The Peshtigo Fire: You never heard of it?

By Lyn Horner

While living near Chicago years ago I became fascinated by the history of the Great Fire of 1871, which leveled most of the city. Prior to the fire, Chicago’s buildings, even the fine hotels and mercantile district, were built out of wood. That summer was hot and deadly dry. The city’s fire crews had their hands full fighting one fire after another, even managing to tame a vicious blaze the day before Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over her lantern (so the legend goes.) But there was no stopping the wind-driven monster that sent Chicagoans running for their lives on the night of Sunday, October 8, 1871.

Chicago in Flames -- The Rush for Lives Over Randolph Street Bridge

Originally from Harper's Weekly, 1871 – in the Public Domain

What most people probably don’t know is that a forest fire driven by the same brutal winds that destroyed Chicago occurred on the very same night some 250 miles north in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. In those days small fires were often set to clear forest land for farming and railroad construction. On that day in 1871, a cold front swept in from the west, bringing strong winds that fanned the fires out of control, creating a massive firestorm. Flames of at least 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit swept on winds of 110 miles per hour or stronger obliterated Peshtigo and burned across 1,875 square miles (4,860 km² or 1.2 million acres) of forest – an area about twice the size of Rhode Island.

Extent of the Peshtigo Fire
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The Peshtigo Fire is the deadliest in American history. An accurate death toll could not be determined because local records were destroyed in the fire. Between 1,200 and 2,500 people are believed to have died. A later report to the Wisconsin Legislature listed 1,182 deceased or missing residents. More than 350 unidentified bodies were buried in a mass grave, in what is now the Peshtigo Fire Cemetery.

Peshtigo Fire Cemetery -- Mass Grave
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Survivors reported that the firestorm produced a fire whirl (like a tornado) that tossed rail cars and houses into the air. Some survived by immersing themselves in the Peshtigo River, wells, or other nearby bodies of water. Some drowned while others died of hypothermia in the frigid waters.

At the same time, another fire burned parts of the Door Peninsula, leading to the incorrect assumption that the fire had jumped across the waters of Green Bay. In Robinsonville (now Champion) on the Peninsula, Sister Adele Brise and other nuns and residents fled to a local chapel. There they prayed to the Virgin Mary. Although surrounded by flames, the chapel did not burn. Those gathered inside called their survival a miracle.

On the same day as the Peshtigo and Chicago fires, other towns across Lake Michigan also burned, as did Port Huron at the southern end of Lake Huron.

The Peshtigo Fire Museum houses several items that survived the fire.

Charred wood from Peshtigo Fire
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If you would like to read a FREE fictional account of the Chicago Fire, based firmly on history, I invite you to try my novella, White Witch (Texas Devlins, Book One.) An introduction to the Texas Devlins series, it spotlights the heroine's ability to look into the future and sets up her adventures in search of the man of her dreams. For that story you'll need to read Darlin' Irish (Texas Devlins, Book Two.)

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Sewing Machines

 

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

Clothing has long been something everyone needed, and for years, around the world, men and women, imagined a machine that could assist in creating the highly demanded commodity. 

In 1804 two men, James Henderson and Thomas Stone received a French patent for a mechanical principal to be particularly applicable for the manufacture of clothing, and Scott John Duncan received one for an embroidery machine, however, neither invention worked and were soon forgotten. 

In 1830 a French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, received a patent and had machines that did work. By 1841 he had a shop in Paris with 80 machines stitching uniforms for soldiers, however a mob of angry tailors attacked his shop and destroyed his machines. His made several attempts to restore his shop and business, but was doomed and died a poor man. 

Several other machines were invented, but most either quickly malfunctioned, couldn’t stitch curved or angled lines, or simply didn’t work. In 1834 Walter Hunt created the first machine that did work, however, he feared it might cause unemployment and lost interest in the machine without ever patenting his invention. Elias Howe, whose wife took in sewing to support their family regularly, received the first patent for a sewing machine in America, and died a rich man mainly because others copied his patent, (you can read my post about him on www.cowboykisses.blogspot.com). His machine worked because he took note of how the thread had to go throw the tip of the needle rather than the end.

