The Runaway's Gold (33 page)

Was Norfolk Island real?

Yes. It was a British penal colony in the Tasman Sea. Norfolk had a reputation for extreme brutality that has been compared to that of the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps of World War II. Prisoners were kept in leg irons and were flogged and beaten as they worked the fields. They often died before completing their sentences. As Malcolm mentions in the story, one might prefer to die rather than experience such a place.

What about the pig bristle rope?

The Shetland swine, known as a grice, had long, stiff bristles along its back and tail that were highly valued in rope making. Prized for strength and flexibility, it was the source of one of the strongest cordages available at that time and was quite laborious to make—the kind of cordage one would rely on for highly risky activities such as fowling. Sadly, the grice is now extinct, although a model was recently re-created and is on display at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick.

What did it mean to be “in quartering”?

What scared Chris more than almost anything was that his family could be cast from their croft for not paying their rent and added to the parish's list of paupers. If a family was left destitute, as was common when fathers were lost at sea, it was placed “in quartering,” or passed from croft to croft among the parish, working for shelter and a meager share of food.

Why were the roads so difficult to travel?

At the time of the story, Shetland's spongy, peat-riddled landscape made travel by land very difficult. Most people traveled by boat if they could. It wasn't until the late 1840s that proper roads began to be constructed.

Patronymics

Sometime around the period of my story, Shetlanders began to drop the old Scandinavian tradition, known as patronymics, of passing a father's first name to his children. For example, if your name was Mary and your father was Anders, your name would be Mary Andersdaughter. If your name was Michael and your father was John, your name was Michael Johnson. When Daa, William Robertson, decided to keep the Robertson name for his children instead of Williamson, he made his family line much easier to track for generations to come. Patronymics is still in use in Iceland, making even the simple task of finding someone by their name in the phone book a true adventure!

Was starvation common?

Hunger was a way of life for my Shetland ancestors, and I hoped to convey that in this story. The harsh island weather made crop failures common, and the fishing, due to temperature fluctuations in the North Atlantic, often failed for several years in a row. When you read firsthand accounts of people cooking moss to fill their stomachs, and of cows so weak from
lack of fodder that they have to be lifted by ropes, you find yourself incredibly appreciative of what you have.

Gravestones

The idea for Daa wanting a gravestone for his family came to me while I was doing my own family research. When I learned that my ancestors lived in Culswick, I tried to find their graves—wanting desperately to see, chiseled in stone, the names and dates that connected them to me. Sadly, I discovered, most crofter-fishermen and their families didn't have gravestones. Not only did they struggle to survive, they were too poor to honor their dead with even the simplest, lasting indication that they once had lived.

Shetland ponies

As a child I had a Shetland pony named Beau, who was opinionated, spiteful, and incredibly cute. He had a good life on our farm in northern New Hampshire—but, sadly, the ponies of Shetland at the time of my story weren't so fortunate. When Parliament passed the Mines Act of 1842, prohibiting women and children ten and younger from working underground, the collieries of England used tens of thousands of Shetland ponies to take their place. These ponies were not well treated. They were taken underground into the coal pits at a young age and never brought back up into the light of day for the rest of their long (sometimes thirty-year) lives. And, as Malcolm explains in the story, the poor creatures' eyes were sometimes
purposefully destroyed and eyelids sewn shut to prevent infections from coal dust.

Was Henry Laurens a real person?

Yes. He was an American merchant and a president of the Second Continental Congress. During the American Revolution he was minister to the Netherlands and captured at sea by the British while carrying a draft of a Dutch-American treaty. After seeing the draft treaty, Britain declared war on the Netherlands. Laurens was charged with treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London, the only known American to have been held there. On December 31, 1781, he was released in exchange for Lord Cornwallis, a leading British general.

Was Billy Tweed a real person?

