This is such a beautifully told reminder of how communities turn ordinary moments into lasting stories. What begins as a small, slightly unusual birth becomes something shared, reshaped, and passed along, it says as much about the people telling it as the child at its centre.
This topic to write about, is an unusual one. I read it once, I read it twice and I can read it a third. The actual newspaper was there, but between both articles, I'm interested in knowing if the child truly died by a virus...
There''s nothing in the original newspaper article that identifies the child or even the family by name, so tracking down those kinds of vital records was impossible - which made this such a great story to fictionalize. There was, however, an outbreak of the flu in that area, around the time, so I thought it would add a bit of closure to the story.
Thanks, Kristen. Whenever I come across a lost & found story that doesn't quite "work" for a longer serialized piece, I wonder if it might be a good candidate for fiction. I've had this for a while, and glad it finally came together as well as it did!
Lori- I love this- great job weaving somewhat truths, superstition and facts into a fiction piece. Diane is right the opening line is fantastic- there are many in this piece.
Wonderful story Lori! This is one of my favorite parts of researching the past. Reading the paper. They just do not make the stories like they used to where we were all more engaged in local community than the global world around us.
I love that about old newspapers, too, they truly were the social media of the day! Some of the items I come across really blow my mind, like what! They just printed that for all the world to read LOL. When I come across those stories, I always set them aside ;)
Thanks, Xanthe. The voice I chose really did all the work in this piece. I'd actually tried a couple different voices, but once I found the midwife - and knew who she was, she really came alive as a storyteller.
I found myself lingering over this post. It reminded me how stories, facts organized into a narrative arc, seem to not only stick in the mind but also freeze in that particular order.
The discipline of a genealogist to follow verified facts is noble. In doing so, they (we?) keep the trains of history running on time.
As family historians, though, I think we have the flexibility to imagine the dialogue and invent the feelings, as you have here, Lori.
I'd love to see more families find occasions to exercise their creative juices on the known facts of their family history. The key is to find ways to define the boundaries of fact and fiction.
When you pick up a poem, you know it's poetry and expect poetic license. Perhaps we need a family history form that joyously runs with storytelling license, then concludes with the known facts of a tale. 🤔 Is that dangerous? Running with scissors?
So intrigued by this convo, as I'm toying with using this hybrid form of storytelling. I've read a couple creative family history novels that mixed fact and imagination. It's hard to pull off, but when it's done well, it's magical. Check out "Evidence of V" by Sheila O'Connor.
Brilliant, Kristin. I can't wait for your contribution to the genre... Oh, my, maybe that's the thing we need, a listing of the different genres of family history storytelling. 🤔 When you get stuck, what a fun romp through ideas THAT would be.
Also, thanks for the book title tip! Added to my reader queue.
This is a deep question, Barbara. I think for me it depends on the time period and story. Some lend themselves to that notion more than others. The fewer the facts the more room for invention. Otherwise we just find 50 shades of "maybe."
Ah, now you're exactly the right person to find this comment. I was debating whether it would get lost in the comments.
I think you're right, and while I love the term "50 shades of maybe," it creates a messy story.
I'm thinking about ways to engage people who don't currently see themselves as "qualified" to do family history research. My thinking is that they might find it a bit more accessible if they saw forms that invited them in.
If you come along with me, I'm proposing a form here that would clearly distinguish fact from fiction. The form sets up a creative project to start imagining what a situation, moment, or event might have been like, based on what you know as fact.
It's a little, I suppose, like an improv class. Here are the facts, "Go!" I'm hoping the form creates both engagement and curiosity about the historical details without coloring "outside the lines" of truth.
What inspired me is the structure of Lori's piece: it states up front that it's fiction, then concludes with the news story that inspired it.
I’m really a stickler when it comes to putting words into dead people’s mouths or ideas into their heads. It makes assumptions I simply can’t know. And it can open the door to biases, errors and presentism that then can get passed on as truths and “family history”.
Adding context - whether drawn from photos as @David Shaw noted, or historical records - is something different and a great add to family storytelling. Think adding details about the humidity drawn from historic weather data, or about the neighborhood from photos, maps and census records.
I see these fiction from history pieces as a different cat completely - I use the entire origin story as a prompt, a what-if.