Isaac Singer was one of the men whose machine design closely mimicked Howe’s (Singer had to pay Howe a portion of his sales for years) and whose machines soon became common in women’s parlors or sewing rooms across the nation. Isaac’s first love was acting, and after inventing and creating the I. M. Singer & Company, he used the money to fund a five year long acting tour. His sewing machines became popular quickly because of the ease to adapt them for home use, and his company’s policy to allow customers to make installment payments. Singer took note of how Samuel Colt and Eli Whitney used interchangeable parts in their firearms, and did the same with his machines. Doing so allowed him to increase production and cut the prices of his machines made for home use down to a mere $10.

 

Singer was also quite an adulterer. In 1860 he admitted to fathering 18 children with 4 different women, at least two of which he may have been married to at the same time, although none of the women knew about the others, upon marriage (he used the sir name Matthews, Merrit (his middle name) and Eastman, and possibly others, for his alternate families). When one of his wives discovered the others, as well as his lady-friend who was also his employee at the sewing company, Isaac moved to Paris, along with his lady-friend, whom he had more children with before marrying yet a different woman. By his death in 1875 Singer had fathered 24 children. He died and is buried in Europe. 

The I.M. Singer & Company was dissolved by mutual consent and continued doing business as The Singer Manufacturing Company in 1863. Singer’s partner from the beginning had been Edward S. Clark, a lawyer and Sunday school teacher, whose management skills were what advanced the Singer company worldwide. Isaac Singer and Edward Clark’s mutual consent to dissolve their partnership was rather frosty, and Singer insisted Clark could not become president of the company while he was still alive. The two of them chose Inslee Hopper, an office boy. However, both Singer and Clark insisted Hopper had to become a ‘respectable married man’ in order to obtain the presidency. Hopper married the lady he’d been seeing and took over the company, and ultimately earned a salary of $25,000 per year by the time he turned the presidency over to Clark upon Singer’s death in 1875. 

Clark expanded the business by setting up franchises and when overseas demand outgrew current production, he set up factories in Germany, Russia and Canada. Clark remained president until his death in 1882 and left an estate worth more than 25 million dollars. The Clark family owned controlling shares and ran the company as a family business until 1959. The company has been sold several times since then, but the name has remained the same. 

I have my grandmother’s Singer. Its treadle machine, and the one I learned to sew on. I remember spending hours sewing clothes for my Barbie dolls. I also remember running the needle clear through my thumb one time, nail and all. It looks similar to this one, but has more drawers on the cabinet.

Currently I have a free read up on Harlequin’s website, The Stolen Kiss, where the heroine is a seamstress, and had a Singer sewing machine.

The Stolen Kiss

By: Lauri Robinson

Copyright © 2014 by Harlequin Books S.A.

From rivals…to lovers!

The moment beautiful Cassandra Halverson arrives in Tulsa, Micah Bollinger knows she'll be trouble. No sooner has she set up her dressmaker's shop than she starts poaching his customers. Determined to beat Cassandra at her own game, Micah decides to keep his enemy close!

Cassandra wants nothing more than to create a new life doing what she loves and to leave her past behind her forever. But the presence of her infuriatingly gorgeous competitor threatens it all. When an unexpected kiss takes them both by surprise, it's not long before fury turns to red-hot passion!

Excerpt:

1878
Oklahoma Indian Territory

Faded by a sun as relentless as the wind, the red letters on the side of the weathered building announced she'd arrived. Cassandra Halverson hitched the skirt of her olive traveling suit and stepped off the MKT train amongst a splattering of Army men, Indians, and those she'd rather not notice.

Tulsa.

The last depot before entering Indian Territory. Trains didn't even go west from here. Only Indians, horse thieves, Mexican traders, whiskey peddlers, desperadoes and those associated with the U.S. Army were brave or crazy enough to do that.

She'd chosen Tulsa, or Tulsy town as some called it, because of that. People here didn't question others about their past. The town was growing fast, and would continue to now that the railroad was here. Every man, woman and child would need clothes, and she was here to sew them.

She was making a name for herself, and a living, but could make much more if not for Micah Bollinger. Besides his golden-brown hair and gold-flecked brown eyes, Micah had a silver tongue, which he used to wrangle customers out of her shop and into his.

