Interracial marriages in 1614 were extremely rare among Europeans when John’s and Pocahontas’s marriage was sanctioned by the Anglican Church. Their marriage was big news in both the old and new worlds. Rolfe wrote in his letter to Dale that “all the world may truly say: This is the work of God, and it is marvelous to our eyes” (Spelling corrected).

John Rolfe, the man who married Pocahontas (no, it wasn’t Captain John Smith, the love interest in Disney and other movies…Pocahontas was only eleven when Smith came on the scene) was so friendly it was made comment on by contemporaries in historical records. Rolfe is often remembered for the successful strain of Spanish tobacco he grew in Virginia, which became the commodity that made fortunes for the growers along the James River. But in Rolfe’s written letter to Sir Dale before Pocahontas’s baptism, he stated that his love for her was so strong that he worried if marrying her (a nonbeliever in Christ) was acceptable to his Christian beliefs. He said he prayed continually for the answer, and it eventually came to him from God that he was to teach her of Christ.

I believe Pocahontas to have been someone exceptional for her time. When writing my book, The Peace of Pocahontas, I read as many seventeenth-century English writings as I could find but considered them dubious and sometimes controversial. Claiming the story of Pocahontas as presented in English records as “historical fact” makes me uncomfortable. Instead, I have presented in my book a version of what could have happened as relating to those English records and to the Powhatan peoples’ religion, lifestyles, and civilization as far as historians understand. The Powhatans did not have a written record in the 17^th century, so they have been overwhelmingly underrepresented.

Because I write historical fiction using as many facts as I can gather, I’m always reminded of how much we don’t know about past events. We usually don’t realize how people felt, the desires of their hearts, what they accomplished, or how their personalities and experiences drove them to make decisions. Looking for these aspects of a person is what motivates my research and creates how my stories are written.

When it comes to Pocahontas’s conversion to Christianity, there is of course no way I can know her heart and spiritual experiences with God. But it appears she converted to Christianity of her own accord through teachings by Reverend Whitaker and John Rolfe. Judging from Rolfe’s own passionate writings, he was a devout Christian and desired Pocahontas to have the same beliefs. It was the goal of many English people to bring Protestant Christianity to the Natives.

My greatest surprise while researching the book The Peace of Pocahontas was realizing after she was kidnapped, she was taken to Rocke Hall in Henricus where a Christian school had already been established for the Natives. Set up by Reverend Alexander Whitaker and Sir Thomas Dale, its purpose was to educate children in English ways and convert them to Christianity. I had no idea the concept of a Christian School for Natives had been devised so early in American history. Sir Dale had also planned a university for the Native boys, choosing the site where it would be built, but it never came to fruition. There have been many things done in the name of Christianity—wrong and right—and these schools throughout history were both evil and good. I can’t even try to unwind all the intricacies of why some took advantage of children while others did not. Or why some people thought they could force Christianity on another.

Pocahontas was and still is a fascinating woman. In all of history, can we find a young girl who played such an important part in a civilization? Pocahontas’s influence was far-reaching in the foundational history of the United States. Why did her father Powhatan allow his eleven-year-old daughter to help the original settlers? I suspect he preferred peaceful relations in the beginning and let his daughter play the part of ambassador. The settlers probably would have perished if not for the gifts of food she brought them. But why Pocahontas as ambassador? Did her father have insight into something we do not? Did he, and subsequently, Pocahontas believe in her objective for a greater peace? I believe all of us have a specific purpose(s) in life, and it doesn’t need to be on a grand scheme to be meaningful. God uses all people to achieve His purposes. Those who have clarity to know their purpose and have strength and courage to fulfill it usually do so at great sacrifice. That, I believe, is the story of Pocahontas.

Before the Interview

∙ Come prepared with open-ended questions, and be sure to personalize the questions to the individual you are interviewing.
∙ You’d do best to set-up an appointment and give them adequate time to think about the interview. If they tire easily, set up more than one appointment.
∙ Make sure the person you are interviewing is comfortable and that they feel secure in their surroundings. Preferably the interview would take place in their own home.
∙ Recording (both audio and visual) the conversation would be ideal, but if they are uncomfortable with a recording device, write the answers on paper.
∙ Be flexible. Don’t be surprised if they want to talk about something you weren’t asking. Sometimes it’s best to let them talk. You may learn more interesting details than if you had directed the conversation. More of a storytelling session than a Q&A sometimes brings out the best memories.

