Sunday, February 9, 2020

Story Inspirations

Sometimes I'm asked where I get my ideas for a story. If you're a regular reader of mine, then you know I write about family and history, and that means genealogy. I've been doing genealogy for 37 years, not every day anymore, but several times a week I pop onto my online site and check things out.
My time travel series A Slip in Time, is set in Twin Lake/ Holton which is where many members of family settled before coming to Muskegon. I thought it would be fun to show you a picture of my great great grandfather, Aaron Kitchen, a civil war veteran and long time Holton resident. As a matter of fact when I was in Holton for a book signing last summer, some people still knew where his home was in town and were able to point it out. At some point he moved to Twin Lake, the next small village, because his son, my great grandfather, and then his son, my grandfather were born in Twin Lake. For years, every July, family reunions were held at the Twin Lake park on the shores of the lake. I sometimes long for those days when I was a little girl running freely all over the park, while my mother and aunts set up the tables loaded with food. This is where I met my second and third cousins and great aunts and uncles. It was truly an idyllic childhood, and now that I'm an adult, I realize how special it was.
So here are two pictures of my two times great grandfather, Aaron Kitchen, with his flag, and the other one is with his family somewhere at a campground, (notice the cast iron stove they took with them. No grills in those days.) I only wish I had a picture of his father who first settled here from Canada in 1845. Maybe some day one will turn up.




My great great grandfather, Aaron



                                                       Aaron,(no hat) and his family. His wife Frances Louisa (Lou) is across the table.

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