Only One Way Home

I first became acquainted with Deborah Heal through her delightful historic/fantasy Time and Again Trilogy. Now, I’m excited to learn she has a new series out. Recently Deborah Heal released Only One Way Home, book 2 in her Rewinding Time Series. Enjoy this excerpt from her book.

At the end of the excerpt, “My Cherokee Roots” tells about Deborah’s personal connection to the story.

Finally, enter the contest at the bottom to win a copy of Only One Way Home.

EXCERPT:

From Professor Randall’s Notebook…

FIELD RESEARCH SITE: Golconda, Illinois.

GOAL: Trace client’s Frailey ancestors—back to Scotland if possible—and get home in time for dinner.

NOTE to SELF: Do NOT fall in love with Matthias Frailey—even though he is was quite wonderful. Remember, idiot, he’s been dead for over 175 years.

Professor Merrideth Randall’s latest after-hours genealogy consulting gig takes her and friends Abby and John to the small southern Illinois town of Golconda on the Ohio River. She expects to have to research the old-fashioned way at the courthouse. But thankfully, her client’s ancestor Matthias Frailey once hung out in Golconda’s ancient Ferry House Inn, and that means Beautiful Houses, Merrideth’s time-rewinding software, will work after all.

It doesn’t take Merrideth and her friends long to time-surf back to find out what they need to know about Matthias Frailey and his family. But when they become eyewitnesses to the arrival of the Cherokee on the Golconda Ferry on December 3, 1838, they cannot tear their eyes away from the tragedy that unfolds—nor from Matthias Frailey’s heroic response to it. The people are herded down Main Street on their Trail of Tears, bound for the Oklahoma Country, while the townsfolk only watch, or even cheer. But not Matthias Frailey. He does what he can to help them, especially a very spirited—and very pregnant—woman named White Dove who insists on walking so others may ride in the wagons.

Spending so much time inside Matthias’ head, Merrideth has no doubt that he is the kind, selfless man he appears to be. It’s impossible not to fall a little in love with him—despite the fact that he is from another century. Meanwhile, in the here and now, handsome Golconda historian Aaron Landis is doggedly pursuing her. And back home her McKendree College colleague Brett Garrison keeps calling while he waits for her return. But are they—or any man—worthy of her trust? Too bad there isn’t a way to time-surf in their heads. Now that would be a dating tool she could really put to good use.

Only One Way Home is available in Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

MY CHEROKEE ROOTS

by Deborah Heal

“Cherokee blood, if not destroyed, will win its courses in beings of fair complexions, who will read that their ancestors became civilized under the frowns of misfortunes & the causes of their enemies.”

—John Ridge, Cherokee chief

Fortunately, John Ridge’s fear of his people’s extinction or total assimilation did not come true. However, there are plenty of blond-haired pale-skins like myself with Cherokee blood “coursing” through their veins. I grew up knowing there was Cherokee in my ancestry. You can see it clearly in this photograph of my grandma Ethel Woods. My siblings and I took great pride in this, considering it a mark of distinction. I found out much later that Grandpa sometimes called her “Squaw” in a pejorative way that indicated he didn’t feel quite the same way about her Indian heritage as we did.

This is her grandma Mary Ann Jones Bohannon, who was born in 1827 in Nash County, North Carolina, to Jesse and Susan Jones. In case you’re wondering, many Indians by that time had taken on English surnames in their conscious efforts to become “civilized.” Indeed, the Cherokee were one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” of the southeast.

In the early 1800s the Cherokee made tremendous social and cultural progress in a very short time, successfully transitioning from a hunter-gatherers society to an agrarian one. With Thomas Jefferson’s guidance, they gave up their ancient blood-feud system for a representative form of government with a constitution and court system. They tended their farms well and lived in homes every bit as nice as most of their white neighbors. Furthermore, their literacy rate was climbing fast, and they even had their own newspaper, printed in both English and Cherokee. Plans were in the works for a Cherokee museum.

But their efforts to become “civilized” were in vain. During the Indian Removal of 1838, over 16,000 Cherokee were forced from their Georgia and North Carolina homes and herded into military stockades where they were confined until they could be sent to Oklahoma. Their time there was a horrible ordeal, and that was just the beginning of their suffering. They called the trip to Oklahoma Nunahi-Duna-Hilu-I, the trail where they cried.

Learn more about Cherokee culture and the political maneuvering that led to their plight in my blog post “Jackson’s Indian Removal Policy.” And you can read first-hand accounts of the Trail of Tears in my article “The Trail Where They Cried.” Bring your tissue.

The worst part of the journey was the time they spent in southern Illinois that December of 1838. Only One Way Home tells that story. As always, I tried to be as accurate as possible. White Dove’s experiences at Golconda represent many actual circumstances that the Cherokee endured during their time in my state. I suspect some readers will think I exaggerated their suffering, but if anything, I downplayed it to prevent the story from becoming too painful to read. Naturally, with the Trail of Tears topic, the story is sad, but there are also moments of shining joy and hope, so don’t think it’s too depressing to read.

As for my Great, Great Grandmother Mary Ann Jones, she would have been eleven when the soldiers came to North Carolina to round up the Cherokee. Somehow her family escaped the fate of the others so perhaps they hid in the mountains, as some reportedly did. By 1845, Mary Ann was in Benton, Co., Tennessee, where she married James Henry Bohannon, a man of Scottish descent. (His ancestor Duncan’s ordeal is another story I plan to tell one day.)

Mary Ann’s white neighbors referred to her as the “Indian Woman,” because she retained many of her Cherokee customs. I don’t know if she was full-blooded Cherokee, but I do know that when Mary Ann died in Sugar Tree, Tennessee in 1882, they buried her outside the cemetery fence because she wasn’t white enough to qualify for a proper spot inside it. When I visited her grave ten years ago, I found that the cemetery had expanded to the point that now she lies pretty much at its center, a fact that causes me to smile every time I think about it.

It was with great happiness and respect that I dedicated Only One Way Home to her.

For my Great, Great Grandmother Mary Ann Jones Bohannon, the “Indian Woman,”

and for my brother Kenny Woods who inherited his dark good looks from her.

Although the details of this family history were deconstructed and woven into the warp and weft of the story in a completely fictional way, they truly were the inspiration for Only One Way Home, the story I wanted—needed—to tell.

Book 1 in the Rewinding Time Series is also available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback.