To Follow a DreamBy Chandra Lynn SmithDescription:
MaryRose Elliott needs a new landscape. Her home in Hertford, North Carolina has become a symbol of loss. Widowed at twenty-three was tragic. But four years later, the loss of her parents and grandmother to a drunk driver is as insurmountable as the mountains of southern West Virginia where she relocates. Why the author wrote this book:While To Follow a Dream is a complete work of fiction, the inspiration for it comes from a story in my family history. John M. Davis—who from Mama’s best recollection was my great-great-great uncle—had a dream about his future bride. He dreamt who she was, where she lived, and what dress she would be wearing. He rode his horse the seventy miles to the location of his dream, met Elizabeth Everett’s father and told him he’d come to court his daughter—whom he’d never met. On December 24, 1839, John M. Davis and Elizabeth Everett were married. My ancestor following his dream inspired this novel. By the way, when John met Elizabeth she was wearing the exact dress he’d seen in his dream. The record of John M. Davis’s story is found on page 201 of The Heritage of Lenoir County 1981, published by The Lenoir County Historical Association, Kinston, North Carolina in 1981. |