FROM SLAVE TO RANCHMAN – A HISTORICAL WESTERN BASED ON TRUE EVENTS.

In return for his freedom, a slave is tasked with the job of delivering a valuable stallion to a horse farm in Tennessee. The Civil War is dying down and the roads are dangerous but with some help the horse is delivered and the slave sees freedom.

Wishing to be freed from any remembrance of the slave farm, John has a last name that he refuses to use. John’s skill with horses opens doors for him which eventually take him to Fort Worth, Texas. More open doors, over a period of years, find him on a cattle drive to Montana, followed by a second drive into Alberta, Canada. From there, he chooses the name Ware. John Ware stays in Alberta, where he becomes a much loved and respected Alberta rancher.

The John Ware story is well known, however since he never learned to read or write he left no historic record of his background.

A SLAVE’S BRAVE JOURNEY TO LIVING HIS DREAM.

John Ware, a well-known, highly loved, and acclaimed black cowboy, arrived in Alberta at the beginning of the extraordinary ranching story on the grasslands. He faced and conquered snowstorms, vast distances, rough horses, not to mention a few rough men.

As John participated in the building of some of the great Alberta ranches, he faced racism and delayed, but not forgotten, dreams of a ranch and family of his own.

Being one of only a handful of black men on the grasslands, his dream seemed to be passing him by. Everything changed when the news of a family moving to Calgary with a daughter of marriageable age hit John’s ears.

John’s life took on a new focus.

The John Ware story suffers only from the lack of a personally recorded history. John was illiterate. He left no written records for posterity. But he left a strong history on the land and in the minds of those he lived and worked with.

Don’t miss the exciting conclusion to John Ware’s dreams of owning his own ranch and having his own family.

Reg Quist’s pioneer heritage includes sod shacks, prairie fires, home births, and children’s graves under the prairie sod, all working together in the lives of people creating their own space in a new land.

Out of that early generation came farmers, ranchers, business men and women, builders, military graves in faraway lands, Sunday Schools that grew to become churches, plus story tellers, musicians, and much more.

Hard work and self-reliance were the hallmark of those previous great generations, attributes that were absorbed by the following generation.

Quist’s career choice took him into the construction world.  From heavy industrial work, to construction camps in the remote northern bush, the author emulated his grandfathers, who were both builders, as well as pioneer farmers and ranchers.

It is with deep thankfulness that Quist says, “I am a part of the first generation to truly enjoy the benefits of the labors of the pioneers. My parents and their parents worked incredibly hard, and it is well for us to remember”.

Quist’s heart was never far from the land. The family photo albums testify to how often he found himself sitting on a horse, both as a child and into later life, when he and his wife owned their own small farm, complete with kids and horses.

Respect for the pioneers, working alongside skilled, tough workmen, and learning from them, marrying his high school sweetheart and welcoming children into the world, purchasing land for the family to grow on, and riding horses with the kids, all melded together to influence Quist’s life and writing. Over, and under, and wrapped around his life is Quist’s Christian heritage. This too, shows itself in his writing.

Quist’s writing career was late in pushing itself forward, remaining a hobby while family and career took precedence. Only in early retirement, was there time for more serious writing.

Quist’s writing interests lie in many genres including children’s work, short lifestyle stories, cowboy poetry, western novels, plus Christian articles and novels.

Woven through every story is the thought that, even though he was not there himself in that pioneer time, he knew some that were. They are remembered with great respect.

In 2018, Reg won a Word Guild Award for The Church at Third and Main.