Characters do not live in a vacuum. In the Owen Family Universe, all sorts of things go on, and various people surround the principal characters of Marsha’s stories. Some folks from Virginia went west with the Owen family; some did not. Here are the neighbors who live around the Owen family in Virginia.

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* The Allen Family: The Allens live on a large property outside of Mount Jackson in Shenandoah County, Virginia. Theodore Allen is a wealthy landowner, businessman, and slave holder. He, his wife Louisa, and his son Merlin, pretty much skate through Gone for a Soldier, but Ella Ruth, his 16-year-old daughter, plays a major role.

After the war, the family relocates to Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia, to improve their lot. Marsha wrote Mended by Moonlight in that setting for Ella Ruth.

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* The Bates Family: Chester and Muriel Bates are best friends with Rod and Julia Owen. They live on a farm outside Mount Jackson, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, with their daughter, red-headed Ellen. Ellen and Marie Owen are also best friends.

The Bates family live in a nice home in Shenandoah County during Gone for a Soldier, up until 1864, when the Yankees burn their home and crops. The Bates family afterward shelters in a farm building, until Rod Owen makes a controversial deal with Chester. The family is able to go west in the novel The Man from Shenandoah, where Ellen plays a major part.

Members of the Bates family also show up in Spinster’s Folly and very briefly in Ride to Raton.

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* The Bingham Family: Mrs. Charity Bingham and her twin daughters, Hannah and Hepzibah (Heppie), make a cameo appearance in chapter one of Gone for a Soldier. Charity’s husband Joseph and their daughter Jessica (Jessie) are mentioned in The Man from Shenandoah. Jessie and her brother Lucas appear in the final scene of Ride to Raton.

In Trail of Storms, Jessie, her now-widowed mother, and her family take center stage until James Owen shows up. Then fireworks happen! Remember, through no fault of his own, James as much as jilted Jessie back in Virginia. One has to expect repercussions.

In Surprising Charity, the Widow Bingham  becomes embroiled in a sweeping adventure that involves quite a lot of folks, including brief appearances by her family members (along with her previously unseen eldest son, Max) and James Owen and the other husbands of her daughters, Robert Fletcher and George Heizer; assorted clergymen; her youngest child, Lucas (aka Luke), who plays a major part; a grief-stricken rancher, whose part is huge; his startled family; and a pesky ghost.

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* The Campbell Family: Angus and Molly O’Connor Campbell live on a farm in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near Mount Jackson. They and their seven children—Andy, Douglas, Mary Margaret, Catherine, Robert, Duncan, and Delia—appear first in The Man from Shenandoah, where they go west in company with the Owen family. Angus, Molly, and Andy play roles in Ride to Raton, and Angus and Molly show up in Trail of Storms. Andy also plays a brief but telling role in Scandalous: An Owen Family Story.

Daughter Mary Margaret, who now calls herself Meg, has a featured role in the forthcoming novel, The Blacksmith’s Apprentice.

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* The Hilbrands Family: Randolph “Rand” Hilbrands and his family live in Mount Jackson, Shenandoah County, Virginia, where he is a prosperous merchant and property owner. His wife is named Amanda, but he often calls her “Mandy.” They have five daughters. Their ages are given below as they were at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861:

Mary – age 14
Ida – age 13
Sylvia – age 11
India – age 7
Eliza – born late in 1861

Rand and his family—especially Mary—play a large part during Gone for a Soldier and The Man from Shenandoah. In the second novel, they accompany the Owen Family to Colorado Territory. Rand and Amanda both show up in Spinster’s Folly; and Rand, Amanda, and Sylvia appear in Ride to Raton. Rand appears in one scene in Trail of Storms. The adult Ida shows up in the Shenandoah Neighbors story, Bloodied Leather. Sylvia also shows up in the story, Broken: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story, where readers learn she has married Tom Morgan.

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* The Morgan Family: The Morgans are also farmers living outside of Mount Jackson, Shenandoah County, Virginia. Edward and Elizabeth have six children as they go west with the Owen family in The Man from Shenandoah: Tom, Parley, Louisa, Melissa, Harry, and Rebecca. Heartache comes to them along the trail.

The Morgans cause Marie Owen and her family quite a bit of anguish in Spinster’s Folly. They do not appear in Ride to Raton or Trail of Storms, but Harry has a telling part in the story Broken: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story. His sister-in-law, Sylvia Hilbrands, also appears. The Morgans are bound to show up again later on in the Universe, especially since Marsha bought a book cover featuring Louisa. What story will that tell?

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* The O’Connor Family: Widower Tom O’Connor, who is the brother of Molly O’Connor Campbell, was a blacksmith in Mount Jackson, Shenandoah County, Virginia. In The Man from Shenandoah, he joined the trek west with the Owen family, taking his young children, Rida and Joshua, with him.

By the time Tom shows up again in Ride to Raton, he has married a beautiful señorita named Rosalinda, and his fortunes have improved. His daughter Rida features prominently in Broken: A Shenandoah Neighbors Story, which illuminates a dark corner of the Owen Family universe.

Tom appears in a large role in the forthcoming novel, The Blacksmith’s Apprentice.