The Unsolved Mystery of Sheriff Plummer’s Gold

Sheriff Henry Plummer insisted he hadn’t robbed any stagecoaches, that is until a hanging seemed imminent. That's when the sheriff changed his tune, promising to return with his weight in stolen gold if the vigilantes gave him a horse and two hours. History buffs still wonder whether he was guilty or an innocent man desperate to save his own life.

Sheriff Plummer was a man of means. Whether the sheriff gained his fortune entirely by honest means remains open to speculation. He did own a gold claim, but a convicted road agent had named him as leader of the "Innocents," a notorious outlaw band. 

A posthumous trial sponsored by Twin Bridges Public Schools and held in the Virginia City, Montana, courthouse on May 7, 1993 resulted in a six-six vote. The judge declared a mistrial. Plummer would have walked, never again to be tried on the same charges. That's not what happened on January 10, 1864. Plummer's pleas fell on deaf ears, and he swung at the wrong end of a rope.

Sheriff Henry Plummer, Wikimedia Commons; Public Domain

Lost Gold

Plummer took the location of his ill-gotten gold, if it existed, to the grave. The search for it began right after his death and continues today, centuries later. Although some claimed to find the cache, no evidence exists that anyone ever did.

The Innocents, also known as the Plummer Gang, reportedly waylaid stagecoaches traveling between Bannack City and Virginia City, about 25 miles away. At its peak, the Innocents, headquartered about 12 from Virginia City at Rattlesnake Ranch, consisted of about 100 road agents. Some claim that the gang committed other crimes, including over 100 murders, while others refute this idea.

Stagecoach, Library of Congress; Public Domain

Vigilante Justice

The Bannack goldrush began in 1862 and swelled to 3,000 prospectors by 1863. Dance halls and saloons went up at a faster pace than churches. Rotgut whiskey had a terrible effect on the miners, and the rate of crime and theft doubled. This state of affairs repeated across the West, leading settlers to call upon Washington DC for law and order. However, the Civil War raging in the East distracted politicians from the lawless frontier. Frustrated with the lack of response, townsfolk took matters into their own hands. The Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch, headquartered in Virginia City, sprang into being.

The Vigilantes of Montana; or, Popular justice in the Rocky mountains; being a correct and impartial narrative of the chase, trial, capture, and execution of Henry Plummer's road agent band, together with accounts of the lives and crimes of many of the robbers and desperadoes, the whole being interspersed with sketches of life in the mining camps of the 'Far west.' by Thomas Dimsdale (1886) became the first book published in Montana. Dimsdale, a newspaper publisher, compiled his book from a newspaper series he authored for the Montana Post in 1865. Dimsdale provides a timeline for the activities of the vigilance committee as it doled out “mountain justice.” That usually meant a spur-of-the-moment trial followed by banishment or hanging.

The vigilantes made their first arrest in December 1863 near the Rattlesnake Ranch on the Ruby River and headed back to Virginia city with “Erastus Red” Yeager and George Brown, a pair of suspected outlaws, in tow. Along the way, Yeager confessed to his part in the Innocents gang and provided the vigilantes with a list of names. Yeager named Sheriff Henry Plummer as the leader. Yeager may have hoped to escape death by cooperating with the posse, which makes some wonder about the varacity of his list. We'll probably never know the truth. At any rate, it didn't save him. After a speedy trial, Yeager and Brown were hanged from a cottonwood tree.

Bannack, Montana; by Mr Hicks46, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Over the next several months, the vigilantes lynched twenty men on Yeager’s list, including Sheriff Plummer, and shot another dead in Bannack. It is unknown how many they banished from the territory, on pain of death. Alexander Toponce, a freight hauler and merchant who served Bannack at the time, mentioned the vigilantes in his autobiography: Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce (1923):”I don't think they made any mistake in hanging anybody. The only mistake they made was about fifty percent of those whom they merely banished should have been hung instead, as quite a number of these men were finally hung.”

Some of the men on Yeager’s list left town voluntarily, as might well be imagined. A corresponding drop in stagecoach robberies and crime in general seems to bear out Toponce's conclusions.

