If you've had a chance to read A Wicked Love, you've probably noticed a lot of discussion of Lacey's research as she tries to piece together her ancestress' life. I spent many years as an amateur genealogist prior to making the leap into offering professional research services. This varied background provided much of the material for Lacey's own wanderings into the past.
Genealogy was, at the time I offered those services, one of the fastest growing hobbies in the U.S., still is, as far as I know. Part of this was (is?) undoubtedly driven by the ease of access to original records offered by technological advances, like the Internet and records digitization. Part of it is, as it always has been, driven by our need to understand where we came from and thus what we're made of.
The information Lacey finds on her ancestress, Abigail, ends up being a little more than she bargained for, but that's all detailed in A Wicked Love.
Exploring one's roots takes a lot of effort, and it's not as simple as clicking on a shaky leaf on Ancestry. While Abigail Pendergrass was a completely fictionalized character, many of the records Lacey used to research her are either very real, actual records, or they're records that could exist or could have been created.
Take, for example, the church records for the Old Savannah Baptist Church, a real church located in what is now Jackson County, North Carolina. These are one of the few records I fabricated without actually checking to see if they were real, but I know, even without that due diligence search, that such records were created and could now exist, depending upon a variety of factors such as whether or not the recording minister or secretary carried the records with them when they left the church (a not-uncommon occurrence in the 19th century, when migration into other areas was frequent) and whether the records were destroyed through accident or device (such as editing out unsavory parts to "protect" ancestors' reputations). Whether or not the church will allow non-members to examine what are, essentially, private records is another matter entirely.
The information conveyed on Abigail in those (fictionalized) records is also exactly what one would expect to find. I don't have an example in digital form, more's the pity, but I've found plenty of instances in historic church records where people accused one another of crimes, both real and imagined, and were disciplined by church elders as a result. Some of these accusations did, indeed, cause church members to leave and move into other communities. And yes, there were plenty of recorded instances of illegitimacy documented in church records. If you have an ancestor you suspect is illegitimate and public court records have proven to be less than helpful (they sometimes are), look for church records, many of which have been microfilmed and may be available at the pertinent state archives, through a local library, or through a Family History Center, if not through the church itself (if they'll open them to you).
People are often surprised by the detail that can be culled about individuals through historical records, and sometimes not in a good way. It's jarring to conduct research expecting to find an illustrious ancestor and learn instead that you descend from poor, hardscrabble farmers and that your ancestors led less than perfect lives. I'm always surprised by the misconceptions people have about historical people, as well, such as the persistent and not-quite-true belief that ancestors living prior to the progressive educational movement were illiterate, that only the wealthy could afford to send their children to school, and that illiteracy equals ignorance. Sometimes true, misleading statement (many states had "poor school" funds or something similar, for example), and absolutely incredibly false, and I'll stop there. This is a hot button issue for me and I can, literally, spend all day pulling forward evidence and explaining it, detailing the laws pertaining to education, pointing to the resultant records and how to use them, and remarking in depth on how the culture of the 19th century, particularly after the Industrial Revolution, actually encouraged people to have broad knowledge bases regardless of their ability to read, unlike today when students are expected to regurgitate spoon-fed curricula in line with the proper politically correct group-think ideals.
Did I mention that 19th century education in Georgia was one of my specialties? Yeah. Um. Moving on...
The cemetery Rafe took Lacey to was modeled after the one next to Tellico Baptist Church, a real church located in a somewhat remote area of Macon County, one of the counties from which Jackson County was formed. The information Lacey found on Abigail's tombstone is exactly the kind of information one would expect to find on a grave marker from that era. The loose records housed at the Jackson County Justice Center (the courthouse) are really there, as are the periodicals in the Special Collections at Western Carolina University, and so on. The paths Lacey took to research Abigail are absolutely valid research paths, and the frustration she felt at not being able to find anything... Well, if you've spent any time at all researching your ancestors, I'm guessing you know how she felt.
Thing is, none of this would've meant anything if Lacey hadn't been willing to accept her ancestor as she was, a human being who was flawed and imperfect and lived only long enough to pass on a legacy Lacey was completely unprepared to receive. This is the real lesson behind A Wicked Love. Instead of judging our ancestors for how far from our own notions of right and wrong they strayed (i.e. indulging in presentism), maybe we should take them as they were, warts and all, and celebrate the fact that they existed in the first place. Instead of attempting to hide or "erase" our ancestors from our lives, as one incompetent journalist recently suggested of a well-known deceased author, perhaps we should examine their lives objectively, learn from their mistakes, and remember that without them having made those mistakes, we likely wouldn't exist.
Just whatever you do, don't trust that shaky leaf. Dive into the records yourself or hire a competent professional to help you (here, here, or here). Oh, and don't forget to search the records already in your family's possession first. Sometimes, they hold the very answers we seek, as Lacey learned the hard way.