Elaine Marie Cooper Author

Historical Fiction That Grabs Your Heart and Feeds Your Soul

Elaine Marie Cooper

Two Christian Movies, Two Reviews

by 6 Comments

 

This was a first—seeing two quality Christian films playing at the theater in one week. You could have knocked me over with a kernel of popcorn when I saw the previews.

My husband and I first went to I Can Only Imagine, the true story of Bart Millard, lead singer of the Christian group, Mercy Me. The powerful story shows him growing up in an abusive home, revealing the terrible truth of how bad it was without being too explicit. We are left to understand that Bart was physically abused by Dad and that their relationship was toxic, filled with pain, and bitterness that prevailed in Bart, even though he was a Christian. It was not until he was forced to deal with his lack of forgiveness that Bart was able to write his break-out song, “I Can Only Imagine,” a multi-award-winning tune.

 

The story of my daughter's journey with cancer.
The story of my daughter’s journey with cancer.

The song, “I Can Only Imagine” has personal meaning for my husband and me. It was played at our daughter Bethany’s memorial service in 2003. I know from numerous other stories that it has been played thousands of times in funerals everywhere. The song is that meaningful. Thank you, Bart Millard.

 

The second movie we saw was Paul, Apostle of Christ. It’s the story of the Apostle Luke as he visits Paul in prison in Rome and becomes a scribe for the book of Acts, the story of the early church. Words can’t adequately do justice to the powerful message in this film. Tears are brimming in my eyes as the movie plays over in my mind.

 

The commitment of the early church in the dark days of Rome when the evil Emporer Nero burns down much of the city, then torches Christians while they are still alive to light the streets of Rome, is unfathomable. Although the script is careful not to get overly gory, it is still horrifying. There were young children in the theater. Parents would be wise to preview the film before bringing them.

 

But to watch what true persecution was—and is in many places today—makes claims of persecution in the United States seem beyond ridiculous. The early church was truly persecuted in the worst possible ways. And in many countries, that persecution against Christianity continues. We must pray it does not get that bad in our country. Already Christians are being targeted in the courts for their faith.

 

The Book of Acts
The Book of Acts

But even if it were to get that horrible, is your faith up to the challenge? I pray that mine is. The words of Luke as he is temporarily in the group heading for the “Roman Circus” the next day are memorable: “Yes there will be pain. But it is only for a moment.” And then, they will be with Jesus in glorious eternity.

 

It is a hope for all Christians. And a reason to be in prayer.

 

Two movies whose stories are separated by centuries, yet the message that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever shines in them both.

 

Please see these movies if you can. And support quality Christian movies so that more will be made and the message of hope in Jesus be proclaimed.

 

My Irish Heritage

by 10 Comments

 

On this St. Patrick’s Day, there will be many a celebration of those who are Irish by birth as well as those who choose to be Irish for the day. Everyone wants to be at least a little bit Celtic on March 17!

This year, especially after having my DNA deciphered as my birthday gift last April, has reminded me of my own Irish heritage and the stories my mom would share with me about her years growing up in an Irish neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. But I’ll go back a generation before my Mom, to her Mom, born Lucy Devlin in 1894. My grandma Lucy was born of Irish immigrants who met in New York City after arriving (I presume) through Ellis Island. Lucy was one of five children born to Mary Rogers and Peter Devlin. Great Grandpa Peter died at a relatively young age, leaving Mary to raise the children.

They lived in a 4-story tenement apartment that had no heat. It was hard living and I remember my mother telling me that Grandma Lucy had a scar on the palm of her hand. When Mom asked her about it, Grandma Lucy explained that a drunk had come into their apartment and was going to attack her mother. Grandma Lucy grabbed onto that knife with her bare hand and would not let go until the drunk was no longer a threat.