More Lost Gold

It wasn’t uncommon for outlaws to bury stolen gold in Montana. Since most of the Innocents died without divulging the locations of their loot, historians believe that lost gold peppers the landscape between Bannack and Virginia City. 

Final Thoughts

I've driven the road between Virginia City and Bannack. It's not hard to picture outlaws riding out to rob stagecoaches in the flat valley cut by the Ruby River. With mountains blued by distance rising in the background, the place has an other-worldly feeling. Bannack, with still stands, is protected as a state park. When I visited, you could walk into the buildings, which still contained the paraphanelia of living. Part of the town isn't there anymore, but I walked that direction to get the lay of the land--part of my research for the books I knew I would write.

Thomas Dimsdale’s Vigilantes of Montana contains his eyewitness account of Sheriff Plummer’s lynching, a resource I used when describing this scene for Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold book 1). Although a work of fiction, Hills of Nevermore portrays real historical figures and events, including those involving Sheriff Plummer. The novel pits a widow with a dark secret against an Irish circuit preacher trying to leave his own past behind. Both need to make peace with themselves and God. Their romance plays out against Montana’s goldrush, a troubled time in America. The six-book Montana Gold series, explores faith, love, and courage in the Wild West.

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head. Today Janalyn is a storyteller who writes in several genres. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all her novels.

Learn more about Janalyn Voigt.

Discover Montana Gold

Hills of Nevermore: A young widow hides her shameful secret from a blue-eyed circuit preacher.

Cheyenne Sunrise: A disillusioned young woman is forced to entrust herself to a half-Cheyenne guide.

Stagecoach to Liberty: To escape captivity, a young woman must trust a mysterious stranger.

The Forever Sky: Can a young widow with no faith in love reconcile with the man who broke her heart?

The Promise Tree: A preacher’s daughter knows she shouldn't encourage a troublemaker, no matter she promised him.

The Whispering Wind: Phoebe can have her pick of suitors but never the man she wants.

Learn More.

The OTHER Virginia City (part 1)

 

Virginia City; image courtesy of SchmuckyTheCat at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Other Virginia City

This article isn’t about a Nevada ghost town. Nope. We’re here to discuss the OTHER Virginia City, the one that began as a Wild West boom town during the OTHER gold rush. That’s right. This post isn’t about California or Alaska either.

The Montana gold rush began on July 28th, 1862, when a miner named John White struck gold on the banks of Grasshopper Creek. This discovery spurred 3,000 gold seekers to the banks of Grasshopper Creek—the site of White’s discovery. The town of Bannack went up to sustain them, but more kept coming.

Bannack City, Montana; image courtesy of Mr Hicks 46, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The next year, on May 26, a small group of Bannack miners rode off to explore the surrounding area. Barney Hughes, Thomas Cover, Henry Rodgers, William Fairweather, Henry Edgar, and Bill Sweeney strayed into Crow territory. They found the tribe unamused by their presence but escaped with their lives. Before heading back to Bannack, the miners set up camp in Alder Gulch. On impulse, some of them decided to pan for gold at the headwaters of Stinking Water (a stream more attractively renamed Alder Creek in later years). Their hope to glean enough gold for a little tobacco was more than satisfied.

Upon returning to Bannack, the men splashed around their new-found lucre, making such extravagant purchases that others guessed their secret. When they tried to sneak out of town to go back to their new claims, their neighbors dogged them. They gave up and led a miner’s stampede from Bannack to Alder Gulch. "In order to work the claims they had to go to Bannack to procure a stockof supplies. They decided to tell a few of their friends, so that they too could share in the good fortune. Such wonderful news could not be kept a secret. It spread like wildfire and when the six men were ready to return to their prospect the whole town, was prepared to follow them. It was a strange procession: Every horse that could go was out —oxen that would carry a pack were cinched and packed . . . and miners afoot, with blankets on their backs, and coffee pots, frying-pans, picks, shovels hanging to them, brought up the rear of the stampede.(Quotation from a newspaper clipping in the posses-sion of the Historical Library in Helena via "The Story of Montana") Word spread, and more hopefuls began arriving. They came in droves, traveling by wagon and steamboat--ten thousand strong. Prospectors snatched up claims and set up “Fourteen Mile City” on the banks of Alder Creek.

