The Women of the U.S. Postage Stamp—Part 3

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Hello, Readers! Happy April. Wait, what? How are we nearly through FOUR months of this year already? Can you believe it?

 

I’m back again with Part 3 of my series on the ladies who have been featured on American postage stamps. So far, we’ve seen many interesting figures, from former First Ladies to foreign monarchs, social reformers, and more. So let’s dig in and see who else we might meet from past postage stamps.

 

This month, we’ll start with Mary Cassatt, who was featured on US postage three separate times—in 1966, 1988, and 2003. Born in 1844, Cassatt was one of seven children born to her stockbroker father and a well-educated mother. As part of her early education, she traveled abroad, learned several foreign languages, and was exposed to drawing and music. By age fifteen, she’d made the decision that art would become her career, and she began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts against her parents’ wishes. During the years of the Civil War, she went to Europe and studied there. After years of struggle, she did finally find success with her paintings, in part due to a platonic friendship with renowned impressionist painter Edgar Degas. 

This Mary Cassatt Postage Stamp debuted in 1966

The 1988 Mary Cassatt stamp

Here is the 2003 Mary Cassatt stamp,
featuring some of her artwork.

 

Our next lady is Lucy Stone. Born in Massachusetts in 1818, she went on to become the first woman in the state to earn a college degree, which she attained in 1847. After seeing how she and other female teachers were paid a much lower rate than male teachers, she began fighting for equal pay for herself and other women. She both spoke publicly and published her thoughts on matters of slavery, women’s suffrage, and more, and ultimately influenced the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—two other well-known abolitionists and suffragists. The three together were known as the “Triumvirate” of Women’s Rights Reformers in the late 1800s. Lucy’s stamp debuted in 1968. 

Lucy Stone's stamp, circa 1968

Next on our list of famous ladies from the postage stamps is Anna Mary Robertson Moses. In 1860, Anna was born, the third of ten children of her farming parents. She attended school only briefly, where she was exposed to art. She’d fallen in love with painting, and her father would sometimes purchase her paper by the sheet so that she could create, using grape or orange juice, grass, and other natural substances as her paints. But by age twelve, Anna went to work for a neighboring farm family and continued to do so until she met and married her husband when she was twenty-seven. The pair had ten children together, five of whom survived past infancy. As a wife and mother, she decorated her home with embroidered or quilted items, as well as made such items as gifts for family and friends. After her husband’s death and her own retirement from farming, she continued with such folk-art activities until arthritis made quilting and embroidery too painful. Upon her sister’s suggestion, seventy-six-year-old Anna took up painting again. For nearly three full decades, she painted and sold her art, creating more than 1500 pieces in that time. When her art debuted to the public, the media dubbed Anna “Grandma Moses” despite the fact she wished to be known as Mrs. Moses. The name stuck. Her inspiring life should show everyone that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. Her name and artwork was featured on a 6-cent postage stamp in 1969. 

Grandma Moses's stamp
debuted in 1969

 

The next two ladies are both writers. The first is Emily Dickinson, the prolific poet who wrote nearly 1800 poems in her brief fifty-five years. Dickinson never married and lived a large portion of her later life as a recluse. It was only after her death that her remaining siblings discovered her extensive writings. During her life, ten of her poems were published, but posthumously, her poetry has grown to be world-renowned and greatly respected. Dickinson was featured on her postage stamp in 1971. The second writer in this pair of wordsmiths is Willa Cather, who spent some of her early childhood in Nebraska, where she was exposed to the westward migration of many immigrant families. This inspired her many novels of the American west and the lives of immigrants in the American frontier. Her stamp debuted in 1973.

Poet Emily Dickinson's stamp

Novelist Willa Cather's stamp

 

The same year, the next lady graced a postage stamp. I have already written a blog post about Elizabeth Blackwell—also known as America’s first female doctor. Check her out here. 

First female doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell's
stamp.

