The Songs the Watermen Sang

  By Tiffany Amber Stockton

I didn't go looking for this story. I went looking for something else entirely and stumbled right into it.

While digging into the broader history of Chesapeake Bay watermen for the series I'm currently writing, I kept running across references to singing as something central to the work itself. That sent me down a whole rabbit trail. Here's just a snippet of what I found.

Music That Moved With the Work

Most people have a passing familiarity with sea shanties. Those rollicking call-and-response songs that have had something of a revival in recent years online. But the music sung by watermen along the Virginia coast and the Chesapeake Bay had its own distinct character, separate from the classic sailor songs of transatlantic ships.

The crews hauling menhaden nets were predominantly African American men, and they drew on a deeply-rooted work song tradition to accompany the backbreaking labor of pulling in those massive nets. The chanteys provided energy, camaraderie, distraction, and spiritual encouragement all at once.

Picture the scene: as many as 40 men in long rowboats, hauling a purse seine net filled with thousands of pounds of fish. To coordinate those movements, they sang. The rhythm of the song literally kept the men pulling together at the same moment. Without it, the work fell apart.

Where the Songs Came From

The roots of these chanteys trace back through African American work song traditions that stretch all the way to the Middle Passage. They carried meanings that went far deeper than keeping time with the nets.

Some chanteys were newly written while others were adapted from religious music, other land-based work songs, and folk songs from various communities. Spirituals blended into work songs and back again. The line between a hymn sung in church on Sunday and a chantey sung on the water Monday morning wasn't always a clear one.

Isn't that fascinating? These men didn't compartmentalize their faith. It traveled with them onto the boats, into the nets, into the songs they sang to get through hard days on the water. Whatever sustained them in the pews sustained them on the bay too.

A Tradition Nearly Lost

By the mid-twentieth century, hydraulic power blocks began replacing the hand-hauling work that had made the chanteys necessary. When the labor changed, the singing faded. There was simply no longer a practical reason to keep time that way.

What saved this particular piece of history was a group of retired fishermen in Virginia's Northern Neck region who kept performing the old songs long after the nets were put away. As young men they had worked those boats, and as old men they kept the tradition alive for audiences who had no idea such music had ever existed.

What Music Does That Nothing Else Can

The songs ranged from hymns to work songs and everything between. People who sing like that are processing life. Grief, homesickness, faith, humor, solidarity. All of it found its way into the music. Colossians 3:16 talks about singing with gratitude in your heart. The watermen of the Chesapeake may or may not have been thinking about that verse while they hauled nets in the rain. But I do think they they knew something important. Music carries what words alone cannot hold. And for the men living those hard lives far from home with unpredictable water and weather, the music they had made a world of difference.

My Pop-Pop never sang shanties in his barbershop stories. But he had his own version of this with the way certain phrases and rhythms would slip into his storytelling whenever the tale got particularly dramatic. Now I wonder if that habit came from somewhere older than just him.

The 100th Battalion: Distrusted at Home, Proven in War

by Martha Hutchens

Manzanar Internment Camp, @rinderart, Deposit Photos

One of the most shameful episodes in America’s past is the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Much has been written about this, but less is known about the men who joined the United States Army, even while their families were being mistreated.

Because the population of Hawaii was strongly of Japanese descent during World War II, the people there did not face the same widespread internment. However, many who were attached to the military or the National Guard lost their jobs.

In June of 1942, the 100th Infantry Battalion of the US Army was formed. I have run across several stories of how and why it began, but everyone agrees that it was almost entirely manned by Americans of Japanese descent, mostly Hawaiian-born. Many of these men had been serving in the US Army prior to Pearl Harbor.

This group was sent into the heart of the fighting in Italy and later in France. Early on, it earned the nickname of the Purple Heart Battalion, due to the high number of injuries it received from being assigned some of the toughest objectives. Eventually, it was combined with the 442nd regimental combat team (RCT.) Generally, when a battalion was combined with a regimental team, it was designated as the first battalion or second battalion or third battalion under that team. However, by the time the 100th was joined to the 442nd, it was so decorated and so well known that it was allowed to keep its designation as the hundredth.

