Eleanor and Franklin (Part 3)

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

         “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.” Eleanor Roosevelt. 

         Eleanor’s wisdom came from her experiences. From an often-chaotic childhood, an unpredictable adolescence, and as a young adult, she was thought of as opinionated.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, she waltzed right into a storybook love. As married people know, after a romantic wedding comes the reality of life. Eleanor and Franklin were no different than what some of us may have experienced: infidelity, sickness, and death. That is, minus the publicity.

When Eleanor’s uncle, Teddy Roosevelt, rode across Cuba with his cavalry group of Rough Riders in 1898, that opened another world. America entered the leadership role, and the industrial age was launched.

As I tell in Destiny’s Whirlwind, this also brought in the Gibson Era and a significant cultural shift for the American woman to become well-educated, independent, and capable in societal expectations and self-expression. Eleanor loved this new lifestyle, as I wrote in my June 15^th blog. 

After Eleanor’s wedding to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1904, her life changed drastically. From balls, dinners, and tea parties to diapers, bottles, and burping babies. Eleanor’s days were now filled with caring for her family. She threw herself into her new role with zeal and a zest that even startled herself. 

Eleanor never cared for social life. As I wrote in my May 15^th blog, as a young child she was shy and withdrawn. Staying home, caring for her children was not a hardship. With her burgeoning tummy, babies needing her attention, and little time, if any, to primp, she thought over her options of what to do with the many social engagements needing her presence—hire a nanny for her children, or employ a lady to fulfill her social obligations? 

Within eleven years after her marriage, Eleanor would mother a total of six children. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906–1975), James Roosevelt (1907–1991), Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (1909–1909, died in infancy), Elliott Roosevelt (1910–1990), Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (1914–1988), John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1916–1981).

Perhaps it was due to her own desires to be a good mother because of the lack of a caring mother in her childhood, or simply a love for mothering, that she hired a social secretary to fulfil her outside roles, thereby giving her more time with her children. After all, the exhausting work of having babies and running a bustling household gave Eleanor little time to afford her attention to the latest fashion trends.

         Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd was seven years younger than Eleanor, petite, perky, confident, and beautiful in her own eyes. Eleanor noticed this about her yet liked her and felt she could help Lucy.

Lucy came from a prominent Catholic family who lived in Maryland. She had come to Washington, D.C. looking for work. For though she was educated in private schools, her family had very little money. Eleanor was more than willing to help this young girl get her start. Later, in her column, “My Day”, she would write, “For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.”

Eleanor lovingly cared for her husband and children and supervised the household, all the while supporting her husband’s career. It was during this decade of her life that she committed herself completely to her family. 

        

She put everything aside, including her personal interests. She ended her volunteer work, her active political agenda, even some family dinners, and participating in luncheons with the
politicians’ wives.

During such an occasion, Lucy met Franklin. Lucy was very helpful and often spent her evenings performing Eleanor’s social obligations that came with Franklin’s position as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Eleanor was elated with her secretary and, because Lucy was always willing, placed more social responsibilities upon her. Oftentimes it proved necessary for Lucy to serve as the extra woman at some of Roosevelt’s dinner parties.

Franklin evidently approved of Eleanor’s selection of a social secretary, for it wasn’t long before a relationship blossomed that was not purely professional.

The truth slapped Eleanor in the face one morning when she found out that her husband was having an affair with Lucy. It was the year 1918 when Eleanor found a package of Lucy’s letters in her husband’s luggage. What hurt was that the affair had happened right under Eleanor’s nose, all the while she was being helpful and dedicated to both her husband and this young girl.

Eleanor had borne Franklin six children, one of whom had died in infancy, and her youngest, John, was only two years old! Needless to say, she was devastated! Eleanor would later write, in “My Day”, “You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”

Divorce was the word only whispered behind closed doors during the early 1900s. But Eleanor uttered the word divorce in her thoughts and upon her lips repeatedly during her months of mental anguish. There seemed no way out of this adulterous situation. Her vindictive side thought, yes, divorce him; that would serve my husband right for his actions, and I’m certain that would please Lucy!

