Curious Exploits

James A Magner MD

Description

Based on actual events, a German farmer with his wife and eight children immigrate to mid-America in 1846. Truth is stranger than fiction as in "Yellowstone" as three generations of the family cope with major national events.
Martin Metzger is a German farmer who travels with his wife and eight children in 1846 to settle in mid-America. They are nearly trapped between the Mexican and United States armies in Texas. Based on actual events, the family travels from New Orleans up the Mississippi River by steamboat while gradually learning how to work and live in America where slavery exists in some states, multiple paper currencies circulate, opportunities abound, love beckons, and dangers lurk. The successes and challenges of three generations of the family in Illinois are chronicled (Martin, his son John, and his son Arthur), as national historical developments become entwined with events in the family. John is bright and draws the attention of prominent politicians, including Abraham Lincoln. John must decide how best to contribute to the Union’s war effort, and he becomes a wealthy businessman and co-founder and president of an insurance company. His son, Arthur, faces challenges growing up in the shadow of his illustrious father as he must navigate disruptive changes in the family and the Depression. In 1901, fifteen-year-old Eilish knows vital clues (left in the family Bible by her mother) to the location of a valuable treasure. Trusting no one, she must solve the clues to recover the treasure while avoiding violent criminals, resolving police suspicions about her, and completing her education at the University of Chicago. The saga of the Metzgers proves that truth may be stranger than fiction, while the tale of clever, kind Eilish illustrates the challenges faced by bright, young women in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Sujets

• Universidad de Chicago
• Catholicism
• Historical fiction
• University of Chicago
• Quincy
• Université de Chicago
• Fiction
• Abraham Lincoln
• Illinois

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 13 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665740685
• Langue: English

Extrait

“James Magner’s saga of the Metzger family not only honors those who helped build America, it is full of tidbits for those who love history, including a wonderful family anecdote about how the author’s great-grandfather met Abraham Lincoln. Such stories remind us of how Lincoln touches us even today.”
                                           — John Cribb
                                           New York Times bestselling author of
                                           The Rail Splitter and Old Abe
 
 
“Set in the tumultuous Midwest between 1846 and about 1940, James Magner’s Curious Exploits follows a family of German immigrants fleeing social and political repression as they make their way in America, find success in business, solve an astonishing puzzle, attend the University of Chicago, and even get swept up in the assassination of President William McKinley! Magner’s story is true to the past in its details and narrative arc, and unsparing in its realism. Magner is especially strong on the history of German immigrants in the Midwest—their politics, their culture, their centrality to the region. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!”
                                           — Jane Dailey
                                           Professor of History
                                           The University of Chicago
 
 
“Curious Exploits is an absolute pleasure to read. The Metzger family draws the reader in, first through Martin and Margaret, and then through the inquisitive mind of John, whose curiosity about his nineteenth century American world makes the reader want to learn more, and then through the remarkable scientific and mathematical mind of Eilish. Following this family takes the reader through history and technology for one hundred years, from 1840 to 1940. Through their eyes, the reader experiences controversies over enslaving human beings along the border between Illinois and Missouri; political wrangling over bridges crossing the Mississippi; and the economic implications for the steamboat industry. You experience quirks of how young women protected themselves when traveling alone by train, and what happened when your Model T had a gas tank that is placed such that you can’t drive uphill. Along the way you share family heartbreak as they face the limitations of medicine and the tragedy of war. I love this book, including the encounters with robber barons and assassins and presidents, and especially the process of learning the history of Southern Illinois through this accessible and charming family story.”
                                           — Kathy J. Cooke
                                           Professor of History
                                           University of South Alabama
 
 
“Curious Exploits intertwines the travels and deeds of several generations of the author’s ancestors with both real historical events and a handful of fictional characters to tell the story of an immigrant family’s effort to build a new life in the American heartland. The book is an earnest effort to reconstruct and explore the past that led the family’s present generation to their lives today.”
                                           — R.M. Novak
                                           Assistant General Counsel, The
                                           University of Texas System (retired)