That same idea might work for a family history writing exercise that results in clearly marked fiction. Immigration stories come to mind - Henrietta was 18 when she boarded the ship that would take her from Hamburg to New York. She was traveling in third class, under the water line. And she was alone.
Go!
(This is a topic I’ve thought about a lot - can you tell! . I also just got off the plane so may be a wee jet lagged 😂)
LOL… that’s precisely the immigration story I’ve been noodling on myself and what I loved about what you’ve presented here is it models a form that anyone could build on that can be used to be very clear about what’s fiction and what’s fact.
You’re trained as a journalist and obviously a real writer. What I’m essentially saying is that your experience as a stickler is excellent guidance for the rest of us mere mortals.
Along those same lines... I've been think about Hemmingway lately. One way to think of his writing is he includes many small seemingly irrelevant details that not only show you the story but forces the reader to invent much of the story in their own mind. Historians and Genealogists have the same problem except that we are constrained by the details we find. But what if we just find more irrelevant details? Instead of "Susie drove the family car into town," if we can tell from the photo it's a 34 Ford Coupe with a four cycliner engine, the line becomes "the four cylinder Ford sputtered and finally turned over as Susie started her trip into Devil's Hollow." Food for thought.
This line! Our people brought many trunks and more opinions from the old country, and both have been hard to empty.
Thanks, Diana! Being a full-blooded German, I couldn't help but add that last part!
This is such a beautifully told reminder of how communities turn ordinary moments into lasting stories. What begins as a small, slightly unusual birth becomes something shared, reshaped, and passed along, it says as much about the people telling it as the child at its centre.
It seems like a perfect story to add a bit of imagination and voice to. Glad you enjoyed it!
Love, love, love your storytelling. Word choices, the rhythm of your sentences, pacing, spacing -- it's all wonderful.
Grateful you understood my message needing to understand the madness behind it. And, yes yours so far has been a reread by impulse.
Look forward to more...
This topic to write about, is an unusual one. I read it once, I read it twice and I can read it a third. The actual newspaper was there, but between both articles, I'm interested in knowing if the child truly died by a virus...
There''s nothing in the original newspaper article that identifies the child or even the family by name, so tracking down those kinds of vital records was impossible - which made this such a great story to fictionalize. There was, however, an outbreak of the flu in that area, around the time, so I thought it would add a bit of closure to the story.
What an entertaining little tale, peppered with delectable turns of phrases. Yet another gem, Lori!
Thanks, Kristen. Whenever I come across a lost & found story that doesn't quite "work" for a longer serialized piece, I wonder if it might be a good candidate for fiction. I've had this for a while, and glad it finally came together as well as it did!
Lori- I love this- great job weaving somewhat truths, superstition and facts into a fiction piece. Diane is right the opening line is fantastic- there are many in this piece.
Thanks, Debbie! That's the fun with these fiction from history pieces. The bones of truth clothed in imagination!
Wonderful story Lori! This is one of my favorite parts of researching the past. Reading the paper. They just do not make the stories like they used to where we were all more engaged in local community than the global world around us.
I love that about old newspapers, too, they truly were the social media of the day! Some of the items I come across really blow my mind, like what! They just printed that for all the world to read LOL. When I come across those stories, I always set them aside ;)
Lori, now don't get a big head or anything but that is the best opening line since, Pride and Predjudice.
Hehe you’re too kind!
Really well written and with several very quotable lines that brought me up short with admiration for your skill with words. Bravo!
Thanks, Xanthe. The voice I chose really did all the work in this piece. I'd actually tried a couple different voices, but once I found the midwife - and knew who she was, she really came alive as a storyteller.
What a wonderfully written tale Lori! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks, Fran. It's always a fun challenge to try a different kind of writing.
What an interesting tale from Devil's Bluff WI!
The original story had those great Wisconsin bones, so I knew I had to keep it local - glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing a great story. The gossip mill still exists 100 years later. Some things never change.
That's one thing I love about stories, they meet us where we are and allow us to see how little things have changed.
Yes. Nothing is ever new under the sun.
I found myself lingering over this post. It reminded me how stories, facts organized into a narrative arc, seem to not only stick in the mind but also freeze in that particular order.