 

Now let’s drop back in history to the American Revolution, as that’s where the next lady of the postage stamp is from. Sybil Ludington was born in 1761, the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington. Sybil was honored on a stamp because of a Paul Revere-type ride she supposedly made on April 26, 1777. (I say supposedly, because there are questions whether the ride actually happened, and according to my resources, her descendants have been unable to provide documentation proof of her ride). But as the story goes, sixteen-year-old Sybil rode on horseback some forty miles from her hometown of Fredricksburg, New York (close to Danbury, CT), to alert her father and his 400 militia men that the British had attacked Danbury’s supply depot. Whether the ride actually happened, the United States Postal Service honored Sybil with her own stamp in 1975.

Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington rode 40
miles at night to warn her father and the militia
of a British attack.

 

The story behind our next woman is probably the saddest of the list thus far. Clara Maass was born in 1876 to a poor family and eventually went to nursing school to support herself and her family. After graduating school, she worked in her field, getting promoted to head nurse at Newark German Hospital in 1898. When the Spanish-American War broke out, she volunteered her services but was sent home after contracting dengue fever. She returned later and helped to nurse many soldiers—but not because of injury as much as the many illnesses they contracted, among them Yellow Fever. In 1900, the U.S. Army developed a Yellow Fever Commission to study how the illness was transmitted—whether through mosquito bites or through human contact. The Army asked humans to volunteer for the study, in which they would allow themselves to be bitten by infected mosquitoes in exchange for $100/bite (with inflation, this amount would be in the thousands today). While we don’t know her reasoning for this, Maass agreed and purposely allowed herself to be bitten by infected mosquitoes multiple times in the early part of 1901. The first time, she became mildly ill and recovered. Other times, she didn’t fall sick, leading those conducting the study to hope her first experience had immunized her. However, in mid-August of 1901, she endured her next infected bite and grew extremely ill quickly. She never recovered. Ten days after the fateful bug bite, she died at age 25. After this, human experimentation was discontinued, and on what would’ve been her 100^th birthday, Clara was featured on her own postage stamp.

This stamp was issued on what would
have been Clara Maass's 100th
birthday

 

The last lady of the postage stamp that we’ll look at for today is none other than Harriet Tubman, who was featured twice—once in 1978 and again in 1995. Born into slavery, she was originally named Araminta Ross in 1822. In 1849, she escaped her slave owner via the Underground Railroad and made it safely from Maryland to Philadelphia. However, she was not content, knowing that her family and friends were still enslaved. She quickly returned to Maryland and spirited family members safely away to the North. All told, she returned thirteen times and saved seventy people from enslavement, as well as served the Union Army as a scout and spy during the Civil War and later fought for women’s suffrage. Quite an inspiring woman!

The 1978 stamp commemorates
Harriet Tubman's work to free
slaves via the Underground
Railroad.

This 1995 stamp honors Tubman's 
Civil War service.

 

That’s it for now, but we’ll continue our look at these honorees next month. Until then…

 

It’s Your Turn: Which of the women who were honored with their own stamp do you find the most memorable, and why?

 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.

 

Available Now:

Love and Order: A Three-Part Old West

Romantic Mystery

 

Wanted: 

Family, Love, and Justice

One Old West Mystery Solved Throughout Three Short Romantic Stories

Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.

 

Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter. 

 

When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?

 

 

The Great Halifax Explosion and the CNIB

By Terrie Todd

Born in Collins Bay, Ontario, Edwin Albert Baker graduated with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Queen's University in 1914. With the breakout of what would soon be called The Great War (and later, World War I), Baker enlisted with the Sixth Field Company, Canadian Engineers. In 1915, he was wounded in France, losing his sight in both eyes. In his own words during an interview with author Marjorie Wilkins Campbell in the 1960s, he said, “A German star-shell lit up the desolate landscape… as I watched, a bullet smashed through the bridge of my nose and left me to the mercy of the darkness and my friends.” Baker lay in an army hospital, believing his life was over. 

Pocket watch designed for the blind.

While recuperating at St. Dunstan’s Hostel for Blind Soldiers and Sailors in London, England, its founder, Sir Arthur Pearson, presented Baker with a pocket watch designed for the blind. Pearson’s philosophy was one of self-reliance. He believed the blind could enjoy life and become active members of society with training. When Edwin discovered he could learn to tell time with his fingers, a spark of hope was ignited. Eventually, he learned to manage his daily life and to read Braille.

