Historical fiction can be an excellent gateway to genealogy.
“They” say if you want to know political history, you should read history books.
But if you want to understand the manners, mores, and life of past generations, historical fiction provides insight.
It can help genealogists put their ancestors’ lives into historical context, making their choices far more understandable.
(And if you’re a writer of the genre, your genealogy can provide great, true stories. See my posts about The Dogtrot Christmas and An Inconvenient Gamble).
Historical fiction and genealogy example
I recently read Laura Frantz‘s latest historical fiction: An Uncommon Woman, and enjoyed it very much.
It’s the tenth in a long line of Frantz’s books that remind me of my personal genealogy.
I’m not related to her, but her stories touch very close to home.
If your family includes the Scots-Irish immigrants, you may find glimpses of your heritage as well. (A Bound Heart)
Like many of Frantz’s heroines, my family line settled along the Eastern seaboard. Mine first arrived as early as 1628.
They went through the Cumberland Gap (A Moonbow Night, The Frontiersman’s Daughter) to southern Kentucky.
Along the way, they encountered Native Americans understandably hostile to encroaching farmers (An Uncommon Woman).
Some lived in Williamsburg (The Lacemaker), maybe even Jamestown.
But most of my family left Virginia for places west after the American Revolution (The Mistress of Tall Acre).
I’ve read Frantz’s last several novels trying to catch glimpses of names matching her historical fiction with my genealogy!
I may have to feed Frantz a few names . . .
Why should genealogists read historical fiction?
When I put together my family’s extensive history, I didn’t leave it as the charts you find on Ancestry.com. (Though they are located in the back of the book).
I wrote narratives about each family line’s life. I told their history as a story, and not just as a family tree.
It’s not enough just to describe a name and give it some dashes. We can’t completely grasp our ancestor’s lives if we don’t understand the choices they faced and why they made them.
An Uncommon Woman helped me understand the daily terror of living on a farm as a target.
I’ve often wondered where the courage came from which enabled my ancestors to live in such conditions?
Well-researched novels like Frantz’s–she even writes the first draft in longhand–can provide that insight and understanding.
I’ve learned about corduroy roads and colonial bee-keeping. I’ve savored descriptions of the Cumberland Gap 225 years ago, and how men built wilderness forts.
None of this is applicable to my daily life, but it’s something to contemplate when I wonder about my ancestors.
Echoing details
Historical fiction provides readers with details about life.
Within a story, readers learn songs that were sung–maybe even in their families.
We learn about epidemics and why women bore so many children.
Imagine the value of a looking glass in Virginia in the 17th century. Why was that one of only three items of value in my ancestor’s will?
Who would have thought that clothing would be so important at Jamestown?
Perhaps the frontier folk wore deerskin because they had no looms to make cloth?
I read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books to my children for the stories, yes. But I also wanted my sons to understand the contrast between pioneer life and their lives.
The children needed to know the context of their “easy” life.
Historical fiction, and our genealogy, provided that richness.
They know who they come from, now, and what a blessing their life is today.
Thanks, Laura Frantz–and Laura Ingalls Wilder, too!
Tweetables
Historical fiction as a genealogy tool. Click to Tweet
Laura Frantz’s stories and my family history. Click to Tweet
How historical fiction can aid genealogists. Click to Tweet
T’would be nice to thus behold
the slow parade of years,
ancestors marching thousands-fold
in conquest of their fears.
Valiant women, dauntless men
setting forth unto the world
wielding both the sword and pen
‘neath faith’s bright flag unfurled
subduing the dull heathen host
with kindness and with verve,
know that the least is most,
and being born to serve.
But when I see my genealogy,
Grandpa swung from the family tree.
Funny, Andrew, funny. 🙂
Michelle, You write with such insight and depth – a historical feast, truly! And I’m a bit in awe that your ancestors/family arrived so early, not long after James Towne (my next novel is set there so I default to the archaic spelling:) was founded. I can only imagine your genealogy and the stories passed down. Over my lifetime I’ve often wished my own ancestors had left more of a historical trail in the way of letters, diaries, etc. But I believe they were too busy simply trying to survive. So we rely on oral history and bare bones things like land titles and deeds, etc. I’m really honored you take time for my novels as a fellow author, especially, and see the good in them. My hope in even a small way is to bring history to life or help preserve it in even a small way through my books. And I couldn’t say it any better – “An Uncommon Woman helped me understand the daily terror of living on a farm as a target.” That is certainly what happened to me as I wrote the book. Any gloss about that very dangerous time period fell away and I had new respect for my ancestors – and yours – to endure what they did. I hope and pray younger generations never forget that. Yes, we must talk names 🙂 Thank you for such a wonderful post. It’s one I’ll keep thinking of, kind of like a good book!
Thanks, Laura. Smith always works . . . LOL
Ballard, Bibby, Hobart, Posey, Neville . . .