Sauce for the Goose...

...is the title of my latest undertaking, an essay and perhaps a book in the making about a strange breach of promise (i.e. marriage contract) case that dominated New York City's newspapers during early July 1835. A so-called gentleman named George G. Barnard, of Hudson, NY, sued his erstwhile correspondent lover, Mary Power, a hometown rich girl, who had suddenly broken off their engagement after a many-year courtship. James Gordon Bennett, founder of the newborn New York Herald, took great umbrage at Barnard's nervy attempt to extort money from the young woman, who had despatched Barnard in favor of a man with better prospects.

I'm presenting a paper about it all early in June in Plattsburgh, NY at the annual conference of the New York State Historical Association, and speaking elsewhere in the metro area thereon this summer.

Read all about it in my new website Sauce for the Goose... at http://sauce4thegoose.blogspot.com/