Behind the Book Part 2: April in the Back of Beyond

This is the second part in the true stories behind the book, April in the Back of Beyond. Part 1 can be found here: https://pmterrell.blogspot.com/2019/08/behind-book-part-1-april-in-back-of.html

 Watch the video below for the inside story, or skip below to read it. The video can also be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/-jsmYf4osR8.

Throughout April in the Back of Beyond is another story inspired by fact. The main character, Hayley Hunter, is a writer that is researching her family’s history, beginning with her ancestor’s migration to Ulster from Scotland who became involved in O’Doherty’s Rebellion. 

These scenes are based on my creative nonfiction book, Checkmate: Clans and Castles, which was released in 2017 by Drake Valley Press. In Checkmate, my own ancestor, William Neely, arrived in Ulster with William Stewart. Their land bordered on Cahir O’Doherty’s Inishowen Peninsula, separated only by the lough. When Cahir set fire to Derry and began O’Doherty’s Rebellion, it would require my ancestor to make a choice: whether to fight for King James against the uprising or side with the Irish that had lived and ruled that region for over a thousand years. Checkmate was the result of years of painstaking research and I attempted to remain faithful to the facts.

Though the battle of Derry depicted in Checkmate occurred in 1608, it would not be the first and far from the last. The city was rebuilt through London private donations and renamed Londonderry. Today, more than 400 years later, it continues to be a city divided between those loyal to Britain and largely Protestant (unionists or loyalists) versus those fighting for a united Ireland that are largely Catholic (republicans or nationalists). The ideological war between the two factions was originally those loyal to Britain versus those loyal to Ireland, but it became a religious war as well, fueled by zealous ministers and priests. The city is often referred to as the “slash city” Londonderry/Derry because the republican/nationalist Irish do not recognize the name “London” in their city, it having been named Derry centuries earlier, prior to England’s invasion.

During the writing of this book, tensions increased in Ulster—most notably Derry and Belfast. A journalist was killed covering a violent uprising in Derry and several Catholic churches were burned. The increase in violence was attributed to Brexit, which could possibly lead to checkpoints and guard posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which had unfairly targeted Catholics in decades before the Good Friday Agreement and the removal of those border walls.

Check out the book trailers below for April in the Back of Beyond and Checkmate: Clans and Castles:

What are you reading this summer?

It’s shaping up to be a summer of escapism. With politics and dysfunction dominating the news, more readers are turning to subjects that take them as far away from Washington government as possible.

One genre very popular this summer is historical, particularly narrative nonfiction. There is something comforting about reading of a past era; even if they had their share of misfortune, war, strife or hardship, we know the world kept revolving and for the most part, things turned out and life went on. It is also a reminder that though things look bleak, there is still hope; that life is often cyclical and though the world has encountered extreme negative forces—such as Nazi Germany’s expansion and takeover of much of Europe—things can turn around and positivity can prevail. There is also something about reading of an historical figure who, faced with few prospects at home, wandered far from where he had ever thought he would be in order to make a better life for himself and future generations.

I encountered such a man in my own family’s genealogy, but he is not uncommon. Anyone who has delved deep into their family history has also uncovered men and women that went through extraordinary hardship and achieved great things through the strength of willpower, determination and faith—faith in themselves, in the world or in a higher power.

William Neely was born at a time in which the Lowlands of Scotland was a desolate, deforested place. The vast majority of holdings were by only a handful of people and even home ownership was considered out of reach of 99% of the population. Those people did not even have time to contemplate their circumstances because they were focused on keeping the roof over their heads (a thatched roof that often belonged to a laird and they were granted permission to live there in exchange for their work and rent) and food on the table. Food was so scarce that by the time spring planting was ready to begin the decimated cows had to be carried into the fields to be hooked up to the plows.

It was in this bleak circumstance that William was given the opportunity to leave Scotland for Ireland. Only 20 miles across the Irish Sea, it was a world removed; King James I was engaged in widespread colonization—even leading to the Americas. He was offering Lowland Scots and Englishmen the opportunity to serve him by granting land in Ireland; in return, the land owners would pledge their loyalty to the King, fight for him if needed (and was it ever), raise sheep to provide them with wool, and raise crops such as potatoes to feed the English people.

