Preorder my Latest Book: “Yankees in the Courthouse”

https://www.amazon.com/Yankees-Courthouse-Florida-Reconstruction-Biography-ebook/dp/B0FXHLH6H5

OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TO BE FEARED

The Final Palmetto Pioneers Novel – Yankees in the Courthouse

by Filed Under: Books, Entertainment Reviews, Family History Writing

Yankees in the Courthouse: A Florida Civil War & Reconstruction Biography

Sunlight slips through tall pines and sweeping live oaks, while palmetto fronds crackle in the rising wind. A wagon creaks along a sandy clay road, carrying its passengers toward a future both uncertain and full of promise. Faith holds them together, tempers threaten to pull them apart, and survival asks more than any of them expected. This is territorial Florida before statehood—home of the palmetto pioneers.

The Palmetto Pioneers series captured the essence of frontier Florida—its beauty and brutality, its heart and history. Think weathered wood porches, cattlemen in its swamps, cotton fields after rain, courthouse steps heavy with secrets, and women whose strength is quiet but unbreakable.

The palmetto pioneer’s story is an aesthetic of grit and grace—where faith collides with conflict, families hold fast through loss, and the human spirit endures beneath the Southern sun.

The long-awaited third and last book in this series is here. In Yankees in the Courthouse: A Florida Civil War & Reconstruction Biography, the reader returns to Florida deep into the Civil War, when she sends her boys and men north to fight far from their homeland.

Using faith, family, and fortitude, the palmetto pioneers shaped and tamed territorial Florida’s wild frontier in the first book. It is a quintessential American frontier saga. By the second book, the pioneers increased their progeny and prosperity during Florida’s first significant peacetime, but by the end of the book, the winds of a war threaten far to their north. This book returns the reader to just before the height of this war, when the South fights to retain Tennessee and Virginia.

Altogether, all three books are rich in historical detail and rooted in real 19th-century Florida events. The trilogy brings to life the spirit of early Florida—its trials, its triumphs, and the legacy it leaves behind.

Yankees in the Courthouse covers several tropes. Tropes, more commonly used by younger people, quickly describe a recurrent theme in literature, film, and other forms of storytelling. Some of the more common are coming of age, enemies to lovers, and a cozy mystery. For ease, I’ve encased the following tropes in quotation marks.

Yankees in the Courthouse weaves together several historical and dramatic tropes. For example, it is “postwar reconstruction” as Jefferson County struggles to rebuild after the devastation of the Civil War. The narrative also embodies a “divided town with divided loyalties,” where neighbors, friends, and even families find themselves torn apart by competing convictions and lingering wounds.

As a “Southern Reconstruction drama,” the novel follows the tension that rises when outsiders—Yankees—arrive to enforce new laws on a community still reeling from loss. And central to it all is the “courthouse confrontation,” where justice is tested in the very square occupied by Union soldiers and where the secret of a small-town scandal arises.

There are character and relationship tropes, such as “enemies to allies,” where former foes find common ground for survival or justice. The series’ main character, Mary Adeline Walker Andrews, brings one trope to life, because she is a “strong female protagonist,” a woman who navigates hardship and loss using her moral compass. All the characters, though, have “faith tested by fire,” where they wrestle with forgiveness, justice, and God’s will. It all adds up to their “family legacy,” where generations are shaped by their past choices.

When you read Yankees in the Courthouse, you’ll get an emotion and theme of “redemption and renewal,” a rising from ashes, personally and collectively. There are instances of “cost of conscience,” where the pioneers do what is right even when it comes at a price.

The book is about “tradition vs. change,” when Old South values collide with new realities. It describes how pioneers heal from their war wounds through forgiveness, reconciliation, and by rebuilding their community.

Most of all, the reader will understand the small town of Monticello and sparsely populated Jefferson County—home to over 6,000 recently freed freedmen. You will recognize the town itself as a character, where its courthouse and town square embody the heart of the conflict and the overall story.

The pioneers had weathered the wilderness, survived division, and endured war. Now they faced the uncertain years of Reconstruction, when their town was occupied, their freedoms curtailed, and their future clouded by mistrust. Yankees in the Courthouse tells the story of resilience in the face of loss, and of ordinary families struggling to rebuild when history itself seemed against them.

After months of research, writing, and anticipation, the paperback and hardcover editions are now live on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more. Books will be available at local bookstores by December 5th.

Discover the true story behind a powerful, little-known moment in Monticello, Florida’s past—when the courthouse became a symbol of occupation and reluctant change during Reconstruction.

The palmetto pioneers’ journey shaped a community. Now, discover how it all ends in the concluding chapter of the “Palmetto Pioneers” series.

Get your copy today! Click below! And please share the word! I will be so thankful!

What I Didn’t Know About Book Pre-Orders—and Why It Matters Now

by Filed Under: Books, Palmetto Pioneers, Writing and Publishing

I’ve been told that a successful book launch relies on strategically combining pre-orders and promotions. Together, they build excitement and momentum. Yet, I did not do pre-orders for the first two books. Frankly, publishing the first was time-consuming, and I simply didn’t feel I had enough energy left to do it.

