Guest blog by Donna Gawell In the Shadow of Salem is the story of an infamous Puritan, Mehitabel Braybrooke. Her life didn’t start out well, and history books and town records have not been kind. Mehitabel was an illegitimate child of a servant and a prosperous landowner, Richard Braybrooke. Both parents were whipped for the... Continue Reading →
Escaping Poverty through Arranged Marriage: The Mystery of the Missing Brides
Guest blog by Carmen Radtke As Queen Victoria’s empire grew and with it the wealth of the nation (mainly of the upper class), the colonies became a beacon of hope for the poor as well as the struggling middle class. In the 1850s and 1860s, New Zealand offered land for farming, and the former convict-colony... Continue Reading →
Newport Mansions – A Glimpse of Old Europe on America’s East Coast
I had long heard about Newport, Rhode Island, and its reputation as a summering (yes, I said summering) destination of the East Coast elite of yore. But hearing about it doesn’t do it justice. You have to see it for yourself to truly understand the wealth and ambition that went into creating the mansions that... Continue Reading →
A ‘Redundant’ Woman – How Mary De Morgan Defied the Expectations of the Victorian Society
Guest blog by Marilyn Pemberton In The Jewel Garden, Hannah, a fictional character, tells of her relationship with Mary De Morgan (1850-1907), a real-life Victorian writer. De Morgan came from an illustrious family: her father was an eminent mathematician and her mother a renowned spiritualist and social reformer. Her brother William made beautiful tiles, which... Continue Reading →