When William arrived in Ulster in 1608, he came to know the native Irish and even discovered his own family had lived in Ireland until the 13^th century. In a sense, it was a homecoming. But his plans to live peacefully, raising sheep and crops and providing a better future for his children were soon placed in jeopardy. The land given to those loyal to King James was not simply land for the taking; it had belonged to the Irish. With Cahir O’Doherty, the Gaelic King of the Inishowen Peninsula, his family had owned their land and ruled its people for more than a thousand years—which is eight times longer than the independent existence of the United States of America.

As colonization began under Queen Elizabeth I, several powerful clans in Ulster were overrun by English forces, their lands decimated, their people killed, their homes burned. Cahir O’Doherty was determined to spare his people that fate and he joined forces with the English, agreeing to fight for the Queen (and later King James I) in return for maintaining control of the Inishowen Peninsula.

That would all come to an end only months after William arrived in Ulster. Sir George Paulet, the English Governor of Derry, was a vindictive man that despised the native Irish. Derry was situated beside O’Doherty’s green, lush lands and Paulet tried repeatedly to confiscate them, even though the English courts had forbidden it. Finally, Cahir had had enough. If he had been of a lowlier status, he might have set a trap for Paulet and killed him in the dark of night and without witnesses. But he was the last Gaelic King of Ireland. He led hundreds of men into Derry after overrunning and confiscating weapons at Culmore Fort, burning the village to the ground and killing Paulet. It touched off O’Doherty’s Rebellion and William Neely would have to choose between his oath to the king and joining the forces of a people that were likely distant relatives.

The book I wrote of William’s adventures and O’Doherty’s Rebellion, Checkmate: Clans and Castles, is the first of a new historical series that chronicles the lives of the men and women on both sides of the English-Irish conflict. It would eventually lead to Irish independence, the Republic of Ireland as we know it today; but the story is not yet finished. In establishing the Republic, the counties of Ulster with the exception of County Donegal, became known as Northern Ireland and is today part of the United Kingdom. The laws are quite remarkable still: they are not permitted to fly the Irish flag, Catholics are still considered second- or third-class citizens (though that has been changing) and Irish Gaelic is not spoken. For centuries, the native Irish were not permitted to vote, could not own land and did not have a voice in government—or their own futures.

With Brexit, however, decisions will need to be made by both Scotland and Northern Ireland: whether to remain with England or remain in the European Union. Only time will tell, but if Northern Ireland joins with the Republic of Ireland through a vote that the English Parliament has said they will honor, it will result in the first time since the late 1500’s that a united Ireland will be truly independent from the British Empire.

Meanwhile, I am working on the rest of the series, a set of books that take place against the backdrop of wars, famine and political, religious and cultural strife, spanning from 1608 through the 20^th century.

What are you reading this summer?

p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books, including the award-winning River Passage, award-winning series Black Swamp Mysteries and award-winning Ryan O’Clery Mystery Series. She is the Founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair and the Founder of The Novel Business. She has been a full-time author since 2002. Prior to that, she founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area with specialties in defense and intelligence. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. For more information, visit www.pmterrell.com.

In Search of my Irish Past - Part 2

Last week, I talked about the connection between my Scot-Irish ancestors and my two historical books, River Passage and Songbirds are Free. Both these books took place after the Neely family had arrived in America from Ireland.

When I began researching for Vicki’s Key, my book featuring CIA psychic spy Vicki Boyd, I knew the plot required her to fall in love hard and fast. I combed through surveys conducted through major women’s magazines on what most women found attractive in a man—such as the five o’clock shadow and a sense of humor. Then I stumbled upon the accent.

It turns out that most women find the Scottish accent most appealing, followed by the Irish accent and then the Australian accent. As I pondered which to use, I looked more deeply into the cultures of the Scottish, Irish and Australians, as well as the geography. It was then that my mother’s side of the family—the Harpers—began to surface in earnest.

