Colorado 150 and Women's Suffrage

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

Not only is America celebrating 250 years, but Colorado is celebrating 150 years. Colorado's journey began in 1858-59 and culminated in its admission as the 38th state in 1876. Most of what we hear about that time is the man who pushed the idea. However, women were also involved in the process. This post is about one of those women.

If you live in Colorado, you've heard the name Routt. We have a county with that name, streets, and, oh yes, even a governor by that name. 

Eliza Routt was the first First Lady of Colorado, which, of course, made her husband, John, Colorado's first governor. It was from this position that she made her mark on Colorado. During that time, she was involved in women's suffrage. After 1893, when women gained the constitutional right to vote, she devoted her energy to helping people.

While women did not gain the right to vote in Colorado's original constitution, they did secure the right to vote in local school elections and to place the question of suffrage on the ballot in 1877. That 1877 vote failed, but in 1893, they won the right to vote with a constitutional amendment.

To learn more about this amazing woman, here are some additional sites:

Eliza P. Routt, Colorado Women's Hall of Fame

First Govenor, First Lady - Amazon

Until next time

"Did You Know with Doris" - VCOS

Until next time

Stay safe and keep reading and writing.

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

The Walk & A Book List

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

It's been hot, and I took a walk this evening to cool off and think about writing, readers, and my love of storytelling. Whether it is written or verbal, I love sharing stories. To me, that is what is important. Not the type of font, whether I use an em dash or a semicolon, or any other grammar that is currently the favorite. It is also why my work tagged me to do a series of short videos that humorously tell the history of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region. I will put a link to one of those at the end of this post.

Also, since my work, both fiction and non-fiction, is based on history, it is important to me that I get it as correct as I can. My characters are trying to find their way in the world, usually a world they are not prepared for. They are determined to make a mark, even if in their own inner circle. While a worthy goal, it is not the only one; other people who inhabit their world have their own goals and dreams. Life is the test that allows for their continued growth as adults while still giving them a happy ending,

In both "Isabella" and "Verna Kate", I read books and newspapers about the area around Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. While not all the information was used in those books, the characters would know and read much of what was contained in those resources.

For those interested, here is a short list of some resources:

"A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" - Isabella Bird

"The Story of Early Estes Park" - Enos Mills

"Making Rocky Mountain National Park: The Environmental History of an American Treasure" - Jerry J. Frank

"Historic Rocky Mountain National Park: The Stories Behind One of America's Great Treasures" - Randi Minetor

There were other resources, but the above are available either in a library or on Amazon. For those who would like to know more about this beautiful area, contact me, and I will be happy to share more.

If the story of Isabella and Verne Kate interests you, they are available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited; I urge you to check them out.

"Did You Know with Doris" - VCOS

Until next time

Stay safe and keep reading and writing.

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Back In Time - Colorado 1861 & 1873

 Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

This post is taking a trip back to the 1860s-70s in El Paso County, Colorado, with a look at its first sheriff and an unsolved death.

When Colorado became a territory in 1861, formed from parts of the Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico Territories, El Paso County was among the original 17 counties. 

Rankin Scott Kelly, born in 1826, was the first Sheriff of El Paso County. Appointed in 1861 when the county was formed. He, along with his deputy, was the law in an area that covered over 2,200 square miles. But Kelly had a secret. He had struck a man at about the age of thirteen who had left his sister to fend for herself when their boat capsized in the lake they were on. Thinking he’d killed the man, Kelly ran, hid nearby, then left Maine for areas west. It was not until shortly before he died in 1913 that he learned the man had not died. (Side note, Kelly’s story was written by a former El Paso County Sheriff, John Wesley Anderson. PBS also did a piece on Kelly) *See the link at the bottom of this post.

Near Pioneer Section of Evergreen Cemetery
Image (C) Doris McCraw

And now to the unsolved death. There is a mystery around the 1873 death of William H. ‘Judge’ Baldwin. Baldwin arrived in the area around 1868. Known as the town drunk, Baldwin, who received the name judge for judging various sheep contests at territorial fairs. He was a sheep farmer whose ranch was located north and east of Colorado Springs. (The city was founded in 1871, and a dry town)  His body was discovered on November 3, 1873, at the bottom of Green and Stilzer's slaughterhouse well around 2pm. His pockets were turned out, and his wallet was missing. His horse was tied outside the fence, and his hat and shoes were found on the floor about five feet from the well. His face had a bruise near one eye. It was believed he was around 38-40 years of age at his demise. He had been scalped once while in South America, and according to legend, barely missed being scalped a second time during an altercation with the Indians here. It is believed he is buried somewhere in the pioneer section of Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs. 

Documentary on Kelley

Until next time

Stay safe and keep reading and writing.

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Sometimes the Smallest

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

 “The minor events of history are valuable, although not always showy and picturesque.”  Mark Twain

I find this quote by Mark Twain particularly applicable. It is the little things that add up to a rather amazing whole.

Dr. Susan Anderson

If Dr. Susan Anderson’s father had not moved to Cripple Creek in the 1890s, she would not have returned there after medical school. When establishing a practice in that town did not work out, she eventually went to Fraser, where she met the woman who would later write her story, Doc Susie.