 

Edwin Baker

After returning to Canada, Edwin devoted his time to assisting other blind veterans, serving on the board of the Canadian Free Library for the Blind (founded in 1906). On 6 December 1917, the Great Halifax Explosion left hundreds of people suffering vision loss from the accident. The tragedy highlighted the need for more support for blind people in Canada. Seven board members of the Canadian Free Library for the Blind, including Baker, came together to establish a national organization. In 1918, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), was established in Toronto. The goal of the non-profit organization was “to serve the blind people of Canada and to prevent blindness.”

BakerWood, former CNIB head office on Bayview Avenue, date unknown. From Canadian National Institute for the Blind, The CNIB Story, 1918-1969: 50 years of Service (1968).

To provide employment opportunities to blind Canadians, CNIB established workshops and later stores to manufacture various items, including brooms and knitted socks, and do service work such as boot repair.

 

Helen Keller presents Col. Baker with Migel Award for Outstanding Services to the Blind, AFB, 1951.(courtesy American Foundation for the Blind, Helen Keller Archive)

Baker served as CNIB’s first Vice-President from 1918 to 1920 and Managing Director & General Secretary from 1920 until his retirement in 1962. He married Jessie Robinson. They had three sons and a daughter. He died in 1968, after having received numerous awards, including the Canadian Government’s highest award, Companion of the Order of Canada.

The Reluctant Healer of Halifax includes some characters blinded by the war and by the Halifax Explosion. A story of love, loss, faith, and honor set against Canada’s most devastating moment of the First World War. Watch for it in August 2026.

Terrie Todd is the award-winning author of ten historical novels, all set in Canada where she lives with her husband Jon. A former church drama team leader and newspaper columnist, she’s also a frequent contributor to Guideposts Books, mother of three, and grandmother of five.

 

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THE STUFF OF DREAMS

  

By Mary Davis

 

Imagine sleepwalking. I would guess that most people who sleepwalk wish they didn’t.

 

Such was not the case for Myra Juliet (Welsh) Farrell, born on February 25, 1878 in Ireland. Her family immigrated to Australia where she grew up. She had an unusual case of sleepwalking (somnambulant) that also involved writing, known as somnambulant writing. Her condition served her well.

 

Myra with her grandchild~1938

She would think hard on problems that needed solving, especially before falling asleep. Her brain would wrestle with them while she slept. When the answer came, she got up—while still sleeping—and wrote down the solution on any available surface, often the walls and bed sheets. She would wake up to complex equations, technical drawings, detailed plans for prototypes, and a shopping list to build whatever device she’d dreamed about. The one drawback was that when she wrote while asleep, she scrawled right to left. So, in the morning she would use a mirror to transcribe the plans correctly to be understood.

 

Her inventions spanned from home use to personal items to medical to military. When she saw a problem or need, she set out to come up with a solution.

 

She created her first invention at age ten when she solved the pin problem by creating a self-locking safety pin. However, the adults in her life never thought to get a patent.

 

As a young woman, she contracted lead poisoning due to living near mines. After it had reached her lungs, she became gravely ill and bedridden. Her parents took her to a specialist who pronounced her terminal. Myra rejected that diagnosis and said later of the event,

“I decided I couldn’t afford to die.

I had too much work to do.

So I invented an inhalation treatment

that cured me completely.”

Her system (the Membrosus) was like a nebulizer of today. The seven-secret-ingredient tablet she developed was burned in an apparatus where the fumes would clear mucus, kill bacteria, and clean and heal the lungs. Within a week she was able to get out of bed, and in three years, she was pronounced cured.

Not Myra’s nebulizer, but likely similar to one of these

In 1905, she met a young Scotsman, William Taylor, dying of tuberculosis. Doctors gave him three months to live. Myra treated him with her Membrosus Inhalation Remedy. William improved greatly in the first year, and the two were married. They had two children. When their daughter was three-months old, she contracted the same illness. Myra treated her, and the little girl was healed and lived to be seventy-two and an inventor herself. Like her mother, she began young with her first invention at age eight, a ‘speedster’ surfboard for soldiers fleeing a sinking ship.

 

However, Myra’s husband wasn’t as fortunate, dying only seven years after they met.

 

She married her second husband, William George Farrell, in 1919. They had one child together.

