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July 2008 Welcome to the mid-point in June. This year seems to be flitting by much too quickly. Prairie Hamlet: River’s Edge, book two in the series is nearly two thirds complete. So far, the feedback from the readers and listeners is great. Kate uncovered so many great finds and wonderful websites about shipwrecks and rescues on the Great Lakes during the research for River’s Edge. Excerpted from the following website: http://www.halinet.on.ca
Until next time… Back to Top March 2008 What a tumultuous couple of months since our last entry. A revered family member passed away January 30. Her loss left Kate and family in turmoil. Margaret Ann had been ill for a number of years, so her passing was a blessing for her. She was the older sister to a number of younger cousins, and had been a constant in Kate’s life from her earliest years. You can imagine the void she is experiencing, as she comes to grips with her loss. From sadness, many opportunities arise to bring us joy, and it was so for Kate’s family too, because many cousins and extended family members reunited to celebrate Margaret Ann’s life and to bid her a final farewell. There were tears of loss, but lots of laughter too, as we shared personal memories of her and her impact on our lives. If you go to the media page , you’ll see a current photo of Kate and her brothers, Jack and Mike and her sister Mary Catherine. Now March is more than halfway gone. We hope you are all managing to stay well, and if perchance, you’ve succumbed to one of the nasty bugs being shared across the nation - we wish you all a quick healing. Remember we don’t always have to agree with everyone’s choices and decisions but we should cheer for their achievements. Back to Top HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Welcome to 2008! If last year presented a number of difficult challenges and hardships, we wish you a peaceful and positive end to them. If, however, last year brought you happiness, joy and a moderate amount of challenges. Then we wish you more of the same. The first book in the Prairie Hamlet Saga is NOW AVAILABLE. Simply click on the Get Your Copy Now and that link will take you right to the Prairie Hamlet page on Amazon.com. You’ll see that we’ve added a request for your review of Molly’s Place, the first book in the Saga. Let us know what you liked, if you were surprised, or if you figured out the happenings before they occurred. Just be sure not to give away any of the plot lines. Don’t worry about what you write, just write it. We’ll review it and post it to the review page. As we get more and more reviews (we hope), your comments may be condensed into a few lines, to make way for all of them. Book Two of the Saga: Prairie Hamlet: Mount Pleasant is well on its way, we’re hoping to have it in publication late this year. The characters remain the same with a few new folks that add to the current mix. MOUNT PLEASANT Mount Pleasant is located due north of the fictitious town of Canalport . The boundaries of MP are Rueben (Ashland Avenue), Archer Avenue, and Thirty Fifth Street. That triangle of swampy bog was known for the mildew, rot and damp scent that permeated the area during the wetter months. Mount Pleasant picks up the story of the Molly’s Place characters in 1868. A modicum of events that occurred that year are listed below by month. This list is not intended to be a complete compendium of that year’s occurrences, but merely a number of happenings. 1868 - First stone of fifth Illinois State House placed in position 1868 - Death of Edward Coles, second governor of the State 1868 - U S Grant elected eighteenth President 1868 - Vote on proposition to call convention to form new constitution carried by a majority of 86,439 1868 - Burlingame Treaty 1868 - 14th Amendment 1868 - University of California chartered 1868 - Carnegie Steel Company founded 1868 - Typewriter invented 1868 - Treaty of Fort Laramie with Lakota nation 1868 - George Westinghouse invents air brakes 1868 - Robert Mushet invents tungsten steel 1868 - J P Knight invents traffic lights Additional information available at the following website: http://wwwiltrailsorg/northwest_territoryhtml   Back to Top Here’s a little history on the Christmas celebration and Santa Claus, thought maybe you’d enjoy it. Santa Claus The greatest of all modern Christmas icons, Santa Claus, was evolving during the 1860’s. Although it was to be several years before Nast was to give the jolly, round one his most enduring form, "Santa Claus" of 1860 would be easily recognizable to the modern child. "Santa," of course did not spring full-blown upon America, but was born of legend and centuries of permutation. He was the amalgamation of the traditions of gift-givers of many cultures, a bishop legendary for his kindness, and the pens of several early 19th-century American writers. His most likely ancestor was St. Nicholas, a 4th-century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. Hard facts about Nicholas are difficult to come by (not even a Papal Council could burn away much of time's fog), but over the centuries the legend of this