@swilphotos, Deposit Photos

How decorated were they? They would go on to receive an unprecedented eight Presidential Unit Citations (though I am not sure how many were before they joined the 442nd.) They received numerous Distinguished Service Crosses (which is one step below the Medal of Honor.)

The 442nd RCT was also almost completely manned by Japanese Americans. And by the end of WWII, 21 members of the 442nd would take actions that would eventually lead to them being awarded the Medal of Honor. I want to tell the story of two of these men.

Sadao Munemori was born and raised in California. In early November of 1941, he joined the United States Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his family was relocated to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. In late 1942, he was selected for the Military Intelligence Language School. When he learned of the formation of the 442nd RCT, he volunteered to join it.

@wollertz, Deposit Photos

Munemori’s combat tour began in 1944. In 1945, he took part in intense fighting in Northern Italy. His Medal of Honor citation reads in part:

When his unit was pinned down by grazing fire… and command of the squad devolved on him with the wounding of its regular leader, he made frontal, one-man attacks through direct fire and knocked out two machine guns with grenades. Withdrawing under murderous fire…he had nearly reached a shell crater occupied by two of his men when an unexploded grenade bounced on his helmet and rolled toward his helpless comrades. He …dived for the missile, and smothered its blast with his body. By his swift, supremely heroic action Pfc. Munemori saved two of his men at the cost of his own life…

I watched a video of one of Munemori’s fellow soldiers describing this action. Even all these years later, the emotion in his face as he thought of Sadao’s sacrifice was clear to see.

Munemori was the only member of the 442nd to be awarded the Medal of Honor soon after the end of WWII, in 1946.

Decades later, the Army decided to review the medal awards of the 442nd RCT. At that time, it elevated 20 men who had received the Distinguished Service Cross to Medal of Honor. One of those men was Daniel Inouye.

Inouye was a 17-year-old high school senior preparing for church on December 7, 1941. Later that day, he rushed to a Red Cross station to help the wounded. He graduated in 1942, and entered the University of Hawaii, hoping to become a doctor. He was not allowed to join the military at that time because he was classified as an enemy alien.

@DmyTo, Deposit Photos

When he learned of the formation of the 442nd RCT, he immediately attempted to join. He was told that his work at the Red Cross was critical. Some accounts say the Army also considered his medical training vital, but he left both the Red Cross and the university in order to enlist.

In April of 1945, Inouye led an assault in Italy. He took out one machine gun nest before he was shot in the stomach. He kept moving forward and neutralized a second machine gun nest. When he approached the third nest, the Germans threw a grenade, which shattered his right arm. He still moved forward until he was shot in the leg. According to later accounts, when he regained consciousness as his men were pulling him back, he told them, “Nobody called off the war.”

Daniel went on to become the longest-serving senator at the time of his death in 2012. The man really didn’t know how to quit. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2010.

There were too many stories associated with the 442nd RCT to include here, but one more really stood out to me.

Young-Oak Kim was assigned to serve as an officer there. The Army asked him if that would be a problem because he was Korean, and the Japanese were occupying Korea at the time. Kim supposedly replied, “There are no Japanese here, only Americans.” Kim was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his own actions in Italy.

In the Korean War, One Japanese American soldier received the Medal of Honor in secret. The reason why is a story in itself. If you’d like to read it, click here.

Also, if you are wondering how the grenade shattered only Inouye’s arm, accounts differ. Many say he picked up the live grenade and threw it back at the enemy.

Best-selling author Martha Hutchens is a history nerd who loves nothing more than finding a new place and time to explore. She won the 2019 Golden Heart for Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements. A former analytical chemist and retired homeschool mom, Martha occasionally finds time for knitting when writing projects allow.

Martha’s debut novel, A Steadfast Heart, is now available. You can learn more about her books and historical research at Martha Hutchens.com.

