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The older women in the Clear Creek Community Church, informally known as the Peashooter Society by the younger generation, came up with the idea to bring men into town for the unattached women in town. The group meets today in the parsonage dining room to work on their plan.
Listed here is the Peashooter Society’s member’s name and in which story they were the main character in one of Linda Hubalek’s previous books.
Kaitlyn Reagan. Kaitlyn came directly from Ireland, as a mail-order bride, to be the widowed pastor’s wife. Kaitlyn and Patrick’s six boys, a mixture of his, theirs, and adopted, are Angus, Fergus, Seth, Mack, Cullen, and Tully. (Besides being a secondary character in the Brides with Grit series, her sons were featured in the Grooms with Grit series.)
Millie Wilerson. Mille was supposed to be the mail-order bride for Sam Larson, but he died before she arrived in Clear Creek. She brought her sister Darcie’s toddler, Tate, along with her to get the boy away from his abusive father. Millie becomes Marshal Adam Wilerson’s housekeeper and marries him. Millie and Adam have two children, Ben and Beth. (Millie Marries a Marshal)
Darcie Shepard. Darcie followed her sister, Millie, to Clear Creek with her baby, Amelia, to unite with her toddler and sister. Darcie marries Reuben Shepard, father of Gabe and Mary, and the family runs the Shepard and Sons Saddlery in town. (Darcie Desires a Drover)
Lorna Elison. Lorna came to town as a mail-order bride, but after the wedding night, the groom disappears—with her money. Penniless, pregnant, and working as a waitress in the Clancy Café, Lorna is befriended by her next-door neighbor, lawyer Lyle Elison. After her missing groom is found, Lorna and Lyle marry and have three girls, Elise, Blanche, and Mamie. (Lorna Loves a Lawyer)
Helen Paulson. Helen, with her four girls in tow, Ida Mae, Maridell, Avalee, and Luella, came to town as a mail-order bride, to marry the same groom Lorna married. The scheme was unveiled right after Helen’s wedding ceremony when Lorna recognized the man. Helen and her girls move in with Ethan Paulson to help manage his hotel, and the two marry, having four girls together, Nadine, Daphne, Cecilia, and Phoebe. (Helen Heals a Hotelier)
Cate Connely. The widow Cate Wilerson moved into the Cross C Ranch house when her daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Marcus, adopted eight children, three of them newborn triplets. Cate married Marcus’ uncle, Isaac Connely, who she’d grown up with in Illinois. Cate’s adult children are Adam, Jacob, Noah, and Sarah. She is the grandmother to Sarah’s children, Maggie, Molly, Maisie, Marty, Moses, Matthew, Mark, and Micah. (Sarah Snares a Soldier, and Cate Corrals a Cattleman)
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THE UNSUSPECTING GROOMS in the Peashooter Society project have a past that connects them. All six men were once young orphans in New York City, transported to a small eastern Kansas town on an orphan train in 1872. They lived in separate homes and farms but stayed in touch through school and church. They still use their nicknames from their youth.
Wanting to stay together, they enlisted and served five years at Fort Riley and were recently mustered out.
Background on the men:
Barton (Badger) Miller. The oldest brother of three and has felt responsible for this group since they were put on the orphan train in 1872.
Gordon (Gopher) Miller. The middle brother of the Millers.
Squires (Squirrel) Miller. The youngest brother of the Millers.
Peter (Possum) Gehring. Remembers nothing of his past, until he was adopted at age four.
Tobin (Toad) Billings. The only boy to have a photograph of his birth parents, but their names weren’t written on the back of the photo.
Wesley (Weasel) Preston. He doesn’t remember his family’s immigration from another country to America, but he had a foreign accent when he was young.