Carolyn Howard

Blood of My Ancestor Carolyn Howard

Goldsberry Hollow was a rural community in Martin County, Indiana that was first settled in the 1800s by the Goldsberry family. When Alanson Lyon moved his family into the hollow in 1864, it made the Goldsberry family unhappy, because Alanson was a wealthy man who built a large home and set up a large farm. After Alanson and his family got settled, the Goldsberry family became accepting of them. When Alanson died, his son, Joel, became the owner of the farm. About the same time, John Goldsberry's daughter, Malinda, became pregnant, but she wasn't married. To keep her father from beating her to death, Joel took Malinda and her daughter into his home, hiring her as his housekeeper. Joel fell in love with Malinda and eventually married her. Malinda also had an older sister who lived in the hollow whose name was Margaret. When Margaret's husband died just a few months after Malinda did, the Goldsberrys naturally assumed Joel would marry Malinda's sister. When Joel didn't marry Margaret but married Adaline Cannon instead, a family feud broke out, resulting in Adaline's murder. From church picnics and pie-eating contests to making moonshine and cousin love, this based on a true story takes you through life in a rural farming community in the late 1800s. Add to the story jealousy and greed versus the desire to marry, raise a family and have a happy home, and the simple life of a wealthy farmer is left in total disarray.