Old Prospector panning for gold at Alder Creek
via Wikimedia Commons

Virginia City, Montana sprang from this fevered growth. It grew in prominence, and on February 7th, 1865, displaced Bannack as the capital of Montana Territory. Today, Virginia City is one of Montana’s partially—occupied ghost towns. Tourists can step back in time at the Thompson-Hickman museum, go horseback riding, screen for rubies, pan for gold, ride in a stagecoach, watch a comedy cabaret or a play, purchase authentic 19th-century clothing, enjoy a scoop or two of handmade ice cream, lift a glass in an authentic Wild West saloon, book a bed-and-breakfast, and ride a steam train the two miles to neighboring Nevada City, another ghost town. Personally, it’s enough to walk down the street and gawk at the original buildings, including the hanging house. But we’ll describe the town’s buildings and more of its history in part two, coming June 20th.

Montana’s Virginia City once housed road agents, lawmen, miners, and vigilantes—not to mention its share of women, both reputable and otherwise. The town’s history makes great fodder for historical romance, and I could not resist it. I first drove through this ghost town on a family trip. My fascination with Viriginia City resulted in the Montana Gold series. Check out the details at the end of this post.

Tell me, if you visited Montana's Virginia City, what would you do first?

What's New with Janalyn Voigt

Spring arrives like a whirlwind in my world. It sweeps me into a flurry of garden preparation, vacation planning, and this year, several book launches. I was just settling in after The Whispering Wind released in April when my publisher informed me of plans to release the first four books of the Montana Gold series as a boxed set. And so, I'm planning for an unexpected launch that will happen quite soon. This is the hectic and somewhat madcap life of an author. 

I wouldn't trade it.

If you want to know more about me, you are welcome to visit the website for Janalyn Voigt books. While you are there, consider subscribing for all my news, occasional articles, and to learn of specials on my books.  

Hills of Nevermore (book 1) - Can a young widow hide her secret shame from the Irish preacher bent on protecting her?

Cheyenne Sunrise (book 2) – After her wagon journey goes terribly wrong, a woman disillusioned in men must rely on a half-Cheyenne trail guide.
Stagecoach to Liberty (book 3) – A young Hessian girl must decide to trust a handsome Irish stranger or remain with her alarming companions.
The Forever Sky (book 4) - Can a young widow with no faith in love hope for a future with the man who broke her heart?
The Promise Tree (book 5) - A preacher’s daughter shouldn’t encourage a troublemaker’s advances—no matter what her wayward heart desires.

The Whispering Wind (book 6) - A beautiful woman can have her pick of suitors but never the man she wants.

The Montana Gold series explores faith, courage, and love in the Wild West. Learn more about the books>>

 

Western Cattle Queens: Calamity Jane

The Wild West had a way of producing tough women, and none grittier than the cattle queens who rode, roped, and endured the privations of the trail as well as any man. Facing challenges, hardships, and perils—sometimes with children at their side—they garnered grudging respect in an era of shifting cultural roles. Some accrued wealth, while others paid with their lives. These women overcame cultural expectations to live on their terms. The halls of history must ring with applause.

This blog series celebrates the cattle queens mentioned in The Whispering Wind, the final installment in the Montana Gold western historical romance series.

Martha Canary (aka) "Calamity Jane" (1852-1903), full-length portrait, seated with a rifle as General Crook's scout.

Calamity Jane has gone down in Wild West history for her horsemanship and courage. Jane did most things well, including running a ranch during the cattle queen phase of her life. Afflicted by the restlessness common to western emigrants, she lived a wild life, used rough language, and was no stranger to whiskey.

Jane penned much of her own legend, mixing fact with fiction. This makes it difficult to discern truth from fabrication. We do know that she was born Martha Jane Cannary in Missouri on May 1, 1852. She was a young teen in 1865 when her family migrated to Virginia City, Montana. Unfortunately, Jane’s mother died of pneumonia shortly after the journey. Her father took Jane and her five siblings on to Utah, where he died later that year (1866).