kindly, charitable man grew apace. Not even the Reformation's hostility toward Catholic saints could dim Nicholas' luster in the eyes of his followers. St. Nicholas' first appearance in the New World was in 1492, when Columbus named a bay after him. St. Nicholas entered a quiescent period that was to last until the 19th century. Washington Irving was the next to take up Nicholas' cause and his inclusion (twenty-three times) of him in Knickerbocker History did much to bring the old saint before the public. Clement Moore's now universal A Visit From St. Nicholas (otherwise known as The Night before Christmas) was published in 1823. Its synthesis of many elements of the legend was a boon to the Christmas celebration and the exaltation of Nicholas. Another major influence was Kriss Kringle's Book, offered in 1842. The book told of St. Nicholas, or Kris Kringle, a "nice, fat, good humored man" who brought gifts for good children. The descriptions of Santa Claus in these and other books and the illustrations of Robert Weir, brought about the change in image from a thin ascetic to a robust character. Santa Claus, then, was well with us by 1860. A thin, ascetic saint had added much poundage, undergone a secularization process, and a name change. In the process, he was becoming the center of a folk festival that was to overawe all others. Music Music exclusively associated with Christmas was added to songbooks during this period. Caroling became increasingly practiced. The type of music, however, belied the burgeoning secularization of the season, as most of it was of a ‘sacred’ nature or rampant with allusions to Christ's birth. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, 1851, See Amid the Winter's Snow, also 1851, There Came A Little Child to Earth, 1856, and We Three Kings of Orient Are, 1859; all were composed before the Civil War. Legal Recognition The first state to make Christmas a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836. Between 1850 and 1861, fifteen states (including Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) followed suit. A significant result of this legislation was the recognition of December 25th as Christmas Day throughout the United States. Previously, celebrations took place at varying times during the month; particularly St. Nicholas feast day on December 6th, or on January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. Thus, events during the period helped cement the date used today. Commercialization Another "tradition" rapidly coalescing during the period--and decried still-- was the commercialization of the holiday. As early as the 1830s newspapers were filled with blandishments designed with "Christmas shoppers" in mind. A Terre Haute (IN) newspaper editor commented on the frivolity associated with the 1855 season. He wondered if such behavior was the proper way of celebrating the birth of Christ. In a telling comment, he noted that it was probably already too late to change things, as the trend was already well established. Santa Clauses had begun to appear on street corners and in stores by 1850.” Authored by: Timothy Crumrin, Historian, Conner Prairie. Back to Top http://chicagology.com . Excerpted from Chicagology: Early Chicago Streets “The very first street Chicago ever had was a muddy, narrow trail running east and west along the south bank of the Chicago River. Its name described it as it was – South Water Street. Along this street the first markets and general stores were built, which eventually became a gigantic produce market, only to be replaced by what is known today as West and East Wacker Drive. One of the country roads that came into the old Fort Dearborn settlement from the northwest was an Indian trail that planked by the early settlers of the area to hold their wagons up from the bottomless mud. It was called the Northwest Plank Road. The original Indian trail name was the Milwaukee Trace, which is known now as Milwaukee Avenue. The first road, crossing the “dismal Nine-mile Swamp”, went west on Madison St. to Whiskey Point (Western Avenue), thence southwesterly on the Barry Point Trail to Laughton’s Tavern where it forded the Des Plaines River and went southwest to Walker’s Grove, now Plainfield. Portions of it still exist as Fifth Ave. in Chicago, Riverside Drive and Longcommon Road in Berwyn and Riverside, Barry Point Road in Lyons, and Plainfield Road from Ogden Avenue to Plainfield. There is a dispute about the route taken from Chicago to Widow Brown’s house in the woods on the north branch of Hickory Creek (east of Mokena). One historian asserts that it went southwest (on Archer Ave. to Justice Park), thence southerly through the Palos forests and across the Sag valley to about 151st Street, and thence southwest on what later became the Bloomington State Road. Others assert that it went southward on State Street and Vincennes Ave. on the road to Blue Island, and thence southwesterly on what is now the Southwest Highway. These and other dirt roads were superseded or improved by the makeshift construction of plank roads which, although temporary, contributed much toward the growth of infant Chicago.” Back to Top |