For
a writer published in contemporary romance and devotionals, I love
research and I’ve had some interesting experiences. I do have a historical
trilogy based on old family stories in the works, and I’m a pretty good sleuth—shades
of the days when Nancy Drew mysteries were my reading preference.
Free
family history sites can be treasure troves of information. Two of my favorites
are www.DeadFred.com and www.FindAGrave.com. DeadFred is a database
of historical photographs, great for assisting with descriptions of characters
and period clothing. FindAGrave includes personal stories and the epitaphs can
be a story themselves. For historical newspaper research, www.news.google.com/newspapers,
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/,
and http://fultonhistory.com/ are great
resources. Free sites like http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/,
and http://www.castlegarden.org/ give information about immigrants.
Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans are located at http://www.dar.org/national-society/genealogy
and http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm,
and there are many, many more.
In
researching my North Dakota roots, a local genealogy society assigned a sweet elderly
lady to my case. I asked about the hardware store in the now-ghost town where
my great grandparents lived. In the meantime, my mom discovered a photograph of
the store’s interior with my great grandfather at the counter. When my research
helper asked a neighbor, she discovered he bought the building and moved it.
She was standing in what had once been my great grandfather’s store.
While
posting queries on genealogy message boards about another great grandfather’s
murder, I met some distant cousins who came to visit, despite my husband’s
warnings that they might be axe murderers. We located a book by Fredric
Remington, the famed western artist and writer that includes sketches of my
great grandfather sporting a bandage from being shot in a poker game.
I
discovered an 11th great grandfather who was the last man publicly beheaded
on Tower Hill in London, a colonel in the War of 1812, two ancestors who served
at Valley Forge, and a great uncle who gambled with Billy the Kid. Googling
names from an old newspaper article led to finding my great uncle’s fiancée
whose mother died in a flu epidemic. When they opened the grave to bury a child
with her, there were fingernail marks on the coffin lid.
Research
can be exciting when you have the right tools along with tenacity and patience.
A personal touch might be just the thing for a sagging story middle and lead to
some family fun along the way.
© Copyright by
Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, February 9, 2014
Don't forget to leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for an Orphan Train Bride Audiobook by Teresa Ives Lilly! Winner announced in the Weekly Windup on the 15th. Check out all of our great prizes on the Prizes Galore page.
Don't forget to leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for an Orphan Train Bride Audiobook by Teresa Ives Lilly! Winner announced in the Weekly Windup on the 15th. Check out all of our great prizes on the Prizes Galore page.
About the author:
Norma
Gail is the author of the Christy Award nominated contemporary Christian
romance, Land of My Dreams. A women’s
Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared
at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret
Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers
of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. Norma is a former RN who lives
in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 40 years. They have two
adult children.
Connect with
Norma:
Book Links:
Lighthouse
Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http://store.lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/
Great post! I've not done a lot of geneology but research for my stories has unearthed some fun tidbits. Thanks for the site links - very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they were helpful, Linda! You can Google free genealogy sites and find even more that have historical insights.
DeleteBeheaded???? ACK!
ReplyDeleteI had a several-times-over-great uncle sliced in half at the sawmill. We come from gruesome pasts.
My mom thought surely I could find someone better than a man who was beheaded and one sister asked if he fought on the right side of the Jacobite Uprising. I told her that depended on if you were Scottish or English. I thought it was very exciting. In my book, famous and infamous are exciting!
DeleteI’ve often despaired at finding the right historical newspapers. I hadn’t known about the google newspaper site. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it was helpful, Terri! Thanks for letting me know!
DeleteThanks for sharing! I love both genealogy and research. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking time to comment! It's great when hobbies and vocation blend, isn't it!
DeleteResearch was one of my favorite duties when I was a public librarian. I loved digging for clues and finding the answer!
ReplyDeleteConnie
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
It is a lot of fun! I would have never gone home if I had been a librarian!
DeleteI love research too...but it can be dangerously distracting, taking me away from my writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree! It's easy to get caught up in it and forget why you're doing it in the first place!
DeleteThank you for your wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome!
ReplyDelete