Calamity Jane, circa 1885-1890, 
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

After Jane became head of her household, she returned with her younger siblings to Wyoming. In Fort Bridger, Jane worked at a variety of jobs—including ox-driver, cook, waitress, dishwasher, nurse, dancehall girl, and—according to some, a prostitute.

Jane had become a good marksman and excellent rider during her family’s five-month trip from Missouri to Montana. These skills led to her becoming an army scout under General Armstrong Custer in 1870. Women’s clothing wasn’t well suited to her new line of work, so Jane donned men’s clothes instead. Maintaining a masculine appearance helped her gain acceptance from the men with which she worked.

The story behind Jane’s nickname is lost in history. Jane insisted that an officer she rescued during an Indian attack bestowed the moniker on her. Since other details of that story remain in doubt—including whether she ever fought Indians, it’s hard to know what to believe. Another story claimed that Jane had stated that any man who crossed her would meet with calamity. It may have simply come from her penchant of getting into trouble.

Jane hit it off with James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, and traveled with him and friends in the mid-1970’s. to Deadwood, South Dakota. She became a pony express rider and carried mail through treacherous country.

Some believe that Jane and Wild Bill were lovers, but there is no clear evidence of that. Jane may have been in love with Bill, but he was already married and was probably not interested in Jane. After Wild Bill was shot while playing poker, Jane chased his killer. Wild Bill’s murderer escaped her wrath but eventually hanged for the deed.

Jane stayed on in Deadwood and offered her services as a nurse during a smallpox epidemic that broke out during the winter of 1878. She returned for another stint with the army, hired on to drive freight wagons, and finally showed her prowess at ranching.

Jane was 33 when she married Clinton Burke in 1885. Jane gave birth to a daughter, but it is unclear what became of the child.

By now a legend in her own time, Jane followed the advice of friends to use her fame to make money. She began touring with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and made other public appearances. Ill health forced her return to South Dakota, where she died. The year was 1903, and Jane was 51. She is buried, by her request, beside “the only man I ever loved”—Wild Bill Hickok.

Martha Canary (aka) "Calamity Jane" (1852-1903), full-length portrait, seated with rifle as General Crook's scout.

Calamity Jane is one of the strong women that Phoebe Walsh, heroine of The Whispering Wind, mentions while persuading her uncle to hire her as a ranch hand. Much like Calamity Jane, Phoebe is independent, courageous, a skilled rider, and a sharp shooter. The only problem with working for her uncle is that Will Canfield—the man who kissed and then rejected her—will be her boss.

The Whispering Wind is available for pre-order. Learn more.

What's New with Janalyn Voigt

The past month has been a whirlwind. Offering The Whispering Wind for presale is like preparing two consecutive book launches spaced a month apart. For an author, it involves communicating with a launch team, writing guest features at blogs, keeping track of giveaway winners, obsessing over sales ranking while advertisements run, and telling people about the book on social media. By the end of it all, most writers are sick of thinking and talking about their books.  I believe in this story, and that makes it all worthwhile.

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and fantasy creates worlds of beauty and danger for readers. Writing in the historical romance and medieval epic fantasy genres, Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary. When not writing, she loves to discover worlds of adventure in the great outdoors.

Learn more about Janalyn Voigt and her books.

The Vigilantes of Montana

Boot Hill, Virginia City, Montana. Outlaws were buried separately from the town's decent folk. By Basenjik [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Men came to Bannack, site of the first discovery of gold in present-day Montana, in 1863 for a number of reasons. Many hoped to make their fortunes in gold, find adventure, and enjoy the freedom of the American West. Others were fleeing justice or on the take. Greed sparked crimes.

The Civil War focused the government’s attention away from the settlers’ pleas to tame the West. Those living in the Wild West felt justifiably abandoned. The dearth of law-and-order was never more keenly felt than in the gold camps, where gold dust, prostitutes, and rot-gut whiskey combined to lead men astray. Bannack was one of the most notorious. The first-hand accounts I read while researching the Montana Gold series confirm this. Lucia Darling, who established a school for the town’s children in 1863, gave a scathing report in her diary. “Bannack was tumultuous and rough. It was the headquarters of a band of highwaymen. Lawlessness and misrule seemed to be the prevailing spirit of the place.”

