Using Family Stories in Historical Fiction

by Cherie Dargan

I’ve written four books in the Grandmother’s Treasures series, set in Iowa, using my family’s history, my mother’s essays and photos, and some of our quilts. Each one has dual narrators and timelines.

Book One, The Gift, (2022, WordCrafts Press) is set in WWII. My mother, Charlotte, taught in a country school before taking the train to California to help her pregnant sister, Jeanne, who worked as a riveter building the B-17 bombers. Then Charlotte got hired as a riveter. Later, she wrote about her experiences, which inspired me to create the series. Unfortunately, she died, and Aunt Jeanne became my second mama. I let my aunt read an early draft, and we talked on the phone. She encouraged me, and it strengthened my faith in myself and my story. I put a copy of The Gift in her hands a week before she died at 98.

Each book in the series tells two stories–one set in the present, and the other, the historical story, narrated by one of Gracie’s grandmothers. In Book Two, The Legacy, (2023) the historical story’s set during the Civil War, as Gracie and her boyfriend David explore the mystery of who made the Rustic Rose quilt. Book three, The Promise, (2024) begins as America enters the Great War (WWI) and Gracie marries David, and they go on their honeymoon.

Cherie’s three books in the Grandmother’s Treasures

How have I infused my stories with history? I used Ancestry.com and found an ancestor who fought in the Civil War, so I based my character, Michael O’Connor, on him. Ancestry showed both grandfathers were married in 1917 and not called up for WWI; I saw their draft registration cards and discovered my step-grandfather served in France. Find A Grave helped me locate several people’s graves. I visited a pioneer cemetery near the family farm, finding Civil War veterans. I used the National Park Service website and museum and university archives. I’m starting to use ChatGPT and am fascinated.

I thought I was done with book three. Then, the characters seemed to say they had more stories to tell! My current project, Book Four: The Recollection, takes place in 1933, during the Great Depression. Two of my main characters from Book One appear in the story as children. A young woman, her children and her mother-in-law come to stay with her Aunt Mabel because they lost their farm. Meanwhile, the father and grandfather travel west in a truck house to work as supervisors for the Civilian Conservation Corps. My grandfather built a truck house to take his family to California, and back. I have photos that fired my imagination as I wrote the story, which is scheduled for publication this month.

I’ve started work on Book Five: The Sacrifice and I plan to write at least three more books in the series. Grandmother’s Treasures is a little history, a little (quilt) mystery, and some faith, hope, and love. I shoved my dreams of writing aside for many years to support my family, but God knew my heart, and my desires, and he also knew the time would come for Grandmother’s Treasures.

Today, I’m thankful for the opportunity to write Christian Historical Fiction. I know my mother and aunt are smiling as I tell snippets of another family story and share another spiritual truth about the value of family and faith, and the power of forgiveness, and God’s grace.

Psalm 37: 4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Cherie Dargan is a retired Community College teacher. She’s a writer, webmaster, and family historian and author of the Grandmother’s Treasures series. Married to a retired librarian, Mike, they have two children and three grandchildren. Visit Cherie on her website, Facebook, Substack, Goodreads and Amazon.