Irish Orphan Girls

By Susan G Mathis


In the 1870s, hundreds of Irish orphan girls, many between the ages of 13 and 16, left the only homes they’d ever known—city orphanages and asylums—and stepped into a world that demanded both obedience and resilience. Their destination—the grand houses and estates of America’s growing middle and upper classes. Their occupation—domestic servants.

Behind the lace curtains and polished silver of the Gilded Age, their hands made life run smoothly—and their quiet strength helped shape the households of a new nation.

The story of these girls began decades earlier, across the Atlantic. The Irish Potato Famine and its aftermath had devastated families and communities. Waves of Irish immigrants—many widowed mothers or orphaned children—flooded into American port cities like New York and Boston, hoping for work and food.

But life in these cities was harsh. The Irish were often despised, forced into overcrowded tenements, and paid meager wages. For the countless children left parentless by disease, accident, or poverty, the only refuge was the orphanage.

By the 1870s, these institutions were full of Irish children. Among them, teenage girls stood at a crossroads—too old to adopt easily, too young to live on their own. The answer, for many, was service.

At orphanages like The Irish Rose Asylum, daily life was built around routine and discipline. The girls learned not only reading and religion but also jobs that would secure their future employment like laundry, mending, and ironing, sewing and embroidery, cooking and serving meals, polishing brass and silverware, childcare and nursing.

By the time they turned thirteen or fourteen, many were deemed ready to go out into service. It was the most respectable—and often the only—path available to poor Irish girls in the Gilded Age.

In my newest novel, Irish Rose Orphans’ Christmas, seven young women are about to experience a Christmas that will change everything. As they experience Advent and prepare their hearts for a deeper calling, each young woman must face the truth of her past and the hope of her future.

Did you grow up around orphans? Next month, I’ll continue sharing about these children. Leave your answer or comments on the post below and join me on the 19th for my next post.

ABOUT IRISH ROSE ORPHANS’ CHRISTMAS:

Seven young women experience their last Christmas together before stepping into lives of service. United by trials and an unbreakable bond, they’ve pledged to remain “forever sisters.” But as the season of parting approaches, buried wounds rise to the surface. When Sister Rose invites the girls to prepare their hearts during Advent for a deeper calling, each young woman must face the truth of her past and the hope of her future. This Christmas, seven orphans will discover that no matter where life leads them, love and faith will go with them.

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has sixteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

The Passengers in Steerage

By Sherri Stewart

If you’ve seen Titanic, you’ll remember how Jack convinced Rose to join him for an evening on the steerage level of the ocean liner where they danced and laughed for hours. It was certainly more fun than the stuffy atmosphere of the more costly levels above. Was that a true depiction? Apparently so. Lawrence Beesley, a young English teacher traveling second class, reported: “I often noticed how the third-class passengers were enjoying every minute of the time: a most uproarious skipping game of the mixed double type was the great favorite while in and out and roundabout went a Scotchman with his bagpipes.” Mrs. Natalie Wick noted that when chunks of the fatal iceberg landed on the third-class deck space, she watched from her first-class cabin on the starboard side “as the young steerage passengers playfully threw ice at one another.”

The casual attitude of the steerage passengers was due to the fact that they didn’t know what was going on. It would be an hour and twenty minutes until the lifeboats were uncovered and then about two hours until the ship sank at 2:20 a.m. From the time when the full danger was realized until the ship went under, the steerage passengers encountered more obstacles than the ones above in their struggles to survive.

The men’s steerage quarters were forward and the women’s aft on the lowest passenger deck. As a result of this arrangement, the men in third class were aware that the ship was in danger long before the women. Daniel Buckley wrote that he woke up, jumped out of bed, and found water on the floor. He roused his mates, who told him to get back in bed, saying “You’re not in Ireland now.” (Wyn Craig Wade, "The Titanic, End of a Dream.") Other young Irishmen went to warn the young women that they were in danger. Katherine Gilnagh wrote that Eugene Daly, a young piper, alerted her that something was wrong with the ship. Katherine and her friends were among the lucky steerage passengers who were given notice of the ship’s danger. Most were not. Senator William Alden Smith, Chairman of the Senate Committee that investigated the disaster, concluded that “the small number of steerage survivors was thus due to the fact that they got no definite warning before the ship was really doomed when most of the boats had departed.” 

