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Write A Story Inspired by Your Heritage
by Mary Emma Allen

As we research our family history, we'll often become fascinated by the lives of our ancestors and even with those of our parents. Write these stories down so they will be preserved for future generations. Also consider turning them or parts of them into stories for publication.

Until I began researching story ideas for fiction and non-fiction work, I didn't realize what an impression my mom had made with the tales of her life...her childhood, her days as a young school teacher, her life as a farmwife raising four children, then still later her experiences as a country storekeeper.

• In one of my children’s stories, I use the situation of two girls falling through the ice and being rescued by one girl’s sister. In my mom’s childhood, she and a friend fell through the ice on a pond near their school. The students slid and skated there during recess.

  The pond wasn't very deep, but Mother and her classmate couldn't get out because the ice kept breaking. The youngsters on skates were too heavy to get near them. However, Mother’s sister, Esther, eased her way out onto the ice, then lay down and threw her scarf to them. Slowly she eased the girls out as other youngsters pulled her backward.

  This incident formed the basis for one scene in my story, "A Surprise for Christmas."

  
  

• The house where my mom grew up is the setting for a story tentatively titled, "The Secret in the Wall." My characters are purely fictional, but as I write, I visualize the setting as the farmhouse where my mom once lived.

  
  

  My ancestor, William Mathewson, is the main character in the picture book-in-progress, "The Original Buffalo Bill." As I researched this ancestor, I discovered he was more than a picture in my grandmother’s photo album. He'd been a hero in Kansas Territory, operating trading posts on the Santa Fe Trail and at Fort Sill, acting as a peacemaker for the Indians, and helping found Wichita.

  My poem, The Cookie Lady, in "Tales of Adventure & Discovery" evolved from memories of my aunt. As I drew the illustration for the poem and for an accompanying coloring book, I realized thoughts of my aunt had inspired it.

  
  

Copyright © 2004 Mary Emma Allen

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