Liz and Mary Clare (Frances Hunter)
Surprise! There’s two of them!
Frances Hunter is the writing team of sisters Mary Clare and Liz Clare. Their debut historical novel, To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark (Blind Rabbit Press, 2006) scored a “highly recommended” rating from Library Journal, won the Writers’ League of Texas Violet Crown Award and the Independent Publisher “IPPY” Book Award silver medal, and was a finalist for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year.
For their second novel, The Fairest Portion of the Globe, the authors traveled extensively and conducted in-depth historical research to piece together the complex intrigues of the early American frontier. Weaving this compelling history together with the friendship of young Lewis and Clark was the novelists’ real passion. “Anyone can look at a map and follow the westward trail blazed by Lewis and Clark,” they note. “But these men would freeze for each other, go hungry for each other, die for each other. How do you get to that intensity of honor, courage, and loyalty? That’s another kind of trail they left for us to follow.”
Frances Hunter's American Heroes Blog 
If Francis Hunter is who I think she is then why doesn’t she write about the exciting world of NASA and procurment? I think she could dip into a vast cornucopia of characters from the Branch Chief who’s beard always contain some of his lunch to othere whom just seen to bounce off the walls. It could be a time travel type of thing–ya know. Please tell Mary we at NASA miss her greatly but still wish her the best!!!!
Rick Bennett
Hi Rick–yes, it’s me! It’s great to hear from you! I still remember my time at NASA like it was yesterday. And I could write a book about the gang at BA that would curl your hair! I can’t believe it’s been so many years. I still miss you guys!
Thank you—both—for your kind words and interest in The Rage of Achilles. As it happens I had lunch today with a neurophysiologist (hey, this is why I still live in New Haven) who subscribes to the school of thought that Jaynes’ theory is fascinating, possible, unprovable, and very likely wrong.
All best
Terry
Hi, this is an amazing interesting blog, Two women speak as one and about very special issues – thanks for this first impression. Mathias Will, germany
Mary/Liz/Frances:
Excellent blog site! I had no idesa that Frances was such a prolific writer. I’m even more impressed that you find my scriblings interesting. If you ever get to Ohio let me know and I’ll give you the 15 cent tour of everything historic/prehistoric and otherwise interesting. Keep up the good work.
Bill Pickard
Ohio Historical Society
FH,
Thanks for shedding some valuable insight on L/C. It was probably one of my 10 best reads ever. It was even a better read when I discovered it was written by a female( sexist on my behalf). I mentioned your book to my son-in-law who is in Iraq. Any chance if I buy the book on line and pay the extra shipping, you could ship the book to Iraq? Looking forward to “The Fairest Portion”. Thanks, SL
I’ve replied to Steve directly (thanks for much for loving the book!). Here is some information for anyone who would like to order our books for our military service members serving overseas:
We love our troops. We are delighted to ship to military addresses using the Priority Mail envelopes. Please e-mail us directly (using the “Contact Us” button at the top right of the page) and let us know what size you want us to use — the small envelope or box, or the medium box. We will then e-mail you an invoice directly so we can get the postage added properly.
If your military service member uses e-books on a Kindle, laptop, Sony, cell phone, etc., our book is also available through Operation Ebook Drop. This is quite a new effort about which we are quite excited. If he or she has an e-mail, we can e-mail a link to our book on a site called Smashwords, along with a coupon so he can download it for free. Again, just e-mail us via the “Contact Us” button and we can get it going.
Hi Ladies, I stumbled across your blog today. I really enjoy it and am looking forward to reading the book you recently published. Thank you for sharing your passion. Have a nice day. Linda in Alberta.
