Author Archives: theamericanplutarch
Review of The Sea Mark: Captain John Smith’s Voyage to New England
The Nautilus: A Maritime Journal of Literature, History, and Culture, (The Nautilus VII (Spring 2016): 115-118: nautilus.maritime.edu/) published a review of my book: The Sea Mark: Captain John Smith’s Voyage to New England (University of New England Press, 2015): the review, reproduced by permission, follows: … Continue reading
Katherine (Katie) Florence Perkins (1875-1937) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island: A Single Woman who worked as a bookkeeper, brush-maker, and house-cleaner
Katie Perkins was born in 1875 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a small factory city of traditional New Englanders and immigrants from Europe. Her parents were George Henry Perkins of Rhode Island and Margaret Rennie Crawford, an immigrant from Glasgow, Scotland. … Continue reading
Legion: The Gerasene Demoniac
Fear filled him. Fear had attached itself to his very being. It was a presence, something a part of him, deep inside, usually hidden, absent from awareness. All creatures in each moment sense the Fear. Instinct usually takes over to … Continue reading
The Largent and Amos Families of the American South
When in 1911 Claude Christopher Largent and Bessie Lura Amos were married, they brought to their union centuries of ancestral history that spanned the American South and Southeast, as well as early modern England and France. They descended from families … Continue reading
The Mysterious Love of God
As the War for Independence drew to a close in 1783, leaving so much death and destruction in its wake, it gave pause to many thinkers of the time as to the role of God in such affairs: was God’s … Continue reading
The Force of Life
“Every creature is thus the object of the Father’s tenderness, who gives it its place in the world. Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of his love, and in its few seconds of existence, … Continue reading
Science in the Ancient World: From Antiquity through the Middle Ages
Ancient science was the intellectual pursuit to understand the origins and workings of nature and humanity. Science is a term that encompasses many methods and varied disciplines over time. Science has engaged human thought for millennia. The questions that … Continue reading
The Lawsons of the American Southern Hill Country
The search for the self can take many paths. I especially like the path of the past. Past lives open up so many avenues for exploration of self. I love to engage in a dialogue with past individuals: the way … Continue reading
Randolph Lawson, Veteran of the American Revolution and Southern Appalachian Farmer
Like many early Americans, the story of Randolph Lawson’s full life is very unclear for the historian of today. It is not known precisely when and where he was born, precisely who his parents were, and precisely who his children … Continue reading
Maxwell Lawson (1802-1872) and Anna Gray Lawson (1807-1877), Tennessee and Arkansas Pioneers
Maxwell Lawson (perhaps christened as John Maxwell Lawson) was born in 1802 in Tennessee, but who exactly his parents were is unclear. Maxwell married Anna Gray in 1820, but what her ancestry was (besides her parents) is overall unclear. Maxwell … Continue reading