When his family legacy is on the line, rancher Drew McGraw becomes desperate for someone to tame and tutor his three children. Desperate enough to seek a mail-order bride. But when the wrong woman arrives on his doorstep, Drew balks.

Heiress Kaitlyn Montgomery runs straight from the scandal chasing her toward a fresh start on a secluded ranch. She strikes a bargain with Drew—a marriage convenient for both of them.

But the more Kaitlyn adapts to ranch life and forms a bond with Drew’s children and their enigmatic father, she realizes that this ranch is where she is meant to be. And then her past catches up with her…

 Women Homesteaders: Florence Blake Smith 

By: Izzy James

 

Newspaper Article from Chicago Tribune, Florence is on the right.

   Florence Blake homesteaded in Wyoming about 1920. Which is a lot later than I usually think about people homesteading. Florence worked for the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and one day she met someone she knew and her life changed forever. 

 

“Dashing down La Salle Street in Chicago one fall day, I ran into a young man I knew, who had just returned from taking up a claim in Wyoming, and as we stood in the doorway of the Rookery Building out of the wind, he explained how one went about doing this thrilling deed…Since I was free, white, and just twenty-one and female, I decided right then and there that I could do the same, if he could.”

   She kept her thoughts to herself as she thoughtfully considered and weighed all the costs and ramifications. After telling her family and dealing with the criticism such an endeavor produces she found an ally in her mother. The two of them planned and before too long the money required was either earned or found. Florence’s next big obstacle was obtaining a leave of absence from her job at the bank. 

 

Florence's Neighbors. Pumpkin Buttes in the background.

 

 “My boss had one of those concrete exteriors you often find heads of departments have…He was one of the world’s worst, and I dreaded asking for the time off. I was so afraid he would laugh at the idea. Then too, I did not want to share the secret until I knew for sure I would obtain my request…Whereupon one fine morning when I felt particularly courageous, I walked into the boss’s lair. I was scared to death., and had planned on standing up and giving my speech all I had, but my knees shook so I was glad to sit down. Still I was determined to quit if need be, although I hoped that would not be necessary. Even if I was confident I could get another position. The egotism of youth…
He let me sit there for a few minutes while he finished writing some secret-code work probably, because his back was almost turned to me. In spite of his lack of interest, I stated my case and made my request. Then I waited, with bated breath, while I watched his usually stern face change to a broad grin. I could hardly believe my eyes. Then he turned around and took one good look at me. Almost gasping, he said,
‘Mean to tell me I’ve had someone in my employ with enough guts to go out West and stake a claim? I’ll say you can have ten days off; take two weeks, and if you need anymore, let me know. Now tell me all about it.’
Gosh, he was human, but he had done a good job of keeping it a secret till then.”

 

The Pumpkin Buttes visible from Florence's Claim

   I think the above quote says more about Florence Blake and other homesteaders than I could say about her. Despite family criticism, the possibility of losing her job, and the hardships of an untamed land, she took the leap. Florence loved Wyoming and she viewed her years of homesteading as an adventure of a lifetime. She built her little homestead house. Learned to make bread. Met and fellowshipped joyously with her neighbors. Visited Yellowstone with friends, and battled rattlesnakes and bulls. Here’s another quote: 

“When I returned to my job, at the end of the ten days’ leave, I was hailed as a heroine, an adventuress, a land-owner. How envious my fellow workers were, who could have done the very same thing had they wished. How strange the urges that drive some and leave another cold.” 

And another:

“Her (a neighbor, Mrs. Tucker) words still rang in my ears: ‘Why does any girl in her right mind choose to come out and homestead in a God-forsaken country like this?’ Her ideas were not mine, but then she had been raised on a homestead in a bleak section of Nebraska, and while on this one she had a loving husband for a companion and helper, it seemed almost bleak. Not to me, it was the most wonderful bunch of land anyplace in the whole United States. I guess liking Wyoming is like spinach, either you hate the sight of it, or you can’t explain what there is about it you like.”

    Three years into her adventure she met the man she eventually married. After five years she proved up on her land and received the patent to her homestead. 

