Let me make clear that the “fiction” introduced into The Westward Sagas is simply putting the family history into a story form. David has done extensive genealogical and historical research for years, and he has the family tree and a great deal of information. For example, he knows that John Smith and Abigail Jones married on August 6, 1798. He probably knows their ages and John’s occupation and how much the marriage bond was. He may have the information of where they lived and a great deal more facts. But the only way to describe the wedding itself and the conversations that took place that day are to invent them as fiction. He knows what the customs of the time period were, so he has a good idea of what the ceremony would have been like, the music at the party, the food served, etc. But he can’t know for sure of the exact combination of things that happened at that specific wedding on that specific day. So he makes up conversation. He describes music and food that would have been likely…but he doesn’t have historical documentation of them in that particular context. David wants his family to actually read and enjoy the family history rather than have an assemblage of facts. He is also writing for a wider audience. People can read his books and learn a lot about history and enjoy the story even if they have no connection to the family. He is both a genealogist and a historian, so likes to teach history in his books. He livens the story up with his imagination, but everything he writes COULD have happened and people who wouldn’t read a history book like to read his stories…and along the way, they learn some history. He writes everything that is known and to fill in the gaps, he uses his historical and genealogical knowledge to figure could have happened. His books have been commended by historians and genealogists for their accuracy and by readers for the reading enjoyment they provide. There is absolutely nothing in David’s book that isn’t “historical.”

It’s great that you have had such good luck in tracing back your husband’s family and that you have found the Web site with your family’s genealogy information and photos. Your mother must have enjoyed identifying the people in the photos. Too bad you can’t go any further with your family. Sometimes the records just aren’t there.

You’re doing a favor for your descendants in keeping the journal. That will give them so much more information than typical records will.

My family. We can barely go beyond my great grandparents. Not for lack of trying. A friend of ours — whose family hailed from a small place in Poland — went there and met disappointment. My grandmother’s family left Latvia with very little.

On a brighter note — I discovered a family site with photos and genealogical information most of which we already knew. It had photos (including one of my parents and me!) where the people behind the site didn’t know who some folks were. My mom knew. It was neat to identify faces for them.

I’m glad I started keeping a journal of my family’s life when I got married. I write in it with hopes that future generations will read it.

People don’t always think carefully enough about putting things on the Internet. Any comment you make, anything you post to social media, anything you write in a blog will stick around forever.

It’s great to be able to find information and have others find information about you, but it isn’t so good if you write something you later regret.