 

Her first widely accepted invention was a device that allowed a seamstress or tailor to copy a clothing pattern from a book directly to the fabric in whatever size they needed. This changed the pattern industry.

Author photo from Patterns for Theatrical Costumes

by Katherine Strand Holkeboer

Her fascinating inventions are numerous and varied. They include:

 

~A foldable pram hood

 

~A shield that was bulletproof, shellproof, and bombproof to protect soldiers in war

 

~A collapsible, space-saving clothes line

 

~A nonsurgical face lifter apparatus

~A fruit picker and packer

 

~An ointment for a rare fungal skin disease

 

~A stud button (think the button on jeans) and hook and eye both stitchless so soldiers could repair their uniforms in the trenches

~An infant sling inspired by marsupial pouches

 

~A stayette: a washable, boneless corset for people with scoliosis

~And a long-range, rayless light she designed for advertising (whether for herself or others, my research didn’t say). She tested it and decided it didn’t work. However, the crew on a ship 700 miles out to sea was confused by it and inquired if it had been the lighthouse. The lightkeeper had no clue what they were talking about. Since this was during WWI, the Australian Department of Defense tracked down the source—Myra—and confiscated her designs and her prototype. Though interested, they didn’t pursue using it. Myra never saw it again nor received anything for it.

 

Her inventions weren’t well received by the male dominated field, unless she stuck to laundry, corsets, and babies. However, she didn’t limit herself to inventing in one field as her wide range of patents attests to.

 

“I’ve given my best to my country.

I regret to say that I haven’t received

much appreciation for my efforts.

But then ‘a prophet hath no honour in his own land’.”

~Myra Juliet Farrell

 

Myra lived to be seventy-nine and passed away on March 8, 1957. Upon her death, she held more than two dozen patents.

 

I wish I could accomplish so much in my sleep.

 

 
MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
3rd Place 2023 SELAH Award

A WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) flies a secret mission to rescue three soldiers held captive in Cuba.

Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Sources

https://mosmancollective.com/history/myra-taylor-farrell-the-odd-duck-mosman-mum-who-became-australias-most-prolific-female-inventor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myra_Juliet_Farrell

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-12/inventor-plans-backwards-while-sleeping-exhibition-australian/106145608

https://www.naa.gov.au/blog/inspiring-inventress-myra-juliet-farrell

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Welsh-2629

https://www.visitbrokenhill.com/Discover/Heroes-Larrikins-Visionaries-Trail/Diverse-Eclectic/Myra-Juliette-Farrell

The Rules of Introduction in Regency Society—and Why They Mattered

By Camille Elliot/Camy Tang

In Regency England, a lady could not simply speak to a gentleman—every conversation required a formal introduction. Here’s how it worked, and why it mattered.

A Regency ball (illustrative image)

How Did Regency Ladies Meet Gentlemen?

Imagine you are at a ball in Regency-era London.

The chandeliers are blazing, the musicians are playing something lively, and your slippers are already pinching because you insisted on looking elegant instead of sensible.

Across the room, you notice a gentleman—respectable, pleasant, possibly even interesting. Naturally, you might think to walk over and introduce yourself.

… Except you can’t.

Not because you are shy (although you might be). Not because he is surrounded by others (although he might be). But because in Regency society, unless you have been properly introduced, you are not supposed to speak to him at all.

The Small Matter of Being Allowed to Speak

In Regency society, conversation between unmarried ladies and gentlemen was not freely entered into. It required an introduction by a mutual acquaintance, a hostess, or a Master of Ceremonies.

A gentleman was always presented to the lady (never the reverse), and she (or her chaperone) could decline. Accepting implied willingness to dance or converse. Without the introduction, a gentleman should not address a lady, and a lady most certainly should not encourage him.

It sounds terribly restrictive to us, but introductions served as a social safeguard. Reputation was everything, and introductions acted as a filter—ensuring that one was not speaking to someone entirely unsuitable.

(Or at least, not obviously unsuitable.)

Enter the Gatekeeper

A mutual acquaintance, hostess, or Master of Ceremonies often functioned as a social conductor—guiding interactions and deciding who could safely meet.