The family had a cat named Minnie. She was memorable for the fact that, one day, she fell out of the apartment window and onto the pavement below. Since cats have nine lives (apparently), Minnie survived the fall, but, thereafter, she had to feed herself by lifting food up onto her paw and placing it in her mouth. Minnie was one tough Irish kitty. 😉

Grandma Lucy and Uncle John
Grandma Lucy and Uncle John

When she was a teenager, Grandma Lucy met a young man who loved to sing and tap dance. His name was Benjamin Prince. Now Benny as he was called was descended from British parents so I’m not sure how Lucy’s Irish family responded to that union. Nevertheless, they married in 1912 and a year later, my Uncle John was born. Grandpa Benny worked on the upper railroad in NYC and when Uncle John was not even a year old, Grandpa Benny died in a terrible accident at work in October of 1913. Unbeknownst to Grandma, she was pregnant with my mom who was born in July of 1914.

These were the days before unions and worker’s compensation and my Grandma Lucy would bundle up her new baby and go to court to fight for compensation for the loss of her husband. She received no recompense at all.

Grandma Lucy had to leave her two little ones with Great Grandma Mary while Lucy went to work for the phone company. I’m certain she struggled to make ends meet but a family member told me that she always presented herself well with professional attire.

When my mom was very small, a young German immigrant took an interest in Grandma Lucy. He went away to fight in WWI in Europe and when he returned, he carried a gift for my mom in his bag—a child’s hand-painted china tea set made in Bavaria. It must have won Grandma Lucy’s heart because when mom was about six-years old, Grandma Lucy married the man who I called “Grandpa.”

In later years, even when Grandma had dementia, Grandpa always had his arm tenderly wrapped around her shoulders whenever they sat on the sofa together. Grandma would tell everyone, “Marrying that man was the best decision I ever made.” To see their sweet romance last until 1970 was a joy.

And that tea set that Grandpa brought back for my mom after WWI? It sits on my hutch in a place of honor—a treasure to hold from my Irish heritage.

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Frank, my siblings, and I (the youngest one making an awkward face!)
Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Frank, my siblings, and I (the youngest one making an awkward face!)

 

 

 

New Contract — New Books Coming!

by 2 Comments

Hi Friends!

 

I’m so thrilled to announce a new upcoming historical fiction series for which I’ve recently signed a contract. My new publisher will be Burnett Young Books and I am Over-The-Moon excited! This series is set along the Long Island Sound coast of Connecticut in 1779-1780. There was a lot going on there during the American Revolution!

 

Book 1 is complete and should be released in 2018. More details to come.

 

Thanks for all your support of my books and I will keep you all updated on this new series. Be blessed!

 

IMG_5147

Mocha helps me with my historical research of New Haven, Connecticut. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine’s Day in Colonial America

by 2 Comments

 

Love surely abounded in Colonial America since the population grew quite steadily through the years. But was there an official day set aside for love called Valentine’s Day? The answer is “yes”…and “no.”

While Valentine’s Day had existed for centuries, not all of the colonies celebrated the holiday. The New England colonies were known for avoiding any celebrations they deemed unscriptural, including Christmas. But many of the European immigrants, especially the Dutch, carried the romantic tradition to the New World.

Celebrations of a holiday focused on love go waaaay back in history—all the way to the pagan festivals in Rome. Eventually the celebration became more civilized through the tale of a priest named Valentine, who secretly married lovers who had been banned from matrimony by a military leader. Valentine was subsequently imprisoned. As legend has it, the grateful lovers brought gifts of cards and flowers to the prisoner while he was in his jail cell. Unfortunately, the defender of love was martyred in AD 278. Definitely not a happy day for Valentine.

Some of the ways the Colonial Americans celebrated St. Valentine’s Day were downright peculiar to our modern sensibilities. For instance, in Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons, by George Monger, he quotes an excerpt from The Connoisseur, a series of essays published from 1754 to 1756 where some interesting Valentine’s Day traditions were described:

“Last Friday was Valentine’s Day and the night before I got five bay leaves, and pinned four of them to the four corners of my pillow and the fifth to the middle; and then if I dreamt of my sweetheart, Betty said we should be married before the year was out. But to make it more sure, I boiled an egg hard and took out the yolk and filled it with salt, and then I went to bed and ate it, shell and all, without speaking or drinking after it. We also wrote our lovers names upon bits of paper and then rolled them up in clay and put them into water, and the first that rose up was to be our valentine.”

Betty must have been a trustworthy authority on love.