“Curious Exploits offers an authentic representation of the lives people lived in western Illinois in the 1800s. From crisp visual details to themes of “…family, community, church, and country,” Magner writes from a place of knowing. His personal connections to the people and places he writes about create space for readers to know the characters and their purposes. I enjoyed the ease with which the author wove historical fact into the lives of John and the rest of the Metzger family. From the Carrington Event in 1859 and Lincoln-Douglas Debates to the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, people from Illinois were there, experiencing those events as we now have observed and experienced COVID-19 or the weather cycles of El Niño. The Metzgers’ journey from the German states to Edwardsville and eventually to Quincy offers context to readers who may be unfamiliar with the history of immigration in the 1800s.
Intertwined with the Metzgers’ lives is the story of Eilish and Brian MacCarthy of Cairo, Illinois, who must carry on following their parents’ deaths in a steamboat accident. The MacCarthys’ guardians are relatives of Elizabeth Metzger; a visit to Quincy leads into the second half of the novel.
How decisions were reached during those travels is frequently as important as why the journey was made. Their lives and fortunes would have been much different in Texas or Iowa — what perseverance and faith it took to make those decisions! During moments of personal or national unrest, John Metzger and Eilish MacCarthy utilize the values learned from parents, guardians, and friends to determine what course of action will allow them to grow and succeed in their chosen fields.”
                                           — Katie Kraushaar
                                           Information Literacy & Electronic
                                           Resources Librarian, Brenner Library,
                                           Quincy University, Quincy, Illinois
 
“Based on the true story of the author’s ancestors, this is a moving saga of one family’s immigration to the United States and the adventures, triumphs and tragedies encountered through the generations. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.”
 
                                           — Elizabeth Pierpaoli
                                           Case Memorial Library Book Group
                                           Orange, Connecticut
 
 
“My overall reflections on this book are most favorable…Interweaves frequent stories of the period, often quoting newspapers…Stories of the Mississippi River sailing rang true…The story of the bridge and the Effie Afton was also well told and very interesting…[Some of the] minute detail seems superfluous to me.”
                                           — Judith Harold
                                           Retired Social Worker and Historical
                                           Novel Enthusiast
OTHER BOOKS BY JAMES MAGNER, MD
Chess Juggler: Balancing Career, Family and Chess in the Modern W orld
Free to Decide: Building a Life in Science and Medi cine
Seeking Hidden Treasures: A Collection of Curious Tales and Es says
The Legacy of a Steamboat Cabin Boy
CURI OUS EXPL OITS
A Family Seeks Success in Nineteenth Century America
 
 
 
JAMES A MAGNER, MD
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2023 James A Magner, MD.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Cover images:
Abraham Lincoln by Preston Butler, 1860, public domain
Wharf at Quincy, Illinois, Wilcox and McCarl, published 1919, public domain
Other cover images are the property of James Magner
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4069-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4070-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4068-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905008
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 04/12/2023
CONTENTS
Dedication
Introduction
Rural Württemberg, Germany, May 1, 1844
On to Texas: An Inauspicious Start
A New Plan
A Productive Morning in New Orleans
Heading North on the Mississippi River
John Learns to Read
Tragedy: Time to Move Again
John Reflects on Slavery
Bridging the Mississippi
Metzger Family Marriages and John Questions a Blacksmith
August 1857: Meeting John Wood
The Breakfast
The Lincoln-Douglas Debate
John’s New Appreciation of Elizabeth Küter
Developments in 1859
The Most Astonishing Occurrence in 1859
Land for Settlers
Troubled National Politics in 1860
The Civil War Years
York Street
Family Struggles
Notable Advances
Quincy Fire Department
Becoming a Prominent Citizen in Quincy
July 1892, Cairo, Illinois
Disaster
Bad News
Arrangements
The Holy Book
The Telegram
The Letter
Time to Think at Home Alone
Eilish Matures
Arthur Metzger
Visiting Quincy, July 1900
Visiting the University of Chicago
Returning to Cairo
Back in Cairo for the Search
Life Returns to Routine for Harvest Time
Back to Chicago in 1901
Entrance Exams and Classes
Meeting a Strange Man in July
Why not Niagara Falls?
September 6, 1901
Answering Questions
An Important Visitor to Cheer a Jailbird
Metzger Milestones