Even those steerage passengers who were informed were not out of danger. Gilnagh wrote that steerage passengers were barred by the crew from climbing the stairs to the boat deck, which was located above the A deck. Gilnagh and her friends Kate Mullin and Kate Murphy were the lucky few. They were rescued by Jim Farrell, an Irishman who pleaded their cause to the crew member who refused to let them climb the stairs: “Great God, man!” he roared, “open the gate and let the girls through.” To the girls’ astonishment, the sailor meekly complied. Farrell’s loyalty to friends from home saved the girls, but he himself perished. His body was one of the few recovered from the North Atlantic on April 24, 1912.

Katherine Gilnagh’s troubles were not over when the gate opened to the girls. The deck was deserted, except for a single man leaning against the rail, staring moodily into the night. He let Gilnagh stand on his shoulders, and she managed to climb to the next deck up. When she finally reached the boat deck, Lifeboat No. 16 was just starting down. A man warned her off, saying that there was no more room. “But I want to go with my sister!” Katherine cried. She had no sister, but it seemed the only way to convince the man. “All right, get in,” he sighed, and she slipped into the boat as it dropped to the sea. Gilnagh’s friend Kate Murphy and her sister Margaret escaped in Lifeboat 15, which left at the same time from the starboard side and carried about sixty second and third-class women and children. Later, Margaret and Kate Murphy would save an Irish teen who leaped overboard as the Titanic foundered. Beaten away from one partially filled lifeboat, the teen tried to climb aboard another boat only to be attacked again by the boat’s crew. The Murphy sisters reached into the water, grabbed McCormick, and pleaded with the sailors to let him aboard, which they reluctantly did. 

Dan Buckley, the only Irish passenger and one of only three third-class passengers called to testify before the Smith Committee, described the difficulty steerage passengers had in getting to the boat deck. A crew member threw the man ahead of him down the stairs, locked the gates, and fled. The man picked himself up and smashed the lock so that Buckley and other steerage passengers could climb the stairs to the boat deck. The charge that steerage passengers were allowed into the lifeboats only after cabin passengers had boarded, and that they were physically denied access to the boat deck was refuted in the Senate hearing by Titanic crewmen; however, a crew member on Boat 15 said that steerage women were accommodated only after first-class passengers. Additionally, there were fewer stewards in third class to help those in steerage make their way to the boat deck. Steward J.E. Hart testified that he had time to bring only two batches of steerage women from their quarters to the lifeboats.

Arriving in New York aboard the Carpathia, which picked up the Titanic’s surviving passengers between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., rescued steerage passengers were spared the Ellis Island ordeal and were interviewed by immigration officials. One Irish girl was asked whether she had an emigration card. “Divil a bit of a card have I,” she said, wide-eyed. “I’m lucky to have me own life.” 

Selah Award finalist Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passions are traveling to the settings of her books and sampling the food. She traveled across the Atlantic on an ocean liner to research An Uncommon Gift. A widow, Sherri lives in Orlando with her lazy dog, Lily. She shares recipes, tidbits of the books' locations, and other authors' books in her newsletter.

Subscribe at stewartwriting.com/newsletter

An Uncommon Gift

Ella Davis’s papa always told her there’d be no class difference in Heaven, but Ella has years to live on God’s green earth until she reaches her reward. She’s content to be a maid on the Huntington Estate, as long as she has her books and her kitten. But when her ladyship, Amberly Huntington, coerces Ella to take her place on the Mauretania, the fastest ocean liner in 1910, Ella’s worst nightmare has come to pass. She must pretend to be nobility for the eight days it takes to reach New York. In other words, she must live a lie—and this just before Christmas! https://bit.ly/47MTvYX

10 Facts about the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake in California

 by Edwina Kiernan

At 2:30am on March 26, 1872, the sleeping town of Lone Pine, California had a rude awakening. The Owens Valley Earthquake was one of the largest Californian earthquakes in recorded history, in which 27 people were killed and 56 were injured. Here are ten facts I discovered as I researched it for my latest book...

1) The quake was felt as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles.

