Living Memory

This Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to drive from Indiana to Utah with my father. Luckily, he and I share some common interests: Shakespeare and history. Since we were operating a motor vehicle and weren't interested in staging a tragedy, we talked the latter.

I told dad about my project, and told him what I know about John T. McNeff. Spoilers by damned. If I don't tell you the whole story, I may never learn the whole story.

John T. McNeff went missing in 1802 and no one in the family knows what happened to him. I found the story originally in a high school essay my Great Aunt Dorothy wrote, but she hadn't written what ancestor it was. I suspected it was John T., but confirmed it finally when I found this in a brief biography of his grandson in Iowa:

John T. McN., a dealer in fine horses, mysteriously
disappeared in 1802, while away with a drove of horses; supposed to have been murdered;


So, that's what I told my dad, who replied, "Oh, I know that story."

What?

As a kid, Dad loved to hear these tales as much as I do. He said his grandmother's sisters told him this story. He didn't know the names, but they told him about his ancestor who took horses down the river to New Orleans and never returned. He also told me that a party of men had gone to look for him - to find any trace he may have left behind. He was never heard from again.

A new plot twist! A new piece of the puzzle! They went to look for him. I immediately started theorizing about the search party ... what made them set out in the wilderness to find him. My imagination was going wild when suddenly it struck me like the proverbial ton of bricks.

All this time I thought I was mining a story no one knew for a good narrative. But this story is alive. This story comes to me in an unbroken oral tradition. Over 200 years ago, it has cut so deep into the life of this family, that its children are still telling it ... writing it ... blogging it.

I'm picking at a very deep wound. But sometimes the itch is so great you just can't help it.

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If you'd like to read David Thompson McNeff's biography, click here and scroll down to the M's.

Of Stories We Want to Know ...

In June, I produced a RadioWest on Poetry and Politics. Not relevant to Polly's story, but it gave me the opportunity to spend some time talking to the poet Tom Sleigh. I kidnapped him from Park City to bring him to the studio - so we had about an hour of driving.

Now, I try not to bore too many people with my "project," but it came up organically. Of course, you know I'm not actually writing anything - just reading a bunch of books and daydreaming a lot. But as I was talking - this sentence came out with no warning:

"I don't really care if I write the book, I just want to know the story."

"Then you'll write it," said Tom, "because you're the only one who can."

I hope he's right.

Hail, Columbia

It has indeed been a month since I posted anything, but don't believe that I wasn't thinking about Polly during that time. That's what showering and commuting are for, and as many of you know, I do some commuting.

A few weeks ago while singing in the shower, I began to wonder what John T and Polly's soundtrack might sound like. I don't mean what music would be played when my book gets made into a movie. I mean, when John T was walking a frontier path what tune did he like to sing to himself? What music was in Polly's head on laundry day? In short - what was the Top 40 of 1800?

Well, I'm no where near 40 tunes, but I did add two to my mp3 player as a result of this musing.

The first is "Hail, Columbia." Now really - did you know The Star Spangled Banner wasn't our national anthem until 1931? There was no official anthem until then. But, "Hail, Columbia" was a lead contender before that. It was written for George Washington's inauguration, and I'll be honest, it's no better than the one we have now.

Maybe I've just got an emotional connection to the SSB. I remember watching the 1996 Summer Olympics from my neighbor's house in the West Bank - and crying when our anthem was played. But I digress.

There is one verse of "Hail, Columbia" that I really like:

"Immortal patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize,
While off'ring peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven's we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail."

And to think of some of the schemes of bondage we've let fly. And Polly? She faced her own sort of bondage. I don't think it was imposed on her. Like most of us - she forged it herself. She also found her own way out of it - like most of us have to do.

"Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find."

"Hail, Columbia" is Polly's song. She didn't have full membership - she couldn't join the band of brothers. But she knew what they were talking about, and she knew that freedom exacts a price. She just didn't know what it would cost until it came due.



