Tag: Indiana Quakers
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Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Rapidly Evolving Quakerism
Sunday, June 10, 1866 Milton, Lizzie and I went to Walnut Ridge to meeting. Enos Prey was there and preached a pretty extensive sermon. E Osborn also preached. There was preaching outdoors. Also the new meeting house is quite commodious but would not contain more than half the people. Went to Joseph Butler’s for dinner.…
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Living Up to a Surprising Family Legacy
I have an impressive role model. Seven years ago today, I spent the day in New Castle, Indiana, paging through musty books, peering at microfilm newspaper articles, and digging through gigantic, bound court record books. My son Ted Shideler and I were just starting my second Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Award project. For the past…
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Frederick Douglass, Mary Jane, and Me: Bringing Historic Figures to Life
A week ago, I saw Frederick Douglass: Well, not really. But I did attend a performance by Darius Wallace, an actor of notable skill. In character as Douglass, Wallace delivered a one-man show at the Historic Fall Creek Meetinghouse, east of Pendleton, Indiana. The outdoor venue perfectly framed the venue and the context: Douglass briefly…
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Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Time Moves On, But Human Nature Stays the Same
From the 1866 diary that inspired my first novel: Sunday, May 20, 1866 Milton, Lizzie & I went to Elmgrove to meeting. Got there before the Sabbath school closed. I read the 46th Psalm at the close of school; several were at meeting, no preaching. After meeting we went to N Gause, took dinner, then…
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Where to Even Begin?
Hmm: A runaway mule team that nearly mows down two women? A quarrel between two sisters who claim to be pacifists? A public argument between a female Northerner and a male Confederate sympathizer? For several months, I debated about the best narrative hook for my novel based on the real family-heirloom diary of my ancestor,…
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Taking a Risk – Putting Faith into Action
How often do we see faith in action like this today? “Sunday, March 25, 1866 Another Sabbath has passed away…This afternoon [I] attended [the] Baptist meeting, but it proved to be mostly a business meeting. They are raising money to buy a lot and build a church as they will most likely be deprived of…
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Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Words of wisdom in stressful times – from 1866!
Sunday, March 11, 1866 We looked for the Ohio teachers on the morning train but they did not come & no word from them. We received a letter from home; they are well as usual. Change is going on among our friends & acquaintances: some are married, some are consigned to the tomb, since our…
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Wrapped in a blanket of Quaker faith
The crickets weren’t chirping. The birds huddling in the trees didn’t sing. No roosters crowed, and no soft breezes wafted through the open doorway.
