David L. Lewis books – Overview

Take Me With You  is my first book released in 2011.  It is about me growing up on a farm in Ohio with a father that wanted nothing to do with God.  He resisted my mother’s attempts to persuade him to go to church until he experienced a heart attack.  The doctors gave my father two years to live which changed everything.  To find out how it all turned out go to Amazon.com and get a copy of this book/Ebook.  For more info go to the link on the left. 

Along The Way is my second book released in 2015.  It is a fascinating, highly imaginative, and somewhat magnetic attempt to consolidate almost fifty years of writing poems into one unique book.  I have included narration and illustrations before each poem that describes the culture, environment, and special circumstances that surrounded each poem’s creation.  Available on Amazon. For more info go to the link on the left. 

Bondage Broken  is my first novel.  It is a romantic, historical fiction novel set in the 18th and 19th centuries involving the Thomas slave family starting in Africa after their abduction.  They survived the ocean voyage and were placed on plantations in North Carolina and Tennessee.  Eventually, their descendants mustered enough courage in 1863 to escape into the darkness and head north for freedom in Canada.  All my books including Ebooks are available on Amazon and Barns and Noble.

               

 

Biography–David L. Lewis

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David was born on a farm in south-eastern Ohio.  Growing up he enjoyed everything a farm had to offer, however, not every experience was pleasant.  For instance, there was the time when he was eight years old he experimented with matches in his dad’s barn.  Needless to say, it did not end well.

David attended Ohio State University majoring in Computer Science.  After college David served in the U.S. Army before dedicating the next twenty-five years to corporate America specializing in teaching field engineers computer skills.

David’s writing has been enhanced by his Midwestern roots and his diversified life experience.  It has blossomed from a humble beginning in the corporate world of inter-departmental communication, creating training manuals and marketing material, to writing drama skits, a play, poetry, and short articles for the Ohio Historical Society.  Before retiring in 2010 he worked as a Christian school teacher for twelve years.

David and his wife, Karlyn, have been married for forty-four years, and have three children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.  David and Karlyn presently reside in New Jersey. 

“BONDAGE BROKEN”

I have received two great endorsements for my book Bondage Broken.  They were so encouraging that I had to include both of them in my book.

ENDORSEMENTS:

Bondage Broken – Author David L. Lewis takes the reader back to a time before and during the Civil War in America.  Through his family history and intense research into slavery in America he tells a story that is very direct, revealing the challenges slaves must face day after day.

The author, my friend, Dave Lewis, is to be commended for his countless number of hours put into this work.  With a unique ending to the volume, Bondage Broken is a perfect title to the narrative.  The reader will live in that day as if it were today.  Enjoy and learn what life was like on the Stewart Creek plantation.

Dino Pedrone, D. Min., Chancellor Davis college, NY

Bondage Broken takes the reader on a journey through one of the darkest periods in American history. Against the backdrop of human sorrow and suffering author, David L. Lewis, used his creative pen to illustrate the power of HOPE…and GRACE….and REPENTANCE…and FORGIVENESS. Bondage Broken is a colorful fictional story with a powerful nonfictional message.

Dr. Roger D. Willmore, Director of Missions Calhoun Baptist Association, Alabama   Former President Alabama Baptist State Convention

 

BONDAGE BROKEN – SYSNOPSIS

In this stirring novel the author tells the extremely inhuman story of the capture, ocean voyage, auction block, and plantation life in Tennessee and the Carolinas from 1784 to 1863. The Thomas slave family’s survival amid the humiliation and suffering they must endure, began in 1784 in the Congo region of South Africa with the ancestors of the Thomas family before they were given the American name, “Thomas.”

The author has dedicated this book to the countless millions of Africans and their descendants that lost their lives during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries due to the merciless treatment by slave traders and slave owners. It is also dedicated to the brave souls that somehow survived the unholy and harrowing ocean voyages only to be separated from family at the Auction Block, and later transported to plantations in the southern states of the United States. Some of these dear souls, who longed to escape their endless humiliation, committed suicide or ended the lives of their own children to prevent them from inheriting this shameful existence. Too few were successful in finding freedom by gathering enough courage to head north via the Underground Railroad knowing that they might face death or capture daily.

The story unfolds on the Stewart Creek plantation in 1862 in southeastern Tennessee, just north of a small village called Pelham. We are introduced to the plantation owners, Joshua and Cora Straggard and their four daughters, and 57 slaves. The oldest slave, Jacob, is the main character that eventually tells the story about his father’s abduction when his father was ten years old, along with his father’s family in 1784.

When Jacob was eleven years old he arrived on the plantation in 1814 after he had been abducted by slave traders from another plantation in North Carolina. Jacob survived his capture and eventually adjusted to his new environment. After a few years had pasted Jacob was married with three sons. Unfortunately his wife, Mary, died giving birth to their third son.

In the following years Jacob continued to care for his children while living a life of servitude to Master Robert. After Robert’s death, he served Master Joshua, Robert’s son. Joshua liked Jacob and their relationship improved every year. Jacob was everyone’s friend and proved to be trustworthy to the Master.  All of the children on the plantation loved Jacob and adopted him as their grandfather.

