History, Romance, & Destiny... Daring Pioneers Tame the Frontier is an exquisite saga of Dr. Jean (John) Baptiste Elzar Burels lifelong desire to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the beckoning new America. With his naval surgeon license in one hand and his medical chest in the other, he followed Marquis de Lafayette to Colonial America during the Revolutionary War. During the war he fell passionately in love and married a beautiful Acadian French woman in Philadelphia. After the war they made plans to return to his home at Ollioules, France. Homeward bound, the bourgeois doctor boarded the ship in Philadelphia with his new bride and their few belongings. There on deck he was unexpectedly forced to choose between his beloved homeland and family in France and his wife with child. Disembarking the ship with grave disappointment, John knowingly forfeited his inheritance as sole heir. Struggling to survive in Philadelphia, oftentimes John sat quietly admiring the beautiful woman who owned his heart as he secretly yearned for his prominent family and lifestyle on the Mediterranean Coast of France. Standing on the threshold of the newly independent America, the young doctor decided to take his wife and infant son and pioneer down the Great Wagon Road into the raw frontier of South Carolina. Believing he would build a new and prosperous life, he settled at Goshen Hill between the Tyger and Enoree Rivers within the lawless backcountry of South Carolina. Fighting the dangers and hardships of the frontier, and the recurring restlessness to return to France, John and his family carved out a simple life. Although disappointed at times, within the walls of his log home the enduring love and warmth of his wife and six children transcended adversity and hardships of the outside world. The heartwarming story is filled with humanity as John faced his inevitable destiny. The first novel in the trilogy closes with Dr. Burels widow standing helplessly in her front yard watching the wagon train take her spirited children and grandchildren west in search of richer land and prosperity. It was dj vu!

The saga continues with Dr. Burels children moving west. His son James ledthe Mississippi-bound wagonsfrom South Carolina into another untamed frontier. Their first Christmas in Attalaville, Mississippi, was a grand celebration of their newfound life, only to have the New Year bring tragedy. Mississippis Golden Years brought prosperity to the pioneers as landowners and independent farmers. Too soonthe Civil War swept across their land leaving King Cotton reeling and survivors coping with shattered lives. Sympathetic eyes of the world watched as they searched for ways to survive the aftermath of total war. Lisbeth Burel struggled with the heartbreak of losing the war, her husband James, and her youngest son. Bracing to survive post-war defeat and economic ruination, Lisbeth and her oldest son learned to cope with the nagging pain and hatred of a useless war. With the burden of the world on William Rileys back, he turned to God and self-reliance to get them through the bleak future. Recovery was slow, and families joined hands to plant new fields of cotton, corn, and sorghum cane. Thirty years of worry and hard work turned William into an old, sick man long before his time. On a cold October morning, the stooped and frail man shuffled toward the sugarcane mill and furnace. Assuring the old family recipe and tradition continued, he taught his grandson how to cook molasses to be as smooth as silk. A couple months later Williams family celebrated the biggest Christmas since the war. Sadly, two days later the celebration was marred as his thirteen proud children mourned the loss of their Pa. After the war, William Riley took great pain to instill the belief that they, and their kind, were the moral fiber offering the best hope for rebuilding the New South. And they were.

History, Romance, & Destiny The Third Novel in the Trilogy Dr. John Burel's great-grandson, John Harrison, was a toddler when his family pioneered from South Carolina to Mississippi. As a youngster, he proudly helped his family bellwether the Civil War and rebirth of the New South. By the early 1900s, he was a prosperous farmer and landowner. Time passed quickly, and too soon he was an old man. Join Grandpa and feel the biting north wind as he shuffled onto the front porch, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "It's hog-killing day!" Watch the bustling families rush toward the big house to slaughter enough hogs to carry them through the winter. Summer finally arrived and brought old-time gospel singing and preaching to their country church on the hill. Mama rose early on Sunday morning and filled her basket with fried chicken, biscuits, baked sweet potatoes, and fried apple pies. After preaching there was going to be another dinner-on-the-ground. Everyone was excited. Without a doubt, those were the good years. But all that changed. Walk down the dismal road with the Burrell family as they helplessly watched the reckless Roaring Twenties and Great Depression bring a flourishing economy and their comfortable lifestyle to a grinding halt. Feel Grandpa's pain and humiliation when the bank called in his Deed-of-Trust, and he was forced to sell his last 640-acre farm and home for a few dollars. Sit for awhile and listen to his grandson, Cecil Allen Burrell, The Man Himself, as his thought-provoking stories detail how they all survived those disastrous years. With their eyes on the future, John Harrison's children and grandchildren navigated their way back into prosperity and eventually reclaimed their part of the American dream & the same dream brought to America by their Great3-Grandfather, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Elzear Burel in 1778.

" Novel One, Daring Pioneers Tame the Frontier, Novel Two, Raised Country Style from South Carolina to Mississippi, Novel Three, The Generation that Saved American."

Discover the stories of twelve women who heard the call to settle the west and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journey. The author ties the stories of these pioneer women to the experiences of women today with the hope that they will be inspired to live boldly and bravely and to fill their own lives with vision, faith, and fortitude. To live with grit.

History, Romance, & Destiny Daring Pioneers Tame the Frontier is an exquisite saga of Dr. Jean (John) Baptiste Elzèar Burel's lifelong desire to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the beckoning new America. With his naval surgeon license in one hand and his medical chest in the other, he followed Marquis de Lafayette to Colonial America during the Revolutionary War. During the war he fell passionately in love and married a beautiful Acadian French woman in Philadelphia. After the war they made plans to return to his home at Ollioules, France. Homeward bound, the bourgeois doctor boarded the ship in Philadelphia with his new bride and their few belongings. There on deck he was unexpectedly forced to choose between his beloved homeland and family in France and his wife with child. Disembarking the ship with grave disappointment, John knowingly forfeited his inheritance as sole heir. Struggling to survive in Philadelphia, oftentimes John sat quietly admiring the beautiful woman who owned his heart as he secretly yearned for his prominent family and lifestyle on the Mediterranean Coast of France. Standing on the threshold of the newly independent America, the young doctor decided to take his wife and infant son and pioneer down the Great Wagon Road into the raw frontier of South Carolina. Believing he would build a new and prosperous life, he settled at Goshen Hill between the Tyger and Enoree Rivers within the lawless backcountry of South Carolina. Fighting the dangers and hardships of the frontier, and the recurring restlessness to return to France, John and his family carved out a simple life. Although disappointed at times, within the walls of his log home the enduring love and warmth of his wife and six children transcended adversity and hardships of the outside world. The heartwarming story is filled with humanity as John faced his inevitable destiny. The first novel in the trilogy closes with Dr. Burel's widow standing helplessly in her front yard watching the wagon train take her spirited children and grandchildren west in search of richer land and prosperity. It was déjà vu!

Stirring tales, dating from the French and Indian War through the 1850s, recount desperate situations from the lives of westward-bound women and their families, including encounters with the Native Americans they ultimately displaced.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.