There was also a tradition that the first man that a maiden would see on Valentine’s Day would be the one she would marry. This practice undoubtedly caused numerous stubbed toes while girls with tightly-shut eyes waited for the signal from a friend that the one they desired was in close proximity.

While the first known written valentine message was sent in 1684, handwritten notes to celebrate love on February 14 became popular in 1750. The homemade sentiments were replaced by mass-produced cards in the mid nineteenth century.

So you can celebrate Valentine’s Day like the colonials with some bay leaves and eggs. But I would prefer a few chocolates myself. And if my valentine wants to make me a handwritten sentiment, I will feel like a blessed colonial woman indeed.

ID-100422028

I will end with a quote from Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

Tomorrow is St. Valentine’s Day,

All in the morning be-time,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day! May your day be filled with the company of those you love.

 

Image of rose courtesy of Khumthong via freedigitalphotos.net

 

On This Date: Shay’s Rebellion

by Leave a Comment

 

Lovers of history may view the end of the American Revolution in 1783 as a resolution to all the conflict in the new nation. Sadly, it did not lead to perfect peace in the American colonies.

The eight-years-long struggle for freedom from the Mother country left the new United States of America in desperate economic times. It was felt deeply in the state of Massachusetts and led to the uprising known as Shay’s Rebellion on January 25, 1787.

In the rural areas of western and central Massachusetts, soldiers returning home were faced with multiple financial stresses. Not only was the federal government unable to pay them what they were owed for their tenure in the army, but they had little in the way of assets. Most of the needs of their families were met through bartering for goods or services. Most were in debt and owed creditors for taxes.

Shay'sRebellion-1

The European business partners of Massachusetts merchants refused to extend lines of credit, insisting on being paid hard currency for goods. Yet real money was in short supply. Governor John Hancock of Boston refused to collect on delinquent taxes from poor borrowers and did not prosecute. He resigned in 1785, citing health reasons.

 

Hancock’s replacement, Governor Bowdoin, was elected in his place and the situation soon changed. Bowdoin increased actions against those who owed taxes, and the legislature made the situation worse by levying an additional property tax to help pay back foreign debts. John Adams declared these taxes to be “heavier than the people could bear.”

 

Individuals began to lose their lands and other possessions when they could not pay their taxes. Many of these who lost their homes were veterans of the war. They’d sacrificed and fought for years for a nation now turning their backs on them.

DanielShays

Daniel Shays was one of these soldiers and a farmhand by profession from Massachusetts. He had resigned from the army—unpaid—in 1780, only to go home and find himself in court for nonpayment of debts. When he realized he was not alone in this desperate financial situation, he began organizing protests against these conditions in order to fight for tax relief.

 

For several years, dissent grew to the point where Gov. Bowdoin issued a proclamation against the increasing protests. Unrest spread to several Massachusetts communities. James Warren wrote to John Adams in October of 1786 declaring, “We are now in a state of Anarchy and Confusion, bordering on Civil War.”

 

Several ringleaders were arrested in November and other protestors started to organize an overthrow of the state government of Massachusetts. On January 25, 1787, the rebels, with Daniel Shays at the helm, targeted the federal armory in Springfield in an attempt to seize weapons and overthrow the government. An intercepted message alerted the local militia to the planned attack, and the insurgents under Shays—some 1,500 men—faced the militia cannons. Grape-shot mortally felled 4 of the protesters while twenty were wounded.

BannerShay's

The rebel forces fled to other towns and occasional conflicts ensued. The bloodiest battle occurred at Sheffield in February, thus ending the insurgency.

Four thousand people signed confessions as participants in the events of the rebellion in exchange for amnesty. Several were indicted but most were pardoned. Two men were hung.

Daniel Shays was pardoned in 1788 and returned to Massachusetts. Vilified by the Boston press, he eventually moved to New York where he died poor and obscure in 1825.

Shay’s rebellion became the catalyst for the formation of the United States Constitutional Convention which drew the retired George Washington back into public life. This renewed involvement of Washington in government policy led to him to being elected first President of the United States.

 

Excerpt from Promise of Deer Run:

Promise of Deer Run - Cover

“Bloody war.” The voice came from the man sitting by himself at the bar.

