Visiting an Ancestral Place - Inspirational Writing

Most of us who are genealogists wish to have the opportunity to visit places where our ancestors once walked. We want to see the places where they might have gone to church or to school or where they worked and to see the rivers and hills that were in the area.  Perhaps, we can understand a little more about their lives, if we get the opportunity to make this journey. Perhaps, we will get a sense of their presence in these locations.

 Later this week, I will be posting a photo of the home of my maternal great-grandparents, but today's posting is not about my journey to an ancestral place.

Thanks to a friend, I was recently introduced to the wonderful writing of Kim Bullock who writes on a blog called What Women Write. There you can read the writing of six women.

In a recent article, Kim describes her visit to East Aurora, New York where she visited the Roycroft Inn. Here is a short excerpt describing her reaction

As I retraced my great-grandmother’s path up the stairs from the reception room to the Morris Room, I felt a chill against the back of my neck. Once inside the room, images and voices from the past flashed through my mind with such speed and force, I had to grip a table to keep from falling over.

Kim is currently working on a book about the life of her great-grandfather, Carl Ahrens, an Ontario born artist and author. She has decided to write a novel, The Oak Lovers, based on his most interesting life.  In this blog posting, she describes her explanation why she decided not to do a biography but a fictional work. Another blog article, I found most interesting was Finding Inspiration in Landscape.Take the time too to read the comments to her blog articles. To read more about Carl Ahrens, check out her website.

Kim's writing style draws you in to the story. You can picture the scenes she is describing. Perhaps, she will be an inspiration to others to put their research to paper.


© 2009 Janet Iles