Carolyn Nowlin
The fact based story of the Hammond family!
Searching For A Nation, shows us how Martin, a young man with nothing of his own, has the courage to make a change (though discouraged) and the results of taking a chance.
The adventure starts in the early 1600's England and continues to the early 1900's Texas, covering nine generations of the family. Each generation has its own story to tell. With different circumstances, each descendant has to choose what is best for them and how to live with the results.
The Hammond family,of which I am a descendant, were into politics and many were in the Revolutionary War. Our family was friends with George Washington and Jefferson Davis to name a few. This is not the story of their political involvements, but the story of their lives. If I had not started searching for our family history no one in our family would have known about any of them.
The novel encourages everyone to search for their own "Nation" of people and to discover for themselves not only their family history, but what makes us who we are and to be proud of our own "Nation".
Carolyn Nell Nowlin was born and raised in Texas where she currently lives. Though single with no children of her own, she works at a large Junior High School, where she loves working with the students.
Her favorite pastime is traveling around the world, especially to exotic places.
Searching For A Nation, is Carolyn's first book, based on her family's history and is supported with documentation. Carolyn is currently considering writing another book about her many experiences while working at the school.
Samuel knew the trunk was his and would go with him. The trunk was a possession the family held dear, and a priviledge to own it. Samuel remembered the aroma of cedar that wafted from the large sturdy trunk, and stories of how his father Job used to sit on the trunk after a long day in the fields. His fondest memory of the trunk was the time his mother was cleaning it out. She had carefully stacked the contents on the floor, but was interrupted before she was able to repack the contents. Later, returning and finishing the chore, she closed the lid firmly. Immediately, she heard a frantic scratching coming from the inside of the trunk. Amadine, almost scared, slowly raised the top. She jumped back when a mouse scampered out of the trunk. She let out a scream, which in turn scared the mouse even more. The mouse ran around the room with squealing, giggling children chasing behind.
The laughter escalated when the mouse ran up their father's pant leg. Job hated rodents of any kind. Their father bent over immediately to prevent the mouse from going any further up his pant leg, trying to hold it in place. Job was not sure how to get the mouse out of his pants. He did not want to move fearing the mouse would travel even further up his pants, but also knew he could not stay bent over forever. Job began to jump around, dancing a jig that rivaled that of any blue-ribbon award winner. Laughter could not be contained at the sight of the tall, strong, stoic man being so vulnerable. All of Job's children knew their father hated rodents, he was almost afraid of them, making the sight even funnier. Father, too laughed at the situation, knowing he was a funny sight to everyone. It had been a long time since everyone in the household had laughed so hard. When the mouse fell out of the pant leg, it scurried around the room looking for an exit, finally going out underneath the front door. The scene was imprinted in Samuel's mind forever.