Word-of-mouth held that a gang of road agents known as “The Innocents” had murdered one hundred men. Some believed that the leader was none other than Bannack’s Sheriff Henry Plummer and that several of his deputies were among the outlaws. This naturally did not instill in them feelings of security. The gang was said to operate out of the Rattlesnake Ranch, twelve miles from Virginia City, another boomtown that in 1865 would steal the title of territorial capital from Bannack.

People were fed up with the scourge of road agents who held up stagecoaches carrying gold between Bannack and Virginia City and robbed riders who dared to venture onto the roads. After the brutal murder of a well-liked Dutch miner named Nicholas Tbalt, matters came to a head. Nicholas had ridden off with a bag of gold and simply vanished. On December 21, four days after the discovery of the unfortunate man’s body, a group of vigilantes tried and hanged George Ives for the crime. Two days later, prominent citizens of Bannack and Virginia City formed the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch, headquarted in Virginia City.

A slew of lynchings followed as the vigilantes hunted down at least 20 suspected road agents. They left a scrap of paper with the numbers “3-7-77” on each hanged man. Many theories have been ventured as to what these numbers meant. Some claim it gave the dimensions of a grave. Whatever their meaning, the warning these numbers gave was well understood by anyone who found them painted on their tents or cabins. Today, members of the Montana Highway Patrol still wear these numbers.

On January 10, 1863, vigilantes hanged Sheriff Henry Plummer alongside two of his deputies. I used first-hand accounts to paint this scene in Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold, book 1). Some feel that justice was served; others that the vigilantes hung the innocent. Today, historians disagree over Sheriff Plummer’s guilt or innocence. On May 7, 1993, Montana’s Twin Bridges Public Schools initiated a posthumous trial for Henry Plummer. It ended in a hung jury and the declaration of a mistrial.

The lynching of Jack Slade on March 10, 1864 in Virginia City raised eyebrows. Jack hadn’t actually murdered anyone, although he’d terrorized the entire town by riding his horse down the main street with his guns blazing while drunk. Not long after Jack’s death, government-sanctioned law and order came to Montana. Vigilante violence continued sporadically until 1867, but it became an increasing cause for concern. Miners in Bannack asked the vigilantes to desist, promising to return any judgment they meted out five-fold. 

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. Known for her vivid writing, this multi-faceted author writes in the western historical romance, medieval epic fantasy, and romantic suspense genres.

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary Agency. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to garden and explore the great outdoors with her family.

Explore Janalyn Voigt's interactive website.

Virginia City’s Great Fire of 1875

If you were like me, you may have heard—or even sung—the following little children’s song in your youth.

Late one night, when we were all in bed,

Old Mother Leary left a lantern in the shed,

And when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said,

"There'll be a HOT time on the old town tonight."

FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!

The song was a parody of the tune of “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” and was meant to be about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (although it was later found that poor Mrs. Leary and her cow had nothing to do with starting the Chicago fire). Songs like these get lodged in the fabric of our childhood and help us to recall major historical events like this fire, which burned for several days, killed up to 300 people, and left another 100,000 homeless.

But there are other fires we don’t recall or may never have heard of. I featured one such event in Heartfelt Echoes, my novella from the First Love Forever Romance Collection. It was the Great Fire of 1875, which burned a large portion of Virginia City, Nevada.

Virginia City was a boomtown which sprang up in 1859 with the discovery of the Comstock Lode—the first major silver deposit to be discovered in the United States. Of course, as you probably know, once gold, silver, or other such mineral/ore deposits are found, people flock to that area and towns crop up quickly. In the case of Virginia City, the new settlement formed almost overnight. People flooded in to work for one of several major mining operations.

Virginia City in 1868-1869.

The city reached its peak in the mid-1870s, it’s maximum population topping out at about 25,000 residents. Of course, this was just when the Great Fire of 1875 broke out.