Yes. The Billy Tweed in my story eventually grew to become the notorious William M. Tweed—New York political boss and longtime leader of Tammany Hall, New York City's Democratic Party political “machine” of that time. Tammany Hall was the master of coercing political support from newly arrived, downtrodden immigrants like Chris and Malcolm in return for finding them jobs and lodgings. William Tweed was elected alderman in 1851 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852. At the time of Tweed's conviction on corruption charges in 1877, it is estimated that he had stolen between 25 million and 45 million dollars in taxpayers' money from the citizens of New York City.

Are the other characters in the story real people?

My great-great-grandfather Robert Christie inspired much of the story. He grew up in a croft house in Culswick, Shetland, immigrated to New York, became a blacksmith, and relied on the bosses of Tammany Hall for his job. Christopher Robertson (I had fun playing with the name) and all the other characters are from my imagination. I used the name Reverend Sill as a nod to the Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill, founder of Kent School, where I learned to write, but the character was inspired by the fire-and-brimstone Presbyterian minister the Reverend John Mill (1712–1805), whose detailed diary is an amazing eyewitness account of life in Shetland. Robert Livingston, the cousin of my fictional character Sam Livingston, was a real person. He was the first Chancellor of New York, a member of the “Secret Committee” of the Second Continental Congress, and member of the “Committee of Five” that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He came from a large family, so I thought it plausible that he would have a cousin like Sam. Oh, and there is a real Nolan the cat, who loves to walk across my keyboard and printed manuscripts as I write, tufts of white and gray hair flying in all directions.

Was there such a thing as a Pine Tree Shilling?

Yes. It was one of the original coins struck in the American colonies. The white pine was an important symbol of the American Revolution, and George Washington used it in his design of the well-known “An Appeal to Heaven” flag. Revolutionary
spies were known to carry documents hidden in cases made to pass for coins.

Was there a Dahlonega Mint?

Yes, from 1838 to 1861. It was in Dahlonega, Georgia, and was chartered to provide a place for miners of the “Georgia Gold Rush” to take their bounty. Gold Half Eagles had a five-dollar face value and were the first coins produced at Dahlonega.

Bibliography and Suggested Reading

Arcus, Robert. “James Arcus—Convict—Australian Bound.” Coontin Kin, Shetland Family History Society. Vol. 73. Yule 2009, pp. 24–27.

Bryden, the Reverend John, and the Reverend Thomas Barclay.
The Statistical Account of Scotland by the Ministers of the Respected Parishes, under the Superintendence of a Committee of the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy
. Vol. 15. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1845.

Burrows, Edwin G. and Wallace, Mike.
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Canter, Kate. “An Involuntary Migration from Shetland.”
Coontin Kin
, Shetland Family History Society. Vol. 73. Yule 2009, pp. 3–8.

Christie-Johnston, A. & E.
Shetland Words: A Dictionary of Shetland Dialect
. Lerwick: Shetland Times, 2010.

Cowie, Robert.
Shetland: Descriptive and Historical; and Topographical Description of That County
. Aberdeen, 1879. Gear, Sheila.
Foula: Island West of the Sun
. London: Robert Hale, 1983.

Goudie, Gilbert.
The Celtic and Scandinavian Antiquities of Shetland
. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1904.

Goudie, Gilbert, ed.
The Diary of the Reverend John Mill, Minister of the Parishes of Dunrossness, Sandwick and Cunningsburgh in Shetland (Scotland), 1740–1803, with Selections from Local Records and Original Documents Relating to the District
. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 2004.

Graham, John J.
“A Vehement Thirst After Knowledge”: Four Centuries of Education in Shetland
. Lerwick: Shetland Times, 1998.

Hibbert, Samuel.
A Description of the Shetland Islands: Comprising an Account of the Geology, Scenery, Antiquities, and Superstitions
. Edinburgh, 1822.

Irvine, James W.
Lerwick: The Birth and Growth of an Island Town
. Lerwick Community Council, 1985.

Johnson, James W. “Roond Aboot Skelda Voe 1869.”
Skeld Festival of the Seas, 15th–17th June 2007
. 2007.

Lerwick Jail Records, 1837–78.

McCullough, J. R., Esq.
A Descriptive and Statistical Account of the British Empire: Its Extent, Physical Capacities, Population, Industry, and Civil and Religious Institutions
. rev. 4th ed. Vol. 2. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1854.

