Thank you all for stopping by my blog post! It was fun to read your guesses, but I also enjoyed the stories shared.
Let me get to the winners! I’ve got two winners today!
While researching what kind of disease might wipe out an entire town, sending the gunslingers of Red Ridge in a reluctant truce with the new town doctor one didn’t really trust, I was reminded of fever and ague.
I was just a little girl when I first read about fever and ague, and it was in a Little House on the Prairie book. Perhaps you remember the story? The entire family came down with an illness. First, intense chills, and then a fever and body aches.
Pa Ingalls thought it came from night air. Others thought it was the watermelons growing nearby. No one realized that fever and ague was actually malaria, and came from mosquitoes.
Fever and ague was a common but also debilitating illness in the 1800s, particularly in the United States. In the 1830s in Oregon, two Native American tribes, the Kalapuya of the Willamette Valley and the Chinookan people along the Columbia River were nearly wiped out, losing an estimated 80-95% of their peoples. One estimate I saw said they went from 14,000 lives to just over 1,000. Can you imagine? There wouldn’t have been any family spared the devastation of loss.
While today, we understand fever and ague to be malaria, in the early 1800s that wasn’t known. There was speculation about how it started but one thing was certain. It was deadly once it struck.
The only effective treatment (other than time and luck) was quinine, which came from the bark of the South American Cinchona tree. It was scarce, expensive, and ground up, but it was also incredibly bitter. However, it saved many lives.
Science Museum Group. Quinine sulphate bottle. A664060 Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed 3 November 2025. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co189273/quinine-sulphate-bottle.%5B/caption%5D
It was sobering to write parts of The Doctor. When it comes to medicines and doctors and the fears of what might happen, I sometimes have trouble because it’s rather close to home. Many of you know that I have a child with a chronic illness and a suppressed immune system, and we spend a lot of time in the children’s hospital. Just recently, because his body, even after three months of antibiotics, can’t fight off a skin infection, he had to have a surgery to remove it, in hopes that it will finally respond to the medicine, and avoid the placement of a PICC line in him. Though it’s been scary and hard and there’s been so, so much stress, I can’t help but feel grateful that today, we have tools and knowledge and medicines to help. Back in the 1800s, so many towns didn’t have doctors, and they didn’t have medicines. When something like fever and ague raced through a town, there was little more than false hope that could be given, if there wasn’t a way to treat it. That’s something that the doctor in this book has to grapple with, and I pray none of us ever do.
Thankfully, this is fiction, where HEAs exist, but tears still might pop up.
If you’d like a chance to read The Doctor, it releases later this month in ebook, paperback, and large print.
Today, one of you is going to win an ebook from this series. You can choose if you’d like book 1, book 2, book 3, or…if you’ve already read those, if you’d like me to send you book 4 when it releases. (I promise, I won’t forget!)
You can click right here, to see the books to choose from.
To have a chance at winning, just tell me: Based on this blurb, how do you think the doctor will get the medicine he needs to treat the town?
Nora Madison returns to Red Ridge seeking a decision about her future, but when her overprotective brother tries to tell her what she can and can’t do, Nora resists; especially as a spark ignites between her and the enigmatic physician. Something is drawing her closer, and she’d like to find out what it is.
Dr. Aiden Rycroft’s plan is simple: practice medicine in a town far from his troubles, ignore the town’s drama (especially the possessive gunslinger), and leave when his contract ends. Yet, the more Billy Madison tries to keep him away from his intriguing sister, Nora, the more their paths seem destined to cross.
When a mysterious illness sweeps through the town, Aiden and Billy find their paths intertwined in a reluctant truce. The stakes become deeply personal when Nora falls victim to the very illness Aiden’s been unable to get medicine for. Now, any hope for their future faces its ultimate test as Aiden fights not only to save her life but also to prove his own worth, to himself and to the woman who sees beyond his guarded exterior.
Thanks for stopping by my blog about hats from the 1800s! It was fun hearing your favorite hats or if you don’t care for wearing one!
I’ve got a winner for an ebook copy of The Gunslinger. Alice, you are my winner and this was your comment. Please send me an email, and I will set that to you! sarahlambwriting@gmail.com
I once had a white straw Gaucho style hat with a navy blue ribbon band. I loved that hat. I mostly wore it to church but when it got a little worn looking I wore it working in the yard and garden. Now, I, too, like to wear a cap or wide brimmed hat to keep the sun out of my eyes when working outside.
