Much-Appreciated Research Source

 I’m grateful for several tools that allow me to research the settings for my favorite time period to write about--the last quarter of the 19th century. But the Images of America books have proven to be invaluable.

The current story I’m writing is set in Astoria, Oregon in 1876. From Wikipedia and the city’s website, I culled details about the city’s proximity to the Columbia River and the importance of the city being on the river to develop the fur trade that burgeoned in the region in the early 1800s. But if I hadn’t bought an Images of America book, I would never have learned about a unique feature of the city. I like making sure my stories contain as much realism as I can find.

Because of Astoria’s location at the confluence of two rivers and backed up to a range of hills, the town had limited space to expand. Houses and businesses sprawled along the river’s edge, and soon taking a boat to get from one side of the town to another was easier and faster than walking. Until pilings were driven into the marshy wetlands at the river’s edge. Streets were then built on top of those pilings, and in some areas, businesses were constructed on that wooden base.

In the photo above taken in the early 1870s, you can see the construction of such boardwalks. This feature adds depth to the story because of the sounds of people and horses walking on boardwalks over water are different from boardwalks over lands. Smells would be intense, especially at the west end of town where canneries were located. I’m still working on ways to include this unusual construction in my story.

Blurb for Ginger Cake by Glynna, book 7 in Old Timey Holiday Kitchen series

Baker Glynna Shaughnessy wants to bolster sales for her struggling bakery almost as much as she wants to revive her drab personal life. A baking competition in commemoration of the city’s incorporation offers a chance at making the shop’s name known…until she’s accused of cheating. According to the competition’s sponsor—a roguish man who sets her heart aflutter—Glynna can only remain a contestant if she invents a brand-new recipe…something she’s never done before.

Hotel manager Ritter Anton has six months to boost patronage at his grandfather’s Anton Grand Hotel. He accomplished success with the family’s Cheyenne hotel and he’ll succeed here then move to the next. The baking contest he invented sparks controversy with the entry of a baker who others claim has an unfair advantage. Ready to reject her, he can’t say no when the auburn-haired beauty pleads her case. How will he remain neutral as a judge when all he can think about is Glynna?

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Graphology--Victorian Entertainment or Analytical Science?

For my latest novella, Perfectly Mismatched, Book 1 of Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs, I started out to research parlor games from the 1870s-1880s to discover an activity the mail-order brides and prospective grooms could participate in. Like we in contemporary times might play the game where a name is pinned to your back, and you have to guess who it is.

What I learned is that graphology, or the analysis of handwriting, was quite the rage during Victorian times. As was phrenology, which is the interpretation of the bumps on a person’s head, and was used in psychiatry.  Many claim both to be only pseudo-science--but much of that was discovered long after the times when people enjoyed the practices as entertainment.

Graphology consists of a system of comparative analysis made on specific letters: a, e, g, I, m, o, p, t, w, and s. A person writes the two words: ‘two magpies’, and the “expert” pulls from the writer’s handwriting style differences in temperament such as: being shy or gregarious, being sedate or physically active, if the person is an attention-seeker, fears success, have an upbeat or downbeat personality, generous or stingy, etc.

As I read about the study, I envisioned how a person could use a newly acquired skill like this to set herself apart as a matchmaker, hoping to give herself an edge over the competition. Mail-order bride agencies and newsletters were used on a regular basis as a way to entice women to relocate to the western part of American. In my story, the matchmaker who has been hired to provide brides for bachelor miners in a Colorado town feels she has a way to pre-determine which men and which women might be good matches based on similarities she sees in their handwriting. But as with all stories, everything doesn’t go as planned.

Tagline: Running from the past to a new home and name, she runs into a man who follows the rules to the letter.

Buy link:  Amazon;  free in Kindle Unlimited

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts about if handwriting can reveal personality traits. One commenter’s name will be chosen on Sunday, June 25^th at 3PM, to win an electronic copy of any backlist title.

Stagecoaches & Steamships

In 1865, my heroine in AT LIBERTY TO LOVE (book seven in the Texas Romance series) wanted to go from northeast Texas (Red River County) to San Francisco. Her trip began in downtown Clarksville, the county seat, where the Donoho Hotel served as the station.  
Work a jigsaw PUZZLE  !!