 But her sensible side thought, I love him, and what would that mean to her children’s lives, and Franklin’s political career?

That is the question every wife ask themselves: should I divorce him or not? See September’s Blog for how Eleanor handles her husband’s infidelities and flawed personality.

DESTINY’S WHIRLWIND: (book 2 of the Destiny Series)

A death-bed promise, a dashing Rough Rider, the parable of the Sower take on unimaginable consequences.  

A disgruntled in-law and a vindictive lawyer place the McConnell clan in the clutches of life’s tangled web of deception and greed. As Collina fights to keep her promise, the words of Esther 8:6 ring in her thoughts. “How can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people?”

Destiny’s Whirlwind by Catherine Brakefield is a beautiful inspirational love story that will reel you in and win your heart…The story is beautifully written and filled with triumph and heartbreak. I couldn’t put it down…” LS  

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny, and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, and Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, two dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.

 

https://www.loc.gov/resource/hec.47448/

https://www.fdrlibrary.org/er-photos

Samuel Colt and his Revolver

by Sherry Shindelar

Samuel Colt was only sixteen years old in 1830 when he designed the first working model of the gun that would revolutionize firearms: the Colt revolver. It took him six years to obtain a patent and two years after that, he found a manufacturer. But no one wanted the gun. The US didn’t even have a cavalry yet, and ordinary people viewed the new pistol as an impractical oddity.

Samuel Colt 1855 engraving by John Chester Buttre

The Republic of Texas ordered 180 Colts for their Navy and another forty for their Army. But there’s no evidence that the guns were used. Until…

Around 1843, Captain Jack Hayes and his Texas Rangers discovered the firepower of the Colt revolver. At the battle of Walker Creek in 1844, Hayes and his Rangers, proved the worth of these revolutionary weapons. Caught in the open, Hayes and his fourteen men took on seventy-five Comanches. Their five-shooters vs. arrows, lances, and single-shot weapons, left twenty Comanche dead and thirty wounded and one Ranger dead and three wounded.

Hayes and his band of Rangers were sold on the weapon, but meanwhile, Colt’s factory had filed for bankruptcy in 1842, and Colt was broke. His dreams for a six-shooter revolver and success seemed unreachable. His revolver had flaws, and no one appeared to see the value of his invention.

Colt Walker (3rd generation)

Then, in 1846, he heard from the distant frontier of Texas that someone had found a use for his gun. Excited, Colt wrote to one of the Rangers, Samuel Walker. Walker wrote back telling him that the revolver had a made a world of difference in their battles with the Comanche, and he suggested improvements for the gun.

Captain Samuel Walker, photo by Mathew Brady

Shortly after that, the Mexican War started, and the Rangers volunteered to fight alongside the U.S. Army troops. The high command of the Army was amazed at the effectiveness of the Colt revolvers used by the Rangers, envisioning for the first time what a difference the weapon could make, especially in battles that took place on horseback.

The army contacted Colt and ordered 1,000. However, at this point, Colt didn’t have a factory, and he hadn’t made a gun in over five years. He didn’t even own one of his revolvers and had to advertise in the newspaper to try to find one. But he wasn’t about to turn down the order.

Colt Paterson and Colt Walker Reproductions By Michael E. Cumpston  

He persuaded his fellow inventor, Eli Whitney, to manufacture the weapon, and he contacted Ranger Samuel Walker, for ideas on how to make the gun the best that it could be. They made it heavier and more rugged, gave it a larger handle, lengthened the barrel, enlarged the caliper, and gave it a sixth chamber. From obscurity, the Walker-Colt became one of the most effective side arms ever invented, and Colt became one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century. And it all could have been lost if he’d given up in 1842 when all the evidence he could see said that he’d failed.

