In coordination with the SC 250 Commission for the Revolution, I was invited to write a biography about Jane Black Thomas.
Jane Black was born in 1720 in Pennsylvania to parents Robert and
Annabelle Waters Black. The family lived in Chester County. John
Newcastle Thomas was born in Wales and immigrated with his family
to Pennsylvania….
John, Jane, and their children, along with other families, left for a new
life in South Carolina. They traveled on the Great Wagon Road from
Pennsylvania to the open South Carolina backcountry.
https://www.facebook.com/CowpensNationalBattlefield/videos/389792998912100
I was recently published in Southern Writer’s Online Blog. Read my post on “Yes to Chasing Rabbits”.
Sometimes research is simply random in its trail. Sometimes, however, unforeseen data has led me to a treasure of information that is completely surprising.
I was in the midst of completing the manuscript of my third book. Including many details of the Southern Campaign and South Carolina during the Revolutionary War, I planned a chapter that included an imaginary visit of Marquis de Lafayette to my protagonist. As usual, I intentionally researched this nineteen-year-old, French soldier who desired to fight against the British and beside General George Washington. My questions snowballed.
Why would he leave France to fight another country’s battle for freedom? Why did he leave his young pregnant wife? Why did he become such a friend to our country? Why did he reject his sovereign’s command to not leave France and ignore the arrest warrant? Why would he accept a commission in the Continental Army without pay? Was he solely an adventurer that lacked maturity?
These questions drove me to find answers. There are always reasons for our actions, and the more I read about the Marquis, the more I wanted to know what drove him into a disguise and then onto a ship to cross the Atlantic. Strong motivations obviously propelled him. And so, putting the puzzle pieces commenced.
Wondering what we’re all about! Take a listen!
Sheila Ingle 