Questions to Ask:
1. What is your full name and did you ever go by a nickname? Were you named after someone in the family? If not, why did your parents select the name? What do you know about the family surname? Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his maternal grandfather?
2. What is your birthdate and where were you born? Why were you born there? How long had your family lived there? Did other family members live in the area? Describe the scenery and weather.
3. What do you remember about your first house? Take me on a walk, room by room. What is the décor like? When was the house built? Does it still stand?
4. What is your earliest childhood memory?
5. What were your favorite toys and games? Did you play mostly outside or inside? Did you have a special place that you liked to go?
6. Describe our family members’ physical attributes. Is there a family photo? Who owns it? Are there any physical characteristics that run in our family?
7. Who of your family members did you get along with the best?
8. Did extended family members come to visit? Do you remember your grandparents? Great-grandparents? What can you tell me about them and where did they live? (Take a lot of time with these questions about past generations and make sure you’ve gleaned everything they can remember on the subject.) Are there photographs?
9. What are your favorite memories about your mother and father?
10. What employment did your father and/or mother have? (Ask specific questions toward those professions.) What income bracket would you have put your family in? If your mother worked in the home, what kind of things do you remember her doing? Did she have hobbies? Clubs?
11. Describe the personalities of your family members.
12. Where did you attend grade school? What was school like for you as a child?
13. Where did you attend high school? What were your best and worst subjects? Did you participate in school sports or school activities and clubs? Did you play an instrument?
14. What music did you listen to or sing? Favorite song?
15. What kind of food did you eat as a child? What was your favorite? Did you have dessert after supper? Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking and who did the dishes? Did you ever eat out? Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members?
16. What holidays did you celebrate and how? Did you have family traditions? What was your favorite holiday?
17. What fads were popular in your youth? Hairstyles? Clothes? Did you keep up with the fads and wear the styles?
18. Did you attend church as a child? What church might have family records such as baptism and marriage records?
19. Did your family go on vacations? What was your favorite?
20. What were you known for amongst your friends? Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper? Who was your best friend?
21. What world events had the most impact on you? Did any of them personally affect our family?
22. Did you attend college? Where? What did you study?
23. When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
24. What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? How did you feel?
25. Tell me about your marriage. Where did it take place? Are there photographs? Who was in your wedding? What food was served? What’s the strongest memory you have about the event?
26. How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
27. Were you married more than once? Would you like to talk about it?
28. What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
29. What were the early years of marriage like for you? Where did you and your spouse work? How did you choose your professions?
30. How did you find out you were going to be a parent for the first time? What are your children’s names and birthdates?
31. What was your proudest moment as a parent? What did your family enjoy doing together? Did you vacation? If so, what was your favorite place to visit, and if I go, what should I see there?
32. Do you care to talk about the challenging times of adulthood or parenthood?
33. What accomplishments are you the proudest of?
34. When and where did your parents and grandparents die? Did you attend their funerals? Of all the things you learned from them, which do you feel was the most valuable?
35. Are there any special heirlooms, photos, bibles, or other memorabilia that have been passed down in our family?
36. What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors? Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in our family?
37. Did any of our family members serve in the military? Stories of them during wartime? Did any serve or live outside of the United States (or whatever country you live in)?
38. Where is our family originally from in the United States (or whatever country you live in)? Where is our family from in the world? How did we get to be located where we are today? Do you know of any family members having their DNA tested for genealogical purposes and their ethnicities?
39. What is your earliest memory of me? What is your favorite thing that we have done together?
40. What advice would you give your family? What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?

You may be tempted to hand them this list of questions on paper and ask them to write their answers, but I have found that they will tell you much more if you ask. In many cases, their hands cannot hold a writing instrument for very long or they worry their writing is illegible. They will also give shorter answers if they must write them.

I was recently in Texas watching my sister’s terminally ill dog while my sister was in Austria and Germany. I spent the 19 days working on outlining two more books about Thomas Savage, my 12^th great-grandfather and the main character of the book I just finished writing.