Winfield Scott Stratton

Winfield Scott Stratton, Cripple Creek’s first millionaire, rose from the ranks of prospectors. Through his influence and financial support, many miners and mine owners owed their livelihoods to him. The labor strike of 1893–94 ended with miners securing an eight-hour workday and $3.00 per day pay. After he died in 1902, the miners’ union lost the 1903–04 strike. Were the two events connected? Again, Twain’s idea of “minor events” holds weight.

My Father

In 1930, my father was born at home, three months premature. He weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces. To keep him warm and alive, they placed him in a shoebox on the oven door. They also gave him a shot of whiskey every hour. Those actions likely saved his life. Something as minor as a shoebox, a bottle of whiskey, and a warm oven made all the difference.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell

When Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school, was accepted into Geneva College in New York, it was considered a joke. She chose not to see it that way and graduated in 1849.

The next time you look at history, whether personal or national, consider the minor events. See where their story leads you. You might be surprised.

The same can be said for the stories we read. The smallest thing can lead to unexpected results. What is the smallest thing in a book you read that led to something wonderful?

Until next time,

Stay safe and keep reading and writing.

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Look what our authors published in March!

Our authors have been busy writing your next favorite story.

Look what they published in March!

No Finer Dream by Jo-Ann Roberts “Your journey doesn’t have to end in disappointment.”       Lila Hartley had waited for hours on the frozen train platform, a mail-order bride no one came to claim, her trunk beside her like a tombstone. The man who'd promised her marriage, a home, and a future, left her stranded two thousand miles from Boston with nothing but the clothes on her back and a heart full of shattered dreams.       Just when hope was fading, a man cowboy emerged from the white curtain of snow like an apparition, took off his coat, and changed her life.       Clay McCallister viewed every woman who had taken a chance on the frontier as the sister he’d failed…a woman who’d risked everything for the possibility of something better, much like the woman standing on the platform in the bitter cold.       Sometimes warmth doesn’t always come from fire — sometimes it comes from the heart. Release date: March 6, 2026 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FY12R2SX The Bride Who Step Dances: The Bride Who Series Book #12 By Zina Abbott She wants to step dance her way to the West. He wants nothing to do with women and marriage. Sparks fly when he drags her off of a saloon stage.       Stranded in Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, British immigrants Maggie Clarke and her sixteen-year-old brother, Eddie, hope to earn enough to buy train tickets to take them closer to the gold fields in the West. Eddie plays the fiddle while Maggie step dances. The pair searches for a location with a raised wooden platform so they can perform for tips. They find one, but how were they to know that saloons in the Wild West are not like the public houses with lady parlours they were used to in Manchester?       Cecil Bellamy and his newly married brother visit Rupert’s Roundup, the “cowboy saloon,” in Laramie City to hire cowhands for the fall roundup. After, while his brother collects his wife from a women’s social, Cecil avoids being approached by marriage-minded women by waiting inside the same saloon where he found his new employees. Much to his surprise, instead of the usual out-of-tune piano music, a teenage boy playing the fiddle and a young woman stomping her feet take to the stage. All was well and good until a man with a reputation black as all hades when it came to how he treated women decides to climb onto the stage, intent on dancing—and more—with the pretty lady. The next thing Cecil knows, he forgets all about his personal vow to avoid women and enters the fray. Release date: March 20, 2026 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTBTBG54 Springtime Scheming (The Sister's Mail-Order Bride Company Book 4) By Kit Morgan A desperate woman A lonely blacksmith And one cranky mother...       Lizzy Jepsen took a risk becoming a mail-order bride. There were no guarantees with such arrangements—and bringing her young brother along only made the gamble greater. Would Mr. Samuel Newton welcome them both…or send them packing? But that wasn’t Lizzy’s greatest concern.       Samuel Newton is kind, hardworking, and exactly the sort of husband Lizzy hoped for. Unfortunately, he comes with one very determined complication—his mother. Mrs. Newton has already decided what kind of wife her son should marry. And Lizzy Jepsen isn’t it.       Between a watchful future mother-in-law, a town full of curious onlookers, and a brother determined to prove he isn’t a burden, Lizzy begins to wonder if she made a terrible mistake coming west.       But Lizzy didn’t cross half a continent to give up easily. And Mrs. Newton may soon discover that this quiet mail-order bride is far harder to scare away than she expected.       Enjoy this sweet western romance filled with humor, meddling mothers, and a happily-ever-after. Release date: March 25, 2026 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTX37L3J Verna Kate Rocky Mountain Bride By Angela Raines       Set in 1914 against the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park, two people struggle with their feelings for each other as they vie to realize the different dreams each has for the region.       Verna Kate Keys fell in love with the Rocky Mountains at fourteen, when a visit to her aunt in Denver opened her eyes to their wild beauty. Now living in Estes Park, she is determined to help preserve the land she loves. As a guide, she shows visitors the majesty of the peaks, forests, and valleys, hoping to inspire them to protect what others want to exploit.       Harry Clayton Moore has been sent west by his powerful father to secure logging rights in the very region Verna Kate is fighting to save. A Yale-educated forester, Harry, knows the value of conservation, but will family duty and pressure push him toward decisions that could destroy the land and the community around it?      As tensions rise, Verna Kate and Harry must choose between duty, ambition, and love. Release date: March 27, 2026 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GL1BGQTB   Brady's Burden: Mountain Men - Echoes of Thunder By Kimberly Grist        Where storms end, and thunder falls silent, could love find its beginning?        Haunted by battlefield memories and sleepless nights, former Union officer Brady Holt carries scars he can’t name or outrun. Now guardian to children who have already lost too much, he lives in a state of vigilance—cautious, alert, and convinced that peace ended the day his hope did.        He is silence, storms, and sharpened edges. She figures he’s more stubborn than a mule and not nearly as friendly.       A spirited bootlegger’s daughter from the South, schoolteacher Eden Murphy has nowhere left to run. With danger close on her heels, she heads west with only faith, grit, and a fragile hope    for a new beginning.       She is warmth, wit, and wildflowers, with a soft Southern drawl that stirs up memories he’s spent years trying to bury. He’s confident she’s just another burr working its way under his saddle.       He wants solitude. She needs a fresh start. Could this unexpected connection calm the storms within and lead them to redemption? Release date: March 31, 2026 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2NRSBZK

