Peeking Between the Pages

...escape into the pages of a good book

Interview with Tammy Hinton, author of Unbridled & Giveaway

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Please welcome Tammy Hinton, author of Unbridled, to Peeking Between the Pages today.  I met Tammy on Twitter and she is just the nicest person!  Her book Unbridled really caught my interest as I love pioneer stories and I have to admit that I loved the cover of this book as well.  It reminds me somewhat of my parent’s farmhouses from when they were growing up.  I intend to fit Unbridled in as soon as I can (so does my mom) but for now I thought I’d share an interview with Tammy where she talks about Sarah Cannon’s story which is what the book is about.  Enjoy…

 

Your debut novel, Unbridled, is being honored by both Western Writers of America and the Western Fictioneers. How did you come up with Sarah Cannon’s story?

I always loved stories about the west. As a youngster in the 1950’s I grew up on a steady diet of Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry. Every Saturday afternoon you found my sister and me at the local Bijou, quarter in hand, to see a double feature and cartoon. Sugar Daddy stuck to the roof of my mouth, eyes focused on the screen, I sat transfixed willing myself back in time to the “Old West.” Week days I rode the wild open plains of the school yard playing cowboys and Indians. I always wanted to be the beautiful Indian princess. After all, I was part Cherokee. My mother told me so.

Mom spoke of her Cherokee blood with great pride. She reminisced about her Great-grandma Cannon, Great-aunt Mary Hummingbird, and other relatives from the Anadarko area of Oklahoma.

Bitten by the genealogy bug in the 1990’s, my goal was set to find my ancestors on the Dawes Commission Role, the census of the Five Civilized Tribes taken by the U.S. federal government between 1898 to 1914. What I found on this journey was more intriguing than I could have imagined.

I determined the Cannons would be my starting point. All I knew about the family was that they left Georgia after the Civil War, spent some time in Texas, and then settled in Indian Territory in the 1870s.

Since my research started in 1996 there was little information on-line. At the St. Paul, Minnesota Church of Latter Day Saints Genealogy Center I sat glued to an old wooden chair scanning microfilm documents looking for one piece of the puzzle. For hours I rolled the hand crank to view copies of census, marriage, and death records. My eyes strained as letters written a hundred years ago flipped by.

At home I sent a mass mailing to the Cannons listed in Anadarko and posted queries on county genealogical websites. Soon distant cousins contacted me to share information. Their stories made my ancestors come to life and take on personalities.

Before long our family history started to fall into place. I’d found my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Ellen Virginia Bryce. When the Confederacy fell the Bryce family left the Georgia land scorched by Sherman, to seek a new beginning in the west. Sarah met and married Augustus Cannon. The Grayson County, Texas Personal Assessment Roll of 1871 revealed Gus and Sarah owned a home and a horse each valued at $40.00. Was that a really good horse or a really bad house? Sometime between 1871 and 1874 they moved to Indian Territory. Lula Jane Cannon, my great-grandmother, was born there in 1874 the second of ten children.

Sarah Bryce Cannon, from solid Scottish immigrant stock, was a determined woman in the pre-land rush era of Indian Territory. Widowed and left with a large family to raise, she transcended the traditional role of a female in the pioneering west to secure a future for her children. A young Presbyterian minister, S.V. Fait, wrote the local Indian Agent in March of 1899, “Mrs. S.E.V. Cannon, I understand, is an applicant for the Thomas farm. Should you find it possible to let Mrs. Cannon have this farm, I have no hesitancy in saying that I believe she will farm in a satisfactory manner. I have known the family for five or six years, and Mrs. Cannon has during that time, at least, been its main stay, and it is my opinion that she will get along better, now that her husband is dead than when he was living.”

I admired Sarah’s goals to succeed in a male dominated time and place and thought about how she could be successful. That’s how the novel Unbridled came about.

 

Did you find your ancestor’s name on the Dawes?

No, my journey’s not ended. I haven’t found my Cherokee or Choctaw cousins nor the elusive name of my ancestor on the Dawes Role. I’m not an Indian princess, (they were a myth fashioned by Hollywood to seize the imagination of little girls), what I did find is if we each look to our past we will find extraordinary people to admire from our own gene pool.

Every one of us has a similar story in our own family history. Writing memoirs is a wonderful way to pass your family story on to the next generation.

 

How do you suggest a non-writer proceed?

I took a writing class at a local technical college. This updated my writing skills and informed me on current punctuation usage. Join a critique group. A critique group will give you feedback on what works and what doesn’t. They help edit grammar and punctuation. Even if the book is just for your family, you want to be proud of the end product.

 

Thank you for sharing your story.

I find the best part of book signings is talking to the people who come to my table and share their own incredible family stories. Thank you for having me.

 

About Unbridled

When Sarah Cannon joins the pioneers in the Kiowa lands of 1870’s Indian Territory, it’s not the virgin prairie, but the challenges to her young marriage, the ruthless treachery shown the Indians, and their bloody vengeance that ultimately tests her faith and resolve. SARAH BRYCE CANNON… struggles to conform to society’s definition of the proper wife and mother. When she can no longer watch her children suffer, she listens to her inner voice. A woman in a man’s world, she is not to be denied. GUS CANNON…distant…unable to express his love. Ill prepared for pioneer life, he fails at every turn. Unbridled, paints a picture of the struggles of life in the unsettled west, flavored with the regional history of Custer and the 7th Calvary’s Washita Massacre and the Battle of Anadarko. It’s through her friendship with a Kiowa woman that Sarah is made aware of what it means to be Indian in Indian Territory.