The more I read about the Irish, the more I saw my mother in them (shown above beside my father's picture). She loved a good laugh, and throughout her lifetime she and I had an ongoing “Laugh of the Day”. Long before the Internet, long before email and free long distance, I would snail-mail jokes to her that I’d heard during the course of my day. I frequently cut comic strips out that I thought she would enjoy, and when I came upon books with jokes she’d like, I bought them for her. When she passed away, I was astounded to learn that there were drawers filled with my letters, comic strips and jokes that she had held onto for decades.

She loved good stories—telling them and listening to them. She could spin a story like no other, and I believe I inherited much of my storytelling talent from her. The most fun I ever saw her having was when her sisters came to visit and they sat around and told one story after another.

The Irish have always been known for their good humor. And it’s downright impossible for a woman not to fall in love with a man who loves life and every minute in it.

I named the character Michael Dylan Maguire; Michael is my son’s name and Dylan was my grandson’s name (pronounced Dillon). In America, the character is known as Dylan but as the series progressed and he returned to Ireland, the nickname Mick was a glimpse into a past that he’d left behind when he sought to reinvent himself.

Dylan had emigrated from Ireland to the United States, and I found it fascinating how so many Irish left predominantly rural homes for a country they knew nothing about, a culture far different from their own, and for the opportunities they lacked in their native country. Many people make the mistake of believing that we are similar to Ireland, Scotland and England simply because we speak the same language (though there are huge differences between American English and British English). The truth is that they are vastly different.

My father was always very quick to point out that his side of the family was Scot-Irish, not simply Irish. As I delved into this, I discovered the unfortunate fact about immigration into the United States: apart from the British, it appears that we have discriminated against every other group of immigrants. Whether they were the Chinese building our railroads, the Italians, Germans, Japanese, Pakistanis, Indians (from India) or Mexicans/Hispanics, there have always been groups that tried to place them at the bottom. The signs of “No Irish Need Apply” below signs of employment or businesses prohibiting the Irish from eating or entering establishments have largely been forgotten; but they did indeed exist.

Those with higher education that had proven themselves as leading businessmen sought to put distance between themselves and the massive immigration of the Irish, particularly during the potato famines. I always believed my father’s family fell into this group, always making certain that people knew they were Scot-Irish. (Scotch-Irish, by the way, is incorrect; the Scottish people will be the first to inform you that Scotch is a drink and not a people.)

Later, when I began researching A Thin Slice of Heaven (release date May 2015) I realized the differentiation went far deeper. More on that in a future blog.

My father’s family had black hair and green eyes and they were tall. My mother’s family, in contrast, had many redheads among them and many of the women tended to be petite. My mother, when she married, was only 5’3” and weighed 105 pounds.

There is a saying amongst the Irish: “Red on the head where the Vikings tread.” As the Vikings moved south into the Irish Sea, they often raided villages close to the sea. It involved raping—or sometimes falling in love with and marrying—the Irish women. Further inland, particularly the western side of the island which was more geographically inhospitable, one didn’t encounter red-haired or fair-haired people. All of this has changed over the centuries, of course, as the world has become smaller and it seems no place on Earth is out of bounds.

Next week: I’ll talk about Dylan Maguire’s journey back to his homeland, the Irish bogs and the small village in which he lived—and the true story of my own ancestors.

In Search of the Irish Past: Part 1

In Search of the Irish Past: Part 1

This blog is part of several that address the increasing presence of Ireland in my books. It is also a journey to discover and understand my ancestors when they lived in Ireland (both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Scotland, and eventually, America. There has also been a Viking or two (or three) in my family’s history. Come with me as I discover their journey and give you an inside look at how close to reality some of them have been.

I didn’t understand the connection between the Neely and Harper families to Ireland until very recently. When I was growing up, I was told vaguely that my ancestors were from Ireland or Scotland or England or perhaps Wales, but there were never any details that brought them to life.

In the early 1980’s I had lunch with my mother’s brother and he mentioned that he had recently returned from Ireland, where he researched the Harper lineage and discovered their roots in the McCullough (or MacCullough) clan. I should have known then that the use of the word “clan” meant they went back further than Ireland, because Scotland is known for their clans but not Ireland.

We had more important things to discuss that day so his information was tucked away somewhere in the back of my mind, where it lay for the next three decades. Unfortunately, the information he uncovered that day was misplaced or largely forgotten, as no one in the Harper family seems to know of any European connection. I suspect he decided that no one was particularly interested. Perhaps the documentation was thrown away, lost in a move or is still somewhere yet to be located.