The discipline of a genealogist to follow verified facts is noble. In doing so, they (we?) keep the trains of history running on time.
As family historians, though, I think we have the flexibility to imagine the dialogue and invent the feelings, as you have here, Lori.
I'd love to see more families find occasions to exercise their creative juices on the known facts of their family history. The key is to find ways to define the boundaries of fact and fiction.
When you pick up a poem, you know it's poetry and expect poetic license. Perhaps we need a family history form that joyously runs with storytelling license, then concludes with the known facts of a tale. 🤔 Is that dangerous? Running with scissors?
So intrigued by this convo, as I'm toying with using this hybrid form of storytelling. I've read a couple creative family history novels that mixed fact and imagination. It's hard to pull off, but when it's done well, it's magical. Check out "Evidence of V" by Sheila O'Connor.
Brilliant, Kristin. I can't wait for your contribution to the genre... Oh, my, maybe that's the thing we need, a listing of the different genres of family history storytelling. 🤔 When you get stuck, what a fun romp through ideas THAT would be.
Also, thanks for the book title tip! Added to my reader queue.
This is a deep question, Barbara. I think for me it depends on the time period and story. Some lend themselves to that notion more than others. The fewer the facts the more room for invention. Otherwise we just find 50 shades of "maybe."
Ah, now you're exactly the right person to find this comment. I was debating whether it would get lost in the comments.
I think you're right, and while I love the term "50 shades of maybe," it creates a messy story.
I'm thinking about ways to engage people who don't currently see themselves as "qualified" to do family history research. My thinking is that they might find it a bit more accessible if they saw forms that invited them in.
If you come along with me, I'm proposing a form here that would clearly distinguish fact from fiction. The form sets up a creative project to start imagining what a situation, moment, or event might have been like, based on what you know as fact.
It's a little, I suppose, like an improv class. Here are the facts, "Go!" I'm hoping the form creates both engagement and curiosity about the historical details without coloring "outside the lines" of truth.
What inspired me is the structure of Lori's piece: it states up front that it's fiction, then concludes with the news story that inspired it.
I’m really a stickler when it comes to putting words into dead people’s mouths or ideas into their heads. It makes assumptions I simply can’t know. And it can open the door to biases, errors and presentism that then can get passed on as truths and “family history”.
Adding context - whether drawn from photos as @David Shaw noted, or historical records - is something different and a great add to family storytelling. Think adding details about the humidity drawn from historic weather data, or about the neighborhood from photos, maps and census records.
I see these fiction from history pieces as a different cat completely - I use the entire origin story as a prompt, a what-if.
That same idea might work for a family history writing exercise that results in clearly marked fiction. Immigration stories come to mind - Henrietta was 18 when she boarded the ship that would take her from Hamburg to New York. She was traveling in third class, under the water line. And she was alone.
Go!
(This is a topic I’ve thought about a lot - can you tell! . I also just got off the plane so may be a wee jet lagged 😂)
LOL… that’s precisely the immigration story I’ve been noodling on myself and what I loved about what you’ve presented here is it models a form that anyone could build on that can be used to be very clear about what’s fiction and what’s fact.
You’re trained as a journalist and obviously a real writer. What I’m essentially saying is that your experience as a stickler is excellent guidance for the rest of us mere mortals.
The noodling will continue… 🍜
Pros: More accessible to more people and gets out of the "Academia style prison." Cons: Have to be explicit about what is fact vs fiction.
Reminds me of movies that are "inspired by actual events."
Well, yeah… that’s why I think form is so important. I think you just flipped a switch for me, thank you. 💡
Along those same lines... I've been think about Hemmingway lately. One way to think of his writing is he includes many small seemingly irrelevant details that not only show you the story but forces the reader to invent much of the story in their own mind. Historians and Genealogists have the same problem except that we are constrained by the details we find. But what if we just find more irrelevant details? Instead of "Susie drove the family car into town," if we can tell from the photo it's a 34 Ford Coupe with a four cycliner engine, the line becomes "the four cylinder Ford sputtered and finally turned over as Susie started her trip into Devil's Hollow." Food for thought.
Well, yeah! Great example.
At the same time, interpreting valid records can require an appreciation of the historical context.