Blog Archives
Mariners Miners and Misfits
Mariners, Miners and Misfits is an ambitious work of genealogy and family history that traces Dan Martin’s paternal line from prehistoric Atlantic Europe through centuries of life in Cornwall and, eventually, into Canada. Using Y-chromosome research, parish registers, census records, wills, tax assessments, newspaper reports, and family memories, Martin builds a narrative that reaches far beyond a conventional family tree. The result is both a personal ancestry study and a broad account of how geography, labor, migration, and historical upheaval shaped one family over roughly nineteen thousand years.
The book is strongest when it places individual ancestors inside the working culture of Cornwall. Its chapters on Celtic identity, tin mining, the Stannary Courts, smuggling, maritime trade, and Cornwall’s reputation as Britain’s “Wild West” give the genealogy a vivid social setting. Rather than presenting names and dates in isolation, Martin considers what it meant to be a tinner, parish clerk, yeoman, craftsman, coach proprietor, or miner in a community where kinship and practical skill could determine survival. These sections make the book especially appealing as Cornish history, British social history, and mining history, while the recurring tension between Cornish custom and English authority gives the family’s story a distinctive regional character.
As the narrative moves closer to the present, it becomes increasingly intimate and emotionally involving. The account of William “Billy” Martin is a particular centerpiece, following him from Cornwall and Wales to Manitoba, where he worked as an artist and decorator, became an accomplished cattle breeder, suffered devastating personal losses, and spent his final years in a mental hospital. The later chapter about the author’s father, James, continues this approach through family recollection, rural Canadian life, hardship, marriage, and community. Here the book works as a multigenerational biography and personal memoir, showing how archival discoveries can recover the complexity of people remembered only through photographs, brief stories, or unanswered questions.
Martin writes with open affection for his ancestors, and that sense of connection gives the book its conversational warmth. He clearly labels uncertain early generations and speculative prehistoric scenes, while using documented evidence more firmly as the record becomes clearer. The combination of research, historical reconstruction, photographs, maps, and personal reflection makes Mariners, Miners and Misfits a substantial example of genealogical nonfiction. It’s a story about continuity, but also about adaptability: mariners become miners, miners become clerks and craftsmen, and Cornish descendants cross an ocean to begin again. By the final personal note, the family tree has become something more human, a long chain of labor, loss, humor, resilience, and belonging.
Pages: 200 | ASIN : B0H4D33D4R
Intergenerational Memory
Echoes of Memory is a personal work of public history that traces the Japanese occupation of Sanzao Island during World War II through forced labor and cultural suppression. At what point did you realize these memories needed to be preserved in book form?
Growing up in the United States with Chinese diasporic roots, I knew about the Sino-Japanese War in broad historical terms, but there was still a certain emotional distance between history and lived experience. That changed as I began learning more about Sanzao Island and hearing personal stories connected to relatives and members of the local community who had lived through the Japanese occupation during World War II.
Reading about war in textbooks is one thing, but hearing how occupation shaped the daily lives of real people connected to your own family and community is something entirely different. Stories about fear, survival, forced labor, and cultural suppression suddenly became deeply personal. I also realized that many of these memories existed primarily through oral histories carried by elders whose experiences had never been fully documented.
At that point, I felt a responsibility to preserve these stories before they disappeared. I wanted the book to serve not only as a historical record but also as a way of honoring the resilience and humanity of smaller communities whose experiences are often overlooked in larger wartime narratives.
Were there stories you grew up hearing that took on new meaning during the research process?
Yes, absolutely. As a young adult, I would occasionally hear fragments of stories about hardship during the war years, but I did not fully understand the scale of what people had endured until being immersed in the research process for the book. Some stories were told casually, while others were surrounded by silence. In many diaspora families, memories of war are not always passed down in formal ways; they often survive through small comments, family habits, emotional undercurrents, or brief recollections shared over time.
Much of this work also grew from the decades of oral history collection and archival preservation my father began within our family and the Sanzao community. Over time, those testimonies, photographs, and conversations became part of a larger intergenerational archive that shaped the foundation of this book.
During the research process, those fragments began to take on much deeper meaning. I started to understand that behind many everyday stories were experiences of occupation, fear, displacement, and survival. Hearing personal accounts from relatives and community members made the history feel immediate and human in a way archival research alone never could.
The process also changed how I understood memory itself. I realized that silence can sometimes reflect trauma just as much as storytelling does, and that preserving these histories is important not only for historical scholarship but for intergenerational understanding and healing.
Why do you think the experiences of smaller communities are often overlooked in broader wartime narratives?