 

Nathaniel glanced at the poorly shaven face almost resting on the tip of his tankard. “Yes. Yes, it was.” Nathaniel took a bite of the stew and closed his eyes and moaned in pleasure. “Fine stew, sir.”

 

The man at the bar was not finished with his sad laments.

 

“Fought eight years for this ungrateful country. Came home to my farm and lost it to bloody Bowdoin. Governor indeed. Calls out the militia to shoot at decent citizens trying to spare their farm.” The man’s voice grew louder the angrier he got.

 

 (Featured Image is the Springfield Armory as it looks today)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Snow of 1717

by 4 Comments

I first wrote this post a few years ago and it ran at Colonial Quills Blogspot. It seemed an apt year to run it again! 😉

During the frigid winter in much of the country this year, it seems a logical time to search the Colonial American era too see if they had any memorable winters on record. Indeed, I quickly discovered a terrible blizzard dubbed, “The Great Snow of 1717.”

Although there were not official weather records kept at the time, there were sufficient diaries of the day describing a winter that began in December of 1716 with five feet of snow, then climaxed in the Great Snow from February 27 through March, 7, 1717. The area blanketed by the frigid white flakes was the colony of New York and the other colonies throughout New England.  It was certainly possible the snow was more widespread but white populations had not spread much further west at that point.

In “Historic Storms of New England” written in 1891, author Sidney Perley noted that even the oldest Native Americans of that day said that their ancestors had never seen such a storm.

FrozFallsKraft

Beginning on February 27, the Great Snow was actually four snowstorms that began with a typical, New England nor-easter, dropping a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. But by March 1, the major snowstorm hit. Then another storm on March 4. Then the worst of the three hit on March 7.

 

The cold colonists huddled in their homes, no doubt praying for relief. Many single story homes were completely buried by the additional five-feet of snow, plus drifts of up to 20 feet.

 

In Hampton, Massachusetts, some residents could only escape the confines of their homes through a window on the second floor. The chimneys in some dwellings were even covered with snow.

380994_10150465933144486_780024839_n

One widow in Medford, Massachusetts was trapped in her single story home. Her residence could not be found for many days until, finally, an eager rescuer observed a small plume of smoke. Neighbors brought their shovels to dig a pathway to the widow’s window. They discovered her supply of firewood had been depleted so she’d resorted to burning furniture to keep her children warm.

 

Postal delivery was temporarily halted but resumed after several days with post boys travelling on snowshoes. One New England carrier found the snow in the woods to be five feet deep while in some places, six to fourteen feet.

 

Not only were the humans impacted by these storms, animals both domestic and wild suffered tremendous losses. Even weeks after the storm, cattle were found dead, some still standing in their frozen state.

The greatest loss in wildlife appeared to be the deer that became victims of the starving bears and wolves. Estimates cited that nineteen out of every twenty deer were killed that winter. It was such a huge loss that towns elected officials known as deer reeves to protect the survivors and allow for the forest population to increase.

Jan 2015 SNOW, more pictures 001

Deer reeves had the authority within their jurisdiction to inspect private homes for the presence of fresh venison or deer hides. Fines were levied for those who broke the law.

 

The Great Snow damaged many orchards. Crusty ice broke branches, while surviving cows, wandering along the frozen crust of snow that stood many feet tall, munched on the tops of tender fruit trees. The bovines suddenly had access to choice morsels on the upper branches, thus injuring the future crop.

The storm, however, did not stop romance. Young Abraham Adams of Newbury, Massachusetts was homebound for a week when he could take no more: He missed the object of his affection, Miss Abigail Pierce, who lived some three miles away. Undaunted by the prolific snow outside his door, Mr. Adams donned his snowshoes and walked outside through an upstairs window onto the snow.  He found his way to the home of his love, entering through an upstairs window in Abigail’s house. He was the first visitor the family had received since the storm.

The Great Snow may have delayed the mail delivery that week—but it could not halt the delivery of love. 🙂

20161204_094506Photo credits:

Rick Kraft Photos

Robin Bowen

Vicky Sluiter

Tina Rice

Angi Griffis