Beware of Ancestry.com! It's awkward to discover that Grandpa's illegitimate child is your sweetheart's mother or that
Grandma's forgetfulness was really early-onset Alzheimer's. You might even find out the family estate you've inherited was
acquired unethically. Now you have the inconvenient choice of returning it or letting it weigh on your conscience.
In 1916, it was common to hide indiscretions or difficult family members as "skeletons in the closet." Marcie Shelby's father orphaned his family with a legacy of public disgrace. The relatives are tired of stuffing his bones into the family closet, taking care of the mess he left behind and the daughter he abandoned. It's best, Aunt Etta decides, to put the girl to work somewhere far away and be rid of such a discreditable association. Marcie can't wait to escape. She agrees to repay her train fare, change her name, and take custody of the skeleton. But, inspired by her brother's example, she wants to restart her life with an ambitious career plan. On the eve of World War I, with women's suffrage in the offing, it seems possible.
At first, Marcie conscientiously follows Aunt Etta's advice on safeguarding the skeleton and records short tips in a journal as reminders. Soon she has to judge for herself how to keep the skeleton from popping out. As her new life brings unforeseen entanglements and complications, she begins to question the importance of guard duty.
Ancestry.com is useful if you want to find out your DNA and see if you really are who you think you are. It can also help you discover public records from Great-Grandpa's (or Great-Grandma's) life. If what you really want to know, though, is what made him so grumpy (or her so secretive), you must listen to relatives' anecdotes and piece them together. If you hit stone walls with your questions, don't give up. You probably crept too close to a "skeleton." Your elders were taught to conceal scandals and you're about to reveal one. Show some empathy for their discomfort and remember your ancestor's time and place in the world. There were diseases medicine couldn't cure and hardships we never knew. Imagine being there and decide what you'd do in Great-Grandpa's place.
Writing a family history inevitably produces a cross-genre book. So take it with the proverbial "grain of salt." The writer only knows core facts and central events. He has to add human interest with family stories about his characters. They may or may not be accurate. Or the relatives might not remember details, so the writer has to fill in the gaps imaginatively. He might even make purposeful changes to tighten up the plot.
The central story here came from whispered accounts and historical research. You can choose to read it as a young adult story, historical fiction, a romance novel, or creative nonfiction. You can even consider it a how-to book if you've met your own
family skeleton and need some strategies to keep him undercover.
The author of this story was a snoopy kid prone to eavesdropping on grown-up conversations. One of her parents' visitors especially aroused curiosity by furtively murmuring anecdotes that didn't make sense. She tried to connect those stories, sometimes getting it right but often wrong.
The snoopy little girl grew up and finally realized she'd uncovered a "skeleton in the closet." A modern thinker, she
was irreverent about musty mysteries and apt to poke fun at the preservation of secrets. When she realized how this skeleton had cast his shadow over his family's lives, though, she viewed the story characters with more compassion. After all, the women especially were victims of their times.
The author has published another book entitled Sunday's Child by A. Foster Parent, available on Amazon and Kindle.
Grandma's forgetfulness was really early-onset Alzheimer's. You might even find out the family estate you've inherited was
acquired unethically. Now you have the inconvenient choice of returning it or letting it weigh on your conscience.
In 1916, it was common to hide indiscretions or difficult family members as "skeletons in the closet." Marcie Shelby's father orphaned his family with a legacy of public disgrace. The relatives are tired of stuffing his bones into the family closet, taking care of the mess he left behind and the daughter he abandoned. It's best, Aunt Etta decides, to put the girl to work somewhere far away and be rid of such a discreditable association. Marcie can't wait to escape. She agrees to repay her train fare, change her name, and take custody of the skeleton. But, inspired by her brother's example, she wants to restart her life with an ambitious career plan. On the eve of World War I, with women's suffrage in the offing, it seems possible.
At first, Marcie conscientiously follows Aunt Etta's advice on safeguarding the skeleton and records short tips in a journal as reminders. Soon she has to judge for herself how to keep the skeleton from popping out. As her new life brings unforeseen entanglements and complications, she begins to question the importance of guard duty.
Ancestry.com is useful if you want to find out your DNA and see if you really are who you think you are. It can also help you discover public records from Great-Grandpa's (or Great-Grandma's) life. If what you really want to know, though, is what made him so grumpy (or her so secretive), you must listen to relatives' anecdotes and piece them together. If you hit stone walls with your questions, don't give up. You probably crept too close to a "skeleton." Your elders were taught to conceal scandals and you're about to reveal one. Show some empathy for their discomfort and remember your ancestor's time and place in the world. There were diseases medicine couldn't cure and hardships we never knew. Imagine being there and decide what you'd do in Great-Grandpa's place.
Writing a family history inevitably produces a cross-genre book. So take it with the proverbial "grain of salt." The writer only knows core facts and central events. He has to add human interest with family stories about his characters. They may or may not be accurate. Or the relatives might not remember details, so the writer has to fill in the gaps imaginatively. He might even make purposeful changes to tighten up the plot.
The central story here came from whispered accounts and historical research. You can choose to read it as a young adult story, historical fiction, a romance novel, or creative nonfiction. You can even consider it a how-to book if you've met your own
family skeleton and need some strategies to keep him undercover.
The author of this story was a snoopy kid prone to eavesdropping on grown-up conversations. One of her parents' visitors especially aroused curiosity by furtively murmuring anecdotes that didn't make sense. She tried to connect those stories, sometimes getting it right but often wrong.
The snoopy little girl grew up and finally realized she'd uncovered a "skeleton in the closet." A modern thinker, she
was irreverent about musty mysteries and apt to poke fun at the preservation of secrets. When she realized how this skeleton had cast his shadow over his family's lives, though, she viewed the story characters with more compassion. After all, the women especially were victims of their times.
The author has published another book entitled Sunday's Child by A. Foster Parent, available on Amazon and Kindle.