Have you ever wished for a lovely hat or two, like women wore in the 1800s? I know I have! There are some absolutely stunning creations, and it’s interesting how hats evolved over the years.
While hats were practical for reasons such as they’d protect the wearer from the sun or dust, hold their hair in place, or keep them warm, they were also fashion accessories, that, just like we have today, reflected personal taste, fashion trends, or allowed the wearer to be modestly or properly dressed in situations. Of course, back in the 1800s, a woman wearing a hat was far more critical than it is today, as going without one was considered to be indecent.
Throughout the 1800s, as fashions changed so did the hat styles. One thing that didn’t change, however, was that they were able to be personalized to the wearer’s preferences in decoration, such as colors, ribbons, flowers, material, and even the shape or size.
Just what were some of these lovely head coverings? In no particular order, I’ll talk about a few of them.
A poke bonnet might have been made of willow or fabric, and allowed for a wonderful amount of shade for a woman’s face. The deep design also gave her the ability to wear her hair tucked inside. (Bad hair day? Total coverage!)
For those who wanted to be the very height of fashion, turbans were quite popular for a time, influenced by Orientalism. These were sometimes plain fabric, other times including the addition of a feather or jewel.
As the 1800s progressed, hats and bonnets became smaller. That allowed more of the hair to be shown and accessorized. As women participated in more sporting activities, they adopted the boater style hat.
Boaters were flat topped, brimmed, and made of straw. These were popular for informal wear. But one of my favorite hats styles is the Gainsborough hat. These hats were named after the artist Thomas Gainsborough, and were large, wide brimmed hats often covered in ribbons and flowers or feathers.
While I don’t have a book where a hat is really featured, I would love to give one reader a copy of the first book in my series: The Gunslinger.
To have a chance at winning, just tell me: There are so many hat styles, do you have a favorite one or one that you wear often?
Thanks for stopping by my post today everyone. It was fun getting to hear how many of you loved some of my favorite games!
My ebook winner of a copy of Mail-Order Gambler goes to… Denise!
Yahtzee is my favorite.
When you think of the old West, cowboys, horses, folks settling new towns on the prairies and small dusty towns emerging out of sod or clay come to mind. One of the buildings many of those towns had back then was a saloon. For many men, the saloon, even if they didn’t partake of the liquor, held other social activities. The saloon was where men might meet to discuss a business deal, relax and visit friends, catch up on the news, or gather around for a game, always hoping to win some coin.
Chances are really good that right now, you are imagining some of these men sitting around a table, cards in hand and playing some sort of game like Faro or Brag. While it’s true that many a man won and lost at the card table, just as popular were those games with dice. Who knows, it might have even been easier to pull out dice and play a few rounds of a game, since there were no cards to worry about losing or getting wet, if they were in your pocket and it started to rain.
Two popular dice games in the 1800s were Chuck-a-luck and Hazard.
Chuck-a-luck originated in English pubs, and also called Crown and Anchor. There are a few other names for it, such as Sweat, Chicker Luck, and just plain Chuck. The game is placed with three six sided dice inscribed with clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, a crown, and an anchor, and then a small cup. It’s a simple game. Players wagers on the possible combination outcomes of the dice roll in order to win. Later, to prevent cheating, the cup was replaced with a small cage and the game’s name eventually started being called Birdcage. In the James Bond Movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, you can see the character Lazar playing this game.
When it comes to Hazard, It’s a very old game placed with two standard six-sided numbered dice. In fact, the game is mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the 14th century. For only having two dice, the game was rather complicated. Any number of people may play, but only one player at a time has the dice. In the rounds, the person with the dice specifies a number. The other playes place their wagers on the outcome of those dice rolls. Does that sound familiar? If you said the came of Craps, you are right! Eventually, the complicated rules were modified, and turned into the casino game that many of us are familiar with.
Can I introduce you to a fictional (reformed) gambler?
Kody Hall lives life on a roll of the dice, betting on everything except love. He’s learned the hard way that women don’t mix well with gambling men. But he’s willing to wager everything he has on a chance to change lives at the orphanage he secretly founded. He’s also hoping the woman he’s been corresponding with might be interested in taking a chance on a mail-order husband. He’d like to settle down.