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is a multi-award-winning author. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of over forty years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Connect with Sherry: website newsletter Amazon FB

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior and having a baby. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life and takes her captive. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Captain Garret Ramsey finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, where he witnesses the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave?

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park by Denise M. Colby

On a recent trip, I had the privilege to visit the Lincoln Birthplace National Park. Located in Larue County, Kentucky, it is comprised of a visitor center (with museum and gift shop), grounds to walk around and picnic on, and a memorial building housing a replica of the one-room log cabin Lincoln was born and raised in until he was two.

What is the Lincoln Birthplace National Park?

The actual location of the park is where Lincoln was born and lived until he was two. Originally when they built the memorial they believed the cabin was the original, but later it was discovered it was not. That is marked clearly on one of the signs providing details of the park.

There is a second park called Knob Creek connected to this one. Down the way about 15 minutes, is where the family moved when Lincoln was 2. He lived there until age 7 and then the family moved to a homestead in Indiana (which is preserved as the Lincoln Boyhood National Museum.

The Memorial Building

They built the memorial building with key features. Sixteen windows, Sixteen rosettes on the celing, sixteen fence poles, all represent what number president he was. There are 56 steps from the base to reach the building representing what age Lincoln died.

Theodore Roosevelt began construction and President Taft was the one who dedicated it after completion.

There is a sinking spring deep underneath the memorial, which is where the original farm had gotten its name.

The Visitor Center

The museum in the visitor center highlights the family history (tracing back to 1550) and displays furniture and tools used during the timeframe of Lincoln’s birth. His father was a carpenter and there’s a table he built on display. There’s also a family Bible. There’s even a game called Gateway to the Presidency.

 

Other Lincoln Things to See

The general vicinity celebrates the connection to Abraham Lincoln. In nearby Springfield, there’s a Lincoln Legacy Museum. We didn’t stop, but according to TripAdvisor it is a great spot to stop. Springfield proudly promotes that they are where Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks met and were married before leasing the land at Sinking Springs.

As we drove through Hodgenville, they had a statue of Lincoln in the center of town facing a statue of Lincoln as a young boy. The boy statue includes a dog, and I was hoping it was Fido, but Fido was Lincoln’s dog as an adult and this one was his childhood pet.

 

In downtown Lexington, there is the Mary Todd Lincoln house. We toured that as well, and I’ll share that in another post. I will say it was interesting to see the differences with how each of them were raised.

Book 4 in the Best-laid Plans Series releases May 26, 2026

California, 1870. Pastor William Baker built his life on steady faith and safe choices, but the arrival of Lydia Spencer upends everything. Independent and outspoken Lydia is unlike any woman he’s ever known. Lydia is a Pinkerton detective, undercover as a schoolteacher while tracking a dangerous crime boss. She’s determined to protect her friends in Washton even if it means keeping her distance from the kind, steadfast pastor who sees too much. But when Will and Lydia are thrown together in a search for truth they find themselves fighting not only for justice, but for a future neither had planned.

Denise M. Colby writes historical romance sweetened with faith, hope, and love. She finds history fascinating and contemplates often how it was to live in the 1800's. Her debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, is a 2025 Carol Award finalist. Sign up for her newsletter at www.denisemcolby.com or follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, Pinterest, or GoodReads.

Life Before the Lights: How Families Survived Without Electricity in Rural Kentucky

Electricity lights up our lives—literally.

It’s hard to imagine life with no electric power. We rely on electricity to light our homes and our streets, to cook our food, to heat and cool our homes, and—especially these days—to power our phones and computers.

Antique wood-burning stoves can still be
found,  but at one time they were a vital part
of family life.

But even as late as 1940, many homes in rural areas of the United States had no electricity. Running power lines was expensive, and the utility companies saw little return in running wires to every individual farm, often miles apart.

