Pioneer Mother on the River of No Return:
The Life of Isabella Kelly Benedict Robie
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Her Irish family reached America just in time for Isabella to be born an American. She followed a typical American frontier migration from New York to California, to Oregon, and then on to Idaho. At the gold camp of Florence she met her life-long friend Jeanette Popham. In the wake of the great 1863 New Year’s shootout in Florence, she married Sam Benedict at 15, while Jeanette married J. D. William a month later at age, 14. Isabella’s tough-as-leather and rough-as-sandpaper father died in a shootout; her step-father was lynched after he killed a bully; her first husband shot a Nez Perce man. Isabella’s family lived at the confluence of White Bird Creek and the River of No Return when the Nez Perce War started in 1877. With her husband slain, and her friend Jeanette unable to help her, Isabella carried two of her young children up the White Bird trail seeking safety. In constant terror and without food or means of defense, she met the U.S. cavalry two days later. Their attempt at rescuing her was as inept as their war plans. The Battle of White Bird the next morning left Isabella and her children again in grave danger.
Isabella was a mother of nine children, the honored ancestor of many prominent Idahoans, and became a frontier icon. Her story breathes life into the history of early Idaho.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $14.95 6x9" 236 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-4-0
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-2-5
The Life of Isabella Kelly Benedict Robie
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Her Irish family reached America just in time for Isabella to be born an American. She followed a typical American frontier migration from New York to California, to Oregon, and then on to Idaho. At the gold camp of Florence she met her life-long friend Jeanette Popham. In the wake of the great 1863 New Year’s shootout in Florence, she married Sam Benedict at 15, while Jeanette married J. D. William a month later at age, 14. Isabella’s tough-as-leather and rough-as-sandpaper father died in a shootout; her step-father was lynched after he killed a bully; her first husband shot a Nez Perce man. Isabella’s family lived at the confluence of White Bird Creek and the River of No Return when the Nez Perce War started in 1877. With her husband slain, and her friend Jeanette unable to help her, Isabella carried two of her young children up the White Bird trail seeking safety. In constant terror and without food or means of defense, she met the U.S. cavalry two days later. Their attempt at rescuing her was as inept as their war plans. The Battle of White Bird the next morning left Isabella and her children again in grave danger.
Isabella was a mother of nine children, the honored ancestor of many prominent Idahoans, and became a frontier icon. Her story breathes life into the history of early Idaho.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $14.95 6x9" 236 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-4-0
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-2-5
Jeanette Manuel:
The Life and Legend of the Belle of Fabulous Florence
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Experience the Life of a Young Frontier Woman. The favorite child of the roaring camp of Scott Bar, California. The belle of the 1863 New Year’s Ball in Florence, Idaho. The 14 year-old bride of J. D.Williams, the man who killed Cherokee Bob Talbot in a classic gunfight. The 15 year-old widow of the night watchman who was assassinated in Idaho City, Idaho. The 16-year-old wife of J. J. Manuel, brewer, saloonist and sheriff of Warren, Idaho. The only White woman who disappeared along with her infant son in the Nez Perce War and has yet to be found. The exciting life of a woman who grew and loved and suffered as Idaho passed from mining camps to settled life.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $14.95 6x9" 220 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-6-4
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-1-8
The Life and Legend of the Belle of Fabulous Florence
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Experience the Life of a Young Frontier Woman. The favorite child of the roaring camp of Scott Bar, California. The belle of the 1863 New Year’s Ball in Florence, Idaho. The 14 year-old bride of J. D.Williams, the man who killed Cherokee Bob Talbot in a classic gunfight. The 15 year-old widow of the night watchman who was assassinated in Idaho City, Idaho. The 16-year-old wife of J. J. Manuel, brewer, saloonist and sheriff of Warren, Idaho. The only White woman who disappeared along with her infant son in the Nez Perce War and has yet to be found. The exciting life of a woman who grew and loved and suffered as Idaho passed from mining camps to settled life.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $14.95 6x9" 220 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-6-4
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-1-8
The Disciples of King Gambrinus, Volume I:
Twenty-five Unfortunate Lives
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
The hard-working men who made Idaho a part of the American nation worked up a mighty thirst in the process. European-born—mostly Germanic—men saw a need and a business potential and brewed beer for them. Beer to quench their thirst, to feed the inner man, to bind the society, and to save that society from whiskey-induced rages and excesses. European legend and lore said medieval King Gambrinus invented beer. The legend conveniently forgets the first few thousand years of brewing history in the Old World, but it offers a definite starting point for the brewers to begin their own historical epoch. A European brewer considered himself, if not a descendant from the legendary king, at least a disciple.