Introducing a gentleman to a young lady (illustrative image)

At public assemblies, the Master of Ceremonies often stepped in, as in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, where he introduces Catherine Morland to Henry Tilney so they can dance.

In a private ballroom, the hostess filled that role. Which leads us to this moment from Lissa and the Spy:

Mr. Collingworth came up to her, accompanied by Lady Cliffton, the hostess of the ball. As always, Lady Cliffton’s jewelry—while in good taste—was as flamboyant as the matron. “Miss Gardinier, allow me to introduce Mr. Collingworth.”

Lissa curtseyed, keeping a polite smile on her face, while Mr. Collingworth bowed. In truth, they had been introduced last year, in her first Season, but from the vacant look upon Mr. Collingworth’s face, he had likely forgotten about it.

“Would you do me the honor of a dance, Miss Gardinier?” Mr. Collingworth asked, and Lissa assented.

Re-introductions were actually common and necessary. If a gentleman had forgotten, or the acquaintance wasn’t acknowledged, etiquette dictated they be treated as strangers again.

The Quiet Power of Chaperones

Unmarried ladies, especially those under thirty, were also expected to be accompanied by a chaperone—usually her mother, or a married sister, or an older female relative.

Chaperones did more than sit in chairs and observe—they controlled access. They ensured that conversations remained appropriate, discouraged unwanted attention, and maintained a lady’s sterling reputation ensuring she was never left alone with a gentleman.

What Happens If You Ignore the Rules?

A lady could technically speak without an introduction, but she might be thought “fast” or “forward,” and her marriage prospects would dry up.

Two gossiping ladies (Ackermann's Repository of Arts, October 1810)

For men, the consequences were not quite so dire, but even in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins’s self-introduction to Mr. Darcy is instantly recognized as a social blunder.

It wasn’t just about being unpopular—a failed Season was hundreds of pounds down the drain for her parents or guardian (about $100,000 – $140,000). So most young women—particularly those without title, money, or social standing—were careful.

When You Are Not Easily Noticed

This system favored the well-connected, confident, and wealthy. Many debutantes from lesser-connected families languished on the sidelines, lacking someone to engineer introductions.

My heroine, Lissa, is thoughtful, observant, and not inclined to push herself forward. She very properly relies on others to notice and to introduce her.

And if they don’t? Then she remains at the edge of the room, unremembered even by a gentleman she has already met.

She can’t let her discouragement show. She must smile and curtsey as though nothing is amiss, accept the dance, and pretend she has not been forgotten.

A young lady at her debut ball (Ackermann's Repository of Arts, May 1809)

A Small Opening in a Very Ordered World

Yet, for all its restrictions, the system created moments of real possibility.

A single introduction could change everything. A hostess might bring a quiet young lady forward, or a gentleman might ask for a dance (and remember her the next time).

In a world where one could not simply walk up and speak, every sanctioned interaction carried weight. That scarcity, perhaps, is part of the charm. When something as simple as a conversation is not easily obtained, it becomes all the more significant.

And for a heroine like Lissa, even a slightly awkward re-introduction might spark something unexpected.

About the Author

Camy Tang writes Christian historical and contemporary romance filled with intrigue, adventure, and faith. Under the pen name Camille Elliot, she writes the Christian Regency romantic suspense series Lady Wynwood’s Spies, set in 1811 London where secrets, espionage, and slow-burn romance unfold against the glittering backdrop of high society.

If you enjoy Regency romance with adventure and a dash of humor, you can receive her novella Lissa and the Spy free when you join her newsletter.

Lissa and the Spy

A Regency Romantic Suspense Novella

In her quest for a marriage of convenience, plain and unpopular Lissa finds herself entangled with the enigmatic Lord Jeremy Stoude, who has a secret mission for the Crown. As danger stalks them, they must navigate a labyrinth of society’s expectations and their own insecurities to find love.