“The following year our baby girl was born, and my cup of happiness was indeed full and overflowing.”

 

   This is why women homesteaded. Because the opportunity existed and because they wanted to. :-)

 

Florence Blake Smith

 

   My character Dr. Alice Russel is just such a strong woman. She appears in my novella Heart of Liberty.

 

 

   Heart of Liberty is a Small Town, Grumpy/Sunshine, Christian, Romance amidst Homesteaders on the High Prairie of Wyoming Territory   

   Clayton Woodbridge has a secret that drove him to the wilderness years ago. Dark images of the past plague his waking hours. Clay knows the Lord has forgiven his past, but that doesn’t mean that the past is forgotten or even healed.
   Ousted by her landlords who wanted their building for their recently graduated son, Alice Russel, MD moved home with her parents. Filled with the optimism of a long line of pioneers, Alice couldn’t resist the opportunity when the growing town of Liberty was looking to exchange a homestead for her medical services. After accepting the job, Alice packs up the twins she inherited at her brother’s death and moves to Wyoming Territory.
   Clay cannot believe that such kindness and generosity of heart could exist in one person. His father and his best friend both believe that God has sent him a blessing in the friendship of such a woman. Clay knows he isn’t worthy of such a gift.
   Alice doesn’t know what to make of the surly man who comes to her aide time and time again.
Can Clay and Alice form a bond strong enough to hold when secrets come out of the dark? 

 

 Izzy James lives in the traces of history in coastal Virginia with her fabulous husband in a house brimming with books. Born with a traveling bone and an itch to knit, Izzy travels to every location where her books take place, from Williamsburg to Wyoming, popping in yarn stores along the way. 

 

Connect with Izzy through her website at izzyjamesauthor.com and sign up for her monthly newsletter. 

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Women of Resistance: Helena Kuipers-Rietberg

A woman of great faith, Helena Theodora Kuipers-Rietberg, was born May 26, 1893 into a Dutch Reformed family. Her parents were successful grain merchants and millers who were somewhat progressive in their belief system in that they allowed Helena to attend secondary school (unusual for girls at the time). After graduation she went to work in the family business. In 1921, she married Pieter Heijo Kuipers whom she’d met in school. The two had plans to move to the Dutch East Indies where Pieter had secured a job, but Helena’s father convinced Pieter to buy into the grain company as a partner.

Life was good. The couple had five children, and Helena was active in several women’s organizations, many associated with the church. In 1932, she cofounded Gereformeerde Vrouwenbeweging, an organization of Dutch Reformed women, in 1937 she joined the board of the Bond van Gereformeerde Vrouwenvereenigingen in Nederland, an organization which united all Dutch Reformed women's organizations in the country.

Despite the Netherlands declaration of neutrality, Germany invaded on May 10, 1940. Almost immediately Helena began to speak out against the Nazis during meetings and social gatherings stating that Nazi philosophies threatened Christian standards and values. According to one source her first resistance activities was to prevent Dutch young men from enlisting in the NAD, a national socialist organization which provided six months training for the men ages 18-23 to work in Eastern Europe. To avoid enlistment the young men had to go into hiding, and Helena used her extensive contacts throughout the country to find places for them.

Helena and Pieter then got involved in helping downed Allied pilots and escaped POWs get out of the country. Additionally, they distributed illegal newspapers. By early 1942 persecution of Jewish individuals had escalated, and the Kuipers began helping them to go into hiding.

At some point in the autumn of 1942, Helena and Pieter met Pastor Frederick Slomp who also opposed

the Nazis and spoke against them in his sermons. In an interview well after the war, Slomp shared a conversation he had with Helena during which she said, “We should establish and organization so that we can provided hiding places. My idea now is that you should do this. You should cross the country in order to make people enthusiastic about it.” When Slomp spoke of the danger, Helena’s response was: “Would it be so bad if you were killed while thousands of boys were rescued?”

