Thimble of Soil: A Womans Quest for Land (Trail of Thread Series) - Softcover

Hubalek, Linda K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886652074 ISBN 13: 9781886652071

Publisher: Butterfield Books Inc, 1996

Synopsis

Experience the terror of the fighting and the determination to endure as you stake a claim alongside the women caught in the bloody conflicts of Kansas in the 1850s. Follow the widowed Margaret Ralston Kennedy (a relative of the author) in this second book of the Trail of Thread series, as she travels with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the Territory of Kansas in 1855. Thousands of American headed west in the decade before the Civil War, but those who settled in Kansas suffered through the frequent clashes between proslavery and free-state fractions that gripped the territory. Margaret was dedicated to the cause of the North, and while the male members of her family were away fighting for a free state, she valiantly defended their homestead and held their families together through the savage years of Bleeding Kansas. Told through her letters, Thimble of Soil describes the prevalent hardships and infrequent joys experienced by the hardy pioneer women of Kansas, who struggled to protect their families from terrorist raids while building new homes and new lives on the vast unbroken prairie. Watch for the twelve quilt patterns mentioned in the letters.

About this title

About the Author:

In sixth grade we had to write a paper on what we wanted to do when we grew up. My mom had kept it and I found this paper while cleaning through my closet during my college days. According to my dreams back then, I wanted to be a farmer, but my last line was -but alas, girls can't be farmers. Well, I got my Bachelors Degree in Agriculture/Horticulture from Kansas State University, did agronomy research for years before starting a wholesale horticulture business. My company, Prairie Flower Creations, grew and dried flowers, ornamental corn, and mini pumpkins for the florist trade. In 1990 I was featured in Country Woman Magazine, but at the same time, my husband's job was transferred to California. I sold my business and tried to cope, growing flowers and pumpkins in five-gallon buckets on our cement lawn. I started writing about the family and farmland I was homesick for and started a new career, writing about women ancestors who had moved to the new state of Kansas and farmed its land. We eventually moved back to Kansas, bought land next to my family, raised buffalo, and I have a garden again. So not only have I fulfilled my dream to be a farmer, I've written about past and present women that have also tilled the prairie land of Kansas. Please read and enjoy my book series which are about the family that homestead our family farm, and my ancestors that homesteaded in Kansas in the 1800s. Considered historical fiction, these quality paperback books are age appropriate for everyone from age 9 to 99. Book, quilt, and Scandinavian gift shops sell them (or ask your local store to stock them for you) and schools use them in class studies to portray early pioneer and Kansas history. My writing time most days is spent on the computer with marketing my businesses, and working on the next book series.

About this edition

• Publisher: Butterfield Books Inc
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1886652074
• ISBN 13: 9781886652071
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 122