Nicolson, James R.
Hay & Company: Merchants in Shetland
. Lerwick: Hay & Company, 1982.

O'Brien, D.
Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, Third Report of the Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain
. August 16, 1847.

Platt, Richard.
Smuggling in the British Isles: A History
. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, 2007.

Shetland Museum and Archives.
http://www.shetland-museum.org.uk/
.

Shetland words and language:
http://www.shetlanddialect.org.uk/
.

Simpson, Charlie.
Shetland Heritage of Sail
. Lerwick: Shetland Times, 2011.

Sinclair, Douglas M.
A Glimpse of Lerwick's Waterfront History
. Millgaet Media, 2010.

Smith, Hance D.
Shetland Life and Trade, 1550–1914
. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1984.

Spann, Edward K.
The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840-1857
. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.

Tait, Ian.
Rural Life in Shetland & Guidebook to the Croft House Museum
. Lerwick: Shetland Museum, 2000.

Tudor, John R.
The Orkneys and Shetland: Their Past and Present State
. London: Edward Stanford, 1883.

Acknowledgments

Years ago I found a shoe box in the back of my father's closet filled with cassette recordings made by my grandfather George Robert Christie. He was eighty-four when he made them, and if he hadn't thought the stories important enough to pass down, nearly all of what we know about our family would have been lost forever. When I heard him say that his grandfather Robert Christie “lived in a place where they had little ponies with long hair,” I had to know more. I will be forever thankful to him for this exceptional gift.

Writing a novel is, at first, a solitary experience, and then it requires the kindness of good friends and generosity of the learned to bring it to fruition. Carolyn and Rob Miller were fantastic supporters, detailed readers, and cheerleaders from beginning to end. I had many early readers who were both gentle with the delicate ego of a first-time author and generous with their advice: Rebecca Briccetti, Beatrice Burack, Bob Cole, Sarah Crow, Leigh Maynard, and Ellen Goldsberry—thank you! Hopkinton Mother-Daughter Book Club members Danielle and Katelyn Meserve, Emily and Lisa Metzger, Lillie and Alicia Presti, Maddy and Betsey Rhynhart, and Maura and
Susan Zankel shared important feedback as did Nick Miller. Public historian Kathleen Hulser made sure I had my New York facts straight, and Larsen Burack worked hard to keep me humble. Thanks also to Susan LeFevre and Janet Wilkinson for a home away from home and to Krysia Burnham for opening a door.

And I'll be forever indebted to the many people of the Shetland Islands who helped along the way: Merryn Henderson (who referred me to the invaluable
Diary of the Reverend John Mill
) and Elizabeth Angus of the Shetland Family History Society; Bertie Grey (who showed me the remains of the Christie family croft!); historian Douglas Sinclair for information on Fort Charlotte, lodberries, and the early Lerwick waterfront; Laureen Johnson at
shetlanddialect.org.uk
for verifying some word choices; Angus Johnson of the Shetland Museum & Archives for his help identifying ships; and Dr. Ian Tait, Curator of the Shetland Museum & Archives, whose fantastic book,
Rural Life in Shetland
(Shetland Museum, 2000), and knowledge of how rope was made from the bristles of the now extinct Shetland grice, helped me to understand many details of the period.

My amazing agent, Charlotte Sheedy, believed in this novel from the beginning, and the wonderful Maggie Lehrman saw its potential, and then gently and graciously helped me make it so much better. Howard Reeves, Maria Middleton, Jim Armstrong, Jason Wells, Orlando DosReis, and the rest of the Abrams team brought it to life. Thank you all.

But my biggest thanks goes to my husband, Tom, who read draft after draft—red pen at the ready—more times than anyone, followed me to Shetland and back, and never let me quit. Muckle smoorikins!

About the Author

When
Emilie Christie Burack
learned that her ancestors had come from the islands “where they had little ponies with long hair,” she had to know more. She has traveled to the Shetland Islands and researched its history. She now resides in New Hampshire. This is her first book.