First week of 2018 challenge
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 contested will. There were also other family history papers that alluded to the Galls.
It has been a it more difficult to locate where Elizabeth Gall's lands were in Barbados but on maps I found a small plantation called Gall's in St.John's about the right size to be Old Stingo's. But confusingly Barrell states that the property was taken over by a Mr Spencer and Spencer's is in Christchurch and now lies under Grantley Adam International Airport.
Further information was contained in the slave returns which put the names to the slaves and also lists their age and occupation. And then the slave compensation returns where the price was put on the value of these chattels.
I broke off my writing to do a Google search on Barrell and Saugerties what was a small village when Theodore arrived there. I found a throw-away comment in the family history of another family, that "Mr Barrell was well connected and had at one time been wealthy, but was at this time living in the village of Saugerties about 90 miles up the Hudson river, on a reduced income..." So I start the second week of the challenge now knowing that Theodore was not a wealthy merchant, as I had thought, but needed the money from Aunt Elizabeth's will.
I think the next few episodes of the story will be more about what and how I found it.
Day 8. An interlude
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 contested will. There were also other family history papers that alluded to the Galls.
It has been a it more difficult to locate where Elizabeth Gall's lands were in Barbados but on maps I found a small plantation called Gall's in St.John's about the right size to be Old Stingo's. But confusingly Barrell states that the property was taken over by a Mr Spencer and Spencer's is in Christchurch and now lies under Grantley Adam International Airport.
Further information was contained in the slave returns which put the names to the slaves and also lists their age and occupation. And then the slave compensation returns where the price was put on the value of these chattels.
I broke off my writing to do a Google search on Barrell and Saugerties what was a small village when Theodore arrived there. I found a throw-away comment in the family history of another family, that "Mr Barrell was well connected and had at one time been wealthy, but was at this time living in the village of Saugerties about 90 miles up the Hudson river, on a reduced income..." So I start the second week of the challenge now knowing that Theodore was not a wealthy merchant, as I had thought, but needed the money from Aunt Elizabeth's will.
I think the next few episodes of the story will be more about what and how I found it.
Day 8. An interlude