Category Archives: American history

Lydia Rees and the Role of Women

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Lydia Rees is one of the primary, some would say the primary, protagonist in my Will Rees/Shaker mysteries. I thought I would return to this work and talk about the women in the later eighteenth century.

Lydia Rees, wife of my detective Will Rees, is an opinionated and outspoken woman and an equal partner with her husband as they investigate murders and other crimes. This is not so surprising for modern times but during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a woman had no legal status. She owned nothing and in fact she herself was chattel, belonging first to her father and then to her husband. The portion she brought to her marriage belonged to her husband and literally everything she had, including her children and the clothes on her back, belonged to him. In one of the primary sources I read a woman divorced one man for another and had to marry in her shift. The clothing she wore belonged to husband number one. Fortunately, husband number two had clothing waiting for her and as soon as they were married, she dressed.

A woman could not inherit the family home unless her husband specifically named her in the will. If he did not, she became the burden of her eldest son. If they had a bad relationship he could, and did, at least according to some of the histories I’ve seen, put her out to make her own way on the road. 

This did not mean that women did nothing. Oh no. This was an agrarian world and a man could not run his farm without his wife’s labor. Farm wives kept a garden, made butter and cheese, cooked, sewed clothing, cleaned – and all of this at the same time they dealt with pregnancy and minded their children. Wives of printers and other professional men frequently helped in the shop. It is no wonder that many men from this time are buried with two, three or sometimes more wives.

Lydia is a former Shaker (or The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming to give them their proper name. Shakers was at first a derogatory nickname based on their physical services – it is a combination of ‘Shaking Quakers’.) The Shakers were a faith begun by a woman, Mother Ann Lee, and the Shaker Sisters have equal authority with their male counterparts. There are two Elders and two Eldresses, two Deacons and two Deaconesses for every Family. Although the work was assigned along traditional gender roles, women and their labor were considered of equal importance. And in a time when illiteracy among woman was high (even among men it was almost 50%), the Shakers educated the girls equally with the boys. (Girls went to school during the summer, boys during the winter.) So Lydia expects to have a say.

The reasons a woman joined the Shakers were many and varied. In A Simple Murder and Cradle to Grave, Sister Hannah (Mouse) joins the Shakers be cause she has a cleft palate and knows she will never marry. In Simply Dead, one of my women characters flees to the Shakers to escape a life of servitude to her family. Another woman, who is an ongoing character throughout, is a fugitive who has escaped servitude in the south.

The Shakers were abolitionists and accepted escaped slaves as members in their community.

Obedience to the rules and celibacy, however, both come with membership in this faith. When Lydia secretly marries her first husband, Charles Ellis, and bears a baby she is immediately expelled from the Shakers. Ellis’s unexpected death causes further legal complications. 

When a person joined the Shakers, he or she signed a document called the Covenant. In it, they agreed to surrender all their worldly goods to the community. Charles Ellis is almost a member of Zion; he has not yet signed the Covenant but everyone is expecting him to. Then he dies. Because Ellis leaves his farm to Lydia in his will, the farm the Shakers were expecting to own, she inherits.  When she marries Will Rees, the farm immediately becomes his because of the laws governing a woman’s lack of rights to own property.

Although Lydia wishes to abide by Ellis’s wishes and surrender the farm to the Shakers, Rees hesitates. Fortunately for the family. When they are forced to flee their home in Dugard, they take refuge in the farm near Zion. (The Devil’s Cold Dish).

Lydia is a very determined individual. When Rees would leave her behind in Death in the Great Dismal, when he goes south to rescue a woman from the Great Dismal Swamp, Lydia insists on accompanying him. Fortunately. Ruth will not agree to go north without Lydia’s persuasion.

Lydia is instrumental (always!) in assisting her husband solve the mystery and, in many cases, connecting with the other women characters.

Currently Reading

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Tragedy’s Twin is the second Carrie Lisbon mystery by Chris Keeper. (After No Comfort for the Undertaker.)

In this outing, Carrie and her Uncle have left Hope Bridge to visit a relative in Duncan, New York. Carrie has an ulterior motive; Sheriff Del Morgan is also in Duncan. Despite their vow to forget about their impulsive one night stand, Carrie can’t resist her attraction to the Sheriff.

Unexpectedly, Carrie is called to the local poorhouse to tend to one of the women there. She is supposed to have fallen from a window, but Carrie immediately notes the scratches on Abbie’s arms and hands. The fact that the poorhouse windows only open eight inches convince Carrie something about the death is wrong. Enter the Sheriff who agrees and the two are involved in another case, one in which Carrie is almost murdered.

