It's Delivery!

by Heather Blanton

In doing research for this article, I stumbled across the writings of Alice Baker Kraft, daughter of Ann Leavitt Baker and one of eleven children. Ann was a tough, hard-working, resourceful woman. A wife and mother, she was also a midwife and doctor of- sorts to folks on the remote Canadian prairie. I didn’t see any sense in reinventing the wheel when Alice’s writing is so full of fond and vivid memories, not to mention fascinating historical tidbits. The following is just a slice of a much longer piece. If you’d like to read more, the link is at the end.

"The Inscription on a plaque honoring Ann Eliza Leavitt Baker reads as follows:
In loving memory of Ann Eliza Baker, 9 Feb 1858 - 3 Jul 1933. A great humanitarian whose life of service for her fellow man has inspired and blessed many. She traveled these hills and valleys and nearby towns to deliver hundreds of babies and care for the sick. No storm was too severe to stop her. She walked, rode horseback, or went by wagon, and on many occasions, rode miles on a stone boat. She raised her own family of 11 children and was the President of the local Relief Society for 26 years. Her long and loving devotion and service to humanity is unexcelled.
Presented by those who were first spanked by this gracious lady."

Read more about this incredible lady here: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/leavitt.html

Writing a Historical Mystery-Romance

Well, so far I am really happy with the reviews that Locket Full of Love is getting. This was my first all-out attempt to write a mystery-romance and readers seem to like it. This story was hard to write because of the intricacy of the plot! Plus, I had to do a lot of research into military intelligence during the Civil War.

Two things I learned in this process--One, a mystery has to be carefully, carefully plotted out. You have to think backward and forward to make sure the clues all fit together and the hero/heroine find them in legitimate ways. That was challenging. I mean I really spent a fair amount of time noodling over if this this/then this! Couldn't just have tips and clues falling out of the sky. There had to be a rational, logical progression.

The second thing I learned was how almost slipshod intelligence was during the Civil War. Generals tended to handle it on their own, employing their own men to gather information and make up strategies as they went along. General Grant was fond of using Allen Pinkerton--who at that time was also deeply involved in guarding Abraham Lincoln. I suppose you could argue he did a less-than-stellar job on that case.

Anyway, if you get a few moments and want to curl up a with a good mystery that is built around not only a fine romance but the actual historical character Juliet Watts, I hope you'll give Locket Full of Love a gander!

Was her husband a sinner or a saint? A spy or a traitor? For years Juliet Watts has believed her husband died saving nothing more than a cheap trinket--but the locket he foolishly risked his life for turns out to hold a mysterious key. Together, Juliet and military intelligence officer Robert Hall go on a journey of riddles and revelations. But Juliet is convinced Robert is hiding something, too. Maybe it's just his heart...

The First Female Lawyer in America--Bent the Rules to Take the Bar

By Heather Frey Blanton
Copyright 2013 Heather Blanton

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Arabella Mansfield. You’ve probably never heard of her unless you’re from Iowa, but Arabella was the first woman in America to become a lawyer. She passed the Iowa bar in 1869, illegally. Still, Arabella’s milestone proves that behind many a good woman there often stands a supportive man.

A lawyer...AND she could get herself into this outfit.
I am impressed by Arabella's tenacity. 

Arabella was actually born Belle Aurelia Babb in in 1846 in Burlington, IA. Only three years later her father left to hunt gold in the west, leaving Mrs. Babb to raise Arabella and her brother Washington on her own. Her father was kind enough, however, to send home some money, enabling both children to attend college. Perhaps since her mother was such a stalwart example of what a woman could do, Arabella never saw a barrier she couldn’t conquer. John Mansfield, her high school sweetheart, was smart enough to realize that and, instead of trying to hold her back, encouraged her to reach for the stars.

After graduating from Iowa Wesleyan College, Arabella taught at Simpson College but returned home only a year later. She married John and studied law in her brother’s office. Two years later, despite the fact that only white men over the age of 21 were allowed to take the bar, Arabella took the exam and passed it with a high score.

This didn’t sit well with some attorneys in the state and so they did what attorneys do: they challenged Arabella’s status. Fairly quickly, the court ruled women and minorities should not be denied the right to practice law in the state, the first ruling of its kind in the USA. Arabella never used the license she fought so hard to acquire—as she preferred teaching—but she involved herself in the fight for women’s rights till she died in 1911. Not a rabid feminist, she did support the suffragette movement. Arabella resented having her intelligence insulted. Clearly, if women were smart enough to become lawyers, she thought it only reasonable they should have the right to vote.

Thank you, Arabella.

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Bloomers--Her Contribution to American Fashion

Suffrage and Temperance? No, no, no. Let’s talk Bloomers!

This was supposed to be better than a dress?

In American history, you have women who spied for this country, loaded cannons during heated battles, fought wild Indians, ventured alone to rowdy frontier towns.

And then there is Amelia Bloomer.

