Out of all the ‘brick walls’ my mother encountered, I found David Graham’s most intriguing. Family lore has it we’re descended from the David who was editor and proprietor of a Baltimore newspaper first printed in 1791. I quickly learned that family lore does not satisfy any of the elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard. My mother, following the creed of all good genealogists, insisted on a solid paper trail before she’d conclude that yes, ‘Printer’ David was one of ours.

I set out to help her, thinking to begin with his place of origin, which was either Scotland or Ireland. It wasn’t long before I had to concur; the field was too broad. Genealogy is hard work!

Switching my focus to Philadelphia, I researched what life might have been like for a printer’s apprentice in 1780s Philadelphia; who his neighbors might have been, what his daily work load was like, what he might have done to pass the time, and so forth. If I could reconstruct his life, perhaps I’d have a better idea of where to begin to search for documentation.

I came no closer to solving the riddle, but by then I was hooked and it no longer mattered. I didn’t have to live by the rules of a good genealogist: I could just make it all up!

And so I did. Voices Beckon, the first in a series, is the end result.

And even though it’s likely not how it was, I think I can truthfully say it’s how it might have been.

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