Who's Your Daddy's Daddy's Daddy? ~ Lexa Fisher

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Genealogy began to interest me when I undertook to write stories, the first one being a family history mystery, as I call it. I can't pinpoint the reasons for my interest. Is it the thrill of research as I dig through census records and uncover family clues? Is it studying the family tree in a bible passed down for generations, wondering what those people behind the names were like? 

One thing I know for sure is that I'm keen to learn where my family came from and what their lives were like. Despite this interest, I was reluctant to ask personal questions about my ancestors, aware of uncomfortable postures and hesitancy in the answers I received. As a child I was too young to understand the nuances in feelings that shaped those answers. Memories of the past might have been painful to repeat, long buried for the angst they carried. 

I also understand that what someone does say is from their point of view, with their lapses in memory and biases as to what is important to them. Even so, this gives me great insight into who I am listening to. As a writer, it helps me develop characters who have depth.

One of my favorite weekend activities is finding estate sales, especially ones where there are traces of history throughout the house. My greatest find is a suede-covered high school memory book, My Golden School Days, from 1916. The young woman's past is helping me create a story for the family history mystery that I'm currently writing.

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To learn more about my own heritage, last year I opted for DNA testing, eager to find out where my maternal lineage had originated. I'd long been told that I had a Cherokee chief in the family tree on my mother's side. Imagine the disappointment and questions that arose when I found I was entirely European! My Cherokee ancestry drifted away like a smoke signal on a blustery day.

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Continuing my search, I delved into census records at ancestry sites and discovered wonderful information about my paternal grandfather's family. Answers led to more questions and piqued my interest further. How to explain my grandfather's sister who was twenty years older than he was? Surely this had to be a second marriage. I remember this woman, my great-aunt Dora. We share a medical condition that makes me long to know her now. But the only clues I've found are through census records and her tombstone.

After the DNA testing, I chose to be contacted by anyone whose DNA indicated a relationship. One day I received email from a woman claiming to be a cousin who wanted to meet my mother--her mother's sister.

What? My mother had never mentioned a sister, so I hesitated to provide any contact information until I'd confirmed this. To my complete and great surprise, I learned that my mother has five half-sisters! Never in sixty years had this come up. 

I'm now on the trail of my mother's ancestors. These real life discoveries are just the stories I love to read and write. Bits of my own ancestors' lives will add dimension to my stories. And like a Cherokee scout, I may one day find charred stones from a smoke signal fire.