Book Two will be more about Thomas’s life and also about Pocahontas and her kidnapping. For the Book Three outline, I had come to suspect through research that Thomas probably married a Native American woman, most likely the daughter of Debedeavon, the chief of the Accomack (a Powhatan Indian tribe now extinct) on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

At my sister’s, I’d started a document of all the evidence leading me to that conclusion, but knew I had a lot more research to do. Debedeavon’s successor was King Tom. The Accomack and all Powhatan Indian chiefs come through female lines. So, King Tom would have descended from either Debedeavon’s daughter or sister. He would not be Debedeavon’s son, as one would presume. My theory is King Tom was the son of Thomas Savage and Debedeavon’s unnamed daughter.

Debedeavon had gifted Thomas 9,000 acres about 1618. I don’t know of any other Englishman he gave such a large amount of land to, so either it was a great gesture of friendship or Thomas had become family in some way. I’ve since discovered after the coincidence I’m about to share, that Debedeavon also put Thomas on his tribal council. On Thomas’s land in 1640, after his death, the first US reservation (not called a “reservation” at the time) was formed for the Accomack Indians, who (the southern ones) changed their tribal name to Gingaskin. The northern Accomack became the Occohannock Tribe and followed Debedeavon’s daughter Chief Nandua. I suspect the daughter who birthed King Tom was deceased in 1640 or else she would have been the chief of the Gingaskin. But why the split between the two tribes? I haven’t discovered yet but have wondered if it had something to do with one tribe being led by a half-blooded Native.

I got on a family history website and when I initially logged on, I noticed messages placed on my Home Page about updates that had been done on someone in my family tree. After looking at Thomas Savage’s information (which didn’t teach me anything new), I went back to the Home Page to investigate other family. One of my updates showed a researcher, Bonnie, had uploaded a document regarding her Smith line, which is my North Carolina family line too—that’s why it showed as an update for me—it matched one of my ancestors.

About five years ago, Bonnie and I worked on the Hardison and Smith families that we share. But it had been years since I’d been in touch with her, so I decided to send her an email and see how she was and tell her I saw what she’d posted. Bonnie responded to my email that day and caught me up on what she’d been working on regarding our families—the Hardisons and Smiths. She said her grand-nephew had his yDNA done and the y (male) Smith line results came back with a Native American haplogroup, which meant the Smiths were originally Native American, not from England as we had assumed. I was very surprised but even more surprised when she said she’d traced them to Accomack, Virginia. Here I was reaching out to her about my North Carolina family, and it turns out she’s brought me to the very place Thomas Savage lived and died. And the place I’d been researching Debedeavon. I was shocked to be led back to Thomas and the chief through Bonnie.

She had done some additional research on the Smiths of the Eastern Shore of Virginia (Accomack and Northampton Counties) and sent it to me. There are numerous land records with both the Smith and Savage names together. It appears they knew each other.

Like I said, it’s a strange coincidence that fell into my lap right at the time I’d started researching the idea that Thomas had a Native wife. Of all the other genealogists I could have reached out to, I reached out to the very one that had the information I needed. How the Smiths and Savages are related, I am not sure. Maybe they aren’t, but something with the Smith family may play into my third novel…stay tuned for that possibility.

Maybe an Accomack male had a relationship with a Smith female? It would have been unusual, but it wasn’t unusual for a Native female to have a relationship with an Englishman. It happened quite a bit. As for Native females, Pocahontas married an Englishman, John Rolfe. But she had to become Christian to do so. The Church of England had rules about who could marry in their churches and being baptized Christian was a requirement. So, did Thomas convert his wife or did he marry her in Accomack fashion? It’s still all a mystery to me.

Of all the Powhatan chiefs, Debedeavon was the only one who would not war with the English. Not only that, he warned the English when a massacre was planned by the Natives. Although almost four hundred English were killed, Debedeavon saved hundreds more by warning them ahead of time. He saved and helped many others throughout his life. He was peaceful until his death in 1657. His nickname was “The Laughing King.” I would be proud to be his descendant. I hope I can someday say I am.

What does that mean exactly? 

Well, Hansen suggested that the ethnicity that came with the immigrant was ignored, weakened or rejected by their children, but then returns with the curious grandchild. Typically, the reason the child rejects the immigrant’s beliefs, customs, language, and foreign ways is because they want to fit into the American mainstream and not stand out as different. They were the ones subjected to the criticisms and taunts of the Americans. Peer pressure was real. They had a hard time fitting in because at school they were too foreign and at home they were too American. The second generation was expected to catch the American spirit and maybe change who they were.

So why would the next generation (and even the next) want to bring the foreign customs back? 

