That's a Wrap

Readers have questions and I'm answering them

Nov 08, 2024

Release Date: November 8, 2024

Thanks to everyone who sent questions! I’m excited to answer some of them today, and will answer a few more in the coming week.

This was such a well-researched story. What was your research process like?

I’ve worked a number of historical projects in my 40-year career as a writer and author, but this story might represent the most intense and far-reaching research I’ve completed so far. There was a lot!

Initially, I built an outline based on two primary newspaper articles, one from 1927 which featured much of Aimee’s sworn testimony and the New Brunswick affidavits, and the other from 1948 which outlined the aftermath of Mary Martha’s death, will and the drama that followed. Together they covered the basic plot points of the story and convinced me it was worth doing the necessary research to flesh out.

Years ago, I set up a private fictional tree at Ancestry.com and that’s where I do the genealogical research for the people I write about. I set about creating what would become a sprawling family tree for Mary Martha that goes back to her 4^th great grandparents, and includes full extended family ie. siblings, spouses, children, in-laws, etc. for just about everyone! The depth of this tree was critical since so much of the story involved the passage of generational wealth and the role of family heritage and social connections.

I also created similar trees for Archibald and John, and then lesser trees for everyone else mentioned in the research, including folks who weren’t related. I haven’t taken the time to count the population of the “Call Me a Bastard” family tree, but it is likely well over 10,000.

Once I had gathered the genealogical information for family members, including vital records, census records, wills and probate records, etc., I turned to various online newspaper archives to find period sources. Eventually, I collected over 1,700 unique newspaper articles relative to specific individuals and different aspects of the story.

I also took advantage of Google Books, the Internet Archive and the Gutenberg Project to find additional sources, including family and local history books and records, and court and legal documents, and other printed materials.

And finally, I reached out to local historical societies, libraries and archives for details that weren’t otherwise available. For example, much of what I know about Aimee’s years in boarding school came from yearbooks and newspapers which I was able to access thanks to help from school archivists. The National Archives in College Park, VA and the archivists at the University of Anchorage, AK were especially wonderful to work with. to

Oh, and I also reached out to living family members and descendants of many of the people in the story. I’ll be sharing an interview with the great-granddaughter of Harland Tibbetts next week!

For additional historical context – some of which was used in Bonus Content posts but most of which got woven into the story itself – I read countless books, professional journals, research papers and articles on everything from the culture and lived experiences of Boston Brahmins to heritage societies to the history of illegitimacy, the China Trade and reindeer herding practices. I spoke with academic experts on topics like secrets and secret-keeping, child development and trauma, and the emotional legacy of giving up a child; and I consulted with legal experts on wills, trusts and generational wealth, as well as legal protocol and practices.

Because there was so much research involved, information management was really important, and frankly, I could have done better. As with other research-dense projects I’ve worked on, I created cascading folders, each containing more specific information than the previous one. So, I had folders by year, by location, by person, by topic, by type of source and finally by chapter. This resulted in a fair amount of duplication, and I probably wouldn’t recommend it as a best-of-class method, but, again, it works for me.

As for the question of timing, once the initial trees were created, the primary newspaper articles gathered, and the basic outline established, much of the remaining research was done on an as-needed basis as I roughed out individual chapters. So, for example, In Chapter 10: Earthquake, although I was aware that John had participated in the war effort from Aimee’s 1927 testimony, I didn’t do any research into the specifics of his role until it was time to write that chapter.

I’ll finish up this question like this – my research methods have evolved over many years, and are very specific to the way I work, and the way my brain works. They surely aren’t for everyone, and I rarely use more than half of what I’ve gathered and learned through research in the final product. My husband laughs that for every project I complete, I could easily repackage the information into a dozen different projects, and sometimes I do that. But mostly, I just enjoy the research process and having enough information to make good choices that move the story forward the way I want it to move.

Plus, I’m always prepared should a game of trivia crop up!

Did you leverage AI for any of your effort, and, if so, in what ways?

I did play with AI a bit on this project while brainstorming. For example, what might have motivated Mary Martha to continue to keep her relationship with Aimee a secret even after the truth of that relationship had been printed in newspapers across the US and elsewhere? I had some ideas, but wanted to see if I was maybe missing some less obvious possibilities. In that instance, one of the motivations hadn’t occurred to me, and was of value, but in other instances, few of the motivations made sense, and some were completely off base.

I should note I have used AI to help me outline other genealogy and historical writing projects, and I’ve been happy with several of the results. But overall, I feel like AI is just another tool that has a time and place in the writing process, tho probably not in the creative process.

