that would forever bind them to one another.
“There you two are,” Nancy declared. “Come see your wedding cake. All of us had a hand in it, including Jack, who just put his hand in it.”
Connie and Tom pulled apart, laughing.
“You’ll just have to ignore the handprint,” Nancy said. “Now, hurry. We’re all in the dining room.” She left them with a quick backward glance and smile.
“I suppose we’d better follow, or they’ll all come see where we’ve gotten off to,” Tom said with a sigh.
Connie laughed and led him off to see the cake.
Two weeks later, they boarded the Morning Star with the Brownings and Faith. Captain Gratton welcomed them aboard, heartily kissed his wife, then ordered the men to make ready to depart. It was very cold, and the dampness chilled Connie to the bone, but Tom was more than happy to wrap his arms around her as they waved good-bye to the family standing on the dock.
“You know, Tom, Mercy and I were married at sea,” Connie’s father announced.
“I’d nearly forgotten that,” Connie replied before Tom could speak a word.
“I hadn’t,” Faith said. “I was there. I thought it very romantic, and for a long time I wanted to get married on a ship. Instead, I get to live on a riverboat—at least for a while. Andrew wants to buy a house for us in Portland.”
They waved to the family who remained. Captain Gratton signaled with the horn, and Connie blew kisses.
“Don’t forget, you promised to come see us,” Connie called.
“We will when time permits,” Uncle Dean promised. He put his arm around Connie’s cousin Meg. “We shall be quite busy while we get this one settled at the seminary.”
“Come see me when you get a chance,” Isaac added.
“When everything settles down, I’m sure we’ll find time to come,” Adam Browning called to his son. “Meanwhile, I’ll pray things go well with the farm.”
As the riverboat began to move away from the dock, Connie snuggled up closer to Tom. He pulled her tighter. “We should go inside. You’re freezing.”
“In a minute. I won’t see them for a very long time, and I want this moment to last.”
The riverboat found the current and began to move more quickly. Tom watched with Connie until the city was nearly out of sight. Everyone else had gone into the salon to warm up, leaving them alone on the deck. Tom turned his wife in his arms and saw that she was smiling.
“Are you ready to start this grand adventure, Mrs. Lowell?”
She nodded and stretched up on tiptoe to offer him a kiss. “I am. What of you, my darling husband?”
“Wherever you go, I’ll be forever by your side.”
Author’s Note
The Bureau of Ethnology was established by Congress in 1879. The purpose was to transfer archives and other materials related to Native Americans from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Institution for safekeeping and further study. Within this bureau, it was decided to catalog and study the various tribes of the United States so that their history wouldn’t be lost. The Bureau of Ethnology changed its name to the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1897, and in 1965, the department merged with the Smithsonian’s Department of Anthropology.
As for the laws against interracial marriage, Oregon set some very strict guidelines. In 1866 a law was passed that read:
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. That hereafter it shall not be lawful within this state for any white person, male or female, to intermarry with any negro, Chinese, or any person having one-fourth or more negro, Chinese or Kanaka [Pacific Islander Native] blood or any person having more than one-half Indian blood; and all such marriages or attempted marriages shall be absolutely null and void.1
These Oregon laws against interracial marriage weren’t repealed until 1951, sixteen years ahead of the United States Supreme Court’s repeal of all anti-interracial marriage laws in the United States.
And sadly, although the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870 and granted all US citizens the right to vote regardless of race, many states still refused that right to Native Americans. The Snyder Act (passed in 1924) admitted Native Americans born in the United States to full US citizenship. However, the Constitution left it up to individual states as to who had the right to vote. It took over forty years for all fifty states to allow Native Americans the right to vote. Utah was the last state to legalize voting for Native Americans in 1962.
1. This is taken from “The Act to Prohibit the Intermarriage of Races,” The Oregonian, November 2, 1866. For more information, visit https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/act-to-proh...
Tracie Peterson is the award-winning author of more than one hundred novels, both historical and contemporary. She is often referred to as the “Queen of Historical Christian Fiction,” and her avid research resonates in her stories, as seen in her bestselling HEIRS OF MONTANA and ALASKAN QUEST series. Tracie considers her writing a ministry for God to share the Gospel and biblical application. She and her family make their home in Montana. Visit her website at www.traciepeterson.com or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorTraciePeterson.
Instagram: Bethany House Fiction
Resources: bethanyhouse.com/AnOpenBook
Newsletter: www.bethanyhouse.com/newsletter
Facebook: Bethany House
Table of Contents
Cover
Books by Tracie Peterson
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Author’s Note
About the Author
Back Ads
Cover Flaps
Back Cover
List of Pages
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
317
318
319
320
321
322