2) The Diaz family, who had emigrated from Chile in the 1860s, operated a successful cattle ranch until the earthquake hit. A natural spring filled the quake basin, turning the ranch into a lake, named Diaz Lake to this day.

3) At the time of the earthquake, Mt. Whitney was known as Fisherman's Peak.

4) 27 inhabitants of Lone Pine were killed - more than 10% of its population.

5) The quake generated a fault scarp more than 2m tall, with the ground shifting 5m to the right. The scarp can be followed for more than 40 miles north and south of the epicenter. The ground fissures can be followed for more than 225 miles.

Lone Pine fault scarp

6) The earthquake's estimated magnitude was between 7.4 and 7.9.

7) The interest in seismology that this earthquake sparked led to the formation of the first permanent seismic observatories in the United States.

8) Numerous eyewitness accounts survive to this day, including one from the Scottish naturalist, John Muir. He described the shocks as being so violent and so closely following one another that trying to walk was like trying to balance on a ship tossed at sea. He also had an optimistic outlook during the event - part of his account says: "...Though I had never before enjoyed a storm of this sort, the strange, wild thrilling motion and rumbling could not be mistaken, and I ran out of my cabin, near the Sentinel Rock, both glad and frightened, shouting, "A noble earthquake!" feeling sure I was going to learn something." You can read his full account here.

9) A series of aftershocks continued for months afterwards, causing even more buildings to collapse due to their already weakened structures.

10) A number of the victims are buried in a mass grave. It was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1953, and a new memorial was established in 1988 on the 116th anniversary of the tragedy.

The original marker of the 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake victim's common grave

1988 memorial, detailing some of the victims' names and nationalities

Did You Know?

My new release, Heart of Integrity, features the Owens Valley / Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. Susan and Ifor have each traveled miles across the world to escape their pasts and build new lives. But when a devastating earthquake throws them into a state of upheaval, long-buried secrets soon shake loose with devastating consequences...

Not all fault lines are hidden in the earth...

Find out more here: EdwinaKiernan.com/integrity

About The Author:

Edwina Kiernan is an award-winning author of Christian Historical Romance. She lives in rainy Ireland with her husband and son, and uses her pen to point people to Jesus - the Living Word. She also drinks more types of tea than most people realize even exist. Find out more at EdwinaKiernan.com, and sign up for her weekly newsletter for lots of fun, fiction, freebies and faith.

The Irish in America – with giveaway By Donna Schlachter

Photo by Serinus from Pexels

When we think of Irish immigration to America, we often think of the 1845 Potato Blight and the subsequent years through the 1860s as the prime time when folks from Ireland fled to America. However, the Irish came to America during colonial times, too. Charles Carroll emigrated in 1706, and seventy years later, his grandson, also Charles Caroll of Carollton, signed his name to the Declaration of Independence, a brave move by men from any nation, as that act alone could place a price on their heads.

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

 

Between 1820 and 1860, over one-third of immigrants to the US originated in Ireland. In the 1840s specifically, that number climbed to almost half of all immigrants. Prior to the Potato Famine, almost all immigrants from Ireland were male, but during and after the Famine, entire families sought a better life in America.

Courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

The majority of Irish immigrants left a rural lifestyle, and they found it difficult to assimilate into a primarily east coast urban setting, including the latest in industry and technology. Most larger cities on the east coast of the US were specialized, which meant families were sometimes separated because of occupation. While the poorest could never escape Ireland because they couldn’t raise the needed boat fare, the middle class arrived in America with little more than the clothes on their backs. As a result, they accepted whatever work they could find, and they crowded together in tenements to be able to keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. As a result, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, and mental illness ran rampant. They sometimes faced hostility because they were accused of carrying or starting these epidemics.

Irish immigrants often entered the workforce at the bottom of the pay scale, which meant that everybody in the family had to work so they could survive. Many women became servants, while many men labored in mines or built railways and canals.

Photo by Enric Cruz López from Pexels

 

As Irish immigrants moved inland, they found themselves in competition for jobs they often had no experience in. However, employers hired them because they’d work for less than anybody else. This then resulted in complaints, strikes, and outright battles from other workers trying to keep their jobs.