Click here to get Lissa and the Spy

From Property to Person: Rome’s Shifting Social Order by Liisa Eyerly

In my previous two blogs, I explored the all-important status ladder of ancient Rome. I use the term ladder because people could move up and down in rank, standing, and station. This included slaves who were legally considered property, not persons, with no legal rights. A slave could be punished, sold, abused, or killed at the whim of their owner. Physical labor on farms, in mines, in brothels, or on galley ships. included neglect, abuse, and often a short lifespan. Charles William Bartlett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons  

Enslavement was harsh, but in ancient Rome, it was not always permanent. In my mystery novel Obedient Unto Death, I introduce this complex, layered reality through Sabina's childhood nurse, who, despite their emotional bond and trust, remained enslaved. And Sabina's father's freedman and spy-master, who was freed in a legal process called manumission and was trusted with the family's most dangerous secrets. 

Roman ships- its rise and fall; a text-book for high schools and colleges (1900) (14598250937).jpg via Wikimedia Commons

People enslaved in cities—especially those working in businesses, possessing education or marketable skills, or serving within a household—had a greater chance of gaining freedom than those relegated to hard physical labor.

Freedom was viewed as an incentive for loyal and hardworking slaves, and owners saw freed slaves as investments, future clients, and business partners. A Roman woman dressed and groomed by her slaves via Wikimedia Commons

Freedom was often granted as a reward for dedicated service, when an owner died, or occasionally when a bond formed, such as between Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero and Tiro, his personal secretary and archivist. Manumission elevated the freed slave to Roman citizen status, allowing them to outrank a freeborn person from Roman provinces within Spain, Greece, or Asia Minor.

*They could legally marry *Own property and do business *Were protected under Roman law
Marcus Tullius Cicero.jpg via Wikimedia Commons

Freedmen were considered lower-status than freeborn citizens, but they maintained obligations to their former owners in a client/patron relationship. Freedmen and freedwomen often continued in the same roles they had held in slavery, working in the same homes, businesses, or farms and providing the same services. The key difference was that they were now responsible for their own food, clothing, and shelter. Rather than being owned, they were paid—sometimes by their former masters—to carry out familiar work. A tutor might go on teaching, gardeners continued tending estates, and a business manager might remain in place or even enter into a partnership with a former owner. Papyrus manumission document. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Manumission_-_A.D._355.JPG

After Tiro’s manumission, he continued working for Cicero, inventing a form of shorthand known as Tironian notes. He recorded and maintained Cicero's many writings and was responsible for the preservation and publication of Cicero’s letters after Cicero's execution. Manumission was a powerful instrument for social mobility. Freedmen, Freedwomen, and their children made up a large portion of Roman society, with some estimates as high as 20%.

Lekythos, ca. 550–530 B.CE. Amasis painter attr. Weaving, upright loom. Unrolled.The Met.jpg via Wikimedia commons

At the same time, freedom was held out as a reward for loyal service; it also created an incentive structure that discouraged rebellion. Freedom was used as a tool to protect those in power from slave revolts—an ever-present fear among the Roman elite. Spartacus led one of the most famous uprisings, though many others occurred throughout Roman history. By offering the possibility of manumission, slaveholders fostered the belief that enslavement was not necessarily permanent, sustaining hope for a different future while reinforcing control.

As Roman citizens, they could partake of the benefits of one of the world's most powerful, rich, and prosperous empires. 

Step into the shadowy streets of 96 AD Ephesus, where danger lurks around every corner, and the line between friend and foe is razor-thin. Fortunes of Death, plunges you into a world where faith is tested, alliances are shattered, and one woman's courage could be the difference between life and death.

Sabina, a fierce young Christian widow, is thrust into a deadly game when a wealthy citizen is murdered. With her friend’s life hanging in the balance, Sabina must unravel a web of lies, deceit, and hidden motives. Every clue she uncovers brings her closer to the truth—and closer to becoming the next victim.

This isn't just a murder mystery. It's a gripping tale of faith, resilience, and the power of one woman standing against the darkness 

Mystery, murder, and mayhem aren’t your typical Christian themes—but why should secular authors have all the fun solving crimes in ancient Rome? My love of history, scripture, and whodunits led me to blend faith with intrigue, bringing the world of the early Christians to life. Writing from my home in the woods of northern Wisconsin, I also draw inspiration from my travels to Turkey, Greece, and Italy, where I’ve walked the same streets my characters once did. Through historical mysteries, I explore a time when faith was a matter of life and death—literally.

Visit me at my website, on my Author Facebook page,

or purchase my books at:
Fortunes of Death
Obedient Unto Death My Amazon book page