Helena again used her extensive network to co-found Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (National Organization for Aid to People in Hiding – LO). She coordinated the implementation of local cells that held meetings that were supposedly Bible study groups. When laws changed in 1943 mandating that ration cards had to be picked up personally, the LO held raids on distribution offices to obtain the cards. The National Aid Fund was created, to which she personally contributed and ensured money was distributed fairly. She was also responsible for managing “de Beurs,” a central hub for exchanging intelligence on available hiding addresses, host families, urgent relocations, and matching onderduikers with safe havens.

In May 1944, Helena and Pieter received word they were under suspicion, and their house was to be raided. The couple took their children and escaped, then went into hiding. However, Helena was anxious to get back to her activities and arranged for a false identity card. The courier was arrested on the way to meet her, and under torture gave up their location. She and Pieter were arrested August 18, 1944. Thinking she would get off easier as a woman, they decided she would take all the blame, claiming he knew nothing of the activities. He was released, and Helena was sent to Camp Vught, then later transported to Ravensbruck where she passed away on December 27, 1944.

Known as the Mother of the LO, in 1946 Helena was posthumously awarded the Verzetskruis (Resistance Cross), and in 1954 a monument was erected in her hometown of Winterswijk.

___________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances

and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Dutch Dawn

Will they survive the 500-mile journey to freedom?

Isak Westgard is only six missions short to be rotated stateside. Then the unthinkable happens, and he crashes in the occupied Netherlands where the chances of him making it back to England are slim to none. The beautiful and tough-as-nails resistance courier begs to differ and claims she hasn’t lost anyone yet. The problem is the longer they’re together, the less he wants to escape.

Annaliese Claase has escorted her fair share of refugees and downed Allied pilots to safety - too numerous to remember. Until now. There’s something different about the Norwegian-American lieutenant, and it’s more than his good looks. Can she get him out of the country before losing her heart?

 
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMjoxV

 

___________________ 

Sources:
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/helena-theodora-kuipers-rietberg-resistance-name-aunt-riek/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/2694/Helena-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://www.annefrank.org/en/timeline/80/foundation-of-the-national-organisation-to-help-those-in-hiding/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Kuipers-Rietberg
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/131995/Information-Panel-Resistance-Fighter-Helena-Theodora-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://grokipedia.com/page/helena_kuipers_rietberg

Photo Credits:
Helena Kuipers-Rietberg: By Unknown photographer - NIOD, Public Domain. De Bovenweg 37 in Bennekom, where Helena was arrested: By Evert100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Frederick Slomp: Beeldbank WO2

Ravensbruck: US Holocaust Museum

WWII Hawaii Overprint Money - In Case of Japanese Invasion After Pearl Harbor

By Mary Dodge Allen 

Have you ever seen a one dollar bill with the word HAWAII printed on it? It might be worth more than you think.

Hawaiian Overprint note (Smithsonian Institution)

Why Print Hawaiian Money?

The shocking attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Army on December 7, 1941 propelled the United States into WWII. It also ignited fears that the Hawaiian Territory - essentially a group of isolated Pacific Islands - was in danger of a Japanese invasion.

Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941 (Public Domain)

Territorial Governor J. B. Poindexter (with the approval of President Franklin Roosevelt) placed Hawaii under martial law and ceded administrative control of the islands to the United States Army. Lt. General Delos C. Emmons was appointed military governor.

Lt. General Delos C. Emmons (Public Domain)

After the Pearl Harbor attack, people in Hawaii began hoarding money to be used as emergency funds in the event of a Japanese invasion. 

Lt. General Emmons realized that if the Japanese successfully invaded the islands, they could seize millions of dollars in U.S. currency from Hawaiian financial institutions. This, in turn, could be harmful to the larger American economy.

A new strict monetary policy was devised to prevent this from happening - the creation of Hawaii Overprint Notes. 

A New Monetary Policy

On January 9, 1942, Lt. General Emmons issued an order that made it illegal for individuals to hold more than $200 cash per month. Businesses could only hold up to $500 in cash. 

