I spent yesterday wandering the internets looking for images that would help me to hone in on and flesh out the story of the places and people I'm writing about...
I need to know what sort of dresses Pollie, the wife of the Confederate colonel, would have worn . . .
I need to know about scarlet fever in the mid 19th century . . .
And what little girls looked like back then . . .
I'll find out far more than I actually put down on the page. But I have to know it if these characters are going to be real.
And since most of them are based on real people, I owe it to these folks to come as near to the truth as possible -- 150 years (give or take) later.When I emerge from my workroom to fix supper, it's a wrench because my mind is back in 1860 or thereabout. There's a faraway look in my eyes and I'm still wondering about the census of 1860 -- was Isah, listed as a mulatto, a servant or a slave? And why is Judith listed as the head of the household (F) in all but one census and in that one, with the same household members, the head of the household is listed as Judah (M)?'Tis a puzzlement. . .