This mystery has everything. Intriguing characters, a fascinating setting, a great story and excellent writing. The Carrie Lisbon series deserves a wide readership.

Currently Reading

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I’ve known Frankie for several years but never read her first mystery series. Last week I read the first one, Death’s Favorite Child, and now I’m hooked. 

In Death’s Favorite Child, Lizzie Stuart is in Cornwall, England, on a much needed vacation with her friend Tessa. But Tessa’s ex shows up, and shortly after one of the people staying in the B&B is murdered. Although Lizzie doesn’t intend to investigate, she is sucked in.

Meeting John Quinn, a cop also on vacation, provides some heat and the possibility of a relationship.

In A Dead Man’s Honor, Lizzie has taken a position as visiting professor at Piemont College in Gallager, Virginia. Her grandmother, Hester Rose, had always told Lizzie to stay away from Gallagher but she can’t. She wants to solve the mystery of her grandmother’s past.

She gets more than she bargained for. Another murder – and John Quinn who is now head of University security.

The characters especially shine.

Currently Reading

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As I begin preparing for Malice Domestic, (I am moderating a panel on setting ), I read a book by a featured author. Peril in the Pool House by Judy L. Murray, is the third in the Chesapeake Bay series.

At an open house party, thrown for the announcement of Eliot Davies’ candidacy as well as a welcome to their old, thoroughly renovated house, the body of Eliot’s campaign manager is found stabbed to death in the pool house. Who could have wanted this woman dead?

Helen Morrisey, the realtor who sold Eliot and his wife the house, and sometime detective, begins to poke around. Although warned off by her off and on love interest Joe McAlister, Helen knows Eliot and Alison have sunk every penny into the house – turned into a B & B – and they’ll lose everything unless the murderer is found.

Helen is an engaging detective with an unusual Detective Club. It is an imaginary one including such luminaries as Jane Marple and Nancy Drew.

I enjoyed this so much that I will go back to the first one and read all three. Lots of fun.

I also read The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker.

This is the third of the Revolutionary War series. I have enjoyed all of them but this one is my favorite so far.

Becca, along with her mother Hannah and mother-in-law Augusta, travel to France to meet Daniel Alloway. Becca and Daniel plan to marry in France. Almost immediately, Benjamin Franklin asks Becca and Daniel to listen and report back. Franklin knows there is a spy in his household reporting to England. Reluctantly, the couple agrees.

The visit goes from bad to worse. The body of the young man, Jude Fenimore, who’d traveled to France on the same ship with Becca, is found dead on the roof of Franklin’s house. The magistrates in France refuse to allow Becca and Daniel to marry (all for frustrating bureaucratic reasons) and Daniel is attacked.

Now Daniel insists Becca, her mother and mother-in-law return home before something else happens.

Highly recommended.

Currently Reading

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This week I read a very interesting nonfiction discussion of pretty much everything relating to textiles and a woman’s fashion in a particular place and time.

Kate Strasdin came into possession of a dress diary, a book filled with swatches of the fabrics that made up Anne Sykes, and some of her friends, during the middle of the nineteenth century.

Since her family, and the family of her husband Adam Sykes, were involved in Britain’s textile industry, Anne had access to all the newest cottons, silk from the East, and, later in the century, the newest in the aniline dyes.

Using the fabrics a a springboard, Strasdin references cultural consequences such the enslaved peoples in the United States who picked the cotton that kept the British factories humming.

When Adam Sykes relocates to China, Strasdin discusses silk and, at the same time, the differences in culture, the Opium War, and more.

Colored photographs of the fabric swatches illuminate the text and there is a QR code at the back that brings the reader to more examples.

Fascinating!British History

Currently Reading

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Barbara Hambly has been one of my favorite writers for years. She is such a good writer. I read her Science Fiction/Fantasy novels, following her through the Dog Wizard fantasy and James Asher vampire novels to the Benjamin January mystery series.

The Nubian’s Curse is number 20.

The arrival of a woman January knew in Paris to New Orleans raises memories of a suspicious death in a haunted house. Was it really haunted and was the death from a malevolent ghost – or was it murder?

Now the murder of the man on scene in Paris, who arranged to marry the wealthy heiress left orphaned, raises more questions. Ben is asked to investigate.

As usual, the society in New Orleans – the Quadroon Balls, the custom of keeping a placee, a free woman of color who is mistress to a wealthy white man, the casual racism and the slavery, are front and center in these amazing mysteries. Highly recommended.

It is not necessary to read these in order but I would.

Happy Holidays

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We take so many Christmas customs for granted that we may assume that they have always been enjoyed. Not so. A visit to Colonial Williamsburg, for example, reveals a village decorated with candles and evergreen boughs. Where are the trees splendid with glittering ornaments? Where are the Christmas cards? Where are the representations of Santa Claus?

