The Pen is Mightier: Family Connections

The connection in the mid-1800's was through sisters, land, and a place of presumed safety. Life was shared through letters; connections maintained through lengthy correspondence. These letters became living history.

Autauga, Alabama - street scene

The year 1843 must have been some type of watershed year because many pioneers from Dallas County and Autauga County, Alabama, headed for Arkansas.The first tombstone in Oakland Cemetery is for a man from Autauga County. Thomas Stone  who"had relocated to Camden in 1843 and died two years later. The obelisk that surmounts his grave was shipped from New Orleans by steamboat." (encyclopediaofarkansas.net) (Ouachita County Historical Society Quarterly, December 2015.)

Born in Tennessee - not Alabama

Sisters, Seeds, and Cedars by the late Sarah Moseley Fountain contains letters that offer "an intimate view of family life from antebellum worlds to the twentieth century." Her book became a tremendous resource for The House on Harrison Street. Mother had given me her copy of the book that contains references to Charlie Gordon, Ella Ritchie Gordon, Mahala Campbell Moseley, and Jane Campbell Ritchie.

Ouachita County/Camden/Harmony Grove families included in Sarah's annotated volume: Boddie, Brodnax, Campbell/Ritchie, Dickson, Dunlap, Gaughan, Lide, Love, Martin, Morgan, Moseley, Patterson/Proctor, Rumph, Stone/Newton.

Born in Tennessee - not Alabama

The area north of the Ouachita River, now called Harmony Grove, was the primary settlement area after Moro Bay and Bradley County area. Only Jane Campbell Ritchie and family lived "in town." Her sister Mahala and family lived in Harmony Grove.

I love the descriptions of Camden contained in those letters: the proliferation of saloons, the fashion-forward ladies, and the grim reality of illness, the need for religious revival. S, S, and C shares some insight into daily life and contains letters that sisters wrote to each other over an extended period of time. One sister had moved to south Arkansas-the other remained in Alabama.

Don't you miss a good hand-written letter?

The House on Harrison Street utilizes some of the portraits from S,S,and C to provide depth for the  new stories. The book will be launched March 11-12-13, 2016 during the Camden Daffodil Festival.