There was one problem on the plantation that continued to grow and cause dissention – it was Master Joshua’s slave overseer, Raymond. He treated the slaves harshly, especially the female slaves. The master tolerated his behavior for a few years, but after a while his attitude regarding his role as a slave owner began to change. He said later that he believed it was his wife’s prayers that softened his heart. Jacob confronted Raymond about his behavior with a young slave named Lucy. He denied any wrongdoing and insisted on blaming other slaves. When he blamed the master’s wife, Cora, for helping the slaves and being too friendly to them, he went too far, and the master fired him on the spot.

Later in 1862 Jacob oldest son, Ben, was married to Sadie and they had two children, Little Ben, and Lettie. They were somehow enjoying married life as much as could be achieved on a plantation during the Civil War. Early in the year Stewart Creek was visited by an uninvited guest called Small Pox. By God’s grace most survived. There was a total of sixty-three people on the plantation, fifty-seven slaves and six in the Straggard family. Seven people contracted the disease, five slaves and two of the master’s family which included the master’s youngest daughter, Molly, and himself. There were three deaths – two slaves and Molly.

The following months were difficult for everyone. Joshua’s mind was occupied with the loss of his daughter, the ever-increasing negative reports from his brother in the Confederate army, and most of all his changing attitude about whether he and his wife should continue as slave owners.

Jacob had observed the changes taking place with the master. Recently the master asked him if he was feeling alright. It was the first time the master had ever asked him that question. Somehow Jacob felt the urgency to tell the children about their ancestor’s past. All of them have grown up on the plantation and that’s the only life they knew. The plantation was changing and he felt he was running out of time. He gathered the children in front of him under the big Oak tree beside the barn. All the children knew there was a special story coming the way Jacob was acting. Jacob was an old man in his late fifties. He couldn’t work in the fields anymore so master Joshua had assigned him baby-sitting responsibilities. Jacob loved the children and they loved him.

Jacob skillfully opened imaginary doors for them to observe village life along the Congo river in 1784. He told them that his grandfather, Kiume (Tom), and grandmother, Nateree, had three children, two girls, Shaneree and Salomba, and a boy, Tohara (John, Jacob’s father). Tom was the twelfth prince of the village. He was a strong leader and the hero of the village as far as John was concerned.

One day the prince and his children went on a fishing trip that turned out to be a nightmare. He and his family were abducted on the Congo river by slave traders. The prince learned quickly that he and his villager’s spears and arrows were no match against their long rifles. They placed his family and half of the village on a large boat in the ocean. It was the beginning of a terrible ocean voyage that took them to America. During their voyage their youngest daughter, Shaneree, died from diphtheria.

Upon their arrival in Charleston, South Carolina, they were loaded onto a long dock. They were treated with oils and sweet-smelling lotions to make them more presentable to the slave traders on the Auction block. They knew this was the place that they were to be separated. John stayed close to his father as they were herded into a room on the dock. The women and children were in another room. Their nightmare continued as they were sold and separated never to see each other again.

One year passed and Tom was killed trying to escape from the Mulberry Hill plantation near Charlotte, North Carolina. John survived and grew into a man with a wife and one child named Jacob. When Jacob was eleven years old he and his master were riding in a wagon together near their plantation and slave robbers stole Jacob away to the Stewart Creek plantation in southeastern Tennessee.

Jacob concluded his stories and helped his family, Ben and Sadie, as they struggle with the decision – should they escape to the north or stay on the plantation?

The decision to become a “runaway” involves levels of courage that few have ever experienced. The person that must make this decision, has been told that they are property, having no value, no human rights, no ownership, and treated like cattle. Slave ship captains referred to their captives as “cargo.” Plantation masters quickly train their newly acquired slaves to “look down” in their presence. How does the prospective runaway muster enough courage to finally go north? Is it possible? Will God lead them to take the first step toward their dream? Will they be able to truly say to their children, “Our Bondage Has Been Broken?”  At last, our bondage is broken! May God protect us! May God give us strength and courage! May God guide us and keep us safe!

AFTERWORD

As I created this book, I placed myself into various characters and tried to imagine what it would have been like to become a slave from the capture all the way to plantation life. The inhumane treatment that I discovered in my research of plantation life and especially ocean voyages of slave ships was too deplorable to be included in my book. Nonetheless, I have attempted to relate to you what it was like on the Thomas slave family journey starting in Africa. Even though this journey was a nightmare to experience, and not wanting to tell one sad story after another, I struggled with the possibility of occasionally including contrasting experiences. For example, I made it possible for some to be reunited with long lost loved ones while living on a plantation. Even though legal marriages of slaves were forbidden, it happened, and some experienced a small taste of family life while in servitude.

Finally, the slave owner of Stewart Creek Plantation, Master Joshua Straggard’s life changed through faith and by grace so that he treated his forty-seven slaves as family by inviting them into his home for a Christmas dinner. He no longer wanted to own slaves. He said, “As long as you live with me, you would not be treated like slaves! Look up, don’t look down!” I don’t know if all that really happened, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if it did.

For slaves who were descendants of slaves to be told that they were free and that they would be treated like family is a happy ending indeed! How many plantation owners expressed that kind of love toward their slaves? Not many I’m sure. After decades of abuse, torture, humiliation, and hatred, how do the descendants of these poor dear souls come to grips with the reality that their ancestors suffered so? It would be easy for the descendants to harbor ill feelings, even hatred. However, the most important reaction to all this misery is a character trait that has far-reaching benefits worthy of emulation. It is forgiveness—overcoming and always victorious!

Contact Info.: David L. Lewis / rightrdave@gmail.com / 856-304-2516

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