by Martha Jean Stewart
Memoir
About the Book
Flagland is the story of a farm in the rich swampland of Southeast Missouri that was part of the push to drain and tame the area, as told through the eyes of the Heath and Hubbard families. This heartfelt and touching story portrays the struggles and triumphs of farm life and the strong bond that held their family together. Ralph and Alma Hubbard’s story is conveyed through the ongoing chronicle of Round Robin letters spanning 36 years that circulated among over a dozen farm families. The voice of their daughter, Martha Jean Stewart, continues into the next generation with her skillful story telling. You’ll enjoy her direct and lively wit as she remembers the life of perseverance and love born of the close-knit family called the farm.
About the Author
Martha Jean “Jeanie” Stewart was a retired teacher in Columbia, Missouri. She and her husband, Bill were active in the oversight of Jeanie Hubbard’s family farm, sometimes called “Flagland” for the once-ubiquitous flags of swamp grass waving across the swampland before the reclamation project called “The Little River Drainage System” drained the land. Jeanie was a multi-talented woman, and a gifted writer and avid reader before her death in 2016 at age eighty-two.