The communities around Golden Pond and Trigg County in western Kentucky were served primarily by Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative, which was organized in 1937, with a low-interest loan from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The first lines were energized on September 2, 1938, serving 175 homes. By the end of 1938, about 600 rural members had electricity.

The network expanded year by year. Rather than wiring an entire county at once, crews built new lines as funding became available and enough nearby farms signed up. Families often watched poles being set for months before electricity finally reached their road.

I’ve written about the TVA’s Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam, built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which created lakes that eliminated entire towns.

A washtub in the middle of the yard
was a common site in 1930s rural areas.

But before those dams allowed electrical lines to be built inexpensively, what was life like for families in the area Between the Rivers of western Kentucky and Tennessee?

They cooked on wood stoves.

Water typically came from a hand pump outside,
though "modernized" homes might have had
a pump  at the kitchen sink.

They pumped water by hand and hauled it to the house, or carried it from a nearby stream.

They cooled food in springhouses.

This AI-created image shows a woman
canning jam in a country kitchen without
electricity.

They canned almost everything.

They raised gardens and livestock.

They heated with wood and coal.

They washed clothes by hand.

Washday before electricity meant heating water in a tub, typically
outside over a wood fire, and scrubbing clothes on a washboard.
Even the children helped out.

They ironed with cast-iron irons heated on the stove.

Churning butter was not as easy
 as going to a grocery store.

They read by kerosene lamp.

They listened to battery-powered radios (if they had one).

They often raised their own food, including chickens for eggs and meat, cows for milk and butter, and vegetables they could "put up" for winter.

They relied on neighbors instead of appliances.

Children contributed meaningful work every day.

Thanks to vintage photos and with the help of AI, we can visualize what life was like before electricity simplified our lives. And we can be grateful for our modern conveniences.

The real "heroes" of history weren't just famous people—they were ordinary families who relied on their resilience, ingenuity, faith, and community before they had all the conveniences we take for granted.

Sources:

Washboards and mangles; laundry in the 1930s - 1939 Register | findmypast.com 

Take A Look At These Photos Of Life In The 1930s In Kentucky 

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on the Between the Rivers Legacy series, historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. The first book of the series, Moonshine River, releases September 22 and includes descriptions of many details of everyday life before electricity. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

The historical short story, “All That Glistens,” is loosely based on a real character from Golden Pond, Kentucky. It was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes.

Live Theater Growing Pains

By Kathy Kovach

By the turn of 19th century, British influence had been suppressed in colonial America thanks to the American Revolution. The new nation was free to create its own identity, and live theater accepted the challenge. Some hotspots, of course, still remained, most notably the Astor Place Riot that occurred in New York City on May 10, 1849. More on that later.

In 1832, William Dunlap, known as “The Father of American Drama”, characterized theater as a powerful engine.

“No arts can be made more effectual for the promotion of good than the dramatic and the histrionic. They unite music, poetry, painting, and eloquence. The engine is powerful for good or ill—it is for society to choose.”

Even though some southern states had already embraced live theater, three northern cities became the nerve center: Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.

Boston’s growing pains didn’t stem from British prejudice, but from Puritan resistance. Heavy hitters such as John Hancock and Sam Adams contributed to the religious, as well as artistic, suppression.

Poster of The Boston Museum, circa 1847

However, creativity cannot be squelched. Theaters were masked under names such as Exhibition Hall and Boston Museum. A comedic play, The Contrast, was billed as “a moral lecture in five parts” according to an advertisement in Boston’s Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advisor (October 18, 1792).

Beginning in the late 1700s, Philadelphia claimed to have been the center of theater entertainment until New York commanded the stage after the 1830s. In the 19th century alone, Philadelphia built over 100 theaters. The Chestnut Street Theatre, first opened in 1794 with a capacity of entertaining 2,000 patrons. In comparison, the Gershwin Theatre in New York is considered the largest on Broadway and holds 1,933 seats. The Chestnut Street Theatre was also the first in America to be lit by gaslight.