A flit of elation put a smile on her lips. She'd outsmarted him this time. No longer Gambling Irv's daughter or Wesley's poor wife, she was Cassandra, and no man would ever get the best of her.

She found a spot near the building, where porters unceremoniously dropped luggage and cargo of the travelers ending their voyages while others scurried to load trunks and bags for those departing. The train didn't depot here for long, and to her sensible mind, something she prided herself on, it would be more prudent to wait for the chaos to slow rather than attempting to rifle through it.

Before long, and in between two loud steam-filled blasts, the conductor shouted a boarding call, which had the crowd dispersing.

"How was your buying trip?"

Despite air so hot that the feather on the new straw hat she'd purchased in Wichita drooped over her left eye, every drop of blood in Cassandra's veins froze. She hadn't told anyone where she'd gone, especially not Micah.

"Missed me, didn't you?" he drawled.

Without glancing his way, she asked, "Would a dog miss fleas?"
###

The Stolen Kiss is related to my February 1^st release, The Major’s Wife.

WILL THE TRUTH SET THEM FREE?  

Major Seth Parker knows his wife, and the woman standing before him isn't her. The manipulative vixen who tricked his hand in marriage could never possess such innocence—nor get his heart racing like this! 

Millie St. Clair has traveled halfway across the country to pull off one of the greatest deceptions ever. But with everything at stake it soon becomes clear that the hardest part might be walking away from the Major when it's all over…. 

Advice for the newly married....

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

 

A few years ago while stumbling around the internet, researching for my WIP, I came across the below article by Ruth Smythers.

Instruction and advice
for the young bride.

On the Conduct and Procedure
Of the Intimate and Personal Relationships
Of the Marriage State
For the Greater Spiritual Sanctity
Of this Blessed Sacrament
And the Glory of God
by Ruth Smythers
Beloved wife of The Reverend L.D. Smythers,
Pastor of the Arcadian Methodist Church
of the Eastern Regional Conference
Published in the year of our Lord 1894
Spiritual Guidance Press, New York City

Instruction and advice for the young bride

To the sensitive young woman who has had the benefits of proper upbringing, the wedding day is, ironically, both the happiest and most terrifying day of her life. On the positive side, there is the wedding itself, in which the bride is the central attraction in a beautiful and inspiring ceremony, symbolizing her triumph in securing a male to provide for all her needs for the rest of her life. On the negative side, there is the wedding night, during which the bride must pay the piper, so to speak, by facing for the first time the terrible experience of sex.

At this point, dear reader, let me concede one shocking truth.Some young women actually anticipate the wedding night ordeal with curiosity and pleasure! Beware such an attitude! A selfish and sensual husband can easily take advantage of such a bride. One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: GIVE LITTLE, GIVE SELDOM, AND ABOVE ALL, GIVE GRUDGINGLY. Otherwise what could have been a proper marriage could become an orgy of sexual lust.

On the other hand, the bride's terror need not be extreme. While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful, it has to be endured, and has been by women since the beginning of time, and is compensated for by the monogamous home and by the children produced through it. It is useless, in most cases, for the bride to prevail upon the groom to forego the sexual initiation. While the ideal husband would be one who would approach his bride only at her request and only for the purpose of begetting offspring, such nobility and unselfishness cannot be expected from the average man.

Most men, if not denied, would demand sex almost every day. The wise bride will permit a maximum of two brief sexual experiences weekly during the first months of marriage. As time goes by she should make every effort to reduce this frequency.

Feigned illness, sleepiness, and headaches are among the wife's best friends in this matter. Arguments, nagging, scolding, and bickering also prove very effective, if used in the late evening about an hour before the husband would normally commence his seduction.

Clever wives are ever on the alert for new and better methods of denying and discouraging the amorous overtures of the husband. A good wife should expect to have reduced sexual contacts to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year of marriage.

