Traveling across the sea to foreign ports in search of fabrics, teas, shoes, and the fine wines of France, must have seemed a romantic venture to the young mariner in 19th century America!  But for the wife of a seaman, the romance of a sea life was as far away ...

Springtime has always brought the promise of new life and the end of another brown, barren Illinois winter. The first tulips begin to pop open; trees get their first, almost invisible green buds, and soon, green grass springs up to carpet over the brown stuff on the ground. I remember ...

Abigail Smith was lively, opinionated, and intuitive from her youth. She was just 15 when her future husband, John Adams, first laid eyes on her. He was drawn to Abigail’s qualities from the beginning. When they married in 1744, she had his ear in the decisions he would be faced ...