Any excess cash needed to be deposited in local banks immediately. (To help ensure compliance, the deadline was extended to August 1). Violators could be fined up to $5,000 or imprisoned.

BYU-Hawaii History Professor Isaiah Walker described the challenges his grandmother faced as she lived through this period of martial law: 

"She remembered the mandatory blackouts, people opening and reading your mail and listening in on your personal phone calls. The confiscation of currency was another adjustment that everyday people had to endure."

New Money For Hawaii

In early March 1942, a U.S. Treasury detail arrived in Hawaii with $20 million U.S. dollars specifically printed for circulation in the Hawaiian Territory, in exchange for $20 million in regular currency held by Hawaiian banks.

(Smithsonian Institution)

(Smithsonian Institution)

(Smithsonian Institution)

The new bills, in $1, $5, $10, and $20 denominations all had "HAWAII" printed in large letters on the back, and printed in small letters in two places on the front. These San Francisco Reserve notes also featured brown seals and serial numbers, for easy identification.

(Smithsonian Institution)

In the case of a Japanese invasion, this specially-marked currency would immediately be rendered useless.

The Hawaii Overprint notes went into circulation in June 1942 and were in use through October 1944. They were issued by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank - and were sometimes referred to as, "Emmons Notes."

They were initially intended for use only in the Hawaiian Islands, but these notes spread throughout the Pacific Theater of the war, partly because some U.S. troops received specimens with their pay packets.

The End of the Japanese Threat 

By mid-1944, a Japanese invasion was no longer considered a threat. On October 21, 1944, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the end of the Hawaii currency rules. And President Roosevelt followed up with Executive Order 9489, which ended martial law on the islands.

In total, the Treasury issued 65 million overprint notes, with a face value of 

$400 million.

During August and September 1945, following the end of the Pacific war, huge amounts of Hawaiian overprint currency notes were redeemed. An estimated $200 million in notes were subsequently burned at incinerators on the islands, including the Aiea Sugar Mill in Oahu.

Aiea Sugar Mill, Oahu (Public Domain)

One of the locations where the Hawaii Overprint notes were burned.

But many of these Hawaii Overprint notes survived, kept as souvenirs by servicemen. Some notes circulated on the U.S. Mainland through the 1940s and 1950s. The United States Navy even paid overseas vendors with these notes through the 1960s.

Collectors of these notes can be found at coin and currency auctions. I recently saw a Hawaii Overprint note for sale on eBay for over $200.00.

___________________

Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book

How Leadville, Colorado's Story Reflects the Vainglorious Wins and Tragic Losses of Western Mining, Part 2

 By Donna Wichelman

The story of Western Mining in Colorado has all the makings of an epic movie, with its vainglorious wins and tragic losses. In the end, Georgetown's decline in 1878 would prove to demonstrate the vulnerability of the mining industry in the years to come in Part 2 of Leadville's rise to Silver Queen.

Overnight, the Victorian-era community of Leadville, Colorado, rose to become the world's mining mecca. It all began in 1878, when a “black sand” that miners had previously overlooked was discovered to contain high-grade, silver-rich cerussite ore, also known as lead carbonate. It had as much as 77% lead and sufficient silver to be easily extracted during smelting. Everyone knew they had hit something big. They never expected that down the road, the industry would suffer great loss.

People flocked to Leadville from every direction of the globe, building roads and railways over high-elevation mountain passes. They came in every mode of transportation available in the late 1800s—wagons, stages, buggies, carts, horses, wheelbarrows, burro trains, and railroads. Some even braved the sometimes-brutal weather, walking up steep mountain trails, all to make their fortune from gold, silver, and lead carbonate that the Rocky Mountains yielded at 10,152 feet above sea level.

"Burro pack train, on the way to Leadville, Col." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1930. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/0c740060-c536-012f-9033-58d385a7bc34

The population of Leadville grew from just a few hundred to ten thousand in a few months. At its zenith, Leadville’s population was officially counted at 14,820 in 1880, though contemporary figures suggest as much as 30,000 if one considers uncounted miners, transient laborers, and nearby settlements.