That said, I’m open to changing my mind and welcome any tips on making AI part of my research and writing processes.

How did you decide which sources to prioritize, and did any particular document, interview, or artifact shape the direction of the story?

I made some commitments early on in the project that I would tell the story from Aimee’s POV, and that it would be true to the facts, so those commitments really dictated which sources were prioritized as well as the direction of the story.

Luckily, Aimee conducted what today would be called a PR Blitz in 1927, and, as a result I was able to use her own words to tell parts of her story. (It was also one of the reasons I chose to tell the story in the first place.) She filed a written testimony and various affidavits with the courts, and, although those original documents were destroyed by Mary Martha’s legal team as part of the 1931 agreement, the content of them was published in various forms in multiple publications. In addition, Aimee sat for at least one interview, which was also published widely and played a big role in how I crafted this project.

The downside was that Aimee was wildly irregular and unreliable in her recollection of events, dates and details, which forced me to construct a timeline which made sense based on her own words but also relied heavily on other more reliable documents, including school records and censuses, for example. That was a struggle and a decision I hemmed and hawed over for a while, but eventually had great confidence in.

Then there were the thousands of pages of legal documents I reviewed, many of which were publicly available and included information and details that provided insights into the legal cases and the folks involved. These documents really helped flesh out the story, especially the latter half of it. And, of course, they provided a lot of structure and direction.

Did you write it all at once and then break it up?

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I came upon Aimee’s story back in 2021, and I think I had a very rough first draft of the entire project by the end of 2023. At that point, I really thought of “Call Me a Bastard” as a potential podcast series, and had structured it as one, including hiding Easter eggs and ending on cliffhangers. I set the project aside for a few months, came back to it with fresh eyes and decided I really wasn’t jazzed about being a podcaster. About that same time, I was hearing a lot of good things about Substack, did some snooping around and decided it was a better fit for the story and how I wanted to tell it.

Once that decision was made, I went back and rejigged the project start to finish. By the time I published Chapter 1: Stitched Together, I had what I thought was the entire story written, minus any bonus content.

I bulk scheduled the chapters, and then worked on bonus content week-by-week. Often times, however, the bonus content sparked an idea or new information that had me reworking a coming chapter, and that sort of snowballed as new material was added. I think the first nine or ten chapters were published mostly as originally written, and then after that, I ended up doing a fair amount of rewriting and even some restructuring, especially in terms of where chapters ended.

What was the most rewarding aspect of researching and writing this book, and what are you most proud of?

Oh man, I seriously loved this project and found the entire process rewarding in so many ways. I talked a bit earlier about the research process and just how demanding and rigorous it was, but also how fun it was for me. I got to go into the weeds on a bunch of topics I knew nothing about, and I was able to piece together what I think is a truly remarkable story.

A few moments stand out as being especially rewarding during the research phase.

One was when I located photos of Aimee in Alaska following her 1936 marriage to Frank. I’d been living with Aimee for a long while by then, and the sense of resigned melancholy that she lived with was starting to wear off on me. I just kept hoping she’d find true joy and a sense of belonging, but hadn't found anything to support that idea. Then, on a whim, I decided to check with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives to see if they had anything on Aimee’s time in Alaska. Seriously, I got teary when I saw Aimee’s smiling face.

The other really rewarding moment came back in the early days of my research. In March of 2021, I sent a random Ancestry DM to a person I thought might be Harland Tibbetts’ great-granddaughter, and she responded! We’ve since corresponded a number of times, and I’ve been able to share some new information with her about the role her great-grandparents played in Aimee’s story. Helping others understand and get to know their ancestors is such a joy and privilege, and one I never take for granted or tire of.

When I became a writer all those years ago, I realized my passion lies in sharing the lost and found stories of others so they won’t be forgotten. In some small way, I hope this project helps Aimee Henry and her remarkable story to live on and that feels pretty darn good.

Do you see any potential for expanding this work into a series, documentary, or other media form?

Gosh, I would love to see “Call Me a Bastard” become a Netflix series – so if anyone knows Shonda Rhymes, hook me up! Seriously, Aimee’s story has all the elements of a great dramatic series, and it authentically touches on so many themes and topics that are relevant today, things like belonging and abandonment, weaponized mental health, stigma and generational family dynamics. I am really pleased with the project as written, but can definitely see it moving out into the world as something more visual. Again, if you have ideas on how to make that happen, please do let me know!

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