Rev. John (“the Martyr”) Rogers is a pivotal character in European and Christian history. A former Catholic priest then adherent of the Reformation after studying with colleagues of Martin Luther, he becomes entangled in the political-religious turmoil of the Tudor family on the throne of England.
A father of eleven with a Flemish-born wife, his firm belief in the need to read the Bible in the vernacular and the “priesthood of all believers” emboldened him not to recant to save his own life. In the presence of his entire family he was led to the execution pyre in the flames of which he appeared to wash his hands as he gave up his spirit.
The year 1692 is an annus horribilis on the American timeline which has been engraved on the hearts of men, inscribed in the annals of history, is remembered with sadness, and continues to admonish humanity about the ease with which those deemed as “other” can be persecuted and made to suffer. Rebecka Nurse, née Towne (known to many as Rebecca Nurse from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the author’s 11th maternal great grandmother) could claim Charlemagne, the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and the noble family de Ferrers among her ancestors, but nothing could save her from the gallows which had been made of the Witches’ Tree in the ancient Wampanoag settlement called Naumkeag, now Salem. Her own second cousin, Roger Conant, had founded Salem after leaving Plymouth (Plimoth), which all at her trial knew. He, in turn, had fought with Myles Standish (a relative of both his and Rebecka’s) the governor of Plymouth and the author’s 9th maternal great grandfather. This turmoil, envy, and perhaps even boredom, intertwine like the gnarled branches of the ancient tree which gives this story its title.
In 1963 a woman by the name of “Evgenia Smetisko,” an immigrant who purportedly entered the United States from Roumania according to her 1928 naturalization papers, published “Anastasia: The Autobiography of HIH The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia.” When asked if she were indeed the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, she denied it and failed a lie detector test. Upon acknowledging the fact, she passed. Although her immigration and naturalization papers state that “Evgenia” was born on January 25, 1899, her grave cross in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Monastery in Jordanville, New York lists the birthdate as June 18, 1901. On that date Grand Duchess Anastasia was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Both Anastasia and “Evgenia” were artistically inclined. Paintings and embroidery from “Evgenia’s” collection, which were NOT deemed suitable for inclusion in the monastery’s Russian history museum and now reside in a private collection, are offered here for the enjoyment of the reader.
In 1900 Denton Jacques Snider wrote about Friedrich (Frederick) Froebel and his life experiences which led to the founding of the first kindergarten. Over a century later, a Froebel family member and author of two children’s books about Froebel and kindergarten, expands the publication designed for readers in the Victorian age to make it a timeless reference and tribute to his “Oheim,” an ancient German term for maternal uncle. Educators, kindergarten teachers, parents of kindergarten age children and readers interested in German history, will enjoy its notes, explanations and illustrations, never seen by Denton’s readership.
Froebel-Parker’s book about Friedrich Froebel and Baroness Bertha von Marenholtz-Buelow is the third in his “Ahnentafel” series. It was preceded by “Friedrich and the First Kindergarten” and “Grandma Harrington and the Queen’s Wardrobe.” In “The First Kindergarten: Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel & Baroness Bertha Marie von Marenholtz-Buelow” the author expands the story of the founding of Kindergarten to include Friedrich Froebel’s tireless friend and advocate, Baroness von Marenholtz-Buelow. Opening the doors of cultural luminaries and European nobility to Froebel’s ideas, the noblewoman from the ancient von Buelow family is often dubbed “the mother of Kindergarten” just as Froebel is referred to as “the father of Kindergarten.” In this historical novel, which includes much biographical information, Froebel-Parker joins through literature the lives and contributions of two of the world’s greatest proponents of children’s education which are still relevant today.
Froebel-Parker’s book about paternal and maternal Harrington ancestors is the second book dedicated to his “Ahnentafel.” Friedrich and the First Kindergarten dealt with his ancestor, Friedrich Froebel, founder of the first kindergarten. In Grandma Harrington and the Queen’s Wardrobe, Froebel-Parker recounts the story of Mary Rogers, Lady Harrington, wife of Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite godson and recipient of many gowns from the queen’s royal wardrobe. He sews the connections between the Harringtons and Tudors into little Robert Harrington’s journey to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the Winthrop Fleet in 1630.