I wanted to find the place where the original Dean house has stood. On the Internet, I had read this description: “For many years a...

Dean is a tiny community at the headwaters of the Musquodoboit River about 60 miles northeast of Halifax. We drove to Musquodoboit...

I am off for a couple of weeks to check out Dean, Nova Scotia, which was founded by my ancestor John Dean, about whom I am writing. Hope...

Traditionally, in Scotland Christmas was a purely religious festival and New Years or Hogmanay was the main holiday. John Knox, founder...

When I was doing family tree research, I found this in the Old Parochial Records of Scotland. Susan Kirk Dean born 11/11/1787, ...

In the Old Parochial Records of Scotland, I found the following: Susan Kirk Dean born 11/11/1787,  christened 18/11/1787, father John...

My novel Exiled from Eden begins during the riots in London in 1780. Legislation had been passed for the civil relief of Catholics in...

Meat was the staple of eighteenth century meals– meat, meat and more meat. Although the poor might have only two types of meat at a meal,...

Scottish wedding traditions are pretty bizarre. If you’re planning a wedding and have some Scottish ancestry (or even if you don’t) you...

The great events of our time colour who we are and shape us in ways to do not recognize. The American Revolution was in full swing when...

Tomorrow is Tartan Day, and I want to honour that “holiday” by talking about my Scottish protagonist John Dean and explaining why the...

Unsuitable love matches must have been a problem in England in the 18th century because a law was passed in 1753 making marriage without...

The masquerade needs to experience a revival as a form of popular entertainment. I can’t think of anything more fun than dressing up in...

I did a lot of research for The Pleasure Gardeners Companion. There are two really important books that I am greatly indebted to. One is...

Yesterday was International Women’s Day. It reminded me how far we’ve come as women in the west even since I was a girl. But we should...

I was doing some genealogical research, you know, dry dates of marriages and deaths, when I came across a juicy story. I have been...

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