     Not all of our authors make their books available on pre-order. For those who do, those advance sales go a long way to help their book ratings.

Below are some future books.

April Releases:

Bringing in the Sheaves: Sweet Historical Romance

By Marisa Masterson

     Kristin Gundersen's heart is torn in two. On one hand, she knows her father's crop is their only hope for survival. But on the other, she can't bear to see the threshers return, not after one of them hurt her. And when she meets Archie, the struggling pastor of a Swedish-speaking church, she can't deny the strong pull she feels towards him.

       But life is never that simple. As Archie puts all his faith in an excellent harvest to save his struggling church, he becomes entangled with Kristin. And as their relationship deepens, disapproval grows within his congregation. How can he follow his heart's desire when it goes against the beliefs of his church? And can a bountiful harvest truly solve the troubles within his congregation and within himself?

      If you enjoy heart-tugging stories of love and faith, you won't be able to put down this novel.

Release date: April 8, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4WMQZPC

The Bride Who Shoot Arrows: The Bride Who series Book 16

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

       Mayde Shelley has completed everything her parents asked: finish teachers’ seminary, make applications for a respectable post, and prepare to settle down. But what she really wants is to teach archery and maybe enter competitions— a pursuit no proper lady should love as much as she does. When a plea for help arrives from an uncle in Colorado, Mayde sees her chance for adventure before duty sets in.
       Life on the McPherson Ranch is rougher than she imagined—and so is Garek Rowland, a brooding horse tamer who’s never stayed anywhere long enough to call it home. He’s itchy to ramble and considering where to head…until he finds Mayde practicing her sport beneath the wide western sky. She’s stubborn, spirited, and everything he’s sworn not to want.
       But when drought and wildfire threaten the ranch—and whispers about their friendship spread through Spur Springs—Mayde must choose between her family’s future, her dream of teaching, and a man who won’t stop running. Can love blossom in a heart that refuses to put down roots?
Release date: April 9, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKQTR45D

May Releases: 

Ardith Yosemite Bride: National Park Brides, Book 23

By Zina Abbott

      Once school was out for the summer, Ardith Cleary loved nothing better than to ride next to her father on his stagecoach runs to Yosemite National Park. There she met and became friends with several young people who live in the park full-time, including the Leonard sisters. However, as she closes in on adulthood, she realizes another form of transportation is threatening to make her father’s job obsolete. Her dismay over the coming of the Yosemite Valley Railroad conflicts with her growing friendship with one of the assistant rail company engineers.

      After the death of his father, J. B. “Mack” McManus was forced to quit college without earning his degree in engineering. To help support his family and earn money toward the final year he needs to graduate, he accepts a job as a foreman overseeing grading rail bed and constructing the bridges needed to complete the rail line between Merced and El Portal, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The last thing he needs is the distraction provided by a cute and quirky redhead and her interest in how the railroad construction is progressing.

Releases: May 6, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GPGW3C7G   

Rigby's Roar: Mountain Men-Echoes of Thunder

By Marisa Masterson

      Rigby had a dream job studying plant life in the beautiful Colorado mountains, but when the river turns yellow and the plants start dying, he knows something is wrong. Determined to uncover the truth, he heads to the nearby mine to investigate. But what he finds there is chaos and tension bubbling beneath the surface.
      As a professor from New York, Rigby is already a target for the angry miners, and now he must navigate the dangerous waters of a polluted river and a potential marriage to a stranger. Will he be able to protect his beloved mountains and his own future?
      Join Rigby on this thrilling journey filled with western romance and rugged adventure. Fans of action-packed stories and heartwarming love will not want to miss this captivating tale. And for those who enjoyed "Heart of the West" by Penelope Williamson, this book is a must-read. Don't miss out on the excitement.

Release date: May 12, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4XTWLZZ