The coach took the Jefferson Trace, about one hundred miles south and east. It could travel about ten miles before changing teams, so they made about ten stops along the way including at Cuthand, Mount Pleasant, and Daingerfield to name a few. It took about twelve hours.    Work another PUZZLE  !!

The same trip thirty-three years earlier in 1832, when the widow Sue Baylor made a valiant effort to get her cotton crop to market in book one, VOW UNBROKEN, lasted ten days with no setbacks. It took her lots longer.
Work a jigsaw PUZZLE  !!

From Jefferson, my AT LIBERTY TO LOVE heroine took a short steamboat ride down the Red River to the Mississippi for five days to get down to New Orleans.

Those river steamboats were a lower draft where they could also go upriver farther. They were older and smaller. The steamships built to navigate the Gulf and Pacific were larger and drew more water (the draft is how much the boat set into the water. These ship’s bread and butter were the U.S. mail contracts. Freight and passengers were the gravy.

In New Orleans, my lady steamed across the Gulf to reach Caracus, a new city thrown up for the crossing of the Isthmus. There she purchased a seat on the train across the Isthmus to the City of Panama, built in the 1500s with a Spanish influence...a lot like New Orleans, but on the Pacific side of the Isthmus the city enjoyed a good trade. It quite impressed!

The cost from New Orleans to Caracas—which took five or six days depending on weather—cost less than the one day train fare. Prior to the railroad being built in the early 1850s, travelers crossed in barges or canoes part of the way and wagons the rest. That normally took three days with tropical heat and humidity and many insect un-pleasantries. So the train ride, though more expensive, was deemed well worth the price and a necessity rather than a luxury. In Panama City, she again boarded a steamship for the Pacific Ocean leg of her journey.

Those steamships stayed relatively close to the coast, not veering too far out into the ocean waters. First class passengers dined on linen-covered tables with fine, matching china. Uniformed servants attended to their every need as at the finest big city establishments.

Bands played, and gaming rooms presented a diversion for those inclined to take a chance. This all filled the top deck; those passengers’ lavish suites offered private balconies to enjoy the ocean breezes and magnificent water sunsets and rises.

Steerage, two decks down, could be as inexpensive as fifteen dollars while first class might set the traveler back over fifty. The floor in between cost less than first class and offered fewer amenities; leaving off most all of the elegant accommodations, the middle deck gave the business man and his wife—perhaps traveling with their children—a more affordable fare.

The next floor down, steerage, got no meals included with passage. They were purchased separately, and there could be as many as six packed into a single room. Of course, tickets didn’t cost as much as above, and the decks never mixed. Cheapest passage was on the lowest level, underwater—space in the boiler room or cargo hold as you could find it. This is where the ‘wooders’ rode.

On the Pacific side, from Panama City, my heroine boarded yet another steamship up to San Francisco with possible stops in Acapulco or San Diego before arriving in City by the Bay, depending on how much coal or firewood they carried on board. The bigger, newer ships routinely made the trip with no stops. This leg of the journey took fifteen days, making the trip from Texas to the golden shores a month to thirty-five days.

Travelers could opt to go cross county by stage and arrive in as few as twenty-two, but the ride proved rough and the warring tribe of Indians always posed a danger. Most thought nice accommodations and safety outweighed the time factor.

As Marcus Ford, my hero in AT LIBERTY TO LOVE discovered, one could work his way on a steamship serving as a wooder. Spending four hours of every twelve shoveling coal to feed the boiler was grueling, monotonous work. And dangerous, too, considering if the boiler did blow, those men were goners for sure. And shirkers could be summarily tossed overboard. The captain was king.
AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, book seven in the highly successful Texas Romance historical series, has just debuted May 27th and is now available in print or digital formats.

JACKET COPY: Obedience is better than sacrifice…and trumps romance, no matter how sweet.
   Profound loneliness propels a childless widow west with the idea of choosing an orphan to share her life. On the way, a fellow traveler takes her by surprise. She never dreams, is unprepared, doesn’t need another man, but can’t get him out of her head…or heart. He’s so perfect—every bit the one she’d searched for as a young woman—except his mistrust of God has erected a wall she cannot breach.
    Marcus Ford blames God and struggles for peace after losing his wife and baby. Not once has he considered another woman could be the answer, but the widow is like none other he’s ever met. He falls hard, but plans are taking him east. Hope dashed sends two hearts into the pit. If only Ford could forgive God or the widow ease up on her adamant resolve.
   Will God’s mercy shine a beacon in the fog of despair and prove sufficient to heal their souls?
   