I believe it’s the drive for connection. They want to reaffirm who they are. They’ve found their place in society without feeling “different” (as their parent had), so now they are allowed to look back at where they came from without rejection. Their speech is now the same as those with whom they associate, and they probably have gained average income, and may feel they have the freedoms to explore.

The “curious grandchild” may have wondered who their ancestors were and why they came here, and through study felt pride as they learned of the history and culture of their family who were able to survive. National Spirit grew in their hearts. They formed local societies to sing praises to their immigrant ancestors. When looking back, the third and fourth generations recognized that their achievements were from the hardy stock from which they had sprung. They taught their children to have national pride for the old country too.

When someone dies, all their “stuff” is often a burden to their offspring. But two generations down and they want something that belonged to great-grandma—an heirloom coming from another country.

There are stories with great plotlines in each of these generations: The immigrant and their hardships and struggles to get to America; the second generation and their need of acceptance from their peers; and the third generation who looks back to discover their identity.

Much of this may be broad generalization, but there is a truth to human longing for heritage and identity. We aspire to belong and want to form our attachments and loyalties to something or someone. Identity determines how we see ourselves and how others classify us, and even how we choose to engage with those around us. Our social and cultural histories directly impact who we are. They provide structure and meaning for our lives.

Researching and understanding our ancestors, then writing about them is anything but boring. It can also help with understanding our own identities.

But when I asked the question Do You Know Who You Are, I’m thinking more in the context of where you came from, who your people are and were. Not who is your mother, but who are all your people. Somehow knowing our ancestors and identifying with them can be very healing.

In the 21st century, genealogy has become one of the most popular hobbies, and I doubt it’s just because people want to gather names, dates, and places for charts. People want to know where they came from and what their stories are, where their strengths came from, and who they look like.

I wrote a short story about an 1860s North Carolina man of Scottish lineage, whose family had been in America for a couple of generations (as mine had). As I studied the language of these folks, I realized many of the phrases and word choices had come down further generations and even into my own home, 8 to 10+ generations down. Language is an interesting thing and can make novel writing that much more believable and fuller.

A couple of times, I’ve read the book Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. It was written in the 80’s but still very appropriate for now, and probably for always. It’s written for writers, but even if you’re a journal-er, I think you’d enjoy it. There are a couple of quotes I thought I’d share.

“It is very important to go home if you want your work to be whole. You don’t have to move in with your parents again and collect a weekly allowance, but you must claim where you come from and look deep into it. Come to honor and embrace it, or at least, accept it… But don’t go home so you can stay there. You go home so you can be free; so you are not avoiding anything of who you are.”

Doesn’t that bring to mind all kinds of thoughts and feelings? –Hopefully those toward healing.

Here’s another quote by Natalie Goldberg that I love and used as my epigraph in Unacknowledged:

“We hear about people who go back to their roots. That is good, but don’t get stuck in the root. There is the branch, the leaf, the flower—all reaching toward the immense sky. We are many things…In the ability to connect with one people lies the chance to feel compassion for all people…In knowing who you are and writing from it, you will help the world by giving it understanding.”

Profound! I think you can replace “writing” in that last sentence with “acting,” as in the form of action (not play acting).

To continue this discussion, see my posts about Ethnicities and Epigenetics.

According to my DNA, I am 2% African, which means my first black ancestor is probably back about six generations.

There’s a travel company called Momondo, whose slogan is “Let’s Open Our World.” On their website it states: “momondo was founded on the belief that everybody should be able to travel the world. Travel opens our minds and the door to a world where our differences are a source of inspiration and development, not intolerance and prejudice.”

A few of years ago, Momondo recorded a series of videos called, “The DNA Journey Feat.” It can be found on YouTube and is very entertaining to watch. I would suggest starting with the one about Ellaha from Iran. Then the other videos in the segment should que up. There are a few that are short segments of some candidates in the study, but it is far more interesting to watch the full videos of each individual, such as the ones about Jay, Carlos, and Aurelie. Momondo tested 67 people, but there’s maybe only a dozen videos to be found on YouTube. With cameras capturing their every expression as they look at their DNA results for the first time, their initial reactions are fascinating to watch.

At the beginning of the study of these 67 young men and women of varying nationalities, they were one by one brought before a panel of two and asked questions like, “What ethnicity do you think your ancestors were,” or “How do you feel about taking a journey based on your DNA?”

