As family historians we recognize the need to gather our family stories, but what happens when we uncover stories that were never discussed? What if we found our family was part of one of the most dramatic and disturbing eras of the 20th century – the Holocaust of World War II? In Georgia Hunter’s We Were the Lucky Ones we learn the remarkable story of her family’s survival as Polish Jews. Georgia made the discovery of her family’s past when she was 14 years old. Like many of us, she was fulfilling a school assignment to research more about her family...
With DNA testing turning up skeletons in the closet left and right, I was interested to read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. This fictional account of a family describes the horrific Tennessee Children’s Home Society operated by Georgia Tann in Memphis, Tennessee, from the 1920s to 1950. (The above is an affiliate link). Wingate created her story based on recollections of children who were kidnapped from their families and put into Tann’s “orphanage.” It is estimated that Tann stole over 5,000 children. Many of them were adopted out to wealthy families, mostly in New York or California. The adoptive...
Can you imagine losing your way as a five-year-old child? Not being able to find your way home? Living on the streets for a few months and then being adopted by a family who spoke a different language and looked different from you? Would you look for the home you remembered? The mother and siblings lost to you? How would you find them in a country of a billion people? Is you interest piqued yet? I hope so, because all of the above happened to Saroo Brierley, author of A Long Way Home: A Memoir. Saroo’s incredible journey was made...
Do you need to escape into the pages of a good old-fashioned mystery with a genealogical twist? Then let me introduce you to author, Nathan Dylan Goodwin, and the fictional Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist. Hiding the Past: A Genealogical Crime Mystery I’d been hearing about Nathan’s books for some time, but missed meeting him at RootsTech 2018 when he made the journey across the pond to hob nob with fellow genealogists. I decided the first book in his series, Hiding the Past : A Genealogical Crime Mystery, would be perfect for our fall book club selection. There is something about settling...
When is the last time your immersed yourself in the history of a research locality? You might know the records well and have a basic understanding of the history and geography, but reading a full length book is an excellent way to bolster your genealogy knowledge. As a southern United States researcher I often come across land records that state something like “land obtained by the Creek Session of 1832.” I had a vague understanding of the five civilized tribes removal from the states of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama in the 1830s but hadn’t connected that to...
Are you looking for an engrossing book? One that tells captivating, true stories about real women in history? Frontier Grit by Marianne Monson delivers twelve short stories, each based on a woman who was a pioneer in her own right. An excerpt from the introduction gives us the author’s insights. The women in this book come from a variety of backgrounds and traveled in a number of different directions – these stories represent a mere handful of the women who survived and even thrived on a multitude of gritty, tumultuous frontiers. . . These stories are fit inspiration for modern-day efforts...
Have you read These is My Words – The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner yet? I featured the novel based on the author’s own family stories as a book club selection in July of 2017. Because I’m fascinated with the writing of family history, I contacted Nancy to get her perspective on the world of genealogy and family history. She graciously agreed to answer my questions and share her thoughts. Four generations of Prine women: Nancy’s mother, grandmother -Minnie Mae (Prine) Belcher, great grandmother – Sarah Agnes (Reed) Prine, great great grandmother – Roxanne (Stockman) Reed If...
How do you go about writing your own life story? Do you stick with the dry facts or do you delve deeper into your memories? Reading how someone else has shared their stories can give you ideas on what you could write. A Girl Named Zippy, Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel is the quirky reminiscing of a small girl in a small Midwestern town. Haven Kimmel writes of her family relationships through the perspective of a young child. The normal ups and downs of family life are depicted in humorous fashion, with hints of deeper currents. Have...
Do you need a great summer vacation book? One to lose yourself in? If so, then These is My Words – The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner is the book for you. I first discovered this book several years ago and recently reread it with an ear for the family history included. The author wrote it in the form of a diary, based on her family memoirs, so it’s a perfect fit for our July book club selection. These is My Words is historical fiction and a wonderful example of putting an ancestor in her place...
What would you do if you discovered a huge family secret when you were ten years old that shook your world? Paul Joseph Fronczak learned from old news clippings that he had been abandoned in front of a New Jersey store as a toddler. FBI agents determined he was the missing child of a Chicago couple whose infant had been kidnapped from the hospital two years earlier. Reunited with his supposed parents, Paul grew up wondering if he really was the son of Chester and Dora Fronczak. Fast forward forty years, when Paul’s own child was born. What was the...