A native of New York, Amelia was the first woman to own, edit, and operate a newspaper in the United States. The Lily was started in 1849 for the reading pleasure of the Seneca Falls Ladies Temperance Society. By 1850, the circulation of 4000 had started to decline and Amelia took over the editorial helm. She had found her groove. She loved espousing her views on suffrage, temperance, morality, and fashion.

Married to an attorney who was apparently patient and supportive, Amelia freely championed the cause of suffrage all over the country. She spoke, attended rallies, organized committees, and hung with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady. If not for her, her newspaper and her enthusiasm, who knows how long it would have been before we women would have attained the right to vote?

But is that why you know the name Bloomer?

Probably not.

In 1851, a few notable women started wearing loose, baggy pants that gathered at the ankles. The style was based on pants women wore in the Middle East. Amelia fell in love with the roomy, flowing pants. She adored that they allowed her to move so freely, climb steps without tripping, and kept her hands free. Never mind that the things are about as attractive as a clown suit.

But Amelia adored the goofy breeches and pushed them every chance she got. They were frequently mentioned in The Lily, to the point the I-Dream-of-Jeannie breeches finally earned the nickname Bloomers.

Ah, the lasting contribution of a Lady in Defiance.

Copyright 2017 Heather Blanton

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Lockets--a Must-Have Fashion Item of the Victorians

by Heather Blanton

Recently I became interested in lockets as a potential symbol in a story. Curious about their history, I did a little research. They really are an interesting and emotional reflection of the heart’s capacity for syrupy love.

Scholars pretty much agree that lockets were originally born out of the medieval transition from amulets to a more rational and less “magical” mindset. Still, items of great value, sentimentality, and power were kept in the lockets. Everything from notes, to hair, to poison.

Queen Elizabeth wore a locket with a painting of her mother in it—the famous Ann Boleyn, beheaded by Henry the VIII. I can imagine the picture and her mother’s untimely demise kept the Virgin Queen on her toes and careful with men!

Lockets, however, truly entered the mainstream of fashion with the Victorian age. Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria a bracelet with eight pendants on it, each containing a lock of hair from all their children. The queen was rarely ever without the sweet gift.

When Albert died, she was devastated. She had a locket made with the Prince’s photo inside. Hearts melted by the sentimentality of her gesture, fashion aficionados of the day turned the mourning locket—and then lockets in general—into the fashion trend of the day. Black bog oak (an old wood) was the material of choice. Just as there was a cultural expectation that a widow would wear black for a year, she was also expected not to wear any jewelry other than the mourning locket for the same amount of time.

I was more impressed with the spinner lockets, though—a particular style that became popular during the Victorian era. According to the ebay buyer’s guide, “These lockets have a bail, which is a D-shaped or oval component used to connect the locket to the necklace chain. The bail is not fixed to the locket itself, leaving it free to spin.” I don’t know why that impresses me. Possibly because I’ve never seen one and they tend to be more valuable than a normal locket.

If you find a spinner locket, snap it up!

Sarah Thal and Her Life on the Bitter, Windswept North Dakota Plains

by Heather Blanton

I love learning about the women who settled America. As a breeder of German Shepherds, I seek out certain characteristics and temperaments to create the best dogs possible. For a long time, America was no different. The bloodlines were amazing.

The people who thrived here were independent, strong willed, stubborn, adventurous risk-takers.

Just this morning I read the story of Sarah Thal, a German-Jewish immigrant who came to America with her husband in 1880. On the way here she contracted typhoid, but the couple soldiered on and settled in North Dakota. Her second child was born in a cabin so full of cracks that a make-shift tent was draped around her and the baby. They literally camped in front of the fireplace to keep warm. She watched prairie fires light up the distant sky on more than one occasion. Took shelter from tornadoes. Begged God for rain.

The winter of Sarah's first year in North Dakota, a neighbor and her child were lost in a three-day blizzard. The pair were found fifty feet from their front door. "I remember that beautiful baby to this day," Sarah wrote. "She wore coral ear rings and necklace. The frost glistened on her cheeks making her look more like a wax doll than a once live baby. The tragedy and the horror of that experience is as clear in my memory as though it happened yesterday."

Sarah lost a baby one winter because 10 feet of snow prevented her from getting to a doctor. "For many years we kept up the lonely graves. In time the wolves and elements destroyed them. They are unmarked in all save my memory. All the neighbors came to the funeral. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Gutting. Afterwards we became fast friends. The friendships of those days lasted as long as life itself."

This was Sarah’s existence. It never broke her. She didn’t let it turn her into a bitter old woman. She accepted God’s will and plowed on, making friends and living life for all she could wring out of it.

One year the German community decided to get together and celebrate the 4^th of July. It was a 22-mile trip each way for the Thal’s to attend, but they were proud and eager to do so. As she wrote in a letter, “Each foreign colony celebrated in their own fashion, loyal to the traditions of the old land and faithful to those of the new. . . .”

Women who chose to come to America in those early days of the American West were strong and resilient as a rule. I would argue the toughest in the world. I appreciate their bloodlines and hope I do them justice in the stories I write.