From its early days, Christians celebrated the Nativity. The giving of presents, the decoration of the houses with evergreens, the suspension of enmity and the proclamation of peace were all features of the festival right from the beginning. (That is, with some interruptions. The Puritans thought the celebrations took away from the worship of God and banned all jollity.) Some of the customs common during this period aren’t so familiar to us now. The Lord of Misrule? What does that even mean? ( The Lord of Misrule was usually a servant or a slave who presided over the Christmas revels. He had the power to make anyone do anything during the season. )The switching of masters and servants ? That is something foreign to us now.

It is true some of our traditions have roots stretching back to antiquity. Caroling, for example, has been a feature of the season since the middle ages. Wreaths also have a long history. The Etruscans used wreaths, a tradition that continued into Ancient Greece and Rome. The different plants symbolized different virtues. Oak leaves meant wisdom. Laurel leaves were used to crown winners. Our evergreen wreaths are constructed of evergreens to represent everlasting life. The Advent wreath, with its white candles, was first used by Lutherans in Germany in the 16th century.

What about the hanging of stockings?

Well, this tradition has a long history. According to some historians, this is a custom that stretches all the way back to Odin. Children put out their boots filled with food for Odin’s horse to eat and Odin would reward them with gifts or candy. Like so many pagan customs, the practice was adopted and Christianized. Hanging stockings became connected with Saint Nicholas.

So, let’s talk about Old Saint Nick, known in the US as Santa Claus.

The modern Santa Claus grew out of Saint Nicholas, a fourth century bishop, as well as the German Christkind and the Dutch Sinterklaus. Christmas had been personified -made into a person – as early as the fifteenth century but the modern Santa Claus in his red suit is a nineteenth century creation that has been added onto over the years. Now even several reindeer have names, courtesy of the poem “The Night Before Christmas” (originally titled “A visit from Saint Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore. The Santa Claus so beloved of today’s children was not invented until the nineteenth century.

Other nineteenth century inventions include the Tree, the lights on the tree and Christmas cards, The tree was a custom in Germany and arrived in England with Prince Albert. Although known in England before Queen Victoria married Prince Albert,  it did not achieve its popularity until the Queen adopted it. Like so many British customs, this one crossed the Atlantic and now who can imagine the holiday without a tree?

Our Christmas lights are descended from the candles used to decorate the tree in Christian homes in early modern Germany. And the first commercial Christmas cards were not created until 1843. Again, that custom began in England. Cards did not cross the Atlantic to the United States until 1874.

Nutcracker dolls were known as early as the seventeenth century but were not connected to Christmas until later.

So Will Rees and his family would not have been familiar with most of the customs we think of as essential to the celebration of the holiday. And more customs continue to be created. In my family, the holiday is not complete without a showing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The elves (Santa’s elves that is) make regular visits to the kids and leave little gifts.

Murder, Sweet Murder Review

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So pleased to receive this wonderful review from Missi Stockwell Martin.

Murder, Sweet Murder (Will Rees Mysteries #11) by Eleanor Kuhns

Will Rees accompanies his wife to Boston to help clear her estranged father’s name in this gripping mystery set in the early nineteenth century.

January, 1801. When Lydia’s estranged father is accused of murder, Will Rees escorts her to Boston to uncover the truth. Marcus Farrell is believed to have murdered one of his workers, a boy from Jamaica where he owns a plantation. Marcus swears he’s innocent. However, a scandal has been aroused by his refusal to answer questions and accusations he bribed officials.

As Will and Lydia investigate, Marcus’s brother, Julian, is shot and killed. This time, all fingers point towards James Morris, Lydia’s brother. Is someone targeting the family? Were the family quarreling over the family businesses and someone lashed out? What’s Marcus hiding and why won’t he accept help?

With the Farrell family falling apart and their reputation in tatters, Will and Lydia must solve the murders soon. But will they succeed before the murderer strikes again?  (Summary via Goodreads)

Readers of the Will Rees Mystery series by Eleanor Kuhns are going to go crazy, in a good way, when they start reading the eleventh book, Murder, Sweet Murder……Rees and his wife Lydia along with two of their children are heading to Boston to visit Lydia’s family.

In Murder, Sweet Murder Lydia, who left home many years ago when her father had tried to marry her off to a gentlemen that she did not love, is returning after receiving a letter from her younger sister asking for help.  It seems that their father Marcus was accused of murder and Cordelia, Cordy, knows that Will and Lydia have helped solve crimes in their hometown in Maine so they are the obvious choice to clear Marcus’s name.  Unfortunately when they arrive at Lydia’s old home, they are not as welcomed as they had hoped.  First no one other than Cordy wants an investigation, it seems the case has somehow been swept under the rug, and second the family is not so warm to accepting Will into the family.  When Lydia left she didn’t keep in touch with anyone other than Cordy so they are not aware of Will as her husband and of her children.

