In 1821 in southwest Virginia a woman named Mattie married a complex man who was both a Methodist preacher, and a doctor. Abram was intelligent, restless, determined, deeply religious and a firm Southern abolitionist. Over the forty years that followed, Mattie made homes in seven different houses—mostly log cabins—in four states She raised nine children and moved continually westward, meeting the demands of his church. During those years, from age about forty to fifty-five, Abram returned to riding a huge, difficult and dangerous circuit in the wilderness, and was away for three-month stretches at a time.
Alone while Abram served frontier communities, Mattie and her children faced hazards from both wilderness and humans, especially from conflicts over slavery and secession that devastated Missouri and Kansas. Mattie learned, grew, and became an inspiration to her own family and many other frontier families. The Moving Frontier is her story.
This book takes you from the woods of Southwest Virginia to camp meetings, the great wilderness of northern Missouri, Civil War battlefields, and Kansas prairies. You'll meet Freedmen, runaway slaves, Jayhawkers, feminists, churchmen, Border Ruffians, plantation owners, Shawnees, militiamen, and spies. You'll experience frontier life, religious revivals, the personal family heritage of a massacre, and the passion that drove the legendary circuit riders of the early 1800's.
The Moving Frontier is the story of Martha Poage Moore Still and Abraham Still and their children—an inspiring saga of faith, courage, and personal growth during America's strife-filled 1800s. It's a real-life love story that goes far beyond romance.
The Moving Frontier is Volume IV of the five-book Helena's Stories series, which brings personal perspectives to documented history. Volume V, The Golden Hills, will complete the series.