I recently learned that Dorcas (Galley) Hoar, a woman accused of witchcraft during the notorious Salem Witch Trials, was my 10th great-grandmother (according to Ancestry.com).
The revelation couldn’t come at a more appropriate time than the beginning of October, Samhain, Halloween, and the witchy season. Of course, poor Dorcas was not a witch, although she ended up copping to the charge in order to save her neck. Instead, she was a woman who did not fit in with the Puritan community and...
I recently learned that one of my favorite authors, Paulette Jiles, passed away on July 8, 2025. The news hit me harder than I expected. Jiles—brilliant chronicler of both history and humanity—gave us News of the World (later made into a film), Enemy Women, Stormy Weather, and The Color of Lightning. Her words could transport you straight into the saddle, the storm, or the heart of another century. And as a fellow horsewoman, she earned my admiration twice over.
Her death came during a week...
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