Most Irish immigrants stayed true to the Catholic upbringing and faith, which didn’t always set well with a primarily Protestant America. From verbal abuse to mob attacks, the Irish struggled to survive in their new land. In particular, in the 1840s, anti-immigration and anti-Catholic groups formed strong alliances which rejected “foreign influences” and promoted “traditional American ideals”, a notion now considered ironic considering the majority of those living in America at the time had been born elsewhere, or were first or second generation immigrants themselves.

Photo by Gotta Be Worth It from Pexels

 

Added to these problems was the Conscription Act of 1863, which made all white men between twenty and forty-five years of age eligible for the draft by the Union Army. Free men of color could volunteer if they chose. Monied white men could buy their way out of the draft, while the less affluent couldn’t. Into this latter category is where more Irish fell. Racial tensions increased, and several cities fell victim to draft riots. Enrollment officers and free men of color were targeted, primarily by Irish men.

Photo by PrathSnap from Pexels

 

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, Irish Americans became a powerful political force in the US. As they had done in Ireland, they formed strong alliances that created political groups that focused on raising the Irish presence at all levels of politics. For example, New York’s Tammany Hall was under Irish American control for more than fifty years, and the city boasted its first Irish American mayor in 1880. In 1884, Hugh O’Brien added Boston to that prestigious club. These alliances enabled Irish Americans the open doors needed to get better job, deal with naturalization issues, and also rewarded supporters with political appointments.

While Irish Americans might have had a rocky start, those who came to America were changed by this country, and they changed this nation. They and their descendants contributed through politics, industry, labor, religion, literature, and art. 

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-harris-jones

For example, Mary Harris, also known as Mother Jones, spent more than fifty years unionizing works throughout the country. Trained as a schoolteacher and seamstress, she was arrested, personally attacked, and faced with many hardships, but she earned an audience with United States Presidents from McKinley to Coolidge.

Regardless of the difficulties these early immigrants from Ireland faced, they came to America in hopes of finding a better life than the one they left behind. They set the example for chain immigrations, bringing family and relatives to the US, because they still believed in the American dream.



Leave a comment, and I’ll enter you into a random drawing for a free print (US only) or ebook (winner’s choice otherwise) of “Time Will Tell.” Don’t forget to cleverly disguise your email address so phishers can’t steal it: name AT email provider DOT extension For example, donna AT livebytheword DOT com

About “Time Will Tell”:

After Sadie Bauer inherits her father’s watch and clock repair shop in Pueblo, she soon learns that Fate conspires against her.

Will O’Reilly longs to help this beautiful damsel in distress, but she’s about as prickly as a porcupine.

Can Sadie overcome her mistrust of men in general, and of a certain suave salesman in particular? Can Will get past his former betrothed’s infidelity? And can both learn to trust the God who makes all things beautiful in His time?

Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MNX4SKV



About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 50 times in books; is a member of several writers groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both.

www.DonnaSchlachter.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

www.DonnaSchlachter.com/blog

 

Check out previous blog posts at www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com and www.AllBettsAreOff.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

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Etsy online shop of original artwork: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Dare2DreamUS

Resources:

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/irish-contributions-to-the-american-culture/
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-harris-jones

The Shamrock, The Trinity, and more

by Susan G Mathis

In honor of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day and because I'm Irish, I want to share with you how St. Patrick used a simple weed to share the Gospel.

St. Patrick lived in the fifth century Ireland where the shamrock clover was abundant, even a staple food for livestock. The shamrock is a weed that grows quickly and is hard to get rid of. In Ireland it was everywhere, so as Patrick traveled the country, he had a ready-made symbol that he could easily find, pluck, and use as a teaching tool. Sounds like something that Jesus would have done, doesn’t it?

As he spoke, Patrick would note that the shamrock has three leaves, just as there are three persons in the trinity. In using the shamrock as a symbol, he taught about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who they were, what they did, and how they could change the listeners’ lives. Then, whenever folks would see the shamrock in their garden or fields or yard, their minds would instantly connect to the Trinity and think of God. Brilliant!

