From Disaster To Destiny
by
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Paulette Weston had grown up as the eldest child of a wealthy Alabama plantation owner. One sultry July evening in 1872 she was sitting on her family home's small front porch seeking some respite from the summer heat.
As the fanned herself, her mind wandered, as it often did, to the events in her life during the past decade.
Her father had been called to serve in the Confederate Army in 1863. He had been killed during the second battle he fought in, the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The South lost that battle and from then on things did not go well for the Confederacy.
Paulette's fiance, James Phillips, was also killed after serving for three years and going through “absolute hell” as he described it in his last letter. He had died in 1864.
During the winter of 1865 the Yankees burned their plantation mansion to the ground. She, and her entire family which included her mother, younger sister and brother, were forced to live in the slave quarters for a time after that. The shacks were empty because most of their slaves had fled north soon after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Now it was over seven years since the South had surrendered in April of 1865, and Paulette remained single. That was partly because of a shortage of marriageable young men. The Civil War had cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of brave young men on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line.
Paulette kept praying to be content to be unmarried, but she and James had made such wonderful plans for their future together, that she could not do it. Her future simply looked empty.
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About the Book
There are always two sides to every story. In this post Civil War story we can come to understand the feeling and losses on the South or the Confederacy side. These are the losses felt by the every day citizens, both the soldiers who fought and died and those they left behind. The same scenario was evident in the North. War (truly) is hell, as one character states in this story.
The Mail Order Bride became a true American phenomenon of the late 18th century. This is the story of one particular pair of Southerners involved in this adventure in far off Wyoming Territory.
About the Author
Beth became interested in writing as a teenager but did not pursue it actively. She grew up on a farm and especially loved working with horses. She sang and performed quite a lot but never professionally. The need to express and inform became stronger as life went on. She recently wrote two works of fiction. Both are based on central values of the Christian faith along with American history. Both are also inspirational romances. She likes to read such works and tried to pattern her new endeavors after that.
Beth’s articles on her world travels were published in her local home town Kansas newspaper. She also submitted a series of true stories titled Floppy My Freaky Fido about the small, mongrel and incredible dog she had as a child.