The New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785, and worked to prohibit the international slave trade and to achieve abolition. It established the African Free School in New York City, the first formal educational institution for blacks in North America.… Read more.
Coroner’s inquests were very common in 1880s in New York City. Any unusual death or questionable death had to pass by the coroner (or one of his deputies or assistants) and sometimes an inquest was empaneled.
In the case mentioned below, the coroner was Richard Croker, a life-long politician with no medical training whatsoever.… Read more.
Anselme Dégre, also known as Father Adam O’Neill. Plays an important role in Fire Along the Sky. Poses as a Catholic priest; not above murder and kidnapping. Based at Priest’s Town on L’île de Lamantins, .
| Dates | |
| Other names | |
| Role in the novels | |
| Physical description | |
| What other people notice about her/him | |
| Race/Ethnicity | |
| Background | |
| Significant event that molded the character’s personality | |
| Relationships | |
| Appears in | |
| Quote about; Quote from | |
| Media |
Slavery in the U.S. is a central topic in many of the Wilderness novels. ‘The Freeman family, headed by , manumitted slaves, along with their children and grandchildren, play pivotal roles in the entire series.
From Wikipedia:
The enslavement of African people in the United States began in New York as part of the Dutch slave trade.… Read more.
Annandale, Scotland and the fictional homelands of Alastair Carryck feature prominently in Dawn on a Distant Shore.
The reason I sent the Bonners to Scotland in Dawn on a Distant Shore is really quite simple or at least, it started out that way.… Read more.
Prostitutes were active all over New York city, “While three and four story row houses and boarding houses proliferated, a sometimes confusing array of baudy houses appeared. In fact, the distinctions between public brothels, parlor houses, houses of assignation, furnished room houses, and panel houses were often unclear.… Read more.
The head of the Belmont family, a veteran of the Civil War who lost his sight in battle. Raised his nephew Cap Verhoeven. Well respected attorney with a practice on Wall Street.
| Dates | |
| Other names | |
| Role in the novels | |
| Physical description | |
| What other people notice about her/him | |
| Race/Ethnicity | |
| Background | |
| Significant event that molded the character’s personality | |
| Relationships | |
| Appears in | |
| Quote about; Quote from | |
| Media |
Giancarlo Mezzanotte (known generally as Jack) was born February 1, 1847 in Livorno, Italy to . He immigrated with his family as a child, but returned to Italy to study law at Padua as a young man.
He has been employed by the New York Police Department since age 23.… Read more.
Billy McGlory was one of the most infamous men in Manhattan in the 1880s, at the center of organized crime and well connected.
Adapted from Wikipedia .
William “Billy” McGlory (1853 – ?) was an American saloon keeper and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century.… Read more.
 | The Bowery is a street that runs in a northeasterly direction through the lower east side. It starts at the Brooklyn Bridge, where it is called Park Row, and ends at Cooper Square at Fourth Street in the north. Originally a part of the old Boston Post Road. |