It was interesting to hear the answers to who they thought they were ethnically. Most were sure of their ethnic heritage, but the DNA results told them differently. Many who stated what they hoped they were not, were actually from that ethnicity.

An Englishman who thought he was 100% English, said he didn’t like the Germans due to the conflicts between the two countries and his ancestors serving and defending England. Through his DNA, he learned he was 5% German. Did the information soften his heart? His responsive expression seemed to say it did.

An Icelander said, “I am more important than a lot of people.” He said he was from the best country in the world and that he was stronger and better than any other ethnicity. When he opened his DNA results, he found his family was from Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. He then said, “Iceland has definitely moved closer to Europe now.”

A French woman said all her ancestors were from France. When asked, “If you could be any other nationality, which would you pick?” She chose Italian and British. Her results showed she was in fact, 32% British and 31% Italian. No French ethnicity at all showed in her DNA. She said, “I’ve never really felt at home in my own country—in France.”

All candidates were asked if they wanted to travel to the places their ancestors were from, and they all answered in the affirmative. I have another blog post about visiting an ancestral home, which you might find interesting.

The slogan of #letsopenourworld is: “An open world begins with an open mind.”

At the end of the Momondo study, a candidate commented (and I second the sentiment), “Who would be stupid enough to think there’s a pure race?”

Scientists found epigenetic tags on the same part of the gene associated with the regulation of stress hormones in both the Holocaust survivors and their offspring. The same correlation was not found on the same gene in any of the control group: Jewish families who were living outside of Europe (who did not experience the Holocaust) and their children. Consequently, the children of the Holocaust survivors may have altered stress hormones that can hamper their ability to bounce back from trauma and they may suffer from anxiety disorders.

Epigenetics may explain how behaviors develop and sometimes persist.

Experiences such as child neglect and alcoholism can cause epigenetic changes in the genes, setting off behavioral disorders in descendants. There are more studies being performed in the new field of behavioral epigenetics. These studies might bring about new treatments for healing. Who would have guessed there can be molecular scars in our DNA?

Experiences forgotten but never gone?

Our forbearers experiences have become a part of us. If we can inherit weaknesses, can we not also inherit strengths? The answer is yes. Be grateful for those good people who could find fortitude in their trials and passed those attributes down to you. Maybe you inherited that optimism after all?

It does me.

There’s an intriguing phenomenon of feeling at home when visiting an ancestor’s homeland that I’ve experienced and would like to share.

My initial ancestry.com autosomal DNA test stated that I was 7% Irish, which didn’t sit well with me. I “felt” more Irish. Well, as ancestry.com has accumulated a bigger database, their results have changed. I am now recorded as 29% Irish. The results narrow it down further to pinpoint where in Ireland my ancestors were from, which is the Southern Connemara and the Aran Islands of County Galway (the district with the most Irish speakers in all of Ireland). A small area, maybe just 1/32nd of the country.

I wonder how much more our DNA will teach us in the coming years?

Many years ago, before my DNA test, I went to Ireland for an art landscape workshop. With seven other artists and our teacher, we spent ten days in the beautiful Connemara region on the west central coast of Ireland. Chosen for its incredible scenery, the landscape was a mixture of vibrant green meadows, peat bogs, heather covered mountains, picturesque lakes, woodlands, rugged hills, and glorious coastlines of crystal blue bays and sandy beaches. We saw Kylemore Abby and crumbing castles, and stayed in quintessential Irish towns such as Clifden, Roundstone and Letterfrack. Drawing and painting as we went, but also visiting quirky shops and traditional Irish pubs.

We spent a lot of time drawing Clifden Castle and landscape in Connemara.

Near the end of our ten-day journey, we were traveling down a road in County Galway when I started to experience an unusual awareness, somewhat similar to a feeling of familiarity. My heart rate quickened. I had never been to Ireland before, and consequently never to this area. The scenery was nondescript to what I had been seeing all week.

We stopped for gasoline (petrole as they called it). As I disembarked the small bus, I asked our Irish driver, “Where are we?”

“Moycullen,” he said.

A feeling washed over me that seemed to make every fiber tingle. This was my ancestral home. My Flaherty great-great grandparents had left this place in the 1860s. Not only were they originally from Moycullen, but so were many generations before them.

