The Measure of Katie Calloway by Serena Miller takes place shortly after the end of the Civil War. Katie flees with her brother to the north woods of Michigan to escape an abusive husband. She hires on as a cook for a lumber camp.

The book portrays the hardships and danger involved in logging operations. She also shows how hard it was for a woman on her own to make it in the post Civil War days.

With the support of the owner of the camp and the loyalty of the loggers, she learns to stand up for herself and protect her brother.

The owner, Robert Foster, is a widower who has his own scars to heal from being a surgeon in the Union Army and the death of his own wife in childbirth while he was serving in the war.

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Johan Dahle/John Dolly: Searching of Ancestors

I see I haven't posted on this since since I attended my high school reunion. My cousin checked my site and was disappointed that I hadn't written anything. A lot has happened since that time. The most interesting is that I have gotten interested in searching family history. I knew a few things and had some things that my grandmother had written down for me. Over the years I have found tidbits here and there. I started our searching for my "Dahlquist" side of the family because my grandmother and grandfather were both immigrants. It is easy to hit a dead in quickly on immigrants. I joined Ancestry. com. Those little leaves they talk about started popping up. The leaves referred to my mother's side of the family, which I knew a lot about. So being a curious sort, I had to click on each leaf. I vaguely knew I had an ancestor named John Dolly because a cousin of mine had done research a few years ago in an effort to help her daughter join the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was disappointed to discover that John Dolly aka Johann Dahle was a Hessian soldier who decided to remain in America after the war. So she had to go another direction on that search. I found more information on Johan/John. I discovered that he had settled in Virginia in an area that later became known as West Virginia, Pendleton County. This discovery led to us planning a trip to visit Pendleton County. How thrilling it was to actually go there and be where my ancestors began their life in America. We went to the courthouse, but their records began in 1800's when West Virginia became a separate state. My branch of the family had already moved to Indiana. We then went to the library. While I was looking for some information in the Genealogy room, my husband found a booklet with the family tree of John/Johan that ended with my great grandfather's name. We were only able to spend three days because our grandson had a birthday coming up in Florida that we wanted to attend. We are planning another trip this coming summer. Then there needs to be a trip to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and South Dakota. I have a long list of places I want to visit. I'd love to go to Germany, England, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Then for my husband, Roger, we'd need to go to Scotland and Wales. Somehow I don't think we will have the time or money to go all those places, but maybe we can make a few.