By the second book in the Palmetto Pioneers series, I considered it again; but after three failed computers and a deadline pushed back over two months, I skipped it again. That book came out with blisters on its feet.

Still, I kept reading that pre-orders could trigger algorithms on sites like Amazon, making a book more visible and increasing its chances of success. So with Yankees in the Courthouse, I gave it a try.

First, another deadline is looming and causing problems. Christmas is a wonderful time of year to launch a book. My best book sales have been each Christmas since I published the first book in 2022. This meant that my pre-order window had to be shortened to about 2.5 weeks. The good standard, though, is 6-8 weeks.

So, out of necessity, I am planning a shorter, more intense campaign. I set my pre-launch for November 1, and I have already met it with one version of the book. The e-books are already online for pre-order. I have not announced this yet to any of my other readers except all of you. This blog is announcing it to you readers only! I’ll get to everyone else by this Saturday.

Announcing my pre-orders gives my readers a chance to commit early to buying my book. Currently, though, I have been working on the promotional part of this equation. These promotional tactics to drive pre-orders included posting regularly on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and this blog. For example, last month I ran a post here announcing the launch of this book. You can read it below in case you missed it earlier.

Yankees in the Courthouse – Book 3 of the “Palmetto Pioneers” Series | Launching Nov. 15, 2025

I ran several earlier posts on Old Age is Not to share my author’s journey. The post described how self-publishing works, how I created timelines of historical events for my research and writing, how I used location research, and much more. Likewise, I also created countdowns for ordering the earlier books at a discount and posted them on Facebook and through Amazon Ads. All of this was designed to drive pre-orders for book 3.

In addition, I’ve been running Facebook posts to gather names for my email list, which is collected through my Palmetto Pioneers website. I plan to send out an alert for pre-orders and to announce the formal launch of the book itself. The signup for this email list is through my website, which is below.

Please sign up if you haven’t already to keep up to date with pre-orders, launches, and discounts. Twice a year I run a $.99 special for ebooks on the first book in the series. I will announce those dates through this email list. Click on the address below to sign up. A gift to sign up follows in the next paragraph.

https://www.palmettopioneers.com

By signing up this week on my email list, I’m giving away a free chapter from the book. Chapter 6 has the title “A Gift from William-July to September 1863.” William gets to come home from the war on leave, but that is not the gift.

Finally, I have been trying to promote the book in one other way. I would like to partner with other bloggers, reviewers, and authors to cross-promote our books. This one is a little hard to do. Everyone else out there is just as tired as I am. I frequently say that launching a book is much like giving birth to a baby. Let me explain.

Conception is when a book starts as a spark—an idea that takes root quietly and grows inside the author long before anyone else can see it. Like pregnancy, it’s deeply personal at first. The author nurtures it in secret and is unsure how it will turn out, this thing that is a part of them. This was also when I researched the historical portion of the story.

Next is gestation. Authors spend months (almost a year in my case) shaping, revising, and refining the manuscript. Sometimes it is thrilling, and sometimes exhausting, similar to the waiting, discomfort, and anticipation of carrying something so precious. It just isn’t ready to be revealed yet.

Then, one finds oneself in labor. For me, it is the editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design, and distribution. It is where I am right now in the process. I’m tired. I ache. Deadlines loom, and I wonder sometimes if it is worth it. I think this is why it is so hard to collaborate with others in the process. They are exhausted too.

Finally, I am about to be in the vulnerable moment of birth. Releasing Yankees in the Courthouse to the world feels like placing a piece of my heart in others’ hands. I’ve labored over every word, and now all of you will read it (hopefully), judge it, and love it! Or not! There is both joy and fear in saying, “It’s published.”

A One-Year Anniversary Update for “Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility”

by Filed Under: Books, Family History Writing, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers

Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility was published on March 22, 2024 on Amazon and several months later on other sites such as Barnes and Nobles.  As of this today, it has been available more than a year. In the fall, Amazon allowed me to rename the e-version of the book for better sales. In the fall, I renamed it, Palmetto Pioneers: A Historical Biography About Florida’s Path to the Civil War. It has been a successful year.

It was chosen as a Nonfiction Regional Finalist in the 27th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. They’ll announce the winners in June. 

As of March 22, on Amazon, the book held a sales rank of 762,184 in the Kindle Store out of the millions of books provided. It ranked 269 in History of the U.S. Confederacy. On Amazon, 67% of those who rated it gave it 5-stars for an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5. 

Book 2 in the Palmetto Pioneers Series

Here’s what others are saying about the book, including in a professional review.

Theme(s):

The book’s central themes include: 

1. Resilience Amidst Frontier Challenges: The book showcases the Andrews family’s endurance as they confront the hardships of mid-1800’s life in Florida, including economic fluctuations and societal changes. 