Smaller communities are often pushed to the margins of history, yet they carry some of war’s deepest emotional and cultural scars. Broader wartime narratives often focus on major political leaders, military campaigns, or large urban centers because those stories are more visible within official archives and national histories. As a result, communities like Sanzao are frequently treated as footnotes despite experiencing profound forms of suffering, displacement, and disruption.
At the same time, there has been a growing effort to preserve these local histories through museums, archives, oral history projects, and community preservation work. Over the past two decades, institutions such as the Zhuhai Museum have actively worked to document and preserve regional memories connected to the Japanese occupation and the Sino-Japanese War. That experience reinforced for me how important this work is, especially as many firsthand witnesses and elders continue to pass away.
I believe these histories matter because they show how global conflicts reshape everyday life at the local level. They remind us that war is not only experienced on battlefields, but also in homes, villages, schools, and families. Preserving these stories helps create a more complete and compassionate understanding of history.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from Echoes of Memory?
One of the most important things readers can take away from Echoes of Memory is a greater awareness of how personal, family, and community histories are deeply connected to broader global histories. Many people think of history as something distant or abstract, but oral histories remind us that large historical events are experienced through individual lives, families, and local communities.
The book also encourages readers to speak with elders, preserve family stories, and recognize the importance of intergenerational memory before those histories are lost. When we begin documenting oral histories within our own families and communities, we often discover that our personal stories are deeply intertwined with larger histories of war, displacement, survival, and resilience.
At the same time, the project contributes to broader conversations about memory, wartime trauma, and civilian suffering during World War II. While many important discussions of war memory and mass trauma focus on Europe and Africa, the histories connected to the Sino-Japanese War and the experiences of Chinese communities during occupation are still less visible in many international conversations. Preserving and sharing these stories helps create a more complete understanding of how global conflict affected ordinary people across different parts of the world.
Ultimately, Echoes of Memory is about preservation, remembrance, and the responsibility we all share in documenting the stories that shape our communities and collective histories.
Author Links: Barnes & Noble | Facebook | Instagram | Website
When war silences a community, memory becomes resistance. Echoes of Memory is a decolonial work of public history centered on Sanzao Island during the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945). Blending oral history, archival research, poetry, and visual narrative, the book reconstructs silenced histories of war, survival, and intergenerational memory. Through the collaborative research of Robert and Lani Cupchoy, a father-daughter team dedicated to preserving their ancestral legacy, the book foregrounds lived experience and community testimony often absent from traditional military historiography. Echoes of Memory restores humanity to the historical record and honors the descendants who continue to carry ancestral memory.
Generational Healing
In Wisdom from My Grandmothers, you share with readers recovered family history and spiritual dialogue gained from a series of channeling sessions in which you interviewed the spirits of your ancestors. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I wanted to connect with my ancestors and know more about their lives since I didn’t know most of them when they were alive. I wanted to hear how they used their voices as women during their lifetimes. I wanted to learn about patterns they may have passed down to me. I wanted to see if generational healing was possible. The United States is currently experiencing much turmoil, change, and uncertainty. The patriarchal system has left society in a mess. After the 2024 presidential election, I felt that it was important to provide hope and positive messages for others. I hope that the readers will know that they are important, lovable, and capable of being catalysts for change.
The book is built around channeling sessions with the Hedda Foundation. How did that process begin for you?
I had a psychic reading a few years ago, and my ancestors expressed their desire for me to tell their stories so that they could help other women in their healing journeys. I was already working with the Hedda Foundation. I thought, “Why not interview Mom and my grandmothers in her line as the way to learn their stories?” I was guided as to the questions I should ask. Thus began a process that took about eight months of interviews with five deceased ancestors, plus my living older sister.
Did your understanding of truth and memory change as you worked through these sessions?
My mother and her mother never wanted to discuss their personal history. I know now that it is very common for people in those generations. I was thrilled to learn the truth about their past and their experiences, even though some were painful. The deceased have no fear or anxiety about what people will say about their information. They were happy to share things they couldn’t have expressed when alive. I applaud their candor and bravery.
If someone feels stuck in patterns they don’t fully understand, where would you suggest they begin?
I would suggest they find a good therapist. They might also attend meetings of Co-Dependents Anonymous or Al-Anon. Journaling is a good way to record one’s thoughts and feelings.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Jo Ann Fawcett | Website
Define Identity
In Valtoha, you ask readers to join you on a journey from Singapore to Valtoha as you examine your family’s history beginning with your late grandfather. What inspired you to share your family history with readers?