This series of collective biographies tells the lives of the Disciples of Gambrinus as they lived, worked, and died in the Gem State. As with any large group, there were the saints and the sinners, the sane and the insane, the wise and the foolish, the successful and the failures. Some committed murder; some had murder committed on them. Some became enormously wealthy, while some filed for bankruptcy. They were a microcosm of the human condition, but their link to brewing endowed them with a certain essence that was theirs alone.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $19.95 6x9" 364 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-7-1
eBook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9818408-9-5
Twenty-five Unfortunate Lives
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
The hard-working men who made Idaho a part of the American nation worked up a mighty thirst in the process. European-born—mostly Germanic—men saw a need and a business potential and brewed beer for them. Beer to quench their thirst, to feed the inner man, to bind the society, and to save that society from whiskey-induced rages and excesses. European legend and lore said medieval King Gambrinus invented beer. The legend conveniently forgets the first few thousand years of brewing history in the Old World, but it offers a definite starting point for the brewers to begin their own historical epoch. A European brewer considered himself, if not a descendant from the legendary king, at least a disciple.
This series of collective biographies tells the lives of the Disciples of Gambrinus as they lived, worked, and died in the Gem State. As with any large group, there were the saints and the sinners, the sane and the insane, the wise and the foolish, the successful and the failures. Some committed murder; some had murder committed on them. Some became enormously wealthy, while some filed for bankruptcy. They were a microcosm of the human condition, but their link to brewing endowed them with a certain essence that was theirs alone.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $19.95 6x9" 364 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-7-1
eBook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9818408-9-5
The Disciples of King Gambrinus Volume II:
Capitalists and Town FathersHerman Wiley Ronnenberg
While many men toiled over rock veins in the mountains of Idaho seeking a fortune from golden metal flakes, others toiled in towns over boiling kettles turning flakes of malted barley into a golden elixir they hoped would make their fortune.For the men in this book that dream came true—beer produced solid income.This second volume of the Disciples of Gambrinus Series tells the life stories of successful beer brewers from throughout the Gem State.The money earned selling beer enabled these men to diversify their financial and other interests. These were men who introduced brick construction, patented inventions, built great hotels, raised outstanding families, owned ranches, stimulated grain growing, served as city councilmen and mayors, and gave back to their home towns a full measure of service. These men had very human problems and imperfections but they persevered.
Gambrinus was a mythical King who introduced brewing to Europe.Every Nineteenth Century brewer felt himself allied with the legendary founder of his profession.Immerse yourself in a different side of the story of Idaho, and a new side of the history of American brewing, in Volume II of the Disciples of King Gambrinus:Capitalists and Town Fathers.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $24.95 6x9" 518 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-5-7
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-0-1
Capitalists and Town FathersHerman Wiley Ronnenberg
While many men toiled over rock veins in the mountains of Idaho seeking a fortune from golden metal flakes, others toiled in towns over boiling kettles turning flakes of malted barley into a golden elixir they hoped would make their fortune.For the men in this book that dream came true—beer produced solid income.This second volume of the Disciples of Gambrinus Series tells the life stories of successful beer brewers from throughout the Gem State.The money earned selling beer enabled these men to diversify their financial and other interests. These were men who introduced brick construction, patented inventions, built great hotels, raised outstanding families, owned ranches, stimulated grain growing, served as city councilmen and mayors, and gave back to their home towns a full measure of service. These men had very human problems and imperfections but they persevered.
Gambrinus was a mythical King who introduced brewing to Europe.Every Nineteenth Century brewer felt himself allied with the legendary founder of his profession.Immerse yourself in a different side of the story of Idaho, and a new side of the history of American brewing, in Volume II of the Disciples of King Gambrinus:Capitalists and Town Fathers.
Available at Amazon
Paperback $24.95 6x9" 518 pages ISBN 978-0-9818408-5-7
ebook $4.95 ISBN 978-0-9895967-0-1
John Lemp, The Beer Baron of Boise:
Millionaire Brewer of Frontier Idaho
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Available February, 2014
Millionaire Brewer of Frontier Idaho
By Herman Wiley Ronnenberg
Available February, 2014
