Catherwood, Mary Hartwell: The Black Feather. V1. 10 Aug 2009
 

Mary Hartwell was born in Luray, Ohio, and at the age of nine her family moved to Milford, Illinois. Within a year of this move her father died of pneumonia. Her mother passed away just a few months later, orphaning Mary and her two younger siblings, Roxana and Marcus. The children’s maternal grandfather was appointed their guardian. They moved to Hebron, Ohio, to live with him, and attended the local public school. When Mary was thirteen, she received her teaching certificate, and she started teaching the following year.
Hoosier Connection: Mary Catherwood moved to Oakford, Indiana, in 1877 with her new husband, James Steele Catherwood. A few months later they moved to Indianapolis, where they lived until 1882. She wrote several novels and short stories about life in Indiana.

Excerpt
Over a hundred voyageurs were sorting furs in the American Fur Company’s yard, under the supervision of the clerks. And though it was hard labor, lasting from five in the morning until sunset, they thought lightly of it as fatigue duty after their eleven months of toil and privation in the wilderness. Fort Mackinac was glittering white on the heights above them, and half-way up a paved ascent leading to the sally-port sauntered ’Tite Laboise. All the voyageurs saw her; and strict as was the discipline of the yard, they directly expected trouble.