Leadville’s prosperity soared, as miners made $11 million in silver the first year and $14 million in 1880. The boom was on as Leadville became one of the richest mining districts in the world.

Very quickly, men like Horace Austin Warner Tabor (H. A. W. Tabor) rushed to establish their place among the wealthy. Most of his money came from his Matchless Mine, acclaimed to be one of the richest mines in Colorado, making him Leadville’s Silver King. Tabor incorporated his Mosquito Pass Wagon Road Company on October 8, 1878, “to promote” Colorado’s industrial interests. He also became infamous for his relationship with “Baby Doe” Tabor.

Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt on November 10, 1854 to a middle-class family in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Baby Doe was twenty-four years Tabor’s junior. Though this raised eyebrows, the greater scandal revolved around their love affair while he was still married to his first wife, Augusta Tabor. Unfortunately, the public disgrace destroyed his reputation and prestige, but this didn’t deter Tabor from divorcing Augusta in 1881 and marrying Baby Doe in a “lavish ceremony” in Washington D.C., among the rich and powerful in 1883.

Tabor Opera House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery, June 2025

Baby Doe has been considered a romantic heroine and a tragic figure, for while she led a life of great extravagance with her husband during the silver boom, when the value of silver crashed in 1893, the Tabors lost most of their fortune. At Tabor’s death in 1899, he pleaded with Baby Doe to hold onto the Matchless Mine, believing it would regain its value. It never did. Baby Doe lived in a small cabin near the Matchless Mine until 1935, enduring poverty, isolation, and harsh weather. She died of exposure at the age of 80. People have said of her that she had an “unwavering devotion” to a lost fortune. She’s buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville. (See November 4th, 2025 blog.)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Doe_Tabor.jpg

Ironically, Augusta Tabor, who became a powerful figure for her courage, endurance, and business acumen, died a millionaire. The original Tabor Home was built in 1877 at 512 Harrison Avenue but moved to 116 East 5th Street in Leadville. The house, which looks eerily similar to the exterior of W. A. Hamill’s in Georgetown, Colorado, is now a museum and features original Victorian furnishings. https://leadville.com/explore-the-original-tabor-home/

Compared to the tragic end for Baby Doe, Margaret Tobin Brown (a.k.a. Molly Brown) grew up in Hannibal, Missouri in an Irish immigrant family of humble means. She moved to Leadville at 18, during the mining boom, hoping to make something of herself. She married mining engineer James Joseph Brown in 1886. Not long afterward, he discovered a lucrative gold vein at the Little Jonny Mine, and the Browns went from being a couple of modest means to achieving tremendous wealth.

Photo Display of Molly Brown at the Healy House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery

From the beginning, Molly was heavily involved in charitable work in Leadville. So, it was only natural for her to help establish a soup kitchen for the miners’ families when the Panic of 1893 hit the nation and the value of silver fell to an all-time low. Molly continued her charity work after the Browns moved to Denver in 1894. There, she became a reform advocate and supported various causes, such as women’s suffrage, labor rights, and education. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1909, long before women won the right to vote in 1920.

Molly rose to fame when she survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, and true to form, she helped calm passengers and encouraged the crew to return for survivors. Afterward, she organized a fundraiser for the survivors.

Molly was also awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government for her humanitarian efforts during World War I. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Brown,_3qtr_view,_with_chair.jpg

Molly Brown's life, like Augusta Tabor's, demonstrates a very different outcome from Baby Doe Tabor. Though the Browns had much wealth and endured the same economic conditions in 1893, both understood the principle one can find in Proverbs:

Know the state of your flocks,

and put your heart into caring for your herds,24

for riches don’t last forever,

and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.25

After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears

and the mountain grasses are gathered in,26

your sheep will provide wool for clothing,

and your goats will provide the price of a field.