On October 26, 1875, the perfect storm occurred. A boarding house on “A” Street, halfway between Taylor and Union Streets, was home to a rowdy bunch of men and women. Said boarding house residents were known to be carousing until about 2:00 AM the morning of October 26. The home, belonging to a woman known as “Crazy Kate,” was known for its rough characters and many wished for it to be closed. That hadn’t happened, much to the dismay of the surrounding community.

Only a few hours after the carousing had finally stopped—right at dawn—a small fire broke out in a downstairs hallway. Under normal circumstances, the fire should have been easily handled by the Virginia City Fire Department. However, on this day, a strong westerly wind was blowing, and it fanned the small fire to life. The flames lapped at the building, quickly overtaking the structure until the wind blew the flames to some of the neighboring homes. Also at risk was a livery stable that the boarding house sat behind. Soon, several buildings were burning. With the fierce wind, the flames traveled quickly, and within a very brief time, the fire was out of control, spreading to the north, west, and south simultaneously. The Virginia Cidy Fire Department came, but their fire engines were small and there wasn’t enough water for the growing conflagration. The firemen could do little, if anything, other than to direct residents to evacuate.

When the residents realized there was little chance of saving the buildings, they turned their attention to saving their belongings instead. Many grabbed whatever they could and ran. However, the flames continued to spread. Mayhem ensued.

Eye-witness accounts say that from the mountains surrounding Virginia City, the town seemed to be a sea of flames. The roar of the fire surrounded residents on all sides. The sounds of roofs and walls collapsing as buildings fell victim to the inferno also punctuated the city. In some places, buildings exploded with such violence that the concussion rattled pottery and windows at a town five miles away. Smoke billowed through the streets and hundreds of feet into the air, making finding one’s way nearly impossible.

The residents ran where the firemen directed—to a “safe” area, but as soon as they arrived in the safe zone, they were told to move again. The ever-advancing flames continued to devour the city. Residents were forced to run to new “safe zones” as many as six or eight times, and each time they left more and more of their rescued belongings behind. In some cases, it was furniture. In several other instances, it was larger items like pianos. The flames roared through the city and destroyed all manner of things—clothes, business wares, family heirlooms. Nothing was safe.

Historic firefighters.

The fire raged for hours, burning through Virginia City’s business district, as well as many homes. When the flames finally died out, the burned area fell between Taylor Street to the south, Carson street to the north, Stewart Street to the west, and the Chinese quarter to the east, encompassing 75% of the city. The hoisting works of all three major mining companies—the Ophir, the Consolidated Virginia, and the California—were destroyed, as well as about 400 feet of shafts on one of the mines. No building was safe. Even brick buildings burned as quickly as wooden structures. In fact, the fire had burned so hot that the wheels of train cars were melted on their tracks!

The losses from the fire were estimated to be around $7,000,000, and some 3,000 Virginia residents were left homeless. While it was a horrific time for ther residents of Virginia City, it was also a time that showed the helpfulness and resilience of humanity. Neighboring towns and cities such as Carson, Gold Hill, and Reno stepped in immediately to help. Carson provided food enough for 2500 people. Other towns donated clothing and other goods for those who’d lost everything. Neighboring towns—and even neighboring states—took in refugees who were left without homes or shelter as they headed into the winter months. And people came from all around to clear away the debris and begin rebuilding.

Virginia City did rebound and rebuild. Unfortunately, the Comstock Lode played out within a few years after the fire, and the city’s population fell drastically, as is often the case with mining towns.

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

First Love Forever Romance Collection

A first love is never easily forgotten...
and coming face to face with that person again can be awkward when the heartstrings are still holding on to the “what ifs.”

In settings from 1865 to 1910, nine couples are thrown back on the same path by life’s changes and challenges. A neighbor returns from law school. An heiress seeks a quick marriage. A soldier’s homecoming is painful. A family needs help. A prodigal son returns. A rogue aeronaut drops from the sky. A runaway bridegroom comes home. A letter for aid is sent. A doctor needs a nurse. Can love rekindle despite the separation of time and space?

Heartfelt Echoes by Jennifer Uhlarik
1875—Virginia City, Nevada: A short, urgent letter mentioning his childhood love, Millie Gordon, forces deaf Travis McCaffrey to turn to his estranged birth father for help rescuing the woman he can’t forget.