Horton Howard, my 4X-great-grandfather, was born on this day 247 years ago. I’ve been researching his life, and that of this off-spring, for the past 4 years or so. After transcribing more than 200 letters and other documents, have gone through these documents 3 times, to transcribe, re-write, and make sense of the information in…

The past 10 months have been filled with the emergencies and care of aging parents. Somehow I found time to make my third pass through the letters and other documents related to the life of Horton Howard. I’ve transcribed and compiled the documents, deleted extraneous material and condensed many of the remaining documents. I’m now…

For a few months I did not write much. I was having trouble finding the story in between the lists of dates and events. The break has been productive – looking at the transcribed letters with fresh eyes if helping me find the stories. I’ve written, in the past, about Horton’s entrepeneurial bent, yet I’d…

Today, in honor of Veteran’s Day I digress from my usual storyline, to share some reflections written a few years ago about two of young men of my family who were lost in our country’s wars. This was written as a Memorial Day reflection at church a few years ago, but the stories are also…

Re-reading Hannah Hastings’ letters of courtship and early marriage to Horton Howard is helping me to create their story. As interesting as their written story, is the one I read between the lines. Education was important to the Quakers, so it’s no surprise that Hannah’s early letters are well-written with the best grammar and spelling…