“Women of the Frontier” • March 20 – 31, 2004

About “Women of the Frontier”
Eminent Ulster-Scots history and heritage author Billy Kennedy of Northern Ireland will launch his eighth book in the “Scots-Irish Chronicles” entitled “Women of the Frontier” this March in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. “Women of the Frontier” gives recognition to the gallant women of the 18th century American frontier.

The frontier women were an extraordinary people whose contribution in the creation of the United States is one of the most enduring stories in history. These women have never been given the credit they deserve for settling their families in a bleak and uninhabited wilderness or for their notable and heroic achievements.

They faced personal hardships and tragedies in hazardous conditions, and while they toiled arduously from dawn to dusk to lay down a stake in the New World, the frontier women were the cornerstone of the home, church, and wider community.

Women had to be strong, self-reliant, resourceful, and loyal to their families. Through their honest and dedicated efforts on the frontier, and democratic and decent civilization emerged which extends today across the great American expanse from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This book attempts to recognize just what was achieved by the women of the frontier, not just women of European immigrant stock, but notable Native American women.

About “The Scots-Irish Chronicles”
In his books, Billy Kennedy charts the influences of the 18th-century Ulster Presbyterian immigrants in the creation of the Unites States of America. In the establishment of the Unites States, the Scots-Irish were a most influential group both in the drawing up and the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.

Billy Kennedy’s other seven books in the “Scots-Irish Chronicles” are:
“The Scots-Irish in the Hills of Tennessee”
“The Scots-Irish in the Shenandoah Valley”
“The Scots-Irish in the Carolina’s”
“The Scots-Irish in Pennsylvania and Kentucky”
“ Faith and Freedom: The Scots-Irish in America”
“Heroes of the Scots-Irish in America”
“The Making of America – How the Scots-Irish Shaped a Nation”

About Author – Journalist Billy Kennedy
Billy Kennedy is a journalist of wide recognition in Northern Ireland for over 30 years. With the Ulster/Belfast News Letter, a newspaper founded in 1737, he has been a news editor, assistant editor, and leader writer. He is also a public relations consultant, author, and lecturer. His abiding interest is in the Scots-Irish settlement on the American frontier, and through his authorship, Billy Kennedy has lectured in major cities and towns in the southeastern Appalachian region, on the eastern seaboard, and in Texas. He is an authority on American country music and culture. Billy Kennedy can be contacted at:
49 Knockaview Drive, Tandragee, Craigavon, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland,
BT62 2BH ~ phone from USA: 011 28 38 840769
or via e-mail at billykennedy@fsmail.net.

Book Tour Itinerary for “Women of the Frontier”
Saturday, March 20: Lecture to Memphis Genealogical Society at New Library, downtown Memphis ~ 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 21: Book signing and talk at Treasure Island Book Store, Gallatin, Tennessee ~ 2:30 p.m.

Monday, March 22: Lecture to Genealogical Society and County Archives of Maury County in the Memorial Building, Columbia, Tennessee ~ 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 23: Book launch and talk to the Tennessee Historical Society, at The Hermitage in Nashville 6:00 p.m. Reception hosted by Tennessee Historical Society, The Hermitage, Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society, and the Ulster-Scots Agency.

Wednesday, March 24: Book launch and talk in First Knoxville Presbyterian Church 6:15 p.m. Organized by the East Tennessee Historical Society.

Thursday, March 25: Talk and book signing at Cumberland Gap Historical Park in Middlesboro, Kentucky ~ 7:00 p.m.

Friday, March 26: Talk and book launch with South West Virginia Genealogical Society at Wynham Robertson Library, Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia ~ 7:00 p.m. Book signing at The Bookery, Lexington, Virginia. 12:00 – 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 27: Book signing and talk at the Museum of American Frontier Culture, Staunton, Virginia ~ 2:00 p.m.

Monday, March 29: Talk and book launch at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary, North Carolina ~ 7:00 p.m. Hosted by the Scottish Cultural Organization of the Triangle, Ulster-Scots Society of America, and the Wake County Genealogical Society.

Tuesday, March 30: Talk and book launch in Library, The Square, Charlotte, North Carolina ~ 6:45 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Sponsored by the Catawba Valley Scottish Society and Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

Wednesday, March 31: Greenville, South Carolina. Location to be announced.