2. Impact of Socio-Political Turmoil: The story delves into the effects of political events, such as Florida’s secession and the Civil War, on the family’s dynamics and their community.  

3. Strength of Family Bonds: Throughout the upheavals, the family’s unity and support for one another are emphasized, highlighting the importance of familial relationships during turbulent times.

These themes are interwoven to depict the family’s journey through a transformative period in Florida’s history, illustrating their resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. 

Characters:

This historical narrative follows the lives of William H. Andrews and Mary Adeline Walker and their children during this transformative period in Florida’s history.  

The Book’s Back Cover

Plot and Characters:

The story begins in the later 1840s, portraying the couple’s seemingly idyllic life in Florida. William, a refined gentleman from Washington, D.C., marries Mary, the illiterate daughter of a Florida pioneer cattleman from South Carolina. Their union symbolizes the merging of different worlds, setting the stage for the challenges they will face together.  

As Florida transitions from statehood to secession, the Andrews family encounters many trials, including economic hardships, societal upheavals, and the looming threat of the Civil War. 

William’s roles as a lawman, railroad agent, politician, and soldier pull him away from home, leaving Mary to manage the household and their children amidst the uncertainties of the frontier.  

The narrative delves into Mary’s resilience as she confronts economic challenges, multiple pregnancies, and illiteracy, all while coping with the absence of her husband and sons who are scattered across battlefields from Memphis to South Carolina and from Florida to Ohio. Her steadfastness highlights the often-overlooked strength of women during this tumultuous era.  

Through the lens of the Andrews family’s experiences, the book offers a vivid portrayal of early Florida’s harsh frontier life, the impact of national conflicts on local communities, and the enduring power of familial bonds in the face of adversity.  

Setting:

The setting of Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility is Florida during the mid-19th century, spanning the years leading up to and during the American Civil War. The story follows the Andrews family as they navigate life on the Florida frontier, a time of economic struggles, societal shifts, and increasing political tension.

Key elements of the setting include:

• Florida’s rural frontier: The novel portrays the hardships of pioneering life, including managing land, cattle, and household responsibilities in an evolving but still largely untamed environment. 

The first quarter of the book is set in the rural community of Elizabeth in Jefferson County, Florida. The final 3/4 of the book is set in Monticello, the county seat. It is a small rural city 8 miles south of the Georgia line and 26 miles east of Florida’s capital city, Tallahassee. 

The Road to the Elizabeth Baptist Church Cemetery

• Southern society before secession: The book captures the dynamics of class, gender roles, and literacy disparities in the South, particularly as seen in the marriage of William H. Andrews (a well-educated man from Washington, D.C.) and Mary Adeline Walker (the daughter of a cattleman, who was illiterate).

• The Civil War’s impact on Florida: The setting shifts to various battlefields across the South as the Andrews men become involved in the war, while Mary struggles to maintain the family home in Florida amidst uncertainty.

This historical backdrop provides a vivid portrayal of Florida’s transformation from a developing state to a battleground of shifting allegiances and hardships.

An Excerpt From the Book:

“Monticello boomed throughout the 1850s and remained so for a dozen or more years. Through the “Family Friend”, several stores advertised every item imaginable. 

At Johnson, Williams, & Co’s “Railroad Store” for staple goods, Mary and her closest friend and Uncle Joel’s widow Betsy sought a “new style of bustle, made entirely of steel and so light.” 

The stores had goods for men, and William may have shopped in them for “cutlery, saddlery … woodware, tinware, trunks” and maybe even “an umbrella.” Whether at John S. Divine’s or Budd’s store on the courthouse square (in the building that today says ‘Bank’), William, as a politician in the county, probably shopped at all Monticello stores. 

Obviously, people still had money to spend, and William remained gainfully employed with at least four known jobs during the 1850s—constable, census enumerator, sheriff, and railroad agent. His ability to read, write, and cipher was still important in providing for his family.

— Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility by Cindy Roe Littlejohn

https://a.co/6WVGJQp

Photo is Budd’s Store on the Courthouse Square (now Cowhaus Coffee), Florida Memory Collection

An Update on the Florida Book Series “Palmetto Pioneers”

by Filed Under: Books, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers

The backdrop for this trilogy is North Florida, specifically a county in the often-overlooked Forgotten Coast region. Locals also call it the Big Bend, and we’ve sometimes joked that it’s Florida’s armpit—where nothing ever happens. But that changed in the past two years when hurricanes Idalia and Debby paid us a visit.

Map of Florida Showing Jefferson County in Red

However, that’s not the entire story, as I’ve detailed in my book series. As Florida struggled to gain statehood, Jefferson County flourished and became home to the descendants of some of our nation’s founding fathers and Revolutionary War heroes. Even an exiled crowned prince, Achille Murat, found his home here with his wife, the grandniece of George Washington. Murat, the grandnephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, eventually became the County Judge.

I explore these fascinating beginnings in the first book of the series, but by the time the Civil War erupted in 1861, most of these early figures had either passed away or moved on.