After my suspense books began to be published, my father suggested that I write the story of Mary Neely, a woman on his side of the family who lived in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. When I began researching her story, the Neely family came alive for me—and so did their struggles as they searched for better opportunities, not only for themselves but for their children and descendents.

I know now that Mary descended from a man who left Europe in the early 1700’s in search of a better life in America. I will be traveling to Ireland in just a few weeks, and I’ll have much more information on that connection and what I’ve discovered.

But suffice it to say that in the early 1700s, a man’s fortune was tied to the whims of a monarchy. Taxes were backbreaking, opportunities were limited and a man’s fate was tied not to who he was or who he aspired to become, but his lineage.

Around 1720, three brothers left what is now Northern Ireland in search of opportunity in America. At this time, America was divided by European nations who had conquered parts of it; primarily, England, France and Spain. It was also the home to more than 500 Indian nations who were at war with these strangers who entered their lands and lay claim to it.

The brothers, by accounts I’ve discovered thus far, settled in Pennsylvania and eventually their families (particularly their children) moved further south to Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

By 1779, William Neely was enticed by John Donelson and James Robertson to move his family westward to Fort Nashborough, a beautiful area in the North Carolina Territory in the vicinity of the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. William was already a successful farmer but I suppose he’d inherited his ancestors’ yearning for a better, brighter future so he agreed to move his family westward.

They sold everything they owned except a few sparse possessions that would fit on a small flatboat. Mary Neely, William’s daughter, and her brothers, sisters and mother joined Donelson on a river voyage that would take them through hostile Indian Territory at the height of the Chickamauga Indian Wars. William took an overland route that was supposed to be more dangerous. He was herding cattle westward while his family supposedly took the safer river route.

However, once they entered the area now known as Chattanooga, Tennessee, they were attacked repeatedly for hundreds of miles. Many in their group of 300 settlers were wounded. Some were killed, and some were captured, including two girls—one was Mary’s best friend.

They soon faced starvation, as they were unable to stop and hunt for their food as they’d intended, due to the ferocity of the Indian attacks. Small pox erupted on one flatboat, and frostbite claimed at least one life. By the time they reached Muscle Shoals, Alabama, they were navigating whitewater rapids that would tear their boats apart, losing all the possessions that at least two families had.

This river journey is the story told in my book, River Passage. It was determined to be so historically accurate that the Nashville Metropolitan Government Archives has the original manuscript in their possession for future researchers and historians. It was also the 2010 Winner of the Drama Award.

Four months after they left Virginia for Fort Nashborough, a ragtag group of settlers arrived with the harrowing story of their journey westward. And just four months after that, Mary Neely was working with her father William at the Neely Salt Lick (in Madison County, Tennessee) when they were attacked by Shawnee warriors.

William was killed and scalped along the riverbank. He was only in his early 40’s. Mary, only 19 years old, was captured and taken deep into Indian Territory, where she was held as a slave for three years.

After researching Mary’s story online, I took to the road with my father, retracing her footsteps from the point where she was captured to where she eventually escaped and made her way back home. A plaque is erected in honor of Mary near where she was captured, and I arranged to meet with historians in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan—all the places where she was taken as the Shawnee tribe journeyed toward Canada.

Eventually, she managed to escape in Northern Michigan, made her way across Canada and into New York. The American Revolutionary War was at its peak and afraid she would be captured by the British, she remained alone on foot until she was rescued by an American soldier from Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania.

Her story is told in my book, Songbirds are Free. It is named that because her captors renamed her Songbird for her beautiful voice (she’d been singing at the Salt Lick when she was captured).

Her story was not difficult to piece together. I found out during my travels and again during the subsequent book tours that Mary is a legend in many parts of our country, particularly in the Tennessee school system where students were taught about her, and even in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I learned so much about the Neely family that it prompted me to look even further into the stories of my ancestors and all they endured. It would lead me not only to those in America, but it would eventually lead me to Ireland, Scotland and points north.

Next Thursday, I’ll talk about the true stories behind an Irish character in my book, Dylan Maguire, who made his debut in Vicki’s Key.