Once the vehicle was filled with gas and the artists ready to go, I couldn’t make myself get on the bus. My soul was crying out to walk the streets and continue feeling this strange, spiritual connection to a small village, which in actuality didn’t look ancient or have landmarks of antiquity that would bring to mind my ancestor’s lifestyles.

I told them to go on without me, that I needed to discover what I could about the place. They headed to Galway City, 12 km south, with plans that I would find a bus or taxi to meet up with them late in the day.

As a genealogist, I was familiar with how to do research. I headed to the closest church I could find. I won’t go into the details about my search. What I really want to discuss is where did those feelings of familiarity come from?

Are there memories in our genes?

Are we like migratory animals who know where to go instinctively? I know there are other humans who have experienced the phenomenon of feeling “at home” when visiting their ancestor’s homeland. It is often explained as a deep spiritual connection or an affinity for a place that acts as an anchor for identity. Is it just a yearning, or are the memories for “place” in our DNA?

How does all this play into genetic roots?

When I think of myself, I think Irish. I look Irish. Irish food is one of my favorites. Irish songs make me want to dance. Irish folktales titillate my imagination. The genetic ethnicity DNA tests are not showing all we inherit from our ancestors. It gives us clues as to where to look for records, but not the effects ancestors have on our memories. We should not mistake DNA markers used to determine ethnicity (physical traits and geographic ancestry) and DNA tags we inherit through our ancestors’ experiences and memories (epigenetic inheritance) as the same thing.

DNA is not just a blueprint of what we will become physically, but perhaps also emotionally and psychologically. Certain diseases and disorders also have links to our DNA. It might just be that in some ways our ancestors are with us always.

On A Reel Page Turner I was a guest speaker for the comparison of the movie The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, and Kate Beckinsale to the book Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele. My book Unacknowledged: The Possible Biological Mother of Howard Hughes discusses if Howard Jr.’s early life and long-buried family pain could’ve had something to do with his bizarre behavior as an adult.

Podcast aired March 13. Listen to it here.

Nancy E. Turner wrote about her ancestors in these four books based on the Prine family of the Southern Arizona Territory 1880s-early1900s. The full title of her first novel (a Willa Cather Literary Award finalist) is These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901. The book is based off family memoirs and it details Sarah Prine’s struggles with life and love, and pioneer tragedies of death and loss. Sarah was amazingly courageous in the novels and undeniably in true life.

Ora: Nancy, it’s so kind of you to do this interview!

When reading your books, I was immediately swept into the story of Sarah and was appalled and fascinated as you described those early days of her life.

Tell us a little about yourself and the exact relationship of your main character, Sarah Prine, to yourself.

Nancy: Sarah Agnes Prine is the name of my maternal great-grandmother. I only met her one time I’m told, when I was 2 years old. I remember an elderly lady in a rocking chair with gnarled and bony hands, and being afraid of getting close to her. My mother tells me that later I cried when lifted from Sarah’s lap, because she had won me over and I’d fallen asleep listening to her talk.

Ora: What drove you to think Sarah’s story would make a good novel?

Nancy: I never meant to write a novel at that time. I had an assignment to write a short story for a class in college. It had to be about someone you wished you could know, but the person had already passed away. It was only after some encouragement from a local author who read my short story that I continued the tale until it was 500 pages long. I didn’t tell anyone about it – after all I was a forty-year-old college freshman. What business did I have to write a book? Still, I sent out some queries and ended up with a literary agent in New York, who sold my long, long short story to Harper Collins Publishers.

Ora: Writing about ancestors can help one draw closer to them. Did you come at the story differently knowing you were writing about an ancestor and not a fictitious character?

Nancy: The only things I knew about Sarah came from things I’d heard growing up. She was basically an unknown, but I tried to capture her substance, her strength, and her endurance. Many things about the story came strictly from research and from my own life.

Ora: The nice thing about historical “fiction” is that readers know there are some liberties taken. But did your family members read it as a family history of sorts? What were their reactions?

Nancy: Most people were okay with it. I have discovered dozens of relatives I had never known since it was published. Only one person seemed a bit miffed, stating “those things never happened.” However, I reassure everyone it is a story about a strong woman, using the name of Sarah, it is not a biography.

Ora: What would you like to share about the research? How much research did you do? How long did it take?