Hail, Columbia on Wikipedia

Making Choices

One of the greatest advantages I see to blogging the research for my novel is this: questions. I'm hoping to be challenged by my friends, my family and by the casual reader. It's already happened. Following my post about the number of divorces in 18th and 19th century Kentucky, my friend Larry wanted to know how those compared to the number of marriages in the state. That's going to take some quality time at the genealogy library to answer.

My sister-in-law Canticle also asked me a question: Why Polly? The simplest answer is drama. Her life came ready-made with conflict - and I'm living proof she overcame it. But you can be sure of this. Polly McNeff was not the only woman in history to be faced with difficult decisions.

I could fictionalize the life of Jane Craig, my 8th Great Grandmother. It's reasonably certain that her son Toliver was illegitimate - and suspicion lies with a certain Italian sea captain named Taliaferro. He sailed between Scotland and Virginia, and on one such journey around 1703 or 1704, he seduced Ms. Craig. [Craig Genealogy]

I could write about Sarah Cassandra Boone - my 6th Great Grandmother and the older sister of Daniel Boone. She was Squire and Sarah Boone's first child - and she married a non-Quaker name John Wilcockson. This may sound harmless enough, but on June 26, 1742, her father responded to an inquiry from his church. Squire Boone declareth he did not contenance or consent to the marriage but confesseth himself in fault in keeping them in his house after their keeping company but that he was in a great streight in not knowing what to do, and hopeth to be more careful for the future. He wasn't. Turns out Squire's next child and oldest son Israel did the same thing. [From Wilcockson and Allied Familes]

And yet, I dream of Polly. It's a fair question Canticle. All I can really say is that I'm drawn to her. I've always been drawn to her. Maybe if this venture works out, Jane Craig and Sarah Cassandra Boone will be next.

Kentucky Divorces

An ACT for the relief of Polly M'Neff
Approved December 6, 1804

This act authorised her to sue in Washington County, for a divorce from her husband, John. T. M'Neff, and to obtain it on a jury's finding that he had a wife at the time he married her, and that he had deserted her for the space of two years, or failed to contribute anything to the support of herself and her children, or that he had since married to, or was living in adultery with another woman.

There's an index of Kentucky divorces from 1795 - 1850 online here. It's where I first discovered that all may not have been rosy in the McNeff household. I have quite a bit to say about 17th and 18th century divorce, but I just spent the last two hours pretending to know *something* about statistics. It's not my strong suit. Still, I hear so many people say, "but divorce was so uncommon back then."

Consider this:
In 1804, there were 7 divorces in Kentucky - the same number there had been in 1798. Granted, there were some years you couldn't find a divorce in the state - and you'd be hard pressed to say the same today. In 1843 the number was 104, and in 1849 it was a whopping 156. Divorce certainly existed. The reasons were many - and varied. My "favorites" are the two poor women whose husbands up and joined the Shakers. It was a sect that required celibacy of its members - and the Shakers actually created rules to prevent a person from joining their church to escape the "duties" to his or her spouse.

Glenda Riley wrote an excellent book called Divorce: An American Tradition. I've just finished reading it. I'm excited about some of the things I've learned. Stay tuned ...

Want to read more divorce acts? It might make you think differently about your own life ... click here

Obsessing on Polly

I was on my way to the coke machine this afternoon at work, and I was thinking about Polly. I think a lot about her these days. I wonder if her chestnut hair was unruly. I think about her pale, hazel eyes. I imagine how her clothes would fit me - if her shoes would be uncomfortable - walking in the woods on a humid, Kentucky day.

Polly Wright is my 4th great grandmother, and here's what I do know about her. In Springfield, Kentucky, 1798, she married John Thompson McNeff. In 1804, she was awarded a legislative divorce from him. It's not much to go on.

I've always wanted to know her. So, a few months ago, I decided I'd write an historic novel about John T and Polly. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say I decided I'd research an historic novel about John T and Polly. I've been reading books, taking furious notes and doing a lot of day-dreaming.

But it was on the trip to the coke machine that it struck me. I have to start writing about the McNeffs regularly. And so, another blog is born.