Susan Louden, the orphanage’s teacher, is fiercely protective of her charges. When she spots Kody, the town’s notorious gambler, lurking around the grounds, she chases him off. In her eyes, gambling and innocence don’t mix. Why can’t more men be like the one she’s been writing to?
But a surprise revelation about Kody’s true intentions, and his identity, throws Susan’s world into disarray. Could she have been wrong about him? The more she learns, the more she questions her own place in the orphanage, especially as she starts to develop feelings for him. Can a woman dedicate her life to children while being associated with a gambler?
It’s something Kody’s willing to gamble on.
You can find his story in ebook, paperback, and by searching for large print.
One person who answers my question will win an ebook copy of Mail-Order Gambler!
Just tell me, have you played any dice games yourself? I was always a fan of Yahtzee!
Thank you all so much for stopping by my post earlier. It’s no joke when I say I’m planning to make pies this weekend. I’m not only in the mood, I can’t stop thinking about them, you guys had so many yummy sounding ones in your comments!
Now, for my winner! The winner of an ebook copy of Cherry Cheese Pie by Carissa is Sarah L. Gunter!
Please me an email at: sarahlambwriting@gmail.com so I can get that to you!
While there might always be that debate between which is better, a cake or a pie, in the 1800s, pies were a bit more common at the table. After all, what could be more tasty and more forgiving of a recipe than a bit of this and that put into a pastry crust?
With settlers from other countries making their way to the young United States, many new pies were introduced. In addition, many old favorites were modified and adapted to the ingredients that were readily available here in America.
Considered a practical dish, a pie could be a little of this, a little of that, and turn out to be a hearty meal. Think of that in savory, like Shepards Pie or Pot Pie, when small portions can be combined to make a filling meal, or even a fruit pie, where even if it’s not bursting and overflowing with fruit, it’s still delicious. The crusts are made of simple ingredients also, and the pie could be cooked in the oven or in a covered pot over the fire.
There are so many types of pies, I hoped to find a few I didn’t know anything about, so I went hunting, and found several that made my jaw drop. Here are a few that you also might not have heard of!
White Potato Pie
I bet you’ve heard, maybe even tasted, sweet potato pie. Until I started looking, I had no idea that white potatoes could also make a good pie! It appears to have gotten its start in Maryland, and uses ingredients that are similar to those of a pumpkin pie, such as cream, sugar, eggs, and various spices. The only difference, is that instead of pumpkin of sweet potato, they use white potato! While I’ve never tried it myself, this seems to be an official recipe for it!
Buttermilk Pie
Did you know I lived in Texas for a little over ten years? That’s right! When I married, I left my beautiful Virginia for the west, to live where my husband did. We came back, but while there, I heard of this unusual pie.
Sort of custardy, it makes me think of a chess pie, maybe a sugar cream pie. It’s inexpensive, forgiving, and tasty! Eggs, buttermilk, butter, and just a little flour and the spices help it to set up, quite easily. Here’s a recipe for this one, if you are curious to try it yourself.
Marlborough Pie
Now, this is one more I’ve never had, but I’m curious to try! This pie is a tasty sounding mix of apples, spices, eggs, and, depending on which recipe you find, also cream and sherry. This appears to be one of those pies that people have a particular way of making. You know, like how some insist their chili is the best! But, this recipe here seems so incredibly simple, and is served at a historical New England site, so I’m betting it’s pretty tasty.
Feeling hungry? When I was writing Cherry Cheese Pie by Carissa, I won’t lie. I made a LOT of pies. And, right now I want another!
Carissa Porter is tired of being a wallflower. She’s starting to wonder what’s wrong with her. Why won’t any man even look her way? About the only thing she can do well is bake, so she does just that, and tries to forget about how she’ll be single the rest of her life.
Duncan Marshall wants to tell Carissa how he feels about her, but something stops him every time. After being left at the altar, he’s not offering up his heart ever again, even if he senses she might be different. It’s something he just can’t risk. So, he continues to offer friendship, and nothing more.
When a letter arrives that may remove Carissa from his life, and put her in another’s, will Duncan listen to his heart and show her that they should be together? Or is it too late?
You can learn more by clicking here.
Would you like a chance to win an ebook of this sweet (and stomach growling inducing!) story? Just comment below with either your favorite pie, or if you have ever tried one of the ones above!
What so many of us consider weeds were an important plant in early days. While we know that dandelions can be eaten (if for sure, we know they’ve not been sprayed with poison!) what some of you might not know are the many ways they could have been used for!