The Arch Street Theatre opened on October 1, 1828 and boasted a magnificent 108-year run. The notoriously infamous John Wilkes Booth joined the stock company there in 1857.

Louisa Lane Drew as Ophelia c. 1840-48

The Arch was the first theater to employ a female manager. In 1860, stockholders suggested veteran actress Louisa Lane Drew replace her husband, John Drew, due to his mismanagement for ten years. It thrived under her watchful eye until her retirement in 1892.

Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, c. 1904

Drew Barrymore, 2014

Born into a performing family, Louisa Drew started acting as a child. The genes must have been strong as she went on to become the grandmother of Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore. Establishing herself as the matriarchal ancestor to the famous Barrymore-Drew acting family, spanning four centuries.

New York City live theater started small. The first appeared on Nassau Street in 1732. Nearly twenty years later, the New York Theatre became the first to present a musical in 1750.

Bowery Theatre

Park Theatre

Opening in 1826, the Bowery Theatre, located on the rowdy lower east side of Manhattan, became popular. Audiences there were known to disrupt performances, going as far as throwing projectiles. Their polar opposite competition, the elite Park Theatre, was located in what is now the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan. They catered to imported British actors, presenting Shakespeare.

Astor Place Riot

In 1847, the Astor Place Theatre, located in lower Manhattan, had been built to attract the upper crust of society. European entertainment fit their bill. A dress code was implemented, insisting on “freshly shaven faces, evening dress, and kid gloves”. While attempting to establish an air of refinement, no one could envision the tragedy that would ensue less than two years after its opening.

Yes, the Revolutionary War had helped America to establish its own identity, and yes, much of the British influence had been suppressed, but not eradicated. Sixty-four years after the war, pockets of loyalists remained on both sides.

William Charles Macready

Edwin Forrest

Enter William Charles Macready, a renowned British thespian, and Edwin Forrest an equally loved American actor having established himself at the Bowery Theatre. Both performed notable Shakespearean characters. Both were accomplished in their art.

Astor Place Riot

On the surface, the Astor Place Riot may have looked like a rivalry between the two men and their supporters, Macready’s fans preferring the gentility of the British style, and Forrest’s championing his robust, athletic technique. Forrest exacerbated the feud by hissing at Macready from a private box seat in the audience during a performance of Hamlet in Edinburgh, Scotland. This was in retaliation of the European audience doing the same to him while delivering his interpretation of Macbeth, of which his style of acting was unsuited.

In a plot twist, once Isaiah Rynders became involved, things got ugly.

Hollywood actor Edward G. Robinson as a mob boss

Isaiah Rynders was an underworld figure (I read that as gangster) who was known for organizing election fraud and participating in voter intimidation. When Macready performed Macbeth at the Astor Place Theatre on May 7, 1849, three days before the riot, Rynders stirred up the audience, encouraging them to throw things and be disruptive. On May 10, he went too far, and in an attempt to make a point against the British, he handed out handbills and free tickets throughout saloons and various places in the city, inviting patriots to Macready’s next performance in order to demonstrate their feelings about the British.

When the play opened that evening, 10,000 people lined the streets. The riot broke out and vegetables and shoes were replaced with stones. Some attempted to set fire to the building.

The militia was called in, as were the police. In all, 600 soldiers and law enforcement personnel fought against angry civilians answering Rynders’s question: “Shall Americans or English rule this city?”

In the end, nearly two dozen rioters were killed and forty-eight were injured. The militia and policemen also suffered wounds. The theater never was the same, and ended up closing after the next season. Edwin Forrest’s reputation took a hit, as well, because some still saw it as one rival actor attacking another.

Whether this tragedy opened people’s eyes, or the stigma of British rule simply faded, I’m not certain, but at some point in American theater’s four-decade history, things have settled down.

To finish on a happy note, who’s up for musical theater?

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

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