BOOKS

Found Among the Fragments, in its authentic setting and framework of actual events, faithfully mirrors the excitement and hardships of life in a Southern town during the Civil War.  The characters are a delight to meet in their day-to-day activities; and the book’s pages are inhabited by numbers of enchanting and lively children, who help to soothe away much of the heartache.  

     “Hey there, girl! Your ma’s a Yankee woman, ain’t she?”  

      Mattie Elliott peered between the palings at the three boys on the  dusty path beyond the fence.  She had never been asked that in all of her nearly five years. Yankee woman!  What did that mean?”...  

For Mattie’s mother, Emily, a native of New York state, it means confusion and near despair when her gentle, artistic husband, William Elliott, goes away to fight for his beloved South in a war she cannot understand.  

Left in the home of her brother-in-aw, Albert Baker, another New Yorker, Emily joins in his struggle to protect their loved ones and save his business in the Alabama town that has been their home for a decade.  

When Union forces take over Huntsville, real danger threatens.  Frightened, anxious women seeking to care for their children find they can only make over, make do, and endure. 

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Mrs. Fisk writes about her native city with considerable ease.  After many years of research, she can visualize the town during its early days.  

In this book, she brings to life the Huntsville of 1862:  blue coated Union soldiers on the streets; frightened women trying to protect their children; the lack of food, clothing, and fuel; and all the day-to-day problems of living with fear and anxiety.  

The settings on West Holmes Street and in the downtown area are illustrated by maps. Important local happenings are true.  But don’t expect a historical narrative! This is a novel with strong characters, surprising incidents, and vivid scenes from the daily life of a family and their neighbors.  It is also a testament to the courageous women of this critical time.

Catch a glimpse of Huntsville, Alabama as it was in 1823!  

Visit the little town in the untamed southern wilderness where John Hunt built the first cabin near the Big Spring in 1805.  Meet the streams of settlers, builders, and merchants, who came to try their fortunes in the rich area.  Learn how these capable pioneers built the early town from materials at hand:  trees felled in the forest, wooden pegs for nails, clay baked into bricks, and the products of the blacksmith’s forge.  

Sarah Huff Fisk, after years of research into early Huntsville, ably gives her conception of the appearance of some seventy of the first buildings around the Public Square.  With no photographs to guide, she used information from deeds, old newspapers, and the few surviving buildings from the era.  Each structure is numbered to relate it to the documented text.  One by one their stories are told:  owners, builders, the succession of merchants, their goods as advertised in the local newspapers, the offices of doctors, lawyers, the commerce of a bustling town—and some of its problems.  

Read how the waters of Big Spring were put to use for the town’s civilized needs, and of the great fires that destroyed most of these buildings before the advent of photography.  

The text centers on the buildings and their occupants, but it also reflects the wild rush of Federal land sales and the town in 1819 when Huntsville played host to the convention that organized the State of Alabama.  

Here is a well-documented, fully-indexed book naming business and professional men, builders, artisans, and many others who lived in early Huntsville.  

The artist also offers her conception of the Public Square and Big Spring 1823 scene in an eye-catching print suitable for framing.  Visit the ART section of this website and learn why this amazing work was done.

One day long ago the Hinds family left the Tennessee hills.  They rode south in a covered wagon pulled by oxen.  Pa held the reins to guide the oxen along an old Indian trail.  It was a long and bumpy ride.  

At night, they camped in the woods.  Ma cooked over a campfire.  They were all very hungry and tired.  

Daniel and Milly heard strange noises in the woods.  But they were not afraid.  Pa and Ma would care for them.  

The trip would take many days.  Pa wanted rich, new land to farm.  He would build a cabin there. Then the Hinds family would have a new home.  They would be pioneers in Madison County. 

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This story is based on the family of Levi Hinds, who settled near Berry Mountain about two miles north of Maysville.  When the Federal Government put Madison County lands on sale on August 7, 1809, Hinds made the first purchase.  

Allie Norris Kenney draws on her years of experience as a teacher of first grade to tell an appealing and adventurous story in words readable by a young child.  She describes the life of early settlers, how they made soap and candles, and helped each other.

The drawings by Sarah Huff Fisk enhance the book’s appeal by continuing the adventurous tone and adding details that picture for a child many facets of life in pioneer days.  

The first edition of Long Ago in Madison County  was published by the Madison County School System as a social studies textbook for use in primary grades.  This book will help children compare the life of long ago with their own life today.

Visit the ART section of this website and find out more about the drawings featured in the book.