Archives
Meta
Category Archives: American History
Missionary John Thayer
John Thayer (1755-1815) was a New England convert, educated at Yale where he was taught that all things Roman Catholic were despicable. Then he went to Europe and underwent a conversion—a most unexpected religious change. He wrote a book about … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Christianity, Great Commission
Tagged bible, Christianity, church-history, Great Commission, history, missionary, Religion
Leave a comment
Louis Hennepin (1626-1704), Missionary of Hope
When a person thinks back to the colonial American past imagining what the first Catholic missionaries who braved the elements, journeyed into the forests, and canoed down American rivers, must have been like, they are thinking of such a person … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography, Christianity, God's Providence, Great Commission
Tagged history, louisiana, missionary, Religion, saints, travel
Leave a comment
Martyr for Christ: Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649)
The images of the great martyrs of the past, those disciples and followers of Christ who committed their all—body and soul—to the Great Commission, to spread the word to all creatures worldwide, inspired Jean de Brébeuf as a young man … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography, Christianity, Great Commission
Tagged bible, Christianity, faith, french-missionaries, god, Great Commission, Jesus, martyr, new-france, roman-catholicism
Leave a comment
The Sorrels Family Orchestra
Ephraim Deals (Deal) Sorrels, Arkansas farmer and woodcutter, was a singer and perhaps a fiddler–at least it is clear he had a musical bent. And Van, his son, took after his father. Whether or not Van was a singer is … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography
Tagged arkansas-history, family-orchestra, fiddlers, genealogy
Leave a comment
Van Sorrels, the Woodcutting Musician
As the woodcutter sawed and chopped and hewed oak, hickory, maple, and pine, he sang songs to the past, to the land, and to the Lord. His name was Van. He was a simple man. He could read and write … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography
Tagged arkansas-history, fiddlers, genealogy, history, rural-arkansas, wood-hewers
Leave a comment
Diary for 1933, 1934, 1935, and 1936 by Lida J. Newcomb of Haverhill, Massachusetts
Lida (Elizabeth) Jane Newcomb was born in San Rafael, California, in 1871; she died at Country Pond, Kingston, New Hampshire, in 1941. She lived most of her life in Maine and Massachusetts, wife to Robert Eugene (Gene) Newcomb, a tinsmith … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography
Tagged 1930s, Biography, diary, great-depression, history, housewife, massachusetts, new-hampshire
Leave a comment
The Sound of Freedom
My community allows unrestricted fireworks of any type on July 3 and 4 until 11:00 p.m. Many people complain but those who enjoy shooting them off and making noise late at night argue that it is the “sound of freedom,” … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays
Tagged American Revolution, sound-of-freedom, War
Leave a comment
God’s Providence: What did Early American Religious Thinkers Believe about the Role of God in Human Affairs?
The eighteenth century in America was a time of awakening from the slumber of the past. Light was shed on the darkness of superstition, irrationality, autocracy, aristocratic privilege, and dogma. The individual, weighed down by the chains of time, institutions, … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Christianity, God's Providence
Tagged bible, Christianity, Early American Christians, god, history, Protestants, Providence, Religion, theology
Leave a comment
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
Dr. Seuss and Racism
In 2017, an elementary school librarian in Massachusetts criticized a gift of Dr. Seuss books from then First Lady Melania Trump as being “steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes.” A school district in Virginia claimed that “Research in … Continue reading
The American Plutarch 