The Intersection of History and Fiction by Susan Van Kirk

My most recent book, A Death at Tippitt Pond, begins a series of mysteries using more history than I added previously in my Endurance mysteries. For several weeks now, I’ve been researching how people lived in small prairie towns in the Midwest during the 1850s. My protagonist, Beth Russell, lives in the present day. She is a historical researcher and genealogist, but because she is now researching her family history in Book #2, I must go back to the past.

My plan for the second book in the series is to investigate the life of her 4^th great-grandfather, William Webster (nickname Webb) Tippitt. He built the Queen Anne Tudor Beth now lives in, and he was the owner/editor of the Sweet Iron Sentinel. What few people knew back then was that he was also building a tunnel to hide runaway slaves during the harrowing period after the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted.

On the wall of Old Main, Knox College

To give you a brief glimpse of the intersection of history and fiction, I’ll explain a couple of ideas I have in mind. They may, or may not, end up in the final book. The Lincoln-Douglas debate occurred in my hometown of Galesburg, Illinois, only twelve miles from where I’m typing. October 9, 1858 is the date, and the site—Old Main at Knox College—is the only building left standing from the group of debates that would decide the senator from Illinois. Lincoln lost, but he gained so much interest that he would run and win the Presidency two years later.

I am considering whether Webb Tippitt will take his teenage daughter, Abigail, to the debate. Since the 1850s plot will concern the conflict among abolitionists, anti-slavery believers, and Southern sympathizers in the small town, it might be a good spot for Webb to explain some of those political leanings to his daughter. Don’t get me wrong: this novel will have a mystery in the 1850s, and it will parallel a mystery in the 21^st century with Beth Russell. However, I will thread history through it as a context for the mystery. I must simply be careful to concentrate on the mysteries and keep the history in the background.

A second thought about my research concerns a character I already have in mind—a Presbyterian minister. Many of the prairie towns in the northern end of Illinois were begun by Northerners from the East Coast who desired to create Christian towns with religious colleges that would educate new ministers. Both Knox College and Monmouth College were established by such people. I was curious about how to create this minister, and what he might think. So, I accidently discovered that Hewes Library, on the Monmouth campus, contains all the minutes from the Presbyterian Church’s Assembly, a meeting once each year of all the synod representatives from the entire country.

I can hear you now. “Seriously, she thinks that sounds exciting?” I simply wanted to check out the minutes from 1860-1865 and see what happened in my character’s church during the pre-war and war years. The divide between North and South is evident since the representatives all debated whether secession was a moral, religious, or political issue in 1860. The Northern synods believed secession to be disloyal to the federal government and against the laws of the Bible, but the Southerners felt it was strictly a political issue. After 1860, the Southern synods were all absent, and this schism ripped the church apart. During the war years while the South was absent, the minutes became more strident with discussions of the immorality of slavery. I plan to have my fictional Presbyterian minister either go to a national assembly or receive information from that meeting.

These are only two issues I’ve been thinking about as I research. This should give you some idea of the multitude of research topics authors go through when they include other periods of time in their books. My present-day plot will involve a mystery as will the plot in the 1850s. Beth will discover a lifetime of information about her fourth great-grandfather. I’m hoping to continue this pattern in the third book as I check out the life of Abigail’s daughter, Emma, in the late 1800s.

Susan Van Kirk Interview by E. B. Davis

Everyone in the small town of Sweet Iron knew the teenage daughter of Judge Tippitt and his wife, Jolene. Melanie Tippitt’s exotic green eyes sprinkled with gold flecks only added to her haunting beauty. That is why her shocking murder in the summer of 1971 shattered the innocence of the town. Soon, the inhabitants sighed with relief when the murderer was sent to prison. Case closed.

Four decades later, Elizabeth Russell arrives in Sweet Iron with plans for a brief visit. She extends her stay when she discovers reasons to research the Tippitt family genealogy and the disturbing tragedy of their daughter’s murder. Her decision disturbs the tranquility of the town and challenges the truth of what happened that day at Tippitt Pond…

Case closed. Or was it?

https://susanvankirk.com/

I’ve interviewed Susan Van Kirk before on WWK because her writing and characters draw readers into the plots. A Death At Tippitt Pond hooked me from the first page.

