Janelle Molony is excited to be deep in the throngs of Civil War and Westward Expansion research for her biographical memoir of an 1864 pioneer, Sarah Jane Rousseau.
In From Where I Sat, Wheelchair-bound, Mrs. Rousseau traveled along the Oregon Trail, Overland Trail, Mormon Trail/Old Spanish Trail to relocate her family and heal from a debilitating case of rheumatism. In a time when no one can be trusted from day-to-day, and life or death is only a meal or arrowhead away, Mrs. Rousseau’s adventure challenges the definitions of family, friends, and foe.
Characters include famed Wild West lawmen as youths (Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren Earp); Mormon President Brigham Young; Novelists and massacre survivors, Fanny Kelly and Sarah Larimer; and the Paiute (Pahvant Ute) Chief Kanosh.
From the forthcoming novel project…
May, 1864: We depart for California today. Though we are all headed in the same direction, our paths are very different. I suppose we shall find out what we are made of very soon.
Also see the links below for more on this project:
- Marion County Genealogical Society’s write-up on the Rousseau family. (Click here)
- Historical accounts of two attacks on the wagon train in Wyoming.(Click here)
- Samples of the REAL diary in “A Day In The Life…” monthly publication. (Click here)
- Sarah Rousseau’s connection to Major General Lovell Rousseau… and to Abraham Lincoln! (Click here)
To follow along with the discoveries made as this project is put together, be sure to follow the author on the related social media pages.