EXCERPT: 
    Stepping off the last stair, she approached. He inhaled deeply then shook his head. “Oh my.” He drew in another long breath, closing his eyes. “You smell better than you look. I mean, you look outstanding, but your fragrance is even better. Not that you didn’t smell good before… I mean…” He finally just shrugged. “Your appearance shames me. I should have brought my dress blues.”
    She grinned. “I understand, but here.” She handed him her door key. “On my couch, you’ll some new threads…the least Henry Buckmeyer could do.”
    At first, he didn’t take it, then scooped it up like a kid in a candy store and took the stairs two at a time.
    “I’ll wait on the deck, just outside the dining room.”
    He waved one hand but didn’t look back.
    Might do the man a bit of good to have his pride pricked. She chuckled, so enjoying the highly pleasant distraction he afforded.
    Took the man longer than expected, but the wait worth it, the readymade suit fit perfect, she loved the shirt’s high collar and how it seemed to choke him.
He grinned then extended his arm. “Thank you.”
    She slipped her hand under then over his offering. “You’re welcome.” She glanced down. He’d shined his boots. Per chance that accounted for the extra time.

REVIEWS:  At Liberty To Love shows how God can speak through dreams, visions and small children. As God spoke in biblical times, so He can still speak that way today. There are some wonderful exchanges of dialogue with four year old Michael. Caryl McAdoo demonstrates the power of trust and faith. "Nothing was too hard for God" Who shows that He loves to step in and make the seemingly impossible, possible.  Another great offering from Caryl McAdoo.     --Julia Wilson, Worchester, England reader

I’ve followed Henry Buckmeyer and his family since the first book, "Vow Unbroken" and couldn't wait for this one. Could this be the true love the widow has never known before? At Liberty To Love as always, gives glory to God. All Caryl McAdoo’s stories are uplifting and truly enjoyable. I highly recommend this one and all of the stories in the Texas Romance series.     --Michelle Beach, Clinton, New York reader

With characters that charm, and scenes that tug at our heart strings, Caryl McAdoo keeps us reading well past our bedtimes. Mrs. McAdoo has woven yet another Texas tall tale to keep us flipping pages. The mistress of the Texas yarn, her Texas dialect tantalizes from start to finish. At Liberty to Love made this reviewer fall in love with fictional people who seem so real that they almost breathe. This character-driven, well-crafted novel is a keeper. I’m adding it to my collection of Texas Romances by Caryl McAdoo.     --Cassandra Wessel, Tionesta, Pennsylvania multi-published author of devotionals

TWEETS: (Help spread the word! :)
#NewRelease AT LIBERTY TO LOVE #ChristianFiction Family saga #HistoricalRomance http://amzn.to/1T1vcYL

AT LIBERTY TO LOVE #NewRelease 5-Star TX Romance bk 7 #ChristianFiction http://amzn.to/1T1vcYL

@CarylMcAdoo #NewRelease AT LIBERTY TO LOVE #ChristianFiction Family saga bk 6 http://amzn.to/1T1vcYL

Another PUZZLE !! Woo Hoo!

Bio: Caryl McAdoo is all about loving God! She currently writes four series: the historical Christian ‘Texas Romance’; a contemporary ‘Red River Romance’; The Generations, her Biblical fiction, and the newest Days of Dread Trilogy for mid-grade readers. Known as the Singing Pray-er, she loves praising with new songs the Lord gives her and prays her story gives God glory! In 2008, she and her high school sweetheart-husband Ron moved from the DFW area—home for fifty-plus years—to the woods of Red River County. Caryl counts four children and sixteen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings believing all good things come from God. Besides glorifying Him, she hopes each title will also minister His love, mercy, and grace to its readers. Caryl and Ron live in Clarksville, the county seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State with two grandsons.

LINKS:  All Books   At Liberty to Love    BookBub   Website    Newsletter Facebook    Blog    GoodReads   Google+   LinkedIn   Twitter   Pinterest   Hear me sing on  YouTube !!