When I went in search of my grandfather’s village, I did not intend to turn the adventure into an actual book. However, after the experience, I felt it was an amazing story in itself and that people would want to hear about it. I shared the experience with some close friends and they championed the idea of turning it into a book. Then the next questions were: how I was going to stylise the entire account and what parallels did my grandfather share with me? With these starting points, I began to craft the text that is now VALTOHA. On some levels, this may have been a personal project and on other levels, it was meant to give a voice to a seemingly insignificant person who actually is something of an important figure of subaltern history.
How long did it take you to research and put together your family’s history and write Valtoha?
I began writing the bulk of it while I was still travelling around India, so over the course of a month or so. That was just the first draft of the text we have now. Over the next three months, I began asking for information from the various sources and speaking to Dr. Kirpal Singh about the foreword of the text. Unearthing some information was easier than others but I think good fortune did play a huge part in the way some of the information fell into my lap.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?
An enjoyable tale and nothing more because that is all it really is, I think? I know questions will inevitably be raised about identity, belonging and assimilation, as always with stories of transmigration. However, the truth is that these things really don’t matter. Most of us tend to spend a large portion of our lives trying to define identity for ourselves. The truth is that once we have a sense of the answer, we don’t really know what to do with it. Yes, I’m a third-generation Indian immigrant to Singapore but so what? My wife is Mexican, and I can’t relate to most things Indian or Singaporean. So what? The identity that I’ve constructed for myself doesn’t matter at all as much as the experiences that I have been through. Therefore, the search for identity is an absolute utter waste of time. I am a storyteller, and all this text is bringing to readers is just a story.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am currently working on a speculative poetry collection about music and sound with American poet, Garrett Carroll that should be out sometime in 2025. Ikhṓr, my art/poetry collaboration with Irish artist Shane Reilly, will be released at the end of October this year. Also, at some point in 2025, I will be releasing Shadows with Sauroctonos Publishing. This is a grimoire about Southeast Asian supernatural entities and the dark magic used to invoke, banish and protect against them.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
My Own Family History Firsthand
Cuba, Your Children Cry shares your memories about growing up as a first-generation American of Cuban parents and your desire to experience Cuba for yourself. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I grew up with my parents having a love-hate relationship with Cuba. I did not understand why. The title came from my mom. My siblings would be at school, and I would be home with my mom. Under her breath, she would always say, Cuba, your children cry! And I used to think, why are there crying children in Cuba? I must have been 4/5 years old. We were a working-class family, so family dinners were a rare occurrence, and discussion of my parents’ time in Cuba was rare.
In my forties, I did quite a bit of traveling; I have traveled to over 100 countries. I had been to China and Russia but not Cuba. When the Obama administration started to open travel to Cuba, that is when I thought I should go to Cuba and close this family history circle. My spouse started working on his family history on ancestry.com and randomly asked me to do it too. At this point, I decided to travel to Cuba to discover my own family history firsthand. My parents were getting older, and none of my siblings had any information about my parents’ life in Cuba. On my first trip, I went alone; my parents refused to go; I journaled every day, and when I returned home, I made a photo book and included my journals, and gifted it to my family, thinking no one would ever go back to Cuba. My friend Laurin, who accompanied me on my first trip, also received the photo book, and she suggested I write a book. Brushing that suggestion to the side, I never thought of it again. My parents said they would go to Cuba when Castro died. When that happened, I started to plan our trip.
Two years later, I took my parents to Cuba and audio recorded their stories and journaled every day. When I returned, I completed another photo book and gifted it to my family. Laurin, who came with me on my first trip, asked me for a copy and again suggested I write a book. I did not think anyone would be interested in my book, so I said I would think about it. Then the pandemic hit, and my 50th birthday was right around the corner. And so, I thought, it would be cool to release a book on my 50th birthday. And the rest is history. In the process, I learned that my story resonated not only with Cuban refugees but also with anyone who was a refugee from different countries. It was important to me to discover my family history; writing the book was so cathartic, and in turn, it was important to me to tell this story of survival and tenacity.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The idea that love can be stronger than anything and it can be lasting. That being ousted from your country is probably one of the most challenging things that can happen to anyone, but perseverance and determination will get you through. That being different, having a different skin tone, and having an accent is ok. That even when English is your second language, you can still write a book!
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The hardest thing to write about was interviewing my parents about their last days in Cuba. Then taking that information and putting it into words that told that story exactly as it happened. It took me a month to put it all into the correct words. I couldn’t imagine what my parents were feeling at that time. I remember taking pictures of them in front of their last homes before they left for the airport, not knowing about their future. It was such a sad moment. It was very difficult to get through that part of the book.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?
I hope it encourages folks to investigate their own family history, travel to uncomfortable places, and have uncomfortable conversations. It will be worth every second and penny spent to complete their family puzzle.
