Bio I was born in Macon, Georgia, where I lived until my marriage to Billy W. Walker in 1960. I attended Young Harris and Wesleyan colleges and majored in English. I have lived in McRae, Georgia, for over fifty years. I have two children and two grandchildren. After my husband’s death in 1994, I began to reminisce about the intriguing history of the three-rivers area, which my husband had recounted to me during our marriage of thirty-four years. He told me about the Dodge family’s coming to the area and claiming over 300,000 acres of the finest longleaf yellow pine timber in the world. Being an attorney, he also told me about the local people and how they fought through the courts and outside of the courts to hold on to the land which they really believed was theirs. He informed me of the many murders during the ongoing, forty-year land war, and especially the infamous murder of John C. Forsyth, chief agent of the Dodges. Forsyth was murdered in his home in 1890, allegedly by angry "squatters," the misnomer used by the Dodges to designate the local people who, they thought, illegally claimed their lands. I felt compelled, after my husband’s death, to write about this history of the three-rivers lands, the three rivers being the Ocmulgee, the Oconee, and the Altamaha rivers. I first wrote my historical novel, Widow of Sighing Pines, which was given the president’s book award in 2003 for Best Adult Fiction by the Florida Publishers Association. I was also nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2003. The history book, entitled The Dodge Land Troubles, 1868-1923, which I co-wrote with Chris Trowell, retired history professor from South Georgia College in Douglas, Georgia, was published in October of 2004. These books are "companion books," in that they both deal with the "Dodge Era" and the devastation of the longleaf yellow pine during the late 1800s. Widow of Sighing Pines is a love story which is set during the most tumultuous period of this era, the years 1891-1895 . The rafting of the giant timber to the coastal city of Darien is one of the highlights of the book. To prepare for the writing of this part of the novel, I traveled the Ocmulgee, the Altamaha, and the Altamaha River Delta by canoe, kayak, and motorboat. I was even able to retrace the actual route of the rafthands, when they would ride their log rafts to the coast. You may order any of my books by emailing me at JaneWriter51@yahoo.com.
Note: My novel, IN THE LION'S PAW, has been published and may be purchased from this website by emailing me at JaneWriter51@yahoo.com. The cost is $20 plus postage. It is an historical novel and love story about the Cherokee Indians and their traumatic removal from the southeastern part of the United States during the latter part of the 1800s.
The poundage of the three books is as follows: Widow of Sighing Pines (1.8 lbs.); In the Lion’s Paw (1.2 lbs.); Telfair County pictorial history book (10.4 ounces). Please call your post office and give them the size of the book and find out the postage for sending the book from McRae-Helena, Georgia 31055 to your home. Please add the postage to the cost of the book and send your check or money order to Jane Walker, P. O. Box 55357, McRae-Helena, Georgia 31055. I checked with my local Post Office, and the rates for the book mailed within Georgia are as follows: Widow of Sighing Pines (medium rate: $3.22; priority: $6.50); In the Lion’s Paw (medium rate and priority rates are same as Widow of Sighing Pines); Telfair County history book (medium rate: $2.72; priority: $6.45).
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