Author Archives: theamericanplutarch
And shepherds were tending their sheep at night and behold . . .
The grinding movement of time toward the end was slow and steady, one day following another, night falling expectantly, darkness ruling the land until the hues of dawn foretold the beginning of a new day like all the others. The … Continue reading
Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive
People throughout the ancient Mediterranean believed that the divine spoke to humans through dreams. Such was the experience of the young woman, which brought images so vivid, a conversation so easily recalled, that the sights and sounds etched on the … Continue reading
The Story of the Wise Men
The world was in need of a savior; then a star appeared, an astral phenomenon seen in the east. Those who witnessed the rising star on the endless desert horizon were seeking signs of the will of heaven, the … Continue reading
God is Love
God is mysterious. God is unknowable. God’s ways are unfathomable. Yet like the wind, the air we breathe, God’s presence is unmistakable. Reasoning, trying to figure out God and His ways, is a dead end. Feeling, intuition, sensing His presence, … Continue reading
Ebenezer Hazard, Jeremy Belknap, and the American Revolution
My book, “Ebenezer Hazard, Jeremy Belknap, and the American Revolution,” has been republished by Routledge. Ebenezer Hazard was a surveyor of post roads and scientist during the War for Independence. Jeremy Belknap was a clergyman, scientist, and historian. Their epistles … Continue reading
Harriet Jenkins Wiggin of Massachusetts
Harriet E. Jenkins was born in Vermont sometime in 1815, possibly to John and Mary Jenkins. She was a little girl of 12 in 1828 when she worked on a sampler using needle and thread. She sewed white thread on … Continue reading
Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a strange story about a man who awakes one day to find himself transformed, or metamorphosed, into a bug-like creature with many small skinny legs, antennae, and a hard shell. His appetites change and he can … Continue reading
Hugh Crawford, Scottish Paper Stainer and Emigrant to America, 1789-1857
Hugh Crawford was born in Glasgow on January 31, 1789; he died in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on July 1, 1857 when he was 68. He was the second-born son of John Crawford and Agnes Wright of Glasgow. He had many … Continue reading
Arthur Hamilton Phillips, Farmer and Factory Foreman of New Brunswick and Rhode Island, 1869-1939
Arthur Hamilton Phillips was born in New Brunswick in 1869, the son of Thomas Phillips, an immigrant from Ireland, and Charlotte Kingston, a native of New Brunswick. It is unclear precisely where in New Brunswick Arthur was born. His sister … Continue reading
William Wilburn Amos, Arkansas and Oklahoma Farmer
William Wilburn Amos was born on April 18, 1867, in Pike Co., Alabama, in the southern part of the state, to George Washington Amos III and Mary Jane Carter Amos. William was their first-born son. He was brought up as … Continue reading
