Author Note
Since childhood I’ve been fascinated by the remarkable captivity narratives of Jemima Boone, Mary Ingles, Jenny Wiley, Mary Jemison, Susanna Hutchinson, Frances Slocum, Elizabeth Archer Renick, Mary Rowlandson, Regina Leininger, Simon Girty, the Ruddell brothers of Kentucky (one Ruddell descendant is a reader of my novels), and others. The women’s stories most intrigue me and led to the creation of Keturah Braam.
Researching these captivity stories led to a treasure trove of accounts involving those first settlers in western Virginia, now present-day West Virginia. Several scenes in this novel were inspired by the historical record, such as Jasper’s final fight in the field and Tessa’s serving a meal to the Indians. Much of this rich, even astonishing, frontier history has been buried and nearly lost to time. An Uncommon Woman is a tribute to those unflinching souls who risked so much in so dangerous a region. Their courage, fortitude, and faith are not forgotten.
Many sources were of help to me when writing this novel, particularly the Diary of David Zeisberger: A Moravian Missionary Among the Indians of Ohio. Zeisberger and fellow missionaries, including John Heckewelder and other missions-minded men and women, had an extraordinary ministry among the tribes in their reach. Of special note is White into Red: A Study of the Assimilation of White Persons Captured by Indians by J. Norman Heard.
Writing a book is always an education for the author. I quickly became immersed in the colorful world of the Lenape, also known as the Delaware tribe of Indians. While researching, I came across an account by the Florentine navigator Verrazano, who encountered the Lenape in 1524 along the East Coast before white contact and disease took a toll: “These people are the most beautiful and have the most civil customs that we have found on this voyage. They are taller than we are, they are a bronze color, some tending more towards whiteness, others to a tawny color; the face is clean-cut, the hair is long, and their manner is sweet and gentle, very like that of the ancients. They have all the proportions belonging to any well built men. Their women are just as shapely and beautiful; very gracious, of attractive manner and pleasant appearance.”1
Several dialects were originally spoken among the Lenape in addition to Munsee and Unami. The Lenape Talking Dictionary (http://www.talk-lenape.org) includes audio that allows one to hear their language firsthand. Native languages are especially complex, and any errors within this novel are mine and unintentional.
Often it is not till the end of a book that I grasp what the book is truly about. While writing, the theme of friendship stayed steadfast. Though Keturah Braam is not the heroine in the novel, she could be. Keturah is an uncommon woman and an uncommon friend. Her character is based on this beautiful passage from the commentaries of Matthew Henry, an English minister who lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: “Friends must be constant to each other at all times. That is not true friendship which is not constant; it will be so if it be sincere and actuated by a good principle. Those that are fanciful or selfish in their friendship will love no longer than their humour is pleased and their interest served, and therefore their affections turn with the wind and change with the weather. Swallow-friends, that fly to you in summer, but are gone in winter; such friends there is no loss of. But if the friendship be prudent, generous, and cordial, if I love my friend because he is wise, and virtuous, and good, as long as he continues so, though he fall into poverty and disgrace, still I shall love him. Christ is a friend that loves at all times and we must so love him. Relations must in a special manner be careful and tender of one another in affliction . . . A friend that loves at all times is born (that is, becomes) a brother in adversity, and is so to be valued.”2
1. Fred N. Brown, Rediscovering Vinland: Evidence of Ancient Viking Presence in America (iUniverse, Inc., 2007), 126.
2. Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament: Wherein Each Chapter Is Summed Up in Its Contents: Job–Solomon’s Song (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1839).
Laura Frantz is a Christy Award winner and the ECPA bestselling author of eleven historical novels, including The Frontiersman’s Daughter, Courting Morrow Little, The Colonel’s Lady, and The Lacemaker. When not reading and writing, she loves to garden, take long walks, listen to music, and travel. She is the proud mom of an American soldier and a career firefighter. When not at home in Kentucky, she and her husband live in Washington State. Learn more at www.laurafrantz.net.
LauraFrantz.net
Sign up for announcements about upcoming titles.
Twitter: RevellBooks
Facebook: Revell
Table of Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Books by Laura Frantz
Title Page
Copyright Page
Epigraph
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Excerpt from The Frontierman’s Daughter
Acknowledgments
Author Note
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
List of Pages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
365
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
379
380
381
382
383
384
385