Heather Blanton

One of the few pretty faces in the Klondike. By Heather Frey Blanton Copyright 2014 Heather Blanton Freedom. A true lady in Defiance cries out for it. Refuses to live without it. Pursues it at any cost. Society, propriety—even common sense—won’t stop her from wrapping her slender fingers around it. In the end, she may only have her memories of it, but at least she tasted it. For a time, Kate lived free. Kathleen Eloise Rockwell (1873-1957) came from an unstable home, growing

by Heather Frey Blanton Elementary students around the country often get their first dose of female patriots through the legendary quagmire of Molly Pitcher. Several women have acquired this handle through the centuries, but where does legend end and truth begin? Mary Ludwig Hays Most scholars agree the true identity of “Molly Pitcher” is confused because there were several “camp followers” involved in the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Monmouth. Back then, these ladies tended

More than a decade ago, I read A Bride Goes West, the memoirs of Wyoming wife and rancher Nannie Alderson. The book haunts me to this day. You’d have to read it to understand, but Nannie was a fire-cracker with a rebel’s heart! Nothing ever kept her down; she accepted life with grace and grit and lived a grand adventure when the West was still wild and wooly. Born to an affluent southern family, Nannie grew up in post-Civil War Virginia. Her home and community were spared muc

As I research patriot and pioneer women, I am constantly confounded and humbled by their grit. Folks, we truly have no idea how feisty these women were! Recently I discovered a story about a woman who had a run-in with six British soldiers and bested them! When I looked into the legend of Nancy Morgan Hart, I laughed out loud. Clearly, Lord Cornwallis was not joking when he said, “We may destroy all the men in America, and we shall still have all we can do to defeat their wom

In 1775, Massachusetts was considered the most rebellious of the colonies (wow, how times have changed).  Some of the most feisty patriot women of the Revolution came from this state, but none can actually claim to have captured British spies. Prudence Cummings Wright was married to David Wright and by 1775, the couple had seven children. Yet, somehow, Prudence not only managed to keep her faculties while raising this brood, she burned with a desire to protect liberty. She ha