~ Proverbs 27:23 - 26 (NLT)24

Though H. A. W. Tabor and Baby Doe lived a life of luxury, enjoying their riches while they lasted, they squandered their money, haughty in their wealth and status. In the end, it was their undoing. When silver was devalued during the Panic of 1893, they lost everything. But devoted to a pipe dream, Tabor begged Baby Doe to sit on the mountain and guard their mine, and she lived a life of hermitage and died alone.

Molly Brown came from poverty. But when the Browns made it rich in the mining industry, she used her wealth and status to benefit others throughout the rest of her life. Instead of guarding a mine, she opened a soup kitchen for the miners to help the families survive the crisis and went on to do many good works to benefit many. She died a woman of honorable and moral character. 

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;

Bind them around your neck,

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good repute

In the sight of God and man.

~Proverbs 3:3 - 4 (NASB 1995)

Donna is an Angel-award-winning author of Historical fiction for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

Spotlight: Sherry Shindelar

I have been in love with stories since I was a child in Tennessee. I’d swing for hours on my swing set, pumping my legs back and forth, dreaming up stories in my head. Even then, I had a flair for romance: creating new love interests and episodes for Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, before moving on to plotting original romantic dramas and adventures in distant lands.

My favorite possession at age nine was a set of author playing cards (a matching game with photos of famous women authors). I wanted to be an author when I grew up and bring stories to life on the written page, stories that would impact my readers.

A visit to a historic home in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, when my husband and I were newly married, spurred my love for history and planted the seed for the story of my heart. A few years later, I wrote the novel, then buried it in box in my closet. I returned to college to earn my degree in creative writing along with a minor in American History, a masters in English, and PhD in literature, wondering if I’d ever reconnect with the stories in my head, the ones buried deep in my heart.

Me in front of the house that inspired my story  

Then, in the summer of 2019, I fell in love with fiction writing again. It had been years since I’d worked on my story. I pulled the box out and unburied the past. I began to read it. And I fell in love with Daniel and Jenny and the Shenandoah Valley all over again. How could I forsake them? I jumped into their heads, and the story began to unfold, again. Except better, deeper, richer than I’d ever imagined.

And God had done so much in my life in those years in between, both joys and pains. He’d been chipping, molding, and shaping me. It was with a heart that is wizened, scarred, and strengthened that I returned to writing, with eyes that see what the nine or thirty-year-old me could have never seen.

I finished Shenandoah’s Daughter and then began a totally new book set in 1860 Texas, inspired by the true story of the most famous captive of the 19th century that had haunted my heart for two decades.

However, the doors to publication didn’t swing open with the writing of “The End” on either manuscript. I heard a lot of no’s from editors and agents, and I felt like my writing career was on the tortoise track.

One agent recommended that I put my two books aside and write a third book because, although she loved my writing, she felt it wasn’t the right time for a Civil War book and that my Indian story was too risky. She wasn’t the first one to give me such a recommendation.

But God kept whispering "Don't give up" and nudging me through my writing friends to pursue publication now. 

I sent proposals to two more traditional publishers. A month later, after decades of dreaming of being a published writer, I had a contract offer for a three-book series. God had finally said Yes! And in a big way, when I least expected it, and totally caught me off guard. 

Texas Forsaken, the first book in my Lone Star Redemption series, released in May 2024. Book Two, Texas Divided in March 2025, and Texas Reclaimed in February 2026. I’ve since received a contract for two more books in the series and a novella. The series is set in Texas in the 1860's and 1870's. The prequel novella is a part of the Freed by the Frontier collection and will release June 2026.

The Lord cleared the path for my writing dreams to come true, and for me to be able to share my faith and my love of romance and history with my readers. I especially enjoy writing about the Western frontier and the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Texas Reclaimed also brings in the beginning years of the large cattle drives. My stories are filled with strong, determined heroines and war-scarred heroes willing to sacrifice for the woman they love.

Thank you for letting me share a little about myself and my writing journey. As I mentioned above, my favorite historical era is the mid-1800's, either on the Western frontier or during the Civil War/Reconstruction era. What is your favorite historical time period and setting?

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