Buy Unbridled at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.ca
Unbridled is available for your Kindle as well

 

About Tammy Hinton

Author Tammy Hinton compares her many changes of address to that of a wandering gypsy. She and her husband/proof reader, Herb, chose a picturesque lake in Oklahoma as their final destination.

Tammy earned a Bachelor of Science in Education-Composite Social Sciences from Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. While there she received the Wenona Cook Scholarship Award presented by Friends of the Leland D. Case Library for Western Historical Studies for her academic achievement.

Tammy’s Website
Follow Tammy on Twitter

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one paperback copy (if you prefer a Kindle copy if you win let me know) of Unbridled by Tammy Hinton  up for grabs. To enter…

  • For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
  • For 2 entries, follow my blog. If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass that extra entry on to you as well.
  • For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents and I will be drawing for the winner on Saturday, May 5/12.  Good luck!

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Comments

  1. I think this is a very interesting read.. I have just recently become interested in genealogy but I haven’t gotten started yet.

  4. Do you mean May 5th? There is no April 5th on a Saturday and it would be over anyway, LOL.

    I love Pioneer stories too!

    Please enter me!

    I am a follower

    I posted it on my sidebar.

    forevereading at gmail dot com

  5. Sounds interesting, love the cover. Like the author I watched Roy Rogers and others at the Saturday matinees during the ’50s. Thanks for the giveaway.
    GFC follower.

  6. Oh,, Dar, this was an excellent author interview, and has really gotten me excited about the book. I would love a chance to be included in your giveaway, so please do enter me, and thanks for sharing this today!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

  10. Prejudice against American Indians was still a problem when my Grandmother was a young woman. I love reading about pioneer women. Will be adding this book to my TBR list.
    Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of this book.

    plb1050[at]gmail[dot]com

  17. I also relish pioneer stories. It’s wonderful that genealogy studies led to a book. This interview was enjoyable to read, and I’d like to read Unbridled. I’m a follower, and will post this giveaway in my blog’s sidebar.

    suko95(at)gmail(dot)com

  18. This book sounds fascinating! My grandfather was the family historian back in the 50s so we have a lot of history recorded in our own book.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

  21. I’m sure the early day on the prairie were difficult in many ways. I’d love to give this book a read.
    I follow this blog by email: carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx
    I also tweeted about the giveaway: shttps://twitter.com/#!/carlrscott/status/192665693827772417
    Thanks!

  25. I love pioneer stories and your interview brought back memories to me of Hop-along-Cassidy, Roy and Dale and The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Would love to read your book. I am a follower through email and GFC.

    Tmrtini at gmail dot com

  29. I like books from the older times and I am interesting in genealogy to so this book is of great reading for me
    thanks
    amhengst at verizon dot net

  34. Hi ^_^ I am a follower and I think this book sounds really interesting, thansks for the giveaway

    faefever25 at hotmail dot com

  35. Wow, how interesting her heritage is.
    Ty fot the giveaway.
    pjames330 at aol dot com

  38. I loved the genealogy part of the interview. I have been tracking down my ancestors on both sides for quite a few years. The best part is when you can find stories about them! That makes them so real.

    I also have memories of Hopalong Cassidy. I used to watch Roger Rogers and Gene Autry on Saturday mornings when I grew up. Also played cowboys and Indians.

    I would love to read this book. Thank you for the chance.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

  41. Hi! What a very interesting post. I was just carried along in it remembering those HopAlong days when I, too, had SugarPops sticking to my mouth and also used to eat SugarSmacks cereal! LOL Such a memory that brought back so many Saturdays with my Grandmother Pearl in the 1950’s. Many thanks to Tammy for that. Please also let her know that I’m of Cherokee blood. Although my ancestors hid away and didn’t follow the Trail of Tears to OK. They are still in the Blue Ridge Mts. near Blowing Rock, NC; specifically Cherokee, NC, where my mother goes every fall to work on the reservation. I’m only apparently Cherokee by way of my hot temper which flares up on the rarest of occasions (!), and my high cholesterol!! 😛 Tammy may understand this! Otherwise, we are only 1/16th. Anyway, thank you both for this post.
    I’m a follower by name of BookishDame, as well as a Network follower. I’m hoping to win this very interesting book. My email is: thebookishdame@aol.com Good luck to both of you!
    Deb

  47. Sounds like a great book. I love reading about this time period in history. Please enter me. Thanks!
    ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net

  57. I love the book unbridled it got me in touch with my family that I never knew at the same time I feel the pain what my great-grandmother was going thru I wanted to cry,but I had to read a book about my family that I wasn’t told about.signed by,Betty Ann Hummingbird Ramsey

  58. I love reading about my family I never knew,since my father never spoken to me about them. It is so sad my great- grandmother Sarah E.v.Bryce Cannon went thru she was raising her children she was surview. My grandmother is my father mother Mary F.Cannon Hummingbird. After reading thru book I just wanted to cry.. I think my cuz did real good job writing the book.maybe one we will meet. Good luck. Signed by,Betty Ann Hummingbird Ramsey from Oklahoma.