Book 1 in the Palmetto Pioneers Series

Despite this, the county continued to prosper—until everything changed. I delve into this in the second book, From Harmony to Hostility.

Book 2 in the Series

During the boom years leading up to the Civil War, Monticello’s wealthier residents constructed many of the homes and businesses that still stand today.

The third book in the series, Yankees in the Courthouse, examines how this community weathered the storm of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Due to the high percentage of freedmen in Jefferson County, federal forces occupied the area, giving rise to the book’s title.

The setting for all three books is this county as it develops—growing and shrinking, as families come together and fall apart, and as the local economy experiences booms and busts.

Book Awards

A few months after self-publishing my first book, The Migrants, a reader suggested I enter it into the Florida Book Awards. I hadn’t heard of these awards before, but when I looked them up, I discovered my book had already missed the deadline.

However, there were other award programs, both statewide and national. Although some were out of reach because I write nonfiction and am self-published, I found a few I could enter. I was told that winning an award could help with marketing.

Last May, Palmetto Pioneers: The Migrants won a national IPPY bronze medal for nonfiction in the Southeastern region. Then, in August, the Florida Authors and Publishers Association awarded the same book a gold medal for history, a gold medal for biography, and a silver medal for cover design.

IPPY Bronze
FAPA Gold

Suppose you’re interested in Florida’s prior history. In that case, particularly the period between its territorial days and statehood, spanning the time it was under Spanish rule until it seceded from the Union—this series offers a rich, detailed portrait of life during those years. It follows a family from the time they leave South Carolina in 1829 until their oldest daughter reaches her senior years in 1871. The series captures what they encountered upon arrival, the challenges they faced while homesteading and the life of a cattleman providing for his family during the nation’s most expensive Indian War. It also tells the story of his daughter’s marriage to a stranger from Washington, DC.

The second book delves into her life and explores what it was like for women to thrive in such challenging times. It also traces her husband’s journey as he becomes a politician, lawman, and soldier in the Civil War.

The third book, still in the editing phase and set for publication by 2026, will continue their story through the Civil War and into the Reconstruction years. This series, grounded in historical fact, provides a vivid, true-to-life account of Florida’s past.

Did You Know There Were Outlaws & Gangs in Frontier Florida?

by Filed Under: Books, Palmetto Pioneers

Frontier Florida was a hostile place. Settlers dealt with the problems of living on a frontier—the extreme limit of settled land. Jefferson County, located in North Florida, was no exception. It was a sparsely populated wilderness and a refuge for people to misbehave.

Frontier Florida had its own gangs of outlaws. I identified one such gang in the book “Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostilities.” I plan to release the book within a couple of weeks. Here is an excerpt from the first chapter.

Monticello’s Courthouse in 1844

“Before New Year’s Day of 1845, three South Georgia men captured Stephen Yeomans. Word spread. Rumors were rampant. Yeoman’s gang plotted to free him either while he was being transported to the jail or as soon as a posse brought him back to town. Everyone worried the rickety old Monticello jail could not hold him long. So the Florida men planned to meet the three South Georgia men and their prisoner at the Florida-Georgia line for the exchange in “No-Man’s Land.” An assembly of ninety men rode north from Monticello, a ride of eight miles.

“No Man’s Land” was the name for the strip of land located on the state line. It received its name because of an ongoing dispute between the two states about where exactly the state line stood. It wasn’t until the 1870s that the US Supreme Court finally decided the dispute. Because both Florida and Georgia claimed it, it belonged to neither and was not subject to either’s laws.

In “No Man’s Land,” the exchange of the prisoner took place; and subsequently, the men chose a committee on the spot to serve as a jury. Yeomans’s impromptu trial was out of the jurisdiction of either state.

One man was voted chair. “I need one of you men of the cloth to swear in the witnesses.” Earlier, Yeomans confessed, naming fourteen men as his accomplices. Several were Jefferson County citizens.

The trial lasted all day. “Guilty!” said the juror’s foreman.

The crowd of men hesitated. A tall, gaunt man said, “His gang knows how poor our jail is. They’ll be waiting for us by the time we get back. They’ll probably set fire to our town to break him out.”

Added another, “Even if they don’t show up, our jail will never hold him, anyway. We’ve just wasted our time if we take him to Monticello.”

“It’s a long way back, and there are many places where an ambush is certain.” It was as if they were trying to convince themselves what they would do had to be done.

Another vote followed. The chair spoke. “I need a show of hands. Who votes to take him back? And who votes to hang him here?” On a vote of sixty-seven to twenty-three, they voted to hang him in “No Man’s Land” on the following day. A guard of twenty-five men watched him during the night, as they expected his gang to free him at any moment.

Early the next morning, Yeomans asked for a prayer on his behalf. Since there were four ministers in the group, one stepped forward to pray. All the men removed their hats.

At noon, January 2nd, they hung Yeoman.”

This newest book, the 2nd book in the Palmetto Pioneers series, should be released soon!

