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James Wheeling
Apr 17, 20206 min read
Eliza Farnham and the California Association of American Women
Social reformers are not, by nature, passive nor necessarily polite. They have a vision, a calling, to right wrongs and at the cost of...
54 views1 comment

James Wheeling
Apr 6, 20203 min read
The Cholera Epidemic of 1849
As has been the case for so much of my story’s time period, another event is coinciding with the current coronavirus outbreak. Cholera,...
64 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Mar 9, 20203 min read
Nothing Like a Visit
It’s amazing to me that I can do so much research from the comfort of my home but there comes a time when a visit has to happen. I’ve...
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James Wheeling
Jan 28, 20202 min read
Mid -Nineteenth Century American Nativism had nothing to do with Native Americans
Our current headlines are full of the immigration debate. As I did my research, I learned that this topic isn’t new. Nor are political...
19 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Jan 10, 20202 min read
The Free Black Community in Boston – A freedman was free…until he wasn’t.
By 1790, there is no federal census record of buying and selling of slaves in Massachusetts. But, if someone came to the state with a...
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James Wheeling
Dec 14, 20192 min read
White Slavery
When Charles Sumner addressed the Boston Mercantile Library Association in February, 1847, he gave an oration on the chattel slavery of...
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James Wheeling
Nov 29, 20193 min read
Scotch-Irish vs. Shanty Irish or Protestant vs. Catholic
My story forced me to understand Irish immigration in 1849, into Boston specifically. Here’s what I learned. The first wave of Irish...
247 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Nov 26, 20192 min read
European Indentured Servant vs. African Slave
As a woman of the western United States, the concept of servants and slaves has no specific ancestral significance to me. But, in 1849,...
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James Wheeling
Oct 9, 20194 min read
Women in the Saddle
As a twentieth-century girl, seeing a woman astraddle on horseback is a common sight. But, in 1849, when horseback travel was reserved...
63 views2 comments


James Wheeling
Sep 26, 20192 min read
The Cult of True Womanhood – seriously, it was a thing.
It is hard to imagine in our world today, that there was actually such a thing as The Cult of True Womanhood. This article, by Barbara...
178 views1 comment


James Wheeling
Sep 20, 20193 min read
Was coverture a woman’s refuge or a grand swindle?
In our modern time, coverture isn’t an everyday word. Its implications do still affect us but not nearly like they did in the 17th, 18th,...
33 views1 comment


James Wheeling
Aug 22, 20194 min read
Banking, the Economy and the Value of Money in 1849
In most of our lifetimes, we have had the benefit of the Federal Reserve System, created in 1913, to provide the United States with a...
81 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Aug 13, 20192 min read
The Mormon Migration
Keeping in the theme of the mid-1800s western migration, there’s another migration that gets little attention now, although it was, at...
37 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Jul 31, 20194 min read
Who can resist the temptation of “free” land?
As a land steward, I understand the feeling that comes with knowing that the land you derive your living from is personally owned. No one...
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James Wheeling
Jul 24, 20193 min read
The Panic of 1837
As we all know, our world is driven, many times, by reaction. Today we find ourselves reacting to Tweets and the 24-hour news cycle, our...
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James Wheeling
Jun 27, 20193 min read
"You Want Me to Go Where?"
My husband and I have moved six times in our married lives. Save one corporate paid move, the rest were done by ourselves where we...
62 views1 comment


James Wheeling
Jun 20, 20193 min read
Rivers Were Our First Superhighways
Growing up in the San Juan Mountains, where rivers and streams start their journeys, it wasn’t until I started my story’s research that I...
44 views0 comments


James Wheeling
May 28, 20194 min read
Wrapping One's Head Around 1849 Geography and European-American Impact
One of the reasons I was excited to start this blog was to help give context for the time and place of my story to my readers. Prologues,...
37 views0 comments


James Wheeling
May 9, 20192 min read
Code of the West
Growing up on a ranch in southwestern Colorado in the mid-to-late-20th century has given me a unique perspective from which to write....
35 views0 comments


James Wheeling
Apr 15, 20192 min read
The "What the...?" factor
When not on actual trips of discovery, I’m in my mountain cabin, laptop, books and papers scattered all around the arcs of my rocking...
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