As Patrick traveled throughout Ireland spreading Christianity, the shamrock became an important symbol of the Trinity and of God’s work in man’s life. Even today, the shamrock is Ireland’s national symbol and still points to the Trinity as well as to 1 Corinthians 13:13, “and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love”. The number three is so important to the Irish that they use three cords in their Celtic knot, in their three-fold repetitive rhythm of Irish storytelling, in their idea of past, present, and future, and a lot more.

According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau, about 56.7 million Americans say they have an Irish heritage. That’s nearly 12 percent of the U.S. population, and many Irish still retain a sense of their Irish heritage, including me. I love tea, Celtic music, step dancing, and the color green.

When Irish immigrants came to the U.S. and Canada, they weren’t looking for a handout. They were looking for hope and a future for them and their children, a topic I cover in depth in my novels. These immigrants took many of the menial jobs, everything from farming to hard labor to domestic work. And in large cities, the Irish are known for being at the top of the public service sector, especially law enforcement, teaching, and firefighting.

The Irish have contributed to the American culture in so many ways: literature, film, art, politics, law, medicine, and sports, just to name a few. Irish-Americans you’d know are Walt Disney, Judy Garland, Pierce Brosnan, and Presidents such as Kennedy, Reagan, Andrew Jackson, and over a dozen others.

So why am I sharing this with you? Because, whether you have Irish heritage or not, you do have a heritage—traditions, beliefs, and achievements that are a part of your history. Your heritage has laid a foundation for you, whether you are conscious of it or not. Exploring that heritage will enrich your life, if you take the time to do so.

For me, my Irish heritage runs deep, but I forgot about a lot of it in the busyness of living life. It was everything Irish in my childhood home, and the color green was prominent. I learned a strong work ethic and my Irishness became a part of me.

So, when I started researching about Ireland and the Irish for my novel, The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, I realized that my Irish heritage, in a large part, made me who I am today. I assessed all of it—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and embraced once again the “Irishness” of my heritage. I am proud to be Irish!

So, when you see a shamrock during this upcoming holiday, remember that it means so much more than just “the luck o’ the Irish.” It’s represents biblical truth, wise teaching, and a beautiful way to share God’s story.

What tools, symbols, or stories to do you use to share the Gospel?

About The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy

After struggling to accept the changes forced upon her, Margaret Hawkins and her family take a perilous journey on an 1851 immigrant ship to the New World, bringing with her an Irish family quilt she is making.

A hundred and sixty years later, her great granddaughter, Maggie, searches for the family quilt after her ex pawns it. But on their way to creating a family legacy, will these women find peace with the past and embrace hope for the future, or will they be imprisoned by fear and faithlessness?

About Susan:
Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than 20 times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books.

Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemma and Katelyn’s Choice are available now, and she’s working on book three. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise, and her newest, Reagan’s Reward, are also available. Susan’s books have won numerous awards, including the Illumination Book Award, the American Fiction Award, the Indie Excellence Book Award, and the Literary Titan Book Award. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com for more.

St. Patrick and the Irish

According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau, about 56.7 million Americans say they have an Irish heritage. That’s nearly 12 percent of the U.S. population, and many Irish still retain a sense of their Irish heritage, including me. I love tea, Celtic music, step dancing, and the color green.

When Irish immigrants came to the U.S. and Canada, they weren’t looking for a handout. They were looking for hope and a future for them and their children, a topic I cover in depth in my novels. These immigrants took many of the menial jobs, everything from farming to hard labor to domestic work. And in large cities, the Irish are known for being at the top of the public service sector, especially law enforcement, teaching, and firefighting.

The Irish have contributed to the American culture in so many ways: literature, film, art, politics, law, medicine, and sports, just to name a few. Irish-Americans you’d know are Walt Disney, Judy Garland, Pierce Brosnan, and Presidents such as Kennedy, Reagan, Andrew Jackson, and over a dozen others.

So why am I sharing this with you? Because, whether you have Irish heritage or not, you do have a heritage—traditions, beliefs, and achievements that are a part of your history. Your heritage has laid a foundation for you, whether you are conscious of it or not. Exploring that heritage will enrich your life, if you take the time to do so.

For me, my Irish heritage runs deep, but I forgot about a lot of it in the busyness of living life. It was everything Irish in my childhood home, and the color green was prominent. I learned a strong work ethic and my Irishness became a part of me.