By today’s standards, we would consider this uncivilized. But we have good jails, trained law enforcement, and almost two centuries of laws and court precedent. Communities in these sparsely populated areas in 1844 had none. It was usual for convicted felons to escape and commit more carnage. Gangs pillaged unimpeded. People did what they had to do to remain safe.

What would you have done to keep your family safe in this part of Florida in the early 1800s? Also, No Man’s Land reminds me of “Yellowstone,” the TV series. Any thoughts about that?

Book 2 of “Palmetto Pioneers” – A Work in Progress

by Filed Under: Books, Palmetto Pioneers

Here is an update on the progress of my latest novel, Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility. It is book 2 in the series.

By mid-summer, I finished the deep editing and turned the book over to my last content editor, a Civil War expert, Clint Johnson. He returned it to me by the end of summer, with some changes needed. Apparently, my dates on some songs published during the war were off. I had their dates wrong. Other changes were needed, but I was happy that there were few.

With the changes made, the book was in the hands of my final editor, who now has it. She will ensure that all my written materials are accurate and high-quality. She will confirm the book flows well and is easy for readers to understand. She checks it for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Verification of facts is done. I should have it back and make her changes by the end of this month.

Concurrently, my artist friend is working on the watercolor painting we’ll use for the front cover. After this step, my niece Hannah, a graphic designer, will work on the overall cover, which I’ll add to the final product that goes to Amazon.

There will be a new step for this book. I will send the Amazon-published product to BookSirens to have it reviewed by my fellow authors. Hopefully, they will accept it. Other authors who choose to help can read an Advanced Review Copy for their thoughts.

Finally, I’m hopeful Amazon will publish and release it by Christmas. My goal was always for the end of this year.

If you are interested and able, please subscribe to Old Age is Not For Sissies to get a “behind the scenes” look at my writing, scenes, character profiles, and more! Scroll to the top of this page, add your email address, and “subscribe.”

When Location Becomes Their Story

by Filed Under: Books, Following Old Trails, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers

One of the most important parts of writing the book “Palmetto Pioneers” was research. Studying the location of my chosen ancestor became an important next step.

But let’s take a step back. I didn’t begin looking at the locations. I began reviewing what I already knew about my main character, Mary. I went back to my original research, first to my paper files, then my online files, such as her family’s Ancestry tree.

This review identified all the places she had lived or traveled. This was easy because Mary lived in Colleton District, South Carolina and traveled by wagon with her parents and extended family to Jefferson County, Florida. It appears she lived there for the rest of her life, so I only had three locations to research, but one of which was fluid.

I asked questions. Where was she married (Jefferson County, Florida marriage record)? When and where were her children born (census records which showed when and where she lived)? Where and when did she die? I also looked for land, court, and probate records.

Full Book Cover–Front, Back, & Spine

An important part of this process was making a timeline for the family. It had three columns—one for the event, one for the date, and another for the place. It helped tremendously when trying to find events or write about them in the correct order they happened.

It also showed flaws in the research. Not everyone’s memory is the same for any event, and people make mistakes when recording important dates. Timelines helped me find the discrepancies and then helped me either fix the discrepancies or explain them in the book.

These earlier steps, used to analyze Mary and those around her, brought me to the next part of my research.

Where did these events take place? And what did I know about them?

Using census records for her father and the other Walker heads of household in the family, we know she came from South Carolina, most likely Colleton District, southwest of Charleston. But what did I really know about that area? This became an important question for the next step.

I began with the courthouse in Colleton County, but before making a trip up there, I researched the courthouse itself and where I could expect to find records. Right away, I discovered that though the courthouse itself did not burn during the Civil War, its records did. Because they were on the path of Sherman, they sent their records for safekeeping to their capital, Columbia. After marching through Colleton County and leaving its courthouse untouched, Sherman made a beeline to Columbia and burned the capitol and Colleton’s records there.

However, I learned that there are land records in neighboring counties that show lands near the county lines. They reflect who owned the land across the line. Barnwell County’s records for Lightsey lands showed the Walkers were their neighbors in Colleton County. I also learned that people have donated records from their families to a local Genealogy Room, which was in the same building as Colleton’s extension service. There is also a genealogy room at the county library.

Roadtrip!

This led to my favorite pastime—travel. Add a trip to a genealogical site, and for me it is a match made in heaven. I chose one of the old routes, certainly not an interstate highway, and I drove from Monticello to Walterboro, wondering if these families may have used a trail or road nearby.

Family Search Wiki, Colonial Roads in America

Using all this information, I made several trips to Walterboro, the county seat, and to the location of the Walker lands near Carter’s Ford on the Little Salkehatchie River. This location research was invaluable to the story, especially when the family still lived in South Carolina. It was wonderful to walk where they had walked almost two hundred years before, but why did they leave? Studying their first location could help provide answers.

The Florida State Genealogical Society featured a speaker last month during their Poolside Chat series. Diana Elder suggested in her presentation entitled, “Locality, Locality, Locality: Putting Your Ancestors in Their Place,” that one should create a “locality guide.” I wish I had listened to this about six years ago. It would have saved me later headaches.

