Chapter 1

Scranton, Pennsylvania

March 1873

Anna Grace Halsey stared at the envelope, willing all her hopes to be captured inside, before sealing her letter inside and handing it to the postmaster.

On the other hand, she mused, what if those hopes were realized? Was a lonely life in the middle of nowhere, subject to the whims of a stranger, really the sort of life she wanted?

“Stop it, Annie,” she whispered to herself. “It’s certainly no worse than your present options.”

The daughter of Jonathan and Lily Halsey had been born on a small farm in Watertown, New York on March 21, 1852; her father was fond of pointing out that her life had begun on the first day of Spring. Her father was a rancher, to the extent that the plot of land they called home could be described as a ranch. They raised livestock – mostly cattle and pigs, with a few chickens – on the 40 acres of land her grandfather had settled some fifty years prior. The old man had been gone many years, but the land remained and was sufficient for the family’s needs.

The land had been passed from Lily’s father to Jonathan, the betrothed of his eldest child, as a wedding present when he and Lily married in late 1841. Lily had always believed her father’s body simply gave up when there was no more work to be done, as he went to his reward a little more than a year later, shortly after holding his grandson, Stephen, in his arms for the first time.

Stephen was joined by Thomas not quite a year later. Lily would have two successive pregnancies end prematurely and sorrowfully before the arrival of their sons John in 1846 and Wallace in 1847. Annie was Jonathan and Lily’s only daughter, and their youngest child.

Almost from the outset, Annie was a bit of a tomboy. She seemed determined to prove that she could stand just as tall and as proudly as John or Wallace after completing any task her father assigned to the boys. Somewhat to Jonathan’s surprise, she did, often just as well and just as quickly as Wallace, who was two years older.

As all the children of Watertown did, Annie started school after the end of the harvest during her fifth year. She proved to be a remarkable student, learning her ABCs and able to count to 20 before the end of that first year. Lily continued Annie’s lessons at home during the planting season, and Annie began first grade already reading simple passages, more than even some of the boys her age could do.

Annie loved her teacher, Miss Howard, and although Miss Howard loved all the children in her charge, she had a special fondness for Annie in return. Miss Howard found many small ways to integrate Annie into the lessons the older children received in the one-room schoolhouse, and Annie often stayed after school with her to help her clean the classroom, to receive extra lessons, or simply to spend some time with this woman she loved and admired. So much so that Miss Howard had to walk Annie home late one afternoon to reassure her parents that Annie was staying late voluntarily, not as punishment.