From jelly to coffee and tea, fritters and salads or soups to wine and even non food things like ointments, dandelions were a practical and easy to find plant on the western frontier, and one that would really be useful in just about any way since the entire dandelion, from flower to stem to leaves to root can be eaten or used.
While doing some research for a book, I discovered that dandelions were likely brought to America by European settlers, who understood their medicinal and nutritional purposes. These flowers and stems provided a lot of needed nutrients, but also could help the liver and digestive system, as well as the skin. Though it doesn’t appear they were ever planted as a crop, the fact that their seeds make it easy for abundant plants to grow, made it one that was easily found.
So, I’ve got an easy and tasty recipe, if you ever get the hankering to try them!
Dandelion Jelly
Ingredients:
Directions:
Where I live, Mennonites make dandelion jelly quite often. Have you ever eaten dandelions? I’ve love to know!
Welcome to Rockingham County, Virginia! Today, I’m going to be sharing a bit of history, and some photos taken from a book of the area’s history published in 1976 by the county’s extension office, for the Bicentennial, called The Heartland. So, please excuse if the pictures aren’t perfect. It’s hard to even find many photos, and this book is also hard to come by but it’s chockfull of amazing ones. I’m thrilled to own a copy even if it’s got a musty smell and I get all sneezy each time I look at it!
There is SO much history here, I don’t even know where to start. Every day I get to drive past homes that have sat there for hundreds of years and have more stories than time attached to them. I’ve been blessed to tour several over the years, and be immersed in the history both pre and during the Civil War.
Rockingham County is a lovely place nestled in the Shenandoah Valley. Created in 1778, Rockingham County was named for the Marquis of Rockingham, a British statesman sympathetic with the American Revolution. The county seat of Harrisonburg was named in honor of Thomas Harrison and founded in 1780.
But, long before Rockingham County was founded, our beautiful Shenandoah Valley was home to Native Americans including the Iroquois, Siouan, Shawnee, and Tuscarora. Over hundreds of years, they carved a footpath through the Valley’s center. Later, that became known as the Great Wagon Road. Similar to the Oregon Trail (just in the east!) it was enabled colonists to travel south from Pennsylvania. Don’t let the face it’s in the east, the more “civilized area” fool you though, it was still a very dangerous way to travel and the travelers were preyed on.
With freshwater springs and caverns all over (over 100 caverns, with many available to be toured), the valley’s wide meadows and densely forested mountains were prized by German and Scots-Irish settlers. The settlers quickly established farms, mills, and thriving communities during early America’s frontier days.
Even today, we still have the Quaker, Mennonite, and Brethren faiths active in our community. I think it was a bit of a shock for my husband, from the urban Houston, Texas, to come here and meander through small stores with Mennonites arriving in their horse and buggies, wearing their simple clothes and head coverings. I admit, I never thought twice about it, and neither have our kids.
The Shenandoah Valley became known as the “breadbasket of the Confederacy” during the Civil War, and they witnessed a good number of battles. Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson successfully kept a large portion of the Union forces engaged in his Valley Campaign of 1862, preventing them from moving eastward and massing for an attack on Richmond. In fact, he stayed (and slept on the floor, preferring that to the bed!) in the Miller-Kite House in Elkton, which I’ve had the pleasure of touring twice. It’s rumored to be haunted…but it’s an incredible house, filled with secret hiding areas, pristine condition dresses and bedcovers made in the 1800s, and so much history.
Sorry! Side tracked! History does that to me. Back to the county at whole! In 1864, the county residents, many of whom had declined to fight for religious reasons (remember, loads of Quakers, Brethren, and Mennonites,) had their barns burned and their farms destroyed by Union General Philip Sheridan. He had hoped to bring an end to the area’s ability to supply the Confederate Army.
After the Civil War, like so many other areas, the people rebuilt. Stores were built, even resorts in this area, and later, Shenandoah National Park would be formed. Schools, both private and public, populated the areas.
Have you ever heard of the Wetsel Seed Company? It had its start right here, in Rockingham County, selling seeds out of a wagon.
The people of the Shenandoah Valley are proud of their history here, and those who have the means try and restore the old houses or properties, so that the stories of them can still be told.
There’s just so much to share…maybe I’ll do a few more blogs about our lovely area! I’ve hardly scratched the surface. Tell me, have you ever visited Virginia?