I should have created a “Colleton County Locality Guide,” with a section for “Background Information,” showing “Quick Facts” such as laws that changed the economic environment for the family and their dates, purchases of property, natural disasters in their area, when South Carolina became a colony, and so forth. One event I found was the building of a nearby railroad, which might have changed the family’s mind about moving since the railroad provided better opportunities to reach new markets.

In the Locality Guide, “General Collections” shows where to find information as well as “Online Research Guides” and “Maps and their Dates”. Here, one records maps that show the changes in state and county lines. Within Colleton County, they divided the county into parishes. The family lived in the St. Bartholomew Parish, but did they always? The guide is used to collect all the information found about a location.

The Walker Migration Route

Another important research project was trying to find how they got to Jefferson County, Florida, from Colleton District, South Carolina. I knew the names of several trails between the two areas, and I began my research quest by studying those trails.

Later, though, I discovered that the best place to begin this research was Family Search Wiki. Simply enter the words “migration” and the location to find the different trails and roads in an area. It gives you a list of trails and roads plus maps and other resources.

Usually, I began by googling the name of a town, river, road, trail, or anything else on which I needed more information. It usually sent me to other sources, such as maps, gazetteers, trails, and so forth.

Several gazetteers became important. You can find them using Family Search Wiki. Search for “gazetteer”(singular) and then enter the location you wish to find. We can find the digitized ones this way, but I found some that were not digitized in the bibliographies of other historical works. Always check their sources. It will surprise you what you uncover.

Maps became very important to the story. They showed me how they got to Florida.

I began with trails, because they built most of the older roads on old Indian or military trails. I found some on old maps, especially the earliest maps. William Dollarhide has done much work in identifying old trails throughout the nation. His books were very important to my work. I also used diaries and journals to learn what they saw on the trails and roads when they migrated south. In the book, what the Walkers saw on their journey south was in those diaries and journals.

Something I did not use is the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) on the United States Geographical Survey (USGS) website. I discovered it well after I had finished my research. Here you can search for the names of trails, and also towns, post offices, lakes, and rivers nearby.

Once I had sufficient information about the trails and roads available, I analyzed them for the families’ most likely route. Because they drove a foundation herd of cattle with them, I cut two of the more popular routes from the list—not enough water.

Why Florida?

The next step was to study her final home. Why did the family choose Florida? What else was out there? Newspapers seemed to be a good place to start, and there were Charleston papers that they may have read. Mary’s father and uncles were educated men. I discovered a wealth of information about moving to Florida, some of it from the South Carolina papers in their era.

I also had records already in my files. Federal censuses showed us when they made the move. Some children were born in South Carolina, and others in Florida. Land records showed us when the land was available for the family to buy. The Walkers came here before the land was available in the area they settled. They probably squatted on that land and made improvements that gave them the first dibs.

An early probate record for her grandfather told a story about how hard it was to live with local diseases such as malaria. Court records showed when they made their trips eight miles away to the county seat. All of this was important because vital records mostly did not exist. There were no death records or birth records in territorial Florida. There were only church records and Bible records, but few.

I mentioned a boundary issue earlier while they were in South Carolina. Though the boundary did not change, some in Colleton County were lucky to live near the boundary of another county, whose records did not burn. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is a website by The Newberry Library which shows how a county’s boundary changed. It also shows state boundaries, too.

When the Walker family moved to Florida, it appears another group of Walkers moved just north of the state line in Georgia—an area less than ten miles away. We know from DNA they are kin to each other and from census records; they lived in Colleton District, too. We could never determine if they made the trip down together, though.

https://historygeo.com/

Later, Historygeo.com showed me who first bought the lands next to them once they bought land and settled in Jefferson County. History Geo even showed me how far away two massacred families lived during the Second Seminole Indian War. Using the sound of a gunshot, I determined which of them the family could hear from their home. I decided all of this using locality research.

Finally, I spent a lot of time studying the history of Jefferson County. It provided clues why they came when they did. For example, our state government only recently formed Jefferson County. It was less than two years old. Its land was just becoming available for sale from the state.

Historical books for a county can be important. Being from the county, I am a local and I knew which books to use. However, the National Genealogical Society has a series of books entitled “NGS Research in the States.” There is one for Florida, and it tells you where to go to find information on any county in the state. I also visited Family Search Wiki to look at their state timelines. It provided me a beginning for my in-house state events timeline.

In Jefferson County, the WPA did a research project in the 1930s, and they generated a book. We call it the Green Book. It includes first-hand stories from the children of these early settlers. A University of Florida professor wrote another county history book in 1976. Contracted by the Jefferson County Historical Association, it is an excellent source. Add to these the various diaries and journals kept, and they provided plentiful information about what Monticello and Jefferson County looked like when the Walkers arrived.

