February Challenge 2018

Now in the third week of the Challenge. The story has moved back to the early days in Demerara where Dr Gall has tried his hand at several enterprises, first with a partner in Barbados and then on his own. It is early days of British rule in Demerara and the future is uncertain. Dr Gall must make decisions which will affect the future of his sons. Early days in Demerara    -    Permission to leave Demerara   -   Captain Benjamin   -  more: A voyage to Barbados   -   Family prayers   - Arrival in Hell   -   Life on the plantation

The story about the family dispute took me into the second week of the challenge. Now I will write about the back story. I had known for some time that my great great grandfather was Henry Beckles Gall and that he had lived in Barbados. An early history of the Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society stated that he was an Englishman. I therefore directed my research at finding his birth in England. Then in 2006 I found a letter written by Barbadian historian Eustace Shilstone. The letter, held at the Shilstone Library at the Barbados museum stated that Henry had been born in Demerara. This was the first time I had ever heard of any family connection in South America. Let alone that his father had also been called Henry Beckles Gall. Early days in Demerara

Already we are in the second week of the challenge. This year I have concentrated on one ancestor, Henry Beckles Gall, with plenty of walk on parts for other members of the family at the time. I spent $28 on Lynn's challenge preparation course and also equipped myself with Scrivener. I am beginning to understand the importance of preparation, sketching out the scenes; and I hope I am getting better in writing dialogue and writing about three dimensional characters. I decided to centre the story on one episode of Henry's life - the family dispute on his great aunt Elizabeth's will. I had researched this period quite well, knowing most of the dates to make a detailed time-line. I had her will and had written an article for the journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society about Elizabeth and her sister as female planters. A key source were the Barrell Family Papers held at Columbia University, New York. Theodore Barrell had kept some detailed notes about the con

I have created this blog for my daily writing for the 2018 Family History Writing Challenge. Each day I will add a tab at the side of this page to link to that day's writing. If the links page is not showing click on the three white bars at the top right of this page. This is the true story of my great great grandfather Henry Beckles Gall who lived most of his life in Barbados though he was born in Demerara (now Guyana). In the 1830s there was a dispute with his aunts over the will of Elizabeth Gall, his great aunt. I know about this dispute because the husband of one of these aunts, Theodore Barrell kept some papers on the affair and these are now in the archives of Columbia University, New York. I found further papers in the records of the Slave Compensation Commission now held at the UK National Archives, Kew, London. The story has been fictionalised, but I have tried to be true to the probable events, writing them as scenes to make a hopefully readable story.