Nancy: Writing historical fiction means having 6 active library cards and a working knowledge of the Dewey Decimal system, plus using microfilm, microfiche, maps, historical newspapers, and dozens of diaries. When I began writing the internet did not exist. Textbooks and documents were generally vetted for truth at least as it was known, although of course there are opinionated pieces and inaccuracies in encyclopedias and misconceptions in maps. The hard part now is that the internet does exist, but you can’t trust what you read unless you can find it in several sources. How much research? Until you find the answers. It took most of a year, and I revised the story when I found I’d chased a rabbit down the wrong path. Part of research that I love is being there. You can’t set a story in a place you’ve never been, even if the characters are just passing through. Sometimes you have a bank of knowledge from which to draw, but if you put the wrong weapon in a 19th century Cavalry officer’s hands, someone is going to call you on it.

Ora: Did you have an interest in family history before you wrote These Is My Words, and when you first found out you were a descendant of Sarah’s, how did you feel?

Nancy: I grew up knowing names from the family tree, but not necessarily did we have all the names in the right order until my dad started working on our genealogy. Still, it was a story about a family I never knew, but wished I had, so I gave them all the characteristics I wanted them to have.

Ora: Were you worried you wouldn’t get something right and displease Sarah or another ancestor?

Nancy: Every author needs to own some kind of writer’s legal guide. Sarah passed away the year I was born, and I’ve taken classes in copyright law. Dead people can’t sue you, and at the time I had never met any other relatives, so getting someone’s feathers ruffled never occurred to me.

Ora: Was it hard to decide what to put in the story and what to leave out?

Nancy: My original version was just over 500 pages. The published version is 385, and yes, the editors made cuts. A family of neighbors is gone, as well as the Sing family Sarah met during the wagon train journey. There’s only one small scene I’d put back in the book if I could. The most difficult time of writing and self-editing consisted of staying focused on what Sarah would have known or seen as she put entries in her diary. It’s always tempting to step outside the lines and tell what some other character is thinking, and I watched out for those things with a strict eye. Another important part of the story was to depict her inner growth through the changing dialect and syntax of her writing, making sure she didn’t overpace the concept of having been uneducated but still quite clever. It was the one more academic plan I had for my novel, to depict her education and how it affected her.

Ora: Have you seen Sarah in yourself?

Nancy: I’m sure all the characters are parts of me. I doubt any author could honestly say they have no part in the stories they write.

Ora: Is there still a family homestead in Arizona to visit?

Nancy: No. They had several homestead locations. I never found an exact one, but a reader once wrote me that she lived on land that had been a Prine ranch, located in Pomerene, Arizona. There are Prines buried in Douglas, Arizona, and Prescott, Arizona as well. I used the setting of a ranch owned by a friend of mine. It was the perfect place, a good day’s horseback ride from Tucson, with a year-round stream and trees growing in the desert, and a historic rail road track along one border.

Ora: Have you written any other novels based on ancestors’ lives? Or is there one you’re considering?

Nancy: Originally my intention was to craft a novel based on names of ancestors throughout American history. It has taken much more effort – two to three years – for each novel, and I’m stumped right now by a combination of family health issues that make traveling for research nearly impossible.

Ora: Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with my readers and myself. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Nancy: One thing I consistently feel a need to keep straight is that Sarah never left a diary in real life. The story about her is not a biography, nor did I have any writings other than a memoir written by Henry Prine in 1920, that stated where the family had lived and the reasons they ended up in Southern Arizona. Most of his memoir had to do with others in the family, so I created the rest out of imagination. Some people have insisted that I just “found” a diary and published it.

All my novels are purely fiction, based on extensive research and using names found in my family tree. Even Resolute Talbot was an ancestor, and the first Prine on Colonial shores was Roland Perrine, a Huguenot soldier from France who stayed here after the French and Indian War in 1754. On the other side of the family, my dad’s English and Irish ancestors were transported here in the 1720’s for the crime of being Quakers. History is fascinating to me, as is knowing members of my family have been on these shores for so many generations. I could study forever, for we are sadly missing so much that is never taught in schools.

Thank you for taking the time to include me in your newsletter. I have enjoyed these questions and I always love hearing from people who have enjoyed my work.

Ora: I have learned a lot about you and how your novels based on ancestors came to fruition. Thanks so much for taking the time for this interview. Your Prine series is a valuable example of how to write fiction about ancestors.

Read about all of Nancy’s books on her website: https://www.nancyeturner.com/