By their tenth anniversary many wives have managed to complete their child bearing and have achieved the ultimate goal of terminating all sexual contacts with the husband. By this time she can depend upon his love for the children and social pressures to hold the husband in the home. Just as she should be ever alert to keep the quantity of sex as low as possible, the wise bride will pay equal attention to limiting the kind and degree of sexual contacts. Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices. These practices include among others performing the normal act in abnormal positions; mouthing the female body; and offering their own vile bodies to be mouthed in turn.

Nudity, talking about sex, reading stories about sex, viewing photographs and drawings depicting or suggesting sex are the obnoxious habits the male is likely to acquire if permitted.

A wise bride will make it the goal never to allow her husband to see her unclothed body, and never allow him to display his unclothed body to her. Sex, when it cannot be prevented, should be practiced only in total darkness. Many women have found it useful to have thick cotton nightgowns for themselves and pajamas for their husbands. These should be donned in separate rooms. They need not be removed during the sex act. Thus, a minimum of flesh is exposed.

Once the bride has donned her gown and turned off all the lights, she should lie quietly upon the bed and await her groom. When he comes groping into the room she should make no sound to guide him in her direction, lest he take this as a sign of encouragement. She should let him grope in the dark. There is always the hope that he will stumble and incur some slight injury which she can use as an excuse to deny him sexual access.

When he finds her, the wife should lie as still as possible. Bodily motion on her part could be interpreted as sexual excitement by the optimistic husband.

If he attempts to kiss her on the lips she should turn her head slightly so that the kiss falls harmlessly on her cheek instead. If he attempts to kiss her hand, she should make a fist. If he lifts her gown and attempts to kiss her anyplace else she should quickly pull the gown back in place, spring from the bed, and announce that nature calls her to the toilet. This will generally dampen his desire to kiss in the forbidden territory.

If the husband attempts to seduce her with lascivious talk, the wise wife will suddenly remember some trivial non-sexual question to ask him. Once he answers she should keep the conversation going, no matter how frivolous it may seem at the time.

Eventually, the husband will learn that if he insists on having sexual contact, he must get on with it without amorous embellishment. The wise wife will allow him to pull the gown up no farther than the waist, and only permit him to open the front of his pajamas to thus make connection.

She should be absolutely silent or babble about her housework while he is huffing and puffing away. Above all, she should lie perfectly still and never under any circumstances grunt or groan while the act is in progress. As soon as the husband has completed the act, the wise wife will start nagging him about various minor tasks she wishes him to perform on the morrow. Many men obtain a major portion of their sexual satisfaction from the peaceful exhaustion immediately after the act is over. Thus the wife must insure that there is no peace in this period for him to enjoy. Otherwise, he might be encouraged to soon try for more.

One heartening factor for which the wife can be grateful is the fact that the husband's home, school, church, and social environment have been working together all through his life to instill in him a deep sense of guilt in regards to his sexual feelings, so that he comes to the marriage couch apologetically and filled with shame, already half cowed and subdued. The wise wife seizes upon this advantage and relentlessly pursues her goal first to limit, later to annihilate completely her husband's desire for sexual expression.

Copyright 1894 The Madison Institute.

This article is posted on many sites. I copied it from this site

Various resources (here and here) have confirmed the article couldn’t have been written in 1894 for numerous reason (lucky for Mr. Smythers) and was most likely written during the ‘sexual revolution’ (1960’s-1970’s).

HOWEVER, it made me wonder if such an article could have appeared, especially since periodicals, magazines, newspapers, as well as books were coveted by pioneer women. (These pieces of paper were not just a connection to the outside world, a pioneer woman found thousands of uses for every page.)

On January 27^th Harlequin will release the first chapter of The Stolen Kiss, a free read on their website. Each day for the next twenty days, another chapter will be released. The heroine is Cassandra Halverson, a recent arrival in the Oklahoma Indian Territory, where she encounters Micah Bollinger.

The Stolen Kiss is related to my February 1^st release, The Major’s Wife.

WILL THE TRUTH SET THEM FREE?

Major Seth Parker knows his wife, and the woman standing before him isn't her. The manipulative vixen who tricked his hand in marriage could never possess such innocence—nor get his heart racing like this!

Millie St. Clair has traveled halfway across the country to pull off one of the greatest deceptions ever. But with everything at stake it soon becomes clear that the hardest part might be walking away from the Major when it's all over….