A Wealth of Information in Your Backyard

With my most recent novella, A Christmas Tree for Trudel, I wanted to set it near where I live in the southern California mountains. As I started researching, I realized I had the perfect resource at hand. Years earlier, a visit to a local museum introduced me to the wealth of information offered by local historical societies. In my particular case, a year’s membership in the group also earned me a copy of Saga of the San Bernardinos. The book details events in the county from 1769 to 1930 with two epilogues written in 1971 and 1984.

In relating the history of the largest county geographical in the state, the author included:

• ·         Early plats of land ownership
• ·         Original names of towns
• ·         Distances between locations
• ·         Names of settlers (from which can be construed general ethnic groups)
• ·         Types of businesses
• ·         Unusual weather occurrences
• ·         Exceptional events
• ·         Transportation and years introduced
• ·         Costs of goods and services

As I wrote, I had the sense of detailing events in a more personal way about characters who might have been found amongst the builders of the community. If you’re a lover of history, be sure to seek out what local historical societies, and by extension local museums, have to offer.

Blurb for A Christmas for Trudel, book 12 in Mail-Order Brides’ First Christmas multi-author series

1890, Bear Valley, CA

Rancher Gibson Bartleigh travels to Pine Knot to investigate how his younger brother was swindled out of his mining claim. He finds the suspect, businessman Bernard Heinrik, at a poker table and squares off opposite him. Gib goads the man into betting big, staking the mining claim and then ends up with the winning hand and retrieves the deed. Goal achieved, he heads back to the hotel, planning how he’ll leave in the morning and arrive triumphant in Redlands at the family home in time for holiday festivities.

Mail-order bride Trudel Andersen traveled from Los Angeles to Pine Knot to meet up with her fiancé, Mister Heinrik, with whom she’s been corresponding for several months. But he’s a day overdue in meeting her. She waits in the hotel lobby with her lace-making materials and her little dog, Butterscotch. Released from the orphanage two months earlier, Trudel has been on her own and terrified she will always be so.

When Gibson realizes he’s the cause for the lovely lady’s misfortune, he’s stuck with a dilemma. If he confesses what he did, he’ll have to offer the woman a ride back to where she came from. Propriety demands they marry, and both agree it’s only for the duration of the trip. But will forced proximity deepen the relationship into something more?

Amazon link  

I love to hear what you have discovered at a museum in your city. An ecopy of A Christmas for Trudel will be awarded on January 31st at noon to one commenter drawn at random.

Stay in contact with Linda

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

BookBub

Newsletter signup 

 

STEPPING BACK IN TIME by Marisa Masterson

The Internet is essential for me as I research. I love the many images and sites I find there. That said, my best research comes from stepping back in time.

I bet you'd like to know where I bought my time machine. While it's true that I can't and don't actually travel backward through time, I have been able to visit many historical places dedicated to helping me feel like I have. Some places I've visited are well known, like Colonial Williamsburg. Others are hidden gems run by local historical societies.

While writing my book A Farmer for Christmas, I relied on one such place. Tucked away in the rolling hills around Reedsburg, Wisconsin, Pioneer Log Village and Historical Society is a historical treasure. Open Saturdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day, it boasts a collection of settler cabins that are authentic. These very old cabins were hauled from different sites in the state and brought to the Pioneer Log Village. Now, they aren't allowed to block the roads and haul the buildings, but in the 1940s and 1950s they could.

Rare puncheon floor

To preserve the history of the state, farsighted people gathered these cabins in one place so visitors would be able to see examples of homes built by ethnically different immigrant groups. There is a German cabin, a Swiss cabin, and so on. One of the things that so delighted me was the puncheon floor in Gluth-Kruse Cabin. I'd read about puncheon floors. Actually seeing one was an incredible opportunity and truly made me feel like I'd stepped into another time.

Gluth-Kruse Cabin

The cabins and other buildings, such as the church, are filled with wonderful antiques. In one, I remember seeing a collection of butter churns. Each was different and together showed how the butter churn evolved over the years. This definitely helped me, as an author, better imagine the lives of my female characters.

You might not be in Wisconsin, but I imagine there is a historical society museum near you. Often, volunteers who are a part of these groups give visitors a great hands-on experience with their local history. I encourage you to check them out.
For more information about Pioneer Log Village, go to http://www.rahspv.com/.

Children! Myra Smithson is tired of them. She didn't expect to be disinherited or to end up as her brother's unpaid nanny and cook. Thank goodness her matchmaker neighbor offers Myra a way out of the situation.Reinhold "Holder" Sittig knows he can't expect his terminally ill mother to care for his daughters. Following advice, he sends away for a mail-order bride. Too bad he forgets to mention his children in the letter.What happens after this Christmas bride discovers she's once again expected to be the unpaid nanny and cook? Will she find any tenderness from her stubborn German husband?

https://www.amazon.com/Farmer-Christmas-Spinster-Mail-Order-Brides-ebook/dp/B07T2MY829