Okay, I've been a history buff almost as long as I've been a story buff. I had history teachers who told great stories unlike anything we read in our official textbooks. Travel only cemented my love of history. At age 14, I had one of those mystical museum moments while standing in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I felt like I was there, at the Continental Congress, listening, absorbing, breathing the same air. I was never quite the same afterward.I guess it was only natural that I grew to love history; my folks loved it and had lots of stories of our ancestors. There were romantic tales of King Charles I's cavaliers being run out of England and sailing for the new world. There are some records that verify that family members arrived in 1640 or thereabouts. And there's the story about how some of the family were royalists during the American Revolution and were burned out by rebel neighbors and fled across the Appalachian mountains to eastern Kentucky. Like I said, great stories.
Interestingly, as I'm researching my newest book, I've run into some people with my birth name, Maynard, who also have interesting stories to tell. One of them, Frances Evelyn Maynard, who was generally called "Daisy," married Francis Greville, Lord Brooke, the eldest son and heir of George Greville, the 4th earl of Warwick. Apparently Daisy was something of a doozy. This is a picture of her.
She not only inspired the Gay 90's hit song "Daisy Daisy," she also went on to have a grand affair with the future King Edward VII of England. (Queen Victoria's son and heir). She would have been famous enough for that, but she apparently got a hankering for yet another fella and two-timed the future king with a buddy of his, Charles, Baron Beresford. This caused a major split between the future king and his friend and spawned a couple of embarrassing legal tangles that required the Prime Minister to intervene to keep it all from landing in the courts!Cool! Royal betrayals and intrigues involving sex and power. All started by a little Maynard girl.
Dang, I gotta write a book about this!
As for the Krahns. . . not a lot of flash and dash in their background. When my boys did their 5th grade "family history" project, we didn't have much information on their dad's side. The Krahns were relative newcomers to America-- the 1880's. They settled into the heartland and into lives of productivity and boring respectability. Seeing my boys' disappointment, I mentioned that far back in history, the Krahn ancestors had probably been a part of the Hun hordes. Huns? Yeah, you know. . . barbarian invaders.
Barbarians! All right! The guys were thrilled. Real bad-ass barbarians in the family! I didn't have the heart to disillusion them. But it did get a little annoying when they started calling their dad the "Head Hun." They're old enough to know better now, but there's still a wistful pride in their eyes when they talk about the old Krahns. I can tell they're picturing great, shaggy, battle-hardened warriors who eat with their bare hands.
Anyway, we've now searched out the Krahns as far back as we can go in this country. It turns out that just getting here from Germany was an ordeal. The trip makes for fascinating and heartbreaking reading. The Krahns lost a two year old and a two month old on the trip over-- due to a measles outbreak on the ship. Something like 23 children died in steerage on that trip from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore. Just imagine what that must have been like. . . stuck in that cold, cavernous hold with sick and dying children and mothers going crazy with grief. Aghh. Those folks had to be tough as shoe leather just to survive.
See? Stories. And it all becomes grist for the mill. As a writer I view the world and all its history as source material for great love stories. Even my own history and connections-- loose as they are-- provide a million possible stories.
I could be at this until I'm 90!!!
What about you? Have you found connections to your family stories in your writing research? Ever written about them? Have any stories from your family history that you'd like to share? Got any ancestor skeletons you'd rather keep in the closet? Horse thieves? Bank robbers? Bigamists? Snake oil salesmen? Shady ladies? Come on, you can tell us. . .