You ladies are cute, I’m going to pick up the book as well, love what you did with you name, I recently branded my self, charging elephant. Jim
Hello to you both. I am writing an article on Robert Turlington and the strategies he used to protect his medicine Balsam of Life from imitators. You mention that Lewis and Clarke ordered 4 ounce bottles of Turlington’s Balsam of Life to take on their expedition. Many sources mention two sizes of bottle, a large and small. All the ones I have seen are small, holding about 1 ounce. I would like to use the Lewis and Clark citation in my article. However, as it is for a professional journal I won’t be able to cite a blog. I will be very grateful if you could give me the reference for the original medicine list so that I can use that. I enjoyed reading your blog and am delighted that you have had such enjoyment if following the Lewis and Clark travels. Thank you very much. Olive Jones
Hello Olive,
The original source is Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition With Related Documents, 1783-1854; Donald Jackson, editor; University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1962. The note about “4 oz Turlingtons Balsam” shows up on p. 74 in Document #53, “Lewis’s List of Requirements,” which listed in detail all of the articles Lewis was trying to get together for the expedition. I can’t confirm that Lewis actually took Turlington’s on the trail, as it is not listed by name or as a separate line item in the list of stuff Israel Whelan bought for Lewis at Gillaspy and Strong’s drug store (Document #55 in the same source).
I’m glad you found our blog. We find all this stuff fascinating and are happy to share with others who feel the same way!
Dear Frances Hunter,
I find your website to be full of rich historical information, that I enjoy reading so very much. I love history with all my heart, and I have an avid interest in Lewis and Clark. I was excited when I saw your books, and eagerly began to read To The Ends of The Earth, but I was very disappointed to find from the very first page, objectionable material. You are such an amazing writer, and as I love to write as well, I am deeply admiring of your writing style, but I am deeply disappointed, for I cannot enjoy it as they contain some things that are offensive. I think it would be wonderful if ya’ll published a book with the same wonderful descriptions and the way you make the characters of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark come alive, but if you would use a more acceptable theme. Thank you,
A hopeful fan,
Rebecca
Thanks, Rebecca. To the Ends of the Earth is not a children’s book, and Lewis & Clark did not lead Walt Disney lives. They lived the lives of rough military men on one of the most brutal frontiers in the world. Their world was pretty offensive sometimes. As is our world today.
We’re sorry you didn’t find the book clean enough for your liking, but believe if you had stuck with it, you would have found the themes of undying friendship and redemption to be worth the journey, and far more realistic than the depiction you are asking us for. Thanks for writing and giving us the opportunity to address this issue.
I am a seventh grade student at Dunlap Middle School in Dunlap, Illinois. I was wondering if I could use your picture of the expedition member George Drouillard in my Power Point presentation. It is part of a book report for English class. We are studying the Lewis and Clark expedition in English, Social Studies, and Science. If you don’t want to give me permission to use the picture, I understand.
Thank You,
Taylor
Taylor, you are welcome to use the picture, and good luck with your report.
Just finished “to the ends of the earth”. Loved it. This book needed to be written. I’ve stumbled across Wilkinson’s influences in all of my studdies of the Anti Bellum period…Thanks so much for all the love and life you put into the words…
Mike Beckman, Ohio
Thank so much, Mike!! We are so glad you enjoyed the book. 🙂 Be sure to check out our second book The Fairest Portion of the Globe. More Wilkinsonian intrigue!!
My wife and I were fascinated by your book “To the Ends of the Earth,” and took it on a recent 5400-mile trip along the Lewis & Clark Trail. Your story line, characterizations, dialogue, and descriptive material are outstanding. My composition, “The Lewis & Clark Suite,” (music and narration) was recently performed by the San Diego Concert Band, so we are intensely interested in all Lewis & Clark material! I hope you can hear this piece sometime. We’re looking forward to reading “The Fairest Portion of the Globe.” Thanks, Liz and Mary, for your exhaustive research!
Richard Applegate
La Mesa, CA
Wow! Thank you so much Richard! We are so glad that you enjoyed the book. 🙂 It is great to hear that from anyone, but especially someone who has also spent time immersed in the story of the trail and these two amazing men. I would love to hear your suite sometime. Please let us know if your music becomes available online or on CD, and we will listen and write about it too!
Hello Frances (or Liz & Mary). Since my childhood, I like to read about the American Frontier and I find your blog very interesting. I am a cultural anthropologist from Poland doing fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon – a region which, in many aspects, resembles the XVIIIth and XIXth century American Frontier.
I would like to buy both your books (‘The Fairest Portion of the Globe’ and ‘To the Ends of the Earth’), autographed if possible (why not?). Do you have any idea how much may it cost to send the books to Poland by mail? Then: ?How could I pay?
Best wishes and thanks for your great blog.
