How and why do excellent works such as this fall into obscurity? Galewood Crossing has so many of the aspects of true, good, and beautiful children’s literature, thank goodness for its rediscovery and rescue by small publishers!
We meet the Galewood family as they are packing wagons to leave their home in Ohio for better opportunities in the largely unsettled wilderness of Wisconsin. The road to their new home shrinks to a rough trail that is increasingly hard to follow, and there is plenty of hardship on the way, but this is only the beginning. We need to know how difficult it was for them to get to their new home, but what matters more is how they live and become part of their new community.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of the middle Galewood daughter, Tildy. She is fourteen, energetic, capable, and loves to be outdoors. She also proves to be brave and resourceful and particularly good at making friends with the other settlers and with the Indians. While she prefers to be active rather than sitting in the house knitting, whatever has to be done she truly wants to do well.
Tildy’s talent for making friends comes from her ability to see things from the perspective of others. This proves vital to the peace between white settlers and Indians in the area. Relations between the two groups have been relatively friendly but, of course, not everyone is happy about the changes the settlers bring with them.
Tildy is certainly a heroine, but though Seymour tells the story through her eyes, she doesn’t write Tildy as the most important character in the settlement. I appreciate the fact that this is not a story about a fourteen-year-old girl being smarter and braver than everyone else. The adults in the community are absolutely necessary. Tildy’s brothers and the other young men each have significant roles in the action. Even the crusty French neighbor who strongly objects to any new people coming into the area has skills that make him an important factor. And his niece plays the role of best supporting character despite his efforts to keep her from becoming acquainted with the newest arrivals.
I also appreciate the varied aspects of the plot. Seymour could have made this a story merely about a central heart-stopping incident instead of developing characters and relationships and motivations. Instead, the rescue of women and children stolen by Indians is just one chapter as the community bands together, not just for safety, but as friends intent on building homes for prosperous and virtuous families in the wilderness.
The word is that nearby land will soon be deeded by the Indians to the United States government. The Galewoods and their neighbors anxiously wait to hear the outcome of the treaty so they can claim land that will make it possible for them to build mills and other essentials for a thriving town. Seymour’s balanced treatment of the interactions between white settlers and Indians in this area is a refreshing piece of the history of American westward expansion.
I would recommend this book to anyone ten years old and up. My only caution is that, though any serious injuries occur “off stage,” the scenes that involve women and children captured or hurt by Indians are fast-paced and intense. There is also an incident in which Indians surround a cabin where the neighborhood young women are gathered. They know the Indians intend to kidnap them, and they have to figure out how to drive the Indians away. Please preread if these are things that might be disturbing to children of any age.