Jefferson County Courthouse, replaced in early 1900s

Locality research was vital to the book and an understanding of who these people were and what happened to them. It helped me determine who they were in South Carolina, how they got to Florida, and what impact they had on their new community once they arrived. Location research provided a wealth of information. I could not have written “Palmetto Pioneers” without it.

What Did it Take to be a Florida Pioneer

by Filed Under: Books, Genealogy

What was Florida like when the first white settlers got here? We can only imagine the hazards—the native population, alligators, mosquitoes, and poisonous arachnids. Add to this a list of climate changes—hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, lightning strikes, and the economics of settling a new land—its unknown character.

One man, not from Florida, said in 1829, “no man would immigrate to Florida–no not from hell itself!” Obviously, he was wrong; because these first settlers came, and now, almost two hundred years later, they are still coming.

In my family, came seven-year-old Mary Adeline Walker with her parents; and later her grandparents followed. She is my third great-grandmother, and she came to Jefferson County, Florida, in 1829. We have important records and resources about her, but no diaries or journals from her or her immediate family. There are diaries and journals from other people, though, who lived in this area during territorial Florida.

Using Mary as my primary character, I wrote a book entitled “Palmetto Pioneers: The Emigrants.” It is one of a three-part series. The final book ends in Monticello during reconstruction, after the Civil War. The first book begins when Mary’s family migrates from South Carolina. They brought with them on the journey a foundation herd of cattle.

They primarily dealt with cattle, but like most good farmers, they varied their livestock and crops to diversify their risks. Mary is one of eleven children, primarily boys, a real plus for the family’s operations, which were in Jefferson County.

The book, written in a genre called narrative nonfiction, may be classified in a sub-genre called family history writing. It uses elements of creative writing to present a factual, true story. It uses literary techniques usually reserved for writing fiction, such as dialog, scene-setting, and narrative arcs. But I rooted it in facts. No part of the story is made up or fabricated unless the author signals otherwise.

A clear example of this type of genre is the book, “1776”, by David McCullough. McCullough extensively researched this subject using both American and British archives to create a powerful drama with extraordinary narrative vitality.

For “Palmetto Pioneers,” the territorial Florida time period was extensively researched, and a bibliography follows at the end of the book. I divided it into time periods such as “Life in South Carolina,” “The Migration,”, “Life in Territorial Florida,” and “The Indian Wars.” I limited their life in South Carolina to reflecting on why they left and what they needed to bring, but it doesn’t tell the reader. Instead, it shows these events.

In the first book are scenes that reflect the realities of living in Florida. The reader sees what Florida was like through Mary’s eyes. The reader can also see her and her husband’s place in Florida history.

There is no family tree in this book, but it references an online Ancestry tree that is public and accessible to anyone without a membership. Many of Mary’s brothers and sisters, as well as her own children, left Monticello and settled in many other parts of Florida, such as DeSoto, Citrus, Putnam, Marion, Bradford, Madison, Suwannee, Levy, Indian River, Brevard, Dade, Duval, Okeechobee, and many more counties. Two families went to Texas, and their descendants still live there.

One can find the first book of the series on Amazon, and there are soft-cover copies at two businesses in Monticello, Florida—Oh Happy Days Gifts and Vintage Antiques. On Amazon, the books are almost $25 for hardcover and softcover but only $9.99 for the e-book.

A Family History Book Review: The Smallest Tadpole’s War

by Filed Under: Books, Genealogy

Writing one’s family history so one’s family reads it? Now there’s a quandary.

 

Like most amateur genealogists I have boxes of family research and a fear that when I die they may as well bury the boxes of family history with me. Who would take the time to read through it?

This is a sponsored post that contains affiliate links. I received compensation in exchange for writing this review.

Then again I didn’t want to do one of those genealogy books full of only names, dates, and places. Boring!  Most people won’t take the time to learn about their family heritage this way either.

 

A Family History Book Done the Right Way

Diane Swearingen, though, solved that problem for her husband’s family. Her book “The Smallest Tadpole’s War in the Land of Mysterious Waters ” is historical fiction based on the life of his great-grandfather Thomas Swearingen.

Even better, though, is how she told the story. It is told in a way that benefits those of us not in her family because Thomas Swearingen’s story is symbolic of the settlers who first came to the state of Florida seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families.

The story begins with a marriage, a big move, and an adoption. Its point of view is through the eyes of Thomas’s adopted son. It follows through the lifetime of Thomas which includes territorial Florida, the Civil War, and reconstruction. Most of the story is set in Wakulla County with brief encounters in Gadsden, Leon and Jefferson Counties, all in North Florida, where Florida grew the fastest during this era.

The Wakulla County Courthouse, which was built during Thomas’s lifetime. It is standing today in Crawfordville, Florida,, Wakulla’s county seat. From the Florida Memory Collection.

The story is well documented and a page-turner. Also, I could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was happening to the characters as much as what happened in these areas during this time period. I grew up one county over, and my family goes back several generations there, too.

The book is a quick read, and I believe suited perfectly for middle schoolers as well as adults. It is good family reading.  Purchase a copy through Amazon using the link below.

