Stories stay with folks. Whether they are oral traditions or written pieces ranging from a few words to full novels, facts are better remembered when put into the context of people, places, and events. Such it is with genealogical information. A list of names and dates is of little interest without a story about who they were and tales of their travels, near or far.
But what do you do when there are only a few facts to piece a person together? Born, married, censused, parented, died. It's easy enough to weave in details like what was happening in the state's economy, whether there were wars or relative peace, or if health epidemics were prevalent. It's harder to know day-to-day details, and that's where I'm struggling to find the stories that bring life to past generations.
I'm considering historical creative non-fiction as a genre. A historically sound and factual, non-fiction platform can give structure to the time period, family structure, and social concerns. Filling in the gaps, making assumptions based on the facts, that's where it gets creative.
For someone like myself who feels compelled to provide evidence of every opinion or thought, it is a leap of faith to say, even to myself, "I think it could have happened this way, and there is no evidence to the contrary."
So here goes everything. I'm drafting stories, sketches, about my ancestors as a way to compile the factual information I've found during my research as well as to round out their lives in a way that makes them more personally accessible - real people who lived full lives doing interesting things.
