Month: January 2019

Home of Our Hearts by Robin Jones Gunn

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Christy & Todd: The Married Years Series, Book 2

Sometimes it’s hard to keep a promise.

Christy had promised her best friend that she’d be at her wedding—only it’s in Kenya.

Todd’s long ago promise that he’d be at his dad’s wedding is now coming true. The problem is that the ceremony is in the Canary Islands where his dad will live with his bride. Thousands of miles will separate Todd from his father in the future but that’s not all—the Todd and Christy had been living in his father’s home that must now be sold.

Loss of jobs, financial difficulties, and serious illness of a family member plague the young couple expecting their first child.

This young adult novel is an easy read. Lovable characters easily drew me into their world. They made me want to spend more time with them so it’s great that this is a series.

I enjoyed this story.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

1870s Liquid Measures

/ sandramervillehart

Leafing through a cookbook from 1877, I found a great table of liquid measures. Some of these are common measures today while others were better known by our great-great grandparents.

1 teaspoon full = 45 drops of pure water at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. (This measure was included due to the varied sizes of teaspoons.)

1 teaspoon = about 1 fluid drachm

4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon or ½ fluid ounce (today’s measures are 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon so this shows the change in measuring spoon size over the years)

1 ounce = 8 fluid drachms (1/4 gill)

1 pint = 16 fluid ounces (4 gills)

16 tablespoons = ½ pint

1 tea-cup = 8 fluid ounces (2 gills)

4 tea-cups = 1 quart

1 common-sized tumbler holds about ½ pint (8 ounces)

4 gills (gi.) = 1 pint

2 pints = 1 quart

4 quarts = 1 gallon

The cookbook author mentions old French measures for liquids used “1 tea-cup equals 4 fluid ounces or 1 gill.” The author does not say how many years ago that measure had been used. The tea-cup was about twice that size in the 1870s.

These important variations make it challenging to figure out ingredient measurements for historic recipes.

Interesting!

Has anyone run across recipe measuring in gills or drachms?

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

Civil War Women: Mary Ann Clark as Henry Clark

/ sandramervillehart / 2 Comments

Mary Ann Clark’s marriage hadn’t been easy. Her husband deserted her and her two children to go to California. According to her mother, Mary Ann suffered two nervous breakdowns when he wrote her that he was returning with a new wife. She divorced him.

At some point, she turned over the care of her two children, Caroline Elizabeth and Gideon P. Walker, to the care of Rev. Father Brady. Then Mary Ann disguised herself as a man (Henry Clark) and joined the Confederate army under General Braxton Bragg.

Clark was wounded at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on August 30, 1862, captured, and imprisoned. Her identity was discovered while in prison. Union troops provided her a dress and asked her to swear to return to civilian life as a lady. Mary Ann agreed and wrote a letter to friends before leaving the prison, asking that they inform her mother of all that had happened to her.

Once free, she made her way back to the Confederate army—with one change. This time she rejoined as a female officer.

Southern newspapers called Mary Ann a heroine, yet they reported her story incorrectly. In their articles, they wrote that she followed her husband into the Battle of Shiloh where he was killed. The article went on to say that she buried him herself and then fought until she was captured.

Mary Ann didn’t follow her husband into war nor did she fight in the Battle of Shiloh.

In my Civil War novel, A Musket in My Hands, an ultimatum from their father forces two sisters to disguise themselves as men to muster into the Confederate army in the fall of 1864—just in time for events and long marches to lead them to the tragic Battle of Franklin.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Al-Jumaily, Sunshine. “’Tell Her What a Good Rebel Soldier I Have Been:’ Mary Ann Clark Disguised During the Civil War,” Kentucky Historical Society, 2018/12/10 http://history.ky.gov/landmark/tell-her-what-a-good-rebel-soldier-i-have-been-mary-ann-clark-disguised-during-the-civil-war/.

Blanton, DeAnne and Cook, Lauren M. They Fought Like Demons, Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

Howe, Robert F. “Covert Force,” Smithsonian.com, 2018/12/10 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/covert-force-70629819/.

“Mary Ann Clark, Confederate Soldier,” Civil War Talk, 2018/12/10 https://civilwartalk.com/threads/mary-ann-clark-confederate-soldier.104262/.

 

 

House of Secrets by Ramona Richards

/ sandramervillehart

This Love Inspired Suspense novel kept me on the edge of my seat!

June Eaton is a strong woman, a leader in her community because of her deceased husband’s position as pastor of the church. She moved from the parsonage after his death three years ago, though longing to stay in the Victorian home with all its hidden rooms and compartments.

Sheriff Ray Taylor cares about June—and those feelings shift into overdrive when she finds the new pastor murdered at the parsonage. June is in constant danger from the murderer because she interrupted the pair. Yet the danger opens old wounds for her that are difficult to overcome.

This book is a page turner! I was constantly worried for June and what would happen next. The parsonage fascinated me. Loved these believable characters. The sheriff is a true hero in a tough situation.

Well-written. Recommend!

-Sandra Merville Hart