So, when I started researching about Ireland and the Irish for my novel, The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, I realized that my Irish heritage, in a large part, made me who I am today. I assessed all of it—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and embraced once again the “Irishness” of my heritage. I am proud to be Irish!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, because I'm Irish, I want to share with you how St. Patrick used a simple weed to share the Gospel.

St. Patrick lived in the fifth century Ireland where the shamrock clover was abundant, even a staple food for livestock. The shamrock is a weed that grows quickly and is hard to get rid of. In Ireland it was everywhere, so as Patrick traveled the country, he had a ready-made symbol that he could easily find, pluck, and use as a teaching tool. Sounds like something that Jesus would have done, doesn’t it?

As he spoke, Patrick would note that the shamrock has three leaves, just as there are three persons in the trinity. In using the shamrock as a symbol, he taught about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who they were, what they did, and how they could change the listeners’ lives. Then, whenever folks would see the shamrock in their garden or fields or yard, their minds would instantly connect to the Trinity and think of God. Brilliant!

As Patrick traveled throughout Ireland spreading Christianity, the shamrock became an important symbol of the Trinity and of God’s work in man’s life. Even today, the shamrock is Ireland’s national symbol and still points to the Trinity as well as to 1 Corinthians 13:13, “and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love”. The number three is so important to the Irish that they use three cords in their Celtic knot, in their three-fold repetitive rhythm of Irish storytelling, in their idea of past, present, and future, and a lot more.

So, when you see a shamrock during this upcoming holiday, remember that it means so much more than just “the luck o’ the Irish.” It’s represents biblical truth, wise teaching, and a beautiful way to share God’s story.

What tools, symbols, or stories to do you use to share the Gospel?

About The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy

After struggling to accept the changes forced upon her, Margaret Hawkins and her family take a perilous journey on an 1851 immigrant ship to the New World, bringing with her an Irish family quilt she is making.

A hundred and sixty years later, her great granddaughter, Maggie, searches for the family quilt after her ex pawns it. But on their way to creating a family legacy, will these women find peace with the past and embrace hope for the future, or will they be imprisoned by fear and faithlessness?

About Susan:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than 20 times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books.


Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemma and Katelyn’s Choice are available now, and she’s working on book three. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise, and her newest, Reagan’s Reward, are also available. Susan’s books have won numerous awards, including the Illumination Book Award, the American Fiction Award, the Indie Excellence Book Award, and the Literary Titan Book Award. Visitwww.SusanGMathis.com for more.

Wearing Of the Green--Irish for a Day

St. Patrick's Day
by Martha Rogers

Every year, thousands of people across our country celebrate what many call "St. Paddy's Day" and have parades and drink green beer to celebrate a man about whom most people know little. So many aren't even aware of the origins of the holiday or the true meaning. All they know is the fun of wearing green, going to parades, eating Irish food, wearing shamrocks of some kind, and having fun at local pubs. I remember getting pinched if I didn't wear something green on March 17. 

Just who was St. Patrick and how did he manage to have a holiday named for him? Curiosity drove me to the internet and the number of websites telling the

history of the holiday and the story of St. Patrick amazed me. 

The legend has him driving snakes out of Ireland, but did he really drive them out? What was his background? How did all the celebrations surrounding him get started?

St. Patrick, who wasn't Irish by birth or descent, was a Catholic priest whose birth name is believed to have been Maewyn Succat. He changed it to Patricius or Patrick, derived from the Latin term for "father figure." Born in Briton at the time it was part of the Roman Empire, he was taken to Ireland as a slave. Whether he escaped or was released is all speculation, but he later returned to Ireland and became involved with converting Druids to Christianity. 

As far as the snake legend is concerned, Ireland never really had snakes like

that and it is believed snakes had become the symbol for the Druids. However, St. Patrick didn't convert all of Ireland to Christianity, so tale is believed to be simply a myth or legend. 







