Hardship and Fortitude is about the history and lives of five generations of the Elijah Dyer family. The story begins with Elijah's father, Joshua, a fisherman from Truro, Massachusetts who packs up his belongings and family to voyage north to the islands of Vinalhaven, Penobscot Bay in 1814. Born and raised on Dyer's Island, Vinalhaven, forty-two year old Elijah moves his new family further north to his own space and fishing grounds- settling on Warren Island where he raised three more sons who later found their niche on neighboring islands such as Minot, Middle, Billy Job, Laselle. As the story unfolds, readers will experience the lives of the men and women who braved the solitude and hardships of island life and their children who traveled on ice-filled bays to attend school and continued the Dyer family's legacy. Through these five generations, the author deftly weaves together the genealogy, rich history, undeniable character and local color of many of the islands of Penobscot Bay, including Seven Hundred Acre and Islesboro.
"Carol Macaulay's Hardship and Fortitude is a beautifully written and perceptive account of a Maine family who lived on remote and isolated islands in Penobscot Bay. Beginning in 1780 with Joshua Dyer, Hardship and Fortitude unfolds with wonderful and lively details at the same time that it manages to combine both the personal and the historical to make it a fascinating and unforgettable story of American resourcefulness, courage, and fortitude." -Lily Tuck
About the Author: Carol D. Macaulay grew up on Seven Hundred Acre Island, Penobscot Bay, Maine traveling every day by boat to attend school on the neighboring island of Islesboro. Carol returned to "Acre Island" after graduating from the University of Maine where she majored in Art and English. She has lived fifty-nine of her sixty-four years on her beloved island where she divides her time between work, researching her ancestry, and long walks with her black lab, Taz.