“Laws die, books never.”
–Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
Ellen Keigh (a pen name) is an attorney/educator turned full-time writer, an avid amateur historian, and a peripatetic researcher.
She practiced law in northern California, specializing in the intricacies of trust law. That led her to the history of property transfers and the rights of married women in the 19th century, which in turn produced some surprising insights into the daily life of women then.
She was also fascinated by the story of San Francisco during the ‘lost years’ between the Gold Rush and the Earthquake of 1906, an era even more rich and complex than the times preceding and following it. And, of course, tracing the course of San Francisco’s adolescence led ultimately to the saga of Virginia City, Nevada, and the spellbinding story of the Comstock Lode.