Hello! I want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog, I am absolutely passionate about Lewis & Clark history (to the point that my husband and friends groan everytime I start to tell a story about them). As much as I enjoy the blog, I balked at reading To the Ends of the Earth, simply because it was a novel. How prejudiced was I! I just finished it, and What a wonderful book!!!! I stayed up much too late every night because I couldn’t put it down. Absolutely wonderful and now I can’t wait to read The Fairest Portion of the Globe. Thank you!
Judy Washbon
Salmon, Idaho
Thanks so much for your kind words, Judy! Like you, we find the story of Lewis & Clark and their times endlessly fascinating. Our writing has given us the opportunity to breathe life into these historical figures we know through their journals and the history books — a lot of research and a great deal of fun. We’re glad you enjoyed To the Ends of the Earth and hope you will enjoy The Fairest Portion of the Globe! Come visit our blog often! – Frances
Dear sisters,
As a former NASA Educator, who wrote a teachers’ guide comparing L&C to Mars explorers, I only wish I’d found this site years ago.
If you would like a copy of the “From Montana to Mars” guide in pdf format, let me know and I’ll email it to you.
My blog is also on wordpress — georgerstewart.wordpress.com
Cheers,
Don Scott
Hi –
I just happened upon your site. Thanks for the info. about Fort Recovery. I had no idea of what happened till now. I live in Cincinnati, but recently bought a house in Greenville and will be visiting Fort Recovery and the Fort Jefferson location soon.
I have a website that features lots of old maps of Cincinnati. I’m planning on putting more info. about Fort Washington on it, but good stuff is just hard to find. You can visit it here, if you like: http://wwwsandmancincinnati.com.
Wonderful site, by the way.
Love your blog, Christopher! I’m adding it to our blog roll! Ohio has so much interesting history.
I am looking the source of the image of William Clark’s elkskin journal you included on your blog. I am trying to locate the original to include in an exhibit. Thanks for your help- Abby
Abby, so sorry to take so long getting back to you. Last week was crazy! The elkskin journal is in the collections of the Missouri Historical Society and I’m sure they can assist you in getting photography, etc. for the journal.
Hello Frances Hunters,
I am the creator/curator of the Visions of Lewis and Clark Kite Exhibit, currently on display in Portland Oregon. It will be traveling to Great Falls Montana, beginning May 30, for the summer season. I’m looking for a place in Texas to showcase the collection. Any high ceilinged public buildings at least 40 by 90 will work. Any ideas? Go to SkyWindWorld.org to see the entire collection.
Terry, the collection is amazing. It seems like it would fit a history, art, or science museum. I would contact the Texas Association of Museums for information about how you could network and find a suitable display space here. Good luck!
Is it possible to find the names of the soldiers that participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers? I’m particularly interested in Capt Whitman’s Company.
Thank you!
Drop me an email and I’ll give you the contact information for the archaeologist in charge of the research there several years back. If he can’t supply you with the information you need he can probably tell you where it can be found.
Thanks,
Bill Pickard
cobus99@gmail.com
Thanks, Bill! It seems like at least some of this used to on the Fallen Timbers site online, but when I went looking for it yesterday the website had changed.
Dear Liz and Mary (aka Frances),
I’m trying to research a flatboat. Found the pirogues and Keelboat in St. Charles, MO but have you ever found any existing Flatboats?? I’d like to film one. Seems like there were some used in some films or re-enactments .. but they are a devil to locate.
PS- I’ll be in Austin, TX this spring or early summer.
Tim, I asked around and found out there is a flatboat at the Mud Island River Museum in Memphis. Although it’s patterned after an 1850s boat, it has been used to reenact Meriwether Lewis’s 1809 journey. Hope this helps!
Liz and Mary, thank you for your contribution to our history education of Lewis and Clark. I am an environmental consultant, and the name of my business is Camas. I noted on the web, that a photo with a blackbird in a camas field is under your name. I would like it use it on my website, as a reoccurring image. Are you OK with me doing this? I will of course credit you for the photo.
Thanks you for considering this request!
Diane
Hi, Diane! We actually just found this picture on the web, without a photo credit. I’ve seen it a few other places … when we were up there, there were a few camas blooms but nothing like this. I wish I knew who had taken the original so I could credit them too!
Thank you for responding so quickly. I too will use it!!! I particularly like the blackbird in the photo as a contrast. If I come across the photographer, I will pass along their name.
