The House on Harrison Street: The Gordon-Ritchie Saga

It’s time. Time to launch my new book: The House on Harrison Street: The Gordon-Ritchie Saga

It’s not a novel. Neither is it a non-fiction recounting of dates and events on a timeline.

The book contains speculation and stories which are “just a tad” subjective. It’s told from a narrator’s point of view: I am that narrator. My cousins have provided incredible insight into portions of the family story that I did not know. I’ve written letters and received responses along with their insights. Several cousins have provided photographs for use in the book.

The family tree has reached into history, dating to the mid-1600’s.  Neither you nor I ever met any of those individuals, but you, like I, have heard their stories, time and time again, so many times that we feel as if we know them personally. I’ve brought that feeling to the manuscript.

Perhaps you’ve read about the Tooke family from England who arrived in the Virginia plantation to begin a new life. It was the Tooke ancestors who were some signers of the Magna Charta, The Great Charter.

You have read of the Ritchey family (also spelled Ritchie) along with the Caldwells and Calhouns of South Carolina. Dig into your US History class notes and conjure the vision of John C. Calhoun, noted SC senator. His middle name was Caldwell. Old District 96 in South Carolina was home to these ancestors. Find out how the Caldwells, Calhouns, and Ritcheys are related.

How about the Gordon family? Revolutionary War soldiers, plantation owners from South Carolina and Georgia. Then, learn about the Campbell family of Virginia who emigrated to Tennessee and then to Alabama. From Alabama’s Black Belt came groups of pioneers and settlers into south Arkansas. Learn why they chose Arkansas and why Ouachita County which was formed out of the once larger Union County.

These four families combined to establish a lineage of greatness that eventually provided leadership and substantial influence in Union County and ultimately Ouachita County, Arkansas.

In this book are stories told from my perspective, based on research as well as family lore. Included are end notes, a full bibliography, a Family Tree, photographs, and an index.

My brother and I agree that the book should be made available to family members, extended family members, the Ouachita County Historical Society, the Arkansas History Commission, those interested in genealogy, and Ouachita County residents who have even a minor connection to the county’s history. It is not a book which would command a commercial audience, however.

Look for its release before the first of the year, hopefully around Christmas.

What a wonderful gift it would make! Wouldn’t you like to read an oration by Professor Charles T. Gordon? Would you like to glimpse the wedding of John Campbell Ritchie to his second wife Minnie Barker, the young socialite who came to Camden to help care for her brother’s child and remained, marrying the former Mayor of Camden?

Be present at the Oil Boom in Union County and Ouachita County. Witness the results of the horrific gas explosion that claimed the life of three young Camden ladies, one of whom was a cousin, Margaret Ramsey. Meet for the first time as a young teen our little known aunt Janie Gordon. Grimace at the demise of a family brought on by the untimely and tragic death of an only son. See Camden change and grow from photographs taken in the front yard of The House on Harrison Street.

Those stories and more are included in The House on Harrison Street: The Gordon-Ritchie Saga.