Maurine Walpole Liles

I saved this book from the giveaway pile when my brother was preparing his farm for sale. I saved it because it was about Texas history, and I have been researching my own Texas roots for over twenty years. As it turns out, none of my relatives (that I know of) appear in its pages. The Rebecca of the title is Rebecca Walpole Garner, whose grandson, John Nance Garner IV, was Vice President of the United States from 1933 to 1941. Little Rebecca met General Andrew Jackson, before he became president, while he was visiting her father, a story that must have been handed down in the family with great relish. When Rebecca's husband dies in 1847, she conceives a plan to sell the farm and join a wagon train to Texas. Four years later, with four children in tow and without the help of a man, her plan comes to fruition. Liles obviously researched the details of life in 1851 and the perils of the route taken by hundreds of wagon trains from Tennessee through Alabama and Arkansas to Texas (and some to Oklahoma, then Indian Territory). She describes cooking utensils of the era, cooking on an open fire, firearms that were used for hunting and protection, and other details that mark the era. The general story is true, but Liles has fictionalized it in order to add interest, as well as to create opportunities to educate young readers of the dangers their ancestors faced long before there were automobiles and highways. Liles's writing is typical of the genre, with the pen of the school teacher in evidence. The children for whom this is written are unlikely to notice that. This is a very creditable account of American pioneer life and the push west that began in the mid nineteenth century. The targeted audience appears to be ages 10 through 12, but precocious readers as young as 8 could easily tackle it. Adults with an interest in the subject matter will find it a quick and interesting read.… (plus d'informations)