Bill Gallaher (author)
Bill Gallaher is the best selling author of a number of books that feature Canadian historical figures. A well known singer/songwriter, Bill has also been an air traffic controller and a social studies teacher. While he and his family were traveling in Ireland, Bill formed a band and began singing in pubs, leading him to the beginning of his third career. He has appeared on national television and radio, and had co-produced cassettes, CDs and a songbook. His songs have been heard around the world, in places as diverse as Australia, Germany and Malaysia. Bill lives with his family in British Columbia.
Bibliography
Bill is the author of 5 books, ranging from historical fiction to creative non-fiction and Canadian history.
:*The Promise: Love, Loyalty & the Lure of Gold (Re-released in 2008 ISBN 0-920663-75-3)
:*A Man Called Moses: The Curious Life of Wellington Delany Moses (2003 ISBN 1-894898-04-4)
:*Deadly Innocent: Tragedy on the Trail to Gold (2004 ISBN 1-894898-11-7)
:*The Frog Lake Massacre (2008 ISBN 978-1-894898-75-1)
:*The Journey: Overlanders' Quest for Gold (Re-released in 2009 ISBN 9781894898997)
The Promise: It was 1862 and the Cariboo Gold Rush was in full swing. Sophia Cameron, the Beauty of Barkerville, lay dying of typhoid when her husband, John "Cariboo" Cameron, made one last promise to his fading young wife. The Promise is a compelling story of a great love and an epic struggle to honor a dying wife's final request: to take her body home to eastern Canada. Told in the voice of Robert Stevenson, Cameron's friend and mining partner, the story travels with the two men as they leave the frozen goldfields of BC and carry Sophia's body by sled, ship and rail to a tree-shaded cemetery near Cornwall, Ontario. However, she was buried amid mistrust and dark suspicions because Cameron refused to open the coffin-did it truly contain his lovely, young wife? Intrigued by the level of commitment and loyalty in the "Cariboo" Cameron saga, Bill Gallaher first wrote a song AbOUT The Camerons and as a result of further extensive research, wrote his first book, The Promise, a unique insight into a famous legend of the gold rush.
A story about a promise of epic proportions. Highly entertaining yarn based on gold miner Robert Stevenson's memoir of his life and adventures with John "Cariboo" Cameron. -Kamloops Daily News
A Man Called Moses: “The Black Barber of Barkerville,” as Wellington Delaney Moses was known, came to British Columbia from San Francisco, looking for a new home and a place of peace. He was among the first blacks to arrive in B.C., hoping that the colony, with its Creole governor, James Douglas, would offer a more tolerant and welcoming frontier than had California; he was not disappointed. Moses was a remarkable figure in Victoria in its first years, opening a prosperous barbershop and becoming a popular man about town. But adventure still called. He headed north and found the happy end of his long journey among the gold miners of the Cariboo. He was known especially for his part in Judge Begbie’s famous case against the [...] James Barry. In this historical novel, Bill Gallaher describes Moses’s departure from the Caribbean island of his birth, the fearful realities of slavery and the terrors of working with the Underground Railroad in the United States, the early roots of colonial society and democracy in Victoria and, finally, Moses’s part in the always-spirited life along the creeks of Barkerville.
Deadly Innocent: Lured by dreams of wealth and a better life, three brothers — William, Gilbert and Thomas Rennie — set out for the Cariboo goldfields in the spring of 1862. They left late. And that simple fact dictated unimaginable consequences. Sober-minded William, high-spirited Thomas and the peacemaker, Gilbert, were joined by two acquaintances, John Wright and John Helstone. They crossed the prairies in good order with the famous Father Lacombe and continued along the well-marked trail of the Overlanders into the mountains. After that, nothing went according to plan. This drama caught the attention of Bill Gallaher and the saga of the Rennie brothers is a riveting addition to his treasure trove of stories.
"Gallaher's approach to the rediscovery of British Columbia's past is wonderfully helpful. I find myself asking: why did teachers in my high school and college years fail to make BC history as compelling as this?"-Philip Teece for British Columbia History, Vol. 38, No. 2.
Frog Lake Massacre: In the spring of 1884, an adventurous young man packs his bags in Victoria, BC, and heads for the prairies, looking for a new life and hoping to get involved in an Indian "war." Instead, he lucks into an exciting job in the fur trade and meets and befriends many of the great chiefs of the Cree nation, such as Poundmaker and Big Bear, and ends up between a bullet and a target when the North-West Rebellion erupts. After witnessing the historic Frog Lake Massacre and the [...] of his friends, Jack is captured by the Cree warriors and, later, guides the famous Inspector Sam Steele on the hunt for Cree Chief Big Bear. The Frog Lake Massacre is the first book in a trilogy about a young man who is trying to forge an independent life for himself in the huge and newly established country of Canada. Along the way, he discovers that bravery and loyalty bring their own rewards.
The Journey: This bestselling novel follows a group of three adventurous Overlanders—two young men and one remarkable woman—as they travel west in 1862, from the Manitoba prairies to the goldfields of the Cariboo. With his gift for storytelling, Gallaher brings this intriguing era to the page as he vividly recounts the overland trek of the spirited Catherine Schubert, who made the trip in an undetected state of pregnancy; James Sellar, a combative young man of rigid determination; and Thomas McMicking, the visionary captain of the often unruly company. Reprinted with an appealing new look, this popular novel is an engaging and moving tribute to a band of heroic pioneers.
“Rich in detail . . . A highly readable account of one of the most interesting, and most important, chapters in BC’s history.”—Dave Obee for the Times Colonist
“A captivating account of memorable heroic characters . . . a polished historical reconstruction.”— M. Wayne Cunningham for the Kamloops Daily News, August 30, 2003