CAPTURE THOSE MEMORIES
One of the delightful results of writing historical fiction set in Minnesota has been hearing family stories from readers across the region.
Today I enjoyed a telephone conversation with an elderly woman in rural Browns Valley, Minnesota. She told me about her childhood farm along the Wadsworth Trail in Traverse County, 18 miles NE of Browns Valley. She vividly remembers ruts of the old stagecoach trail running through their farm. Her father remodeled an old horse barn, once used to hold replacement teams. She and her siblings played in a nearby ravine littered with buffalo skulls, Indian arrowheads and artifacts.
“We didn’t think to preserve them,” she said, “but always enjoyed finding something from earlier days.”
History and family stories are quickly gone unless recorded for future generations. Take the time to ask your older family members for family stories and make an effort to record them for future generations. Someday your descendents will thank you.