Here’s the first hook: A forty-seven-year-old New York researcher is contacted by a lawyer’s agent about an inheritance from someone she doesn’t know in a place she’s never been and has no family. Ticket paid by the estate. Between projects and enticed by intrigue, she accepts and comes to the small town of Sweet Iron, IL telling friends she’ll be back within a week. Famous last words….

And that was just the first chapter. There are many more hooks that compel readers forward until the end is near and whodunnit is revealed. But there are still unanswered questions, which I hope, will necessitate Susan to write more about these characters—by reader mandate!

Please welcome Susan Van Kirk back to WWK.                    E. B. Davis

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Is Sweet Iron, IL based on another town?

Not exactly. Sweet Iron is a bit larger than Endurance, the town in my earlier series, and the population is somewhere between the town I live in now, Monmouth, Illinois, and the town I grew up in—Galesburg, Illinois. But all the small towns I write about are eventually an amalgamation of the area in which I’ve lived—west central Illinois.

How did the Tippitts find their way to Sweet Iron?

Molly Grayson, the librarian at Sweet Iron’s McClendan College, gives Elizabeth (Beth) Russell a history lesson about that. The Tippitt family was part of the second group of settlers arriving in Sweet Iron. The first group found their way from Pennsylvania in the 1830s. Thomas Johannes Bergmann was the leader, and his family had made their fortune in iron in the early 1800s in Philadelphia. But owner-worker strife and strikes became commonplace in the iron foundries, and Bergmann foresaw more of the same in the future. An adventurous visionary, he moved his wife and five children to the new state of Illinois and founded Sweet Iron, named for his wife’s family—Sweet—and the product that had made him wealthy. By the time William Webster Tippitt showed up with his family in the early 1840s, the town was a thriving wilderness outpost, and Tippitt brought his young wife. They settled into the little town, becoming involved in the politics and governing, and founding the first newspaper. One of the characters in A Death at Tippitt Pond, Jefferson Webster Tippitt, is named for this newspaper editor of the mid-1800s.

Were all adoptions sealed in the sixties?

Virtually all legal adoptions in the 1960s were closed, meaning the original birth certificate was either sealed or expunged, and the parents who adopted the child were listed on the new birth certificate. Information about the birth parents was unavailable. Previously, adoption had been more open, resulting in privacy issues. By 1960, twenty-eight states had laws stating that the original birth certificate could only be seen by court order. State and federal governments tightened the restrictions during that decade. By the 1970s, open adoptions became more acceptable, and today it is rare to have closed adoptions. My character, Beth Russell, was conceived in 1968 in small-town Illinois where closed adoptions would still have been more common. She discovers early in the story that she was adopted. (Sorry. Spoiler. Can’t help it.)

Why has Elizabeth always been plagued by anxiety?

Here are Elizabeth’s thoughts: “Deep down, Beth had always known something was wrong. She could remember a conversation with her well-meaning friend, Gabrielle, who said, ‘But I have grandparents and aunts and uncles and four brothers and three sisters and nieces and nephews too numerous to mention. At last count, I think that overwhelms your zero. Don’t you find it strange?’ It was true her parents kept her close to home. No history. No relatives. If she were honest, even she found it strange.”

Beth had grown up with a few friends in upstate New York, but ironically, despite being a genealogist, she knows nothing of her own history. Add to that her green eyes with gold speckles. Where did those come from? Her calm father had died when she was fourteen, leaving her in the care of her paranoid mother who was always anxious about something. But what?

Finally, Beth had a horrifying memory of an experience that would make anyone anxious. Despite her confidence in the freelance work she does for authors, she is not so sure about her personal life.

How does Elizabeth react when the DNA analysis comes back positive?

She is literally in shock. This can’t be true. She had two parents—the Russells—in upstate New York. She knows nothing about this family in Illinois. However, the more she thinks about it, the more she remembers her gut feeling that something was wrong. This adoption might be the reason her mother was so paranoid. The Russells were the only parents she ever knew. Now she finds out she has biological parents, and no one—not even the Russells—told her the truth. She feels betrayed and angry at first. Even worse, none of these people are alive so she can yell at them or ask them why.

