently - vanishing without a trace. One neighbor saw a cougar at the end of his driveway when one of his big dogs disappeared. We know to expect these things on occasion, no matter how careful we are, since we live in a very rural area, on a dead end road, along the fringes of vacant government land, but it is still heartbreaking. Nixon had become a much-loved part of our family. I keep expecting him to scratch at the door, asking to come in, or for him to be waiting for us when we get home from town, anxious to nose through our grocery bags to see what we bought. Sadly, we are left only with beloved photographs and fond memories. R.I.P. sweet Nixon. We miss you. We couldn't have asked for a better dog.