Jason Emerson, Lincoln author and independent historian presents Such a Baptism of Sorrows: The Lincoln Family in 1866, Saturday, June 11, 7 p.m.
Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro
$5 Adults; free for Saturday Civil War Weekend reenactors, volunteers and visitors
1866: Lincoln Author and Others Present on the Year after the War
Jason Emerson, independent historian, professional journalist, and an author on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln and his family, will present Such a Baptism of Sorrow: The Lincoln Family in 1866 at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 11 at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road in Peterboro NY 13134. Emerson will address the status of the Lincoln family after 1865, the year of the assassination of the President and the termination of the Civil War. Emerson’s book Giant in the Shadows is the definitive biography of the Lincoln’s oldest son, and was named the Book of the Year by the Illinois State Historical Society in 2013. Emerson’s book Mary Lincoln’s Insanity Case: A Documentary History is a compilation of primary sources on the subject including letters, newspapers, and the Bellevue Place Sanitarium reports, as well as personal interviews and diaries which were involved in her insanity trial. Other previous books include The Madness of Mary Lincoln and The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln’s Widow, As Revealed by Her Own Letters. Emerson is currently writing two books: Mary Lincoln for the Ages (to be published in 2017-18) and Lincoln’s Lover: Mary Lincoln in Poetry. The Lincoln author has appeared on Book TV, American History T V, and The History Channel.
Jason Emerson has worked as a National Park Service Park Ranger at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Gettysburg National Military Park, and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, and as a costumed interpreter at the Genesee County Museum in Mumford. He lives in Cazenovia and is currently the editor of the Cazenovia Republican newspaper. The public is encouraged to attend Emerson’s program on Lincoln’s family following the first day of the 24th Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend. Admission for re-enactors, volunteers, and Saturday visitors with a hand stamp for the day is free to the program. Otherwise, adults are five dollars and students are free.
On Saturday and Sunday of Peterboro Civil War Weekend Sheila K. Harris, author of The Audacious Legacy of Dr. Rachel Harris Reid, will tell the story of her 19th C. relative who was one of the first twelve women doctors in the U.S. and a Civil War Union Army veteran. Harris is the facilitator of the Remsen Writers’ Group and has been a story teller for over thirty years. Harris will also be selling and signing her book.
The Erie Canal was a powerful waterway that carried radical, visionaries, social, reformers, and prophets bent on the idea of creating a new society. On both days of the event Michael Keene addresses the impact of the canal in his new book The Psychic Highway: How the Erie Canal Changed America. Keene is an affiliate member of the Association of Public Historians and a contributor to the New York History Review. Keene will be selling and signing his new book, as well as his many other books.
1866! William H. Payne has focused on the struggles of veterans returning from the Civil War as well as from deployment in his own lifetime. Payne served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam and in the 10th Brigade of the New York Guard for 23 years until his retirement in January of 2015. His first book The Veteran in the New Field is followed by The Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, which begins in Saratoga Springs, the fabulous resort of the rich and famous of 1866. Payne holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and a Master’s degree in sociology. Payne will be exhibiting his books and presenting Sunday, June 12.
The Peterboro Civil War Weekend is an educational and fund-raising event of the Smithfield Community Association based on the Gerrit Smith-John Brown relationship which helped ignite the Civil War. Admission ($8: Adults, $3: 6-12 years, Free: Under 6) covers weekend activities (except food). Volunteers and reenactors are encouraged to contact 315-280-8828 or mail@sca-peterboro.org for information and forms. Check updates at www.PeterboroNY.org.