Author Links: Goodreads | Amazon
It began when I was browsing through my parents’ vintage photographs of a free Cuba in the 1940s and 50s at my home in Hialeah, Florida. I learned everything about Cuba from them, but I had never visited the beloved island only ninety miles from Key West, Florida. They told tales of romantic nights on the streets of Havana, an island where Cuban music escaped from small cafes and filled the streets with people dancing and laughing. I was learning the lingo recognized only by fellow Cubans.
Political strife upended the Cuba of my parents’ childhood and ultimately prevented travel back to the island. It was a conflict so intense that thousands risked their lives to escape through shark-infested waters on man-made rafts to Miami, or anywhere for that matter, to reach land and claim political asylum.
Living this juxtaposition―love for the island and devastation at the collapse of a once beautiful society―was heart-wrenching. I felt as if I was being raised in a Cuban bubble while also being exposed to the elements of unfamiliar American traditions. A contradiction of sorts. For my entire life I craved a better understanding of where I came from, the details of how my parents fled Cuba and, most importantly, who I am.
I yearned to experience first-hand the Cuba of my parents’ memories, to stroll the Malecon, to immerse myself in the sights and sounds of that tropical paradise. After forty-six years of not knowing, I set out to learn the stories of the Iglesias family and to see the island through the tear-filled eyes of my parents. And finally, I accomplished that mission.
Mistaken Judgments and Rash Conclusions
Phyllis A. Still Author Interview
Defiance on Indian Creek is an enthralling story that follows a smart and courageous young girl on the eve of the Revolutionary war. What was the inspiration for the setup to this young adult novel?
I discovered the real Mary Shirley in a box of family genealogy documents I received from my uncle. As I researched an incident that took place when she was an eighteen-year-old mother of a two-year-old son, I knew her story had to be told. I realized Mary had to acquire tenacity and survival skills well before this event and, therefore,Defiance on Indian Creek, begins the series right before her thirteenth birthday on Indian Creek in now, Monroe County, West Virginia.
Defiance on Indian Creek takes a quiet frontier family and brings them to the forefront against an increasingly dangerous time in history. What research did you do to maintain the accuracy of that moment in history?
My online research of New River history revealed names, places, and leads to additional information. I printed articles, slid them into plastic coversheets, and placed them into large three-ring binders with dividers. I even used calendars. These calendars were marked with historic events of the time and place, along with the fictional plot line. Yes, I’m OCD, and the day I discovered Scrivener was a happy day.
I felt that the relationship between Mary and her father was deep and intriguing. What was the inspiration for their relationship and how did it develop as you wrote?
The close bond between Mary and her papa came naturally for me. I was blessed to have a “Daddy’s girl” bond with my own father. I plotted the story to include the mistaken judgments and rash conclusions all teen girls experience. Mary’s disbelief in her papa’s actions fueled her defiance. I raised three close-in-age daughters to adulthood and experienced these clashes. Most teens really do love their parents but don’t let on.
Defiance on Indian Creek is book one in the Dangerous Loyalties series. Where does book two take readers and when will it be available?
Mary’s recent emotional trauma worsens when the family flees Indian Creek ahead of angry men who are seeking Papa’s life. But they’re not taking Daniel Boone’s trail to Kentucky territory. They’re traversing the old hunter’s path to the rough-manned, frontier forts along the Clinch River—until they cross the Cumberland Gap—then they’re at the mercy of God to Fort Boonesborough. I’m hoping for a summer 2017 release date for book two.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
“Emotionally riveting adventure, survival, and precarious family relationships are weaved into this teen historical about Mary Shirley–a brave, tenacious thirteen-year-old girl who lives on the remote frontier of West Virginia in 1775 at the onset of the American Revolutionary War.
Cooped up in a dimly lighted cabin with her seven siblings and Momma, Mary dreams of a peaceful future with friends and suitors. But she’s worried about her family’s survival.
When Papa returns home with news that the Indians have agreed to stay away from the Western settlements, Mary breathes a sigh of relief. But when he speaks of pending revolutionary war against Britain, declares his loyalty to King George III, and plans to move to Kentucky territory, Mary is confused and afraid.
She discovers mysterious surveys with riddles and a hidden box in the barn that contains secret documents. When she witnesses Papa betray a patriot neighbor at a nearby fort and later reads a disturbing letter that implicates him as a traitorous spy, Mary is ashamed of him. He is endangering the family, and she must find a way to change his mind. Her emotional struggles lead to lost trust and acts of defiance.
When Papa returns deathly ill from a survey job and asks Mary to deliver a lifesaving dispatch, she balks. Is loyalty to Papa more important than loyalty to the revolutionary cause? Lives are in danger no matter what choice she makes.”
