An Interview Between Reverend Samuel Purchas and Powhatan Priest Tomocomo in London, England, 1616 (parts of which are used in the novel Powhatan’s Power by Ora Smith)
Ora Smith | October 26, 2024
Background I write what I call Heritage Fiction—novels about my ancestors. My interests lie in history, genealogy, and finding the truth. Although I write fiction, I use as many facts as I can to formulate my stories. The first novel…..
Read more
What was The Peace of Pocahontas?
Ora Smith | October 13, 2023
When the English first established Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, their relationships with the Indigenous Peoples (sometimes called ‘the Powhatans’ after Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas’s father) was precarious. Powhatan and the English settlers regarded each other with suspicion. Eventually, the two groups…..
Read more
How to Interview Your Elderly Family Members
Ora Smith | March 14, 2023
Don’t be like me and regret not having interviewed some of my elderly family members before they passed. The elderly can be a wealth of information about not only themselves, but those who have gone before them. Most love to…..
Read more
Did My English Ancestor Marry a Native American in the 1600s?
Ora Smith | January 29, 2023
Have you ever had a coincidence happen where you wondered if it were more than mere chance? Was the event a happy accident or did God have a hand in it? I’ve decided to write about a recent “coincidence” even…..
Read more
Were Your Ancestors Immigrants?
Ora Smith | September 29, 2022
In the 1930s, Marcus Lee Hansen conducted research on the history of immigration to the United States. He was posthumously awarded the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860: A History of the Continuing Settlement of the…..
Read more
Do You Know Who You Are?
Ora Smith | September 29, 2022
Silly question. Of course, you do. The question reminds me of a book I had as a child called Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman. A bird hatches from his egg without Mama Bird in the nest, so he…..
Read more