Another myth associated with St. Patrick is the use of the shamrock, a three leaved clover, to teach the concept of the Holy Trinity, but nothing like that was ever discovered in his writings, so it joined the ranks of myth and legends. However, the shamrock became associated with St. Patrick and thus a part of the celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Patrick and his four disciples traveled all over Ireland converting clan chiefs, building churches, opening schools and monasteries and convincing many Irish to become monks and nuns. For forty years he preached throughout Ireland. Most of his life was spent in poverty. He died on March 17, 461 A.D. and that became the day to celebrate his life. He died in his Church in Sabhall, County Down.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in 1737 in Boston to celebrate the Irish culture in the new colonies. The idea took hold and made it back to Dublin as well as spread to other parts of the colonies. Eventually it spread to other countries and became a popular holiday. In Ireland, it is a national holiday and has been celebrated since the beginning of the 20th century, but they didn't hold a parade in his honor until 1930. 

In 1848, several Irish Aid Societies in New York decided to band together for one big parade. That parade has grown into the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the U.S. Other large parades are held in Boston, Chicago, Savannah, and Philadelphia. Chicago is even known to dye the river green as it flows through the area. 

Today, St. Patrick's Day isn't seen as a religious holiday, but as a day to have fun and drink Guinness beer and dress like Leprechauns. Celtic music, dancing and wearing green are a part of the holiday. It's now largely symbolic, but it's a great day to have fun with your friends. Erin Go Braugh.


To learn more about this day, visit https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:

www.marthawrogers.com, www.hhhistory.com 

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Building a Story World: Part Fact, Part Fiction

by Pam Hillman

Creating a story world is like being captivated by a stranger’s face through a rain-soaked window, or traveling through an unfamiliar countryside blanketed in heavy fog. There’s a hint of what’s on the other side of the glass or the haze, but you can’t see everything clearly. But because of that very thing, your imagination is given the freedom to paint the picture you most want to see in your mind.

If you could wipe the glass clean or burn away the fog, you might discover that the story world in question is part fact, part fiction.

This is true of the story world I created for my Natchez Trace Novel series set in the 1790s. Each story begins in Natchez-Under-the-Hill, touching on some of the aspects of the seedy wharf and making reference to actual streets that were already laid out at the time. Governor Gayoso, his future wife, Elizabeth Watts, and his secretary, Stephen Minor, make cameo appearances.

My characters travel along the Natchez Trace, stopping at a tavern called Harper’s Inn. This particular inn is fictional as I wanted it to be a very rough establishment. Mount Locust, on the other hand, which was a very respectable inn and is still standing to give visitors a look at what inns (also referred to as stands) of the day consisted of, is also mentioned, giving anyone familiar with the area a yardstick by which to gauge where my characters are as they travel back and forth along the trace.

Mount Locust

It felt natural to include Mount Locust in my story world. My characters don't spend much time there, but each book mentions the inn and the characters pass by it several times during the course of the series. It's a good landmark to give authenticity and a benchmark location.

Breeze Hill Plantation is fictional, but if pressed, I could take you twenty miles north of Natchez along the old trace, find a hill surrounded by rolling countryside, and claim it as the spot where Breeze Hill would have stood. The plantation home itself is based loosely on the floor plan and design of Linden Hall, part of which was constructed in 1785 and is located in Natchez proper to this day operating as a Linden Hall B&B. Most of the other plantations, homes, and businesses sprinkled throughout the series are fictional.

Linden Hall, circa 1785

Another thing I found was the floor plans for Linden Hall. They were invaluable in picturing where the rooms were back in the day and assigning said rooms to my characters. Again, Breeze Hill is fictional, but the floor plan and the U-shaped house is real. As I wrote both The Promise of Breeze Hill and The Road to Magnolia Glen, I kept the floor plans and the location of the outbuildings close at hand.

Why use a real location? Readers are anchored in the story when an author uses a real town, country, or geographical location that they are vaguely familiar with to set the stage. It might be as broad as “the Mojave Desert,” or “London, 1845”.

With the reader anchored solidly in fact, the author can then add in a fictional ghost town or fort at the edge of the desert, a small millinery tucked on an unnamed side-street in London, or even an entire plantation along the Natchez Trace in 1791.

And then the fog lifts, allowing the reader to see the story world clearly.

Hop over to JustRead Publicity Tours and join the tour for a chance
to win a basket of goodies, including print copies of both
The Promise of Breeze Hill and The Road to Magnolia Glen. Hosted by Pam Hillman and JustRead Publicity Tours