The title itself, though long and tortuous is interesting. The smallest little tadpole is Florida, as described by a Civil War-era politician as being the ‘least important state swimming in the cesspool of secession’. It has double meaning because it is Thomas, too, who started out small himself, as a young man trying to make his way in life.

Mysterious waters is a translation of the name Wakulla, the county where most of the story took place. Wakulla County, located south of Tallahassee, is on the Gulf of Mexico.

From the Florida Memory Collection.

Do yourself a favor? If you want to know a little more about Florida’s history, read this book. This family history story does a great job of describing Florida when Florida was a little backwater tadpole in our great nation.

Wakulla’s beautiful Wakulla River is a spring fed clear water river that runs eventually into the Gulf of Mexico.  Today, manatees swim up to winter in its spring. From the Florida Memory Collection.

Learning to Die in Miami: A Book Review

by Filed Under: Books

The book “Learning to Die in Miami” is about the thousands of Cuban children airlifted to the USA during the early Castro years. Called the Pedro Pan Airlift, the story is a memoir told by the same author of “Waiting for Snow in Havana,” a National Book Award recipient.

Photo of Cuban Exiles in display at the Freedom Tower in Miami

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I just finished reading “Learning to Die in Miami”. The true story, written by Carlos Eire, who was one of over 14,000 Cuban orphans sent here by their parents in the early 1960s, captivated me. Their parents, desperate to get their children out, hoping to follow as soon as possible; and most thought they could get out within a few months. For many, though, it was years.

Once in the US the authorities placed these children, some as young as three in foster homes, orphanages, with relatives, and sometimes even with distant relatives. Not all stayed in Miami, moving all across the country.  I cannot imagine what it was like for the children, let alone the parents.

The Freedom Tower, former home of The Miami News was used as a facility to process, document, and provide medical and dental services for the Cuban exile newcomers.

Waiting for Snow in Havana

I read Eire’s earlier book “Waiting for Snow in Havana” about beautiful cosmopolitan Havana and Cuba before the revolution and immediately afterward.  Below are two pictures I found that compare the two cities of Havana and Miami.

Havana, Cuba before the Revolution

Miami in the early 1960s

 

 

This second book about his boyhood picks up where “Waiting for Snow…” leaves off; though it isn’t imperative that you read one before the other. Both provided an amazing history lesson into this time period.

For most of “Waiting for Snow” you get a child’s hopeful outlook to a beautiful future, and in “Learning to Die” you get a scary, disappointed wake-up call to what life is like for an immigrant, especially one without a parent to guide and protect them. Sadly, Carlos learns that in America the streets are not littered with cash as expected by a child. Still, there are hopeful and even comedic moments in the book.

A street scene in Havana, Cuba

A Street Scene in Miami

Other Reviews

In reading the reviews I noticed that many didn’t like the book. The author did jump around, and his little “whoosh” cue was used repeatedly to take you back and forth from one time period to another. But I thought it fit into a boy’s story. After all, this was written from a boy’s point of view, because it happened when he was a boy. It didn’t bother me, and I really liked the book.

I also wondered if some reviewers were put out by some of his more conservative views, such as his chastisement for those who want to protect the Spanish language as an intangible cultural tradition at the expense of Spanish-speaking immigrants. He thinks that this holds Spanish speaking people back from achieving their full potential in the American marketplace.

I know that protecting the Spanish language as an intangible cultural tradition created a small problem in my family. My aunt married a Cuban American or so it seemed. Both she and my uncle are now in their 80s; and because his mother required all the children and grandchildren to speak Spanish in her home which I visited on occasion, I made the mistake of asking Uncle Mario when was it that he got to the United States.

I thought it must have been when he was young because he spoke perfect English. Well, I upset Uncle Mario, because his family came to the Keys in Florida from Cuba in the late 1800s. His mother simply tried to make sure the grandchildren hung on to their language as her mother and mother’s mother did for her. Regardless, though, thanks to her my cousins speak two languages.

Wikipedia Map

Growing Up in Florida

Being from Florida I grew up with this Cuban-American uncle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, hearing about the Bay of Pigs, and several aunts and uncles who lived in Miami, all providing me with a picture of the refugee crisis down there in the early 1960s. These two books plus another one written by a dear friend, who also had to flee Cuba with her parents, helped me tie all these events together in context with the history of Cuba.

 

My friend’s book “The Front Row” by Silvia Morell Alderman, is the story of her parents as seen from the perspective of her mother. Silvia’s father, a justice of the Cuban Supreme Court for 10 years, the last two during the Castro regime, was the first justice to resign upon finding that Castro would not uphold the rule of law. Previously, he served in high government positions for two presidents. He and Silvia’s mother Rosa were student revolutionaries in the 1930s and indeed had a front row seat to the various revolutions down there.

So if you are like me and interested in Cuba and its history, these three books will give you an excellent picture.

 

What do you remember about Cuba in the early 1960’s?  Do you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?  If so, how did your school prepare you for a possible nuclear war with Russia?