Will and Lydia are not deterred and begin their investigation into the young man’s death.  It is known that he is from Jamaica, a plantation that Marcus owns, but not much more is known. He was killed in the middle of the night outside a tavern that was closed, no witnesses that they are aware of and not much to go on…so Will decides to start at the place of death and go from there……

Every time that they think they have a clue or a fact to the murder, something happens that changes their minds.  Once they start investigating they learn of more people that could possibly have committed the murder and when they find out that the person killed isn’t who everyone thinks, they are lead down another disturbing road.  And when someone else is murdered in exactly the same way as the first person, Will and Lydia are more determined to find the killer !!

Readers will be drawn into the story immediately !!  Readers will love that Will and Lydia are traveling to Boston allowing us to get to know Lydia’s family and the secrets that have kept her away for all those years.  There will be members of the family you will fall in love with instantly and there will be some you will hate as soon as you meet them….but you will enjoy the time that you spend in Boston and will be just as glad as Will is when they leave.

Review by Missi M.

Rum and Slaves

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Rum was the lubricant and the fuel for the engine of commerce leading up to the American Revolution and a bit beyond. It was a favorite drink of the slavers, the slaves, and pretty much everyone else. Called Nelson’s blood (as well as a number of less flattering names), rum made up part of the British sailors’ pay.

In fact, one source I read said that the outrage over the Boston Tea Party had more to do with the dumping of rum than tea.

What is rum? Rum is distilled from the molasses left over from sugarcane. The cane has particular requirement and cannot be grown in the temperate lands. It must be grown with lots of sun and water. It also needs intensive labor to cut, cart and process the cane under the tropical sun. A clear and distinct link between the growing demand for sugar and slavery can be drawn because, as plantations were turned over to cane, the needs of a large work force demanded more workers – Slaves. The Good Hope Plantation, at its height, owned approximately 3000 slaves to do with work.

The slaves needed to be fed. New England ships brought dried cod, picked up the molasses for transport to the distilleries in New England. The resulting drink (called among other things, screech, kill-devil, demon water) was put in casks and sent to Africa to purchase more slaves and also to Great Britain. This was the previously discussed Triangle Trade.

Once slavery was abolished and the plantations no longer had this labor pool, the importance of sugar and sugar cane fell, first in Jamaica and then in the United States. (Now machinery performs most of the duties required in farming and harvesting sugarcane.)

Ironically, the long trips over the ocean, stored in casks, made the rum more drinkable.

Although rum was still consumed after the War for Independence, as mentioned in Murder, Sweet Murder, it was falling out of favor as the new country’s beverage. Whiskey, from rye grown in Western Pennsylvania, and distilled in the country, was considered more patriotic and as such became the drink of choice.

Making sugar from sugarcane

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The cruise I was on for vacation stopped at Falmouth Jamaica. An excursion out went to the Good Hope Plantation. I was particularly interested in visiting this estate since my most recent book, Murder, Sweet Murder, centers around a sugar plantation in Jamaica.

Sugarcane is a finicky crop that demands a particular temperature and regular water. Since it exhausts the soil, new fields must always be planted. It is also very labor intensive.

The Good Hope estate was set up in 1774 and, at its height, used about 3000 slaves.

Several buildings from that time are still there, although they are being used now as a shop, reception area and a restaurant. A small museum was attached.

One of the tools used to create sugar from the cane is a pot that resembles a wok. Five of these, the heat increasing as the syrup was moved from one pan to another, boiled the cane juice down. The resulting syrup was allowed to cool and the sugar crystallized out of it. The crystals are allowed to continue drying and then packed in barrels.

This must have been some process. Anyone who has ever made fudge knows how quickly sugar burns. (At the Whitney Plantation near New Orleans, a site now dedicated to the enslaved people who worked it, we were told that children were usually given the job of stirring the syrup, I can hardly imagine assigning a child to such a dangerous task.)

The byproduct of sugar making is molasses which was fermented into rum. The lowest quality was called killdevil, screech and a number of other names. Nonetheless,, everyone drank rum – until the Whiskey Rebellion in the new United States made whiskey the patriotic drink.

At its height, Jamaica produced about 20% of the world’s sugar. The amount dropped off when slavery was abolished and the plantations lost their enslaved workforce.

I did not see the house but pictures show an elegant home and hint at the gracious lifestyle the enslaved population offered the white planters.