Why was Kyle Warner, a detective for the Sweet Iron PD, charged with taking Elizabeth’s DNA sample for testing?

The Tippitt family lawyer wants to make sure everything is done legally, and he wants someone he can trust. Kyle Warner is being paid handsomely on his day off to take this DNA sample to a private lab. They can make no mistakes because a great deal of money is riding on this identification.

I was surprised that Elizabeth, who suffers from anxiety, had no trouble sleeping at the old Tippitt house. Why?

You would think she would be awake all night with these huge changes in her life—strange town, strange house, strange story about who she is. The first night Elizabeth thinks she’ll never get to sleep, especially since this small town is totally quiet at night—little traffic on the streets, few people out and about, and few people in town that Elizabeth would even know. At one point, she even thinks about getting a small fan to help her sleep. But the minute her head hits the pillow, she’s out. Why? She may not be alone in Tippitt House.

[Spoiler Alert] Elizabeth is told that her mother was murdered by her father. Why doesn’t she except that as fact?

She does at first. In fact, if she is angry at her adopted parents for keeping this secret, she is even more upset that her biological father is a murderer. Because of him, she will never meet the mother who first held her in her arms. As time goes by, however, Elizabeth begins meeting people in town who knew her parents. When she listens to their stories, a shadow of a doubt crosses her mind.

We must also understand that Beth was raised by a lawyer-father whom she often compares to Atticus Finch. He taught her about justice and righting wrongs, and those lessons weigh heavily on her mind. She is an excellent researcher in high demand because of her reputation. So her desire to see justice and the skills of her job make her the perfect person to research the past and consider what happened that day at Tippitt Pond. Did they get it right?

What type of evidence can be found through genealogical records?

Genealogy has a lot to do with connecting dots and making assumptions. Finding the evidence to substantiate those assumptions is what genealogists do. Beth can find databases that list births, deaths, and marriages. That’s basic. Then she will need to explore letters, diaries, newspapers, and various artifacts that will help her connect the dots. Church records of baptisms are sometimes helpful sources. However, it works both ways. Evidence often leads to more questions and theories that she must try to verify. It can be a very frustrating experience that leads her in circles. In this series, I plan to have Beth explore some of the past members of the Tippitt family. Delving into the past helps her better understand the present.

How does Elizabeth know who to trust?

She is faced with a town she doesn’t know, people she’s never met before, and bits and pieces of information from which to draw conclusions about her biological family. Lies and secrets abound. Motives and fears add to the information she weighs. Fortunately, she strikes up a relationship with Molly Grayson, the college librarian, and Beth bounces her impressions off Molly’s experience in the town. As she meets the people who were there at Tippitt Pond that day, or she is introduced to people who knew her parents, she considers her first impressions of them. She’s travelled extensively in her work life, so she is good at reading body language. Using the skepticism she learned from her father, she excels at knowing lies when she hears them. Depending on what she finds out, she could be a threat to someone.

Elizabeth fled Spring Harbor, NY, her hometown, because everyone knew everyone’s business. Is this one element a factor in her decision to stay or leave Sweet Iron?

Absolutely. She left her hometown for that reason and fled to college, graduate school, and New York City. Very comfortable in a condo in Sea Cliff, Long Island, she commutes easily to the New York City Public Library for research and enjoys Broadway productions, lunches out with her friends, and all the wonderful amenities of a huge city. She can be anonymous. No one knows her business. When we first meet her in the lawyer’s office in Sweet Iron, she is considering whether she can catch a plane back to New York that same day once she talks to him. At various points in her unplanned, extended stay, she is amused, annoyed, or angry in her reactions to this small town where everyone knows who she is—“the lady with the weird eyes.” She makes no secret of her desire to go back to New York where her “real life” and her friends are.

Is Tippitt house haunted? Or is Elizabeth haunted?

Perhaps a little of both.

I wasn’t sure if A Death At Tippitt Pond was a stand- alone. But it is labeled as A Sweet Iron Mystery. Is this the start of a new series? What’s next for Elizabeth and her new friends?

Yes, it is going to be a series. Each of the books will have a present-day plot with Elizabeth and her new community, but each will also go back in time to some historical events. I’m planning her research in the next book to go back to William Webster Tippitt, who built Tippitt House in the decade before the Civil War.