Our Family Dreams

June 13, 2016
Smith (An American Betrayal), a former professor of American history at the University of Kentucky, peers into the ways settler families survived in fledgling post-revolutionary America by following the fortunes of Vermonter Jesse Fletcher and his descendants. Beginning on Fletcher’s small Vermont farm, Smith traces the family’s dispersion across the land. Using family letters and diaries, Smith painstakingly frames the rugged patriarch’s drive and determination. These traits are also visible in the ambitions of his sons, Elijah and Calvin, who were eager to carve out their own destinies. Smith relays Elijah’s conflicting views about slavery upon relocating to Virginia, marrying into a slave-owning family, and coming to defend slavery as “rather a misfortune than a crime” while becoming one of the state’s largest slave owners. Calvin, one of the youngest Fletcher children, stands out as a respected lawyer and abolitionist in Indianapolis who later teamed with Elijah to pay their late father’s debts. Smith is able to show that Jesse Fletcher’s views of hard work, determination, and courage were passed down to his grandchildren. In following the family through two generations, Smith shows the conflicting nature of American democracy in the various paths chosen by the offspring of the Fletcher bloodline. Agent: Geri Thoma, Writers House.

May 15, 2016
The lives and fortunes of ambitious 19th-century brothers.Jesse Fletcher (1762-1831) raised 15 children in Ludlow, Vermont, struggling to eke out a living from his farm and fighting recurring depression. In a vividly detailed history, Smith (An American Betrayal: Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears, 2011, etc.) focuses on two of those children to tell both a story of the family and of America from the early 19th century through Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the end of the Civil War. Those 50 years saw vast political, social, and technological changes as urban centers burgeoned and "canals, turnpikes, steamboats, railroads, and the telegraph" linked east and west--and America to Europe. All those transformations had an impact on the Fletchers. Elijah (1789-1858) was a favored son who saw education as the path to escape his father's hard life. After graduating from college, he took a teaching job in Virginia, where he was at first horrified by slavery. But he married into a wealthy family and soon owned a plantation, along with slaves. Calvin (1798-1866) was rebellious, leaving home at 17, bouncing around the country from one meager job to another until he finally settled down to become a lawyer, banker, and landholder in Indianapolis. He also was a punctilious diary keeper, leaving almost 5,000 pages of material from which Smith constructs a seamless, detailed narrative. Because Calvin left such a rich paper trail, he and his children become the main focus of the family's story. As a father, one of his sons remembered, Calvin "was stern and demanding, relentless in case of lapse from duty and behavior." Diary entries reveal his constant worry over his sons' educations, career prospects, and morality. But he also turned to public life, taking strong and vocal positions on the abolition of slavery, intemperance, and school reform, all major issues of the day. Incomparable sources make for an unusually intimate American portrait.

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June 15, 2016

The Fletchers, proud descendants of Revolutionary War patriots, represented 19th-century family values in their desire for success through education and self-sufficiency. Brothers Elijah and Calvin followed different paths but left voluminous records to tell their story and the happenings of the times. Smith (history, Univ. of Kentucky; coauthor, The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown) weaves details of family life in newly established Indianapolis and antebellum Virginia with both national and local events to craft a compelling social history. Similar to Henry Wiencek's award-winning The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, the author creates a well-researched narrative that evokes a period and place. Using diaries, letters, photographs, and newspaper articles, Smith brings his subjects to life with their own words and images. Passages from source documents reveal distinct personalities shaped by subtly different choices. An interesting connection to Virginia's Sweet Briar College ties past and present together. VERDICT More than a family history, this title will appeal to readers interested in the family dynamics of the era, the perception of the value of education, and dreams of a legacy.--Barbara Ferrara, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2016
Elijah and Calvin Fletcher came from the same place but took vastly different roads in life. Born into a hardscrabble existence on a Vermont farm around the dawn of the nineteenth century, the brothers both struck out to make their mark in the young nation. Former history professor Smith has reconstructed detailed portraits of their lives from extensive diaries and letters, offering an unparalleled look into how the ambition to better themselves shaped the men and their families. From Vermont, Elijah made his way to Virginia, slowly accepting and eventually adopting the slaveholding lifestyle of the plantation. Calvin, on the other hand, journeyed west to Indianapolis, where he built a legal and banking career and involved himself in public affairs, including a strong campaign against slavery. Smith draws the reader into the family's aspirations and fears in a way that emphasizes their similarities to the hopes and dreams of families today. Historical events, including the California Gold Rush and the Civil War, are imbued with personal significance through Smith's masterful and vivid retelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)