Research Rejects

As most historical writers can attest, part of the reason we choose to write historical novels is because we like to do research. I must admit there are few things in life as much fun as digging up a historical nugget that might prove itself the foundation for an entire plot.
I look to each era to help shape or inspire my characters by learning what they would have seen or done and what they might have thought about their own current issues. What would people around the dinner table be talking about? As I pursue understanding their world, I inevitably come across everyday items in which they might have been immersed.
But as you could guess from my enjoyment of research, I often gather too much information. I am, after all, writing a romantic tale and not a text book. Will someone really care about the hottest political battle of 1883 if I’m writing about thieves and friendship and how two people fall in love?
That’s where having a blog comes in handy! How can I pass up sharing such interesting historical tidbits that were necessarily rejected for my novel?
For example: although Meg, my heroine in Bees In The Butterfly Garden, was raised alongside some of the wealthiest young ladies in New England, it never really worked out to have any of my characters big shoppers. So how could I share that prior to my 1883 setting, a gentleman name Alexander T. Stewart opened New York’s very first department store? (1846)
The interesting thing was, he opened it on the corner of Broadway and Chambers, not far from Five Points. If you’ve seen many historical documentaries about New York, you’ll know Five Points was known for its poverty—and where thieves and pickpockets lived. Everyone laughed at Stewart for building a white marble palace, without even a name on the building. Those laughing predicted the store would be robbed the moment any merchandise was brought in.
But it wasn’t robbed, at least not in any overwhelming way. Instead, it was a great success. Stewart knew women did all the shopping in the family, so he hired 200 handsome male clerks. He also advertised lots of bargains (fire sale, anyone?). Women came from everywhere to do their shopping at Stewart’s store.
Stewart survived lots of ups and downs in his life, but perhaps the most interesting thing happened to him after he died.  He left no heirs to his vast merchantman’s fortune. Two years after his death, his body was stolen from the graveyard of St. Mark’s-On-The-Bowery. The grave-robbers demanded a $200,000 ransom.
Well, Stewart was known to offer his customers a bargain, but personally he refused to haggle. Evidently his wife did not share his distaste for bartering. She refused to pay the $200,000 and eventually whittled down the demand to $18,000, which she paid for a collection of bones never really verified as to whether or not—for sure—they belonged to her husband.
Fascinating research, isn’t it? But nowhere would such interesting tidbits fit my story and so it received the unfortunate stamp of Rejection.
Ah, sometimes the writer’s life can bring a sigh or two.