I just found this most interesting blog and book information. I am ordering the books today.
For 32 years I lived on the Ohio River in Pulaski County Illinois on a portion of historical Fort Wilkinson or Cantonment Wilkinsonville Meriwether Lewis
Wrote in the Journal of “passing Wilkinsonville”
A number of the men on the expedition were recruited from the post, I believe Droulliard was one of them.
I read your very interesting account of Col George Croghan & the battle of Fort Stephenson recently. I must confess that I’d never heard of him, other than learning a couple of years ago, that a fort in near Austen Texas was named for a great great grandfather (or possibly ankle). I recently began a genealogy search & feel quite dumbfounded to learn of his history. I’m curious as to why Fort Croghan near Austen Tx was named for him. Was it to honor him for his Fort Stephenson victory–or did he some part at the Texas Fort?
I’m certainly torn as to which location to visit first–I’m thinking Fort Stephenson, for sure. I see a trip coming on.
I’d be most appreciative of suggested books & other resources (including your own) to assist me in my search.
Much obliged,
Judy
Hi, Judy! Yes, Fort Croghan was located in present-day Burnet, Texas, near Austin. It was occupied by the US Army from 1849-1855 as a base for fighting the Indians. Most of the forts were named after military heroes, thus this fort was named after Colonel Croghan. After the army left, the fort buildings were used as residences and as a hospital. By the 1920s the buildings had all been abandoned and by the 1940s only the foundations of Fort Croghan remained. The fort was restored in the 1960s and can be visited on weekends from April-October. Very cool.
A good start on your search would be the comments on this site on the post “Meet the Parents: John Clark and Ann Rogers.” Many Clark descendants have posted there and it would be a great resource to get started on your genealogy.
Dear Frances Hunter. I am participating in an re-enactment at the Bellefontine Cemetery May 30, this year. I am “Union” with the LUAS. However, I decided to re-enact Abigale Prather Churchill Clark, although her husband and she were “Confederate”. I found much information about the general and of “Lutie”, but not much of information about her. I understand about her linage, but, I want to know about “HER”. What was she like? What was her personality? How did she feel about her family, the plantation, the slaves? Did she have a “favorite African American? Did her family treated the African Americans humanely? Was there a “Nanny”, or a “governess” for her and or her siblings? How did she feel about the “South” wanting to separate from the “Union”? Do know anything about her and could you provide any information to me?
My name is Beverly Long. My contact information is: bjl437@umsl.edu
Thank you so much.
I wish I did know more! I would suggest contacting the Filson Society in Louisville and the Churchill Downs museum as your best bet for letters or any biographical information they might have about Abigale.
Hi Frances Hunter,
I really enjoyed reading your books about Lewis and Clark. They are very interesting and engaging and I love the way you portray these two American heroes of mine. I am very curious . . . if you are familiar with the Myers-Brigg personality typing and if so, could you come to a conclusion on Lewis and Clark’s (and possibly even Julia Hancock’s 🙂 MBTI type. Given that you wrote these awesome books that make these people from long ago come to life, I’d really appreciate it if you could help me come to a conclusion about this question that has been on my mind. My friend and I are researching historical figures’ personalities also and we’d love your help on this project, especially when typing Lewis and Clark. Thanks so, so much.
Working up two Power Points about the medicine of the expedition for LCTHF annual meetings in 2015 & 2016. Just finished making a pound or so of Portable soup and using images in my PP’s. From broth left over from cooking marrow bones for images of boiling up marrow bone soups a couple of weeks ago. Have we met?
John (authority on material culture of expedition)
Your site was mentioned in yesterday’s Daily Astorian. As a part-time resident of Astoria (Oregon), I’m always interested in stories related to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Your two books are now on my Kindle, and I’ve sent a link for your site to friends who are planning to drive along the L&C trail next year. Thank you for the research and writing!
That is fantastic! Thank you so much!
I am a fellow author who writes history–historical fiction for middle grade readers. I am currently trying a new genre–biography. My subject is Simon Kenton, who lived and fought battles alongside George Rogers Clark.You have a fine painting of the young Clark on your site which I would like permission to use in my biography (still in progress.)
Karen Meyer
Hi, Karen — love Simon Kenton! Let us know which picture and I can let you know what institution to contact about permissions.