Fact and Fiction

Dear Diary,

My favorite genre of books is historical fiction.  A friend gave me this one and said I just had to read it since it tied in so nicely with my family's story...Quakers, Quilts and Abolitionists!  I've just finished it and it was a great read.  The author also wrote, Girl with the Pearl Earring, which I loved.  

I've paired the book with a photograph of my great-great grandparents who were Quaker.  The meetinghouse they attended, which I visited last year, was part of the Underground Railroad which shepherded runaway slaves north to Canada.  I don't know what role, if any, my great grandparents had in the railroad but as Quakers I am sure they supported the effort in some way.

I am very proud that some of my ancestors participated in the Abolitionist movement.  One distant cousin purchased the freedom of a slave named Isabella and her child for $25.  She took their last name in gratitude.  She later changed it to Sojourner Truth and became a famous speaker for emancipation.  But for every positive there is a negative and my 6X great grandfather was a slave owner on Long Island, New York.  I have a copy of his will that gives a slave to my 5X great grandmother.  It made my skin crawl at the mere thought of it.  When you research your family's history you must be prepared to take the good with the bad because all families have a little of both.