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Author's ancestry brings novel of westward movement to life
Danetta Barker
T. Austin Cumings can trace his ancestors back to Lewis County in the days when travel on the Ohio River was the gateway to the west. He uses his ancestry to weave a novel about the westward movement which punctuates the tenacity and determination of a special breed of Americans.
A Splendid Country begins with the story of Rebekah, who by 1807 was a widow in Lewis County but went to Texas in 1822 with some of her single children. The book ends with another Rebecca, the daughter, courted in Texas by Col. William Travis shortly before he died in command of the Alamo. In between, other historical characters appear in the story line, including Aaron Burr.
Although Cumings' father did much of the research, there was still a lot of legwork before the whole story took shape.
Cumings first put foot in the Mason County Museum on April 1, 1987, during a late-season snowfall. The occasion also marked his inaugural trip to eastern Kentucky.
During his latest visit to the area as one of the authors featured in the Maysville Festival of Books, Cumings, 59, once again found snow lining the front steps of the museum building on Sutton Street.
There have been several visits in between, Cumings noted, the timing judicious enough to avoid snow -- an extremely rare commodity in his southeast Texas hometown of Richmond.
The fruit of those visits is A Splendid Country, a historical novel by Cumings published in 2000 by a regional press in Texas. A generous slice of the novel takes place in what are now Lewis and Mason counties, between 1776 and 1821. That's because Cumings' ancestors lived in the Concord area during the period.
The research was originally genealogical in nature. Cumings, a former newspaper editor, was on a mission for his father to find out about those mysterious Cumingses who came to Texas from Kentucky when the former was still a part of Mexico.
Cumings' father died in 1991, leaving his son with a large pile of family-related material gleaned from Vanceburg, Maysville, Frankfort and Louisville's Filson Club. Casting about for a way to salvage the family research effort now that its intended recipient was gone, the writer decided that with a "few well-placed lies," he might be able to turn it into a novel.
The finished product was published just before Christmas, 2000. There was a book signing event at the local library and more than 100 copies were sold.
"I didn't know at the time, but that was as good as it was going to get in sales at any single event," Cumings said.
While visiting with those attending the book festival, Cumings remembered some of the places and people he grew fond of in doing his research. Among them is Bettye Dillow of Vanceburg, whom he remembers as a tireless and thorough researcher, driven to get everything right.
"I had gotten Bettye's name and address by phone from the Lewis County Public Library as a genealogy researcher for hire. We actually met on the 1987 trip. I remember she wanted to show me the family graveyard, actually loose headstones tossed under a locust tree by a tobacco farmer. But she politely declined my offer to drive her to the spot, taking her own car instead. It was the proper thing to do," Cumings said.
Her formal education was probably modest, according to Cumings, but she was factually unerring and very thorough. And if she had doubts about a supposed detail, she pointed it out as questionable.
"I hired her to help me, and long after our business arrangement had run its course she would faithfully send me little nuggets about the Cumings family as she ran across them," Cumings said.
What helped his decision to convert the material into a novel, he said, was the wonderful history of the area where his family lived.
"You had the Ohio Valley pioneer gateway, the Aaron Burr expedition, Simon Kenton, Tecumseh, Lewis Craig and many fascinating people and places," Cumings said.
All appear in the pages of the novel, including the shadowy leader of a Christian commune that included the Cumingses. Because the novel's plot does not always treat this figure with kindness, the writer made his only name change of a fact-based character.
For those who missed the book festival, A Splendid Country will soon be stocked at the Museum Center gift shop, according to Curator Sue Ellen Grannis.
Contact Danetta Barker at Danetta.Barker@lee.net or call 606-564-9091, ext. 272.
T. Austin Cumings can trace his ancestors back to Lewis County in the days when travel on the Ohio River was the gateway to the west. He uses his ancestry to weave a novel about the westward movement which punctuates the tenacity and determination of a special breed of Americans.
A Splendid Country begins with the story of Rebekah, who by 1807 was a widow in Lewis County but went to Texas in 1822 with some of her single children. The book ends with another Rebecca, the daughter, courted in Texas by Col. William Travis shortly before he died in command of the Alamo. In between, other historical characters appear in the story line, including Aaron Burr.
Although Cumings' father did much of the research, there was still a lot of legwork before the whole story took shape.
Cumings first put foot in the Mason County Museum on April 1, 1987, during a late-season snowfall. The occasion also marked his inaugural trip to eastern Kentucky.
During his latest visit to the area as one of the authors featured in the Maysville Festival of Books, Cumings, 59, once again found snow lining the front steps of the museum building on Sutton Street.
There have been several visits in between, Cumings noted, the timing judicious enough to avoid snow -- an extremely rare commodity in his southeast Texas hometown of Richmond.
The fruit of those visits is A Splendid Country, a historical novel by Cumings published in 2000 by a regional press in Texas. A generous slice of the novel takes place in what are now Lewis and Mason counties, between 1776 and 1821. That's because Cumings' ancestors lived in the Concord area during the period.
The research was originally genealogical in nature. Cumings, a former newspaper editor, was on a mission for his father to find out about those mysterious Cumingses who came to Texas from Kentucky when the former was still a part of Mexico.
Cumings' father died in 1991, leaving his son with a large pile of family-related material gleaned from Vanceburg, Maysville, Frankfort and Louisville's Filson Club. Casting about for a way to salvage the family research effort now that its intended recipient was gone, the writer decided that with a "few well-placed lies," he might be able to turn it into a novel.
The finished product was published just before Christmas, 2000. There was a book signing event at the local library and more than 100 copies were sold.
"I didn't know at the time, but that was as good as it was going to get in sales at any single event," Cumings said.
While visiting with those attending the book festival, Cumings remembered some of the places and people he grew fond of in doing his research. Among them is Bettye Dillow of Vanceburg, whom he remembers as a tireless and thorough researcher, driven to get everything right.
"I had gotten Bettye's name and address by phone from the Lewis County Public Library as a genealogy researcher for hire. We actually met on the 1987 trip. I remember she wanted to show me the family graveyard, actually loose headstones tossed under a locust tree by a tobacco farmer. But she politely declined my offer to drive her to the spot, taking her own car instead. It was the proper thing to do," Cumings said.
Her formal education was probably modest, according to Cumings, but she was factually unerring and very thorough. And if she had doubts about a supposed detail, she pointed it out as questionable.
"I hired her to help me, and long after our business arrangement had run its course she would faithfully send me little nuggets about the Cumings family as she ran across them," Cumings said.
What helped his decision to convert the material into a novel, he said, was the wonderful history of the area where his family lived.
"You had the Ohio Valley pioneer gateway, the Aaron Burr expedition, Simon Kenton, Tecumseh, Lewis Craig and many fascinating people and places," Cumings said.
All appear in the pages of the novel, including the shadowy leader of a Christian commune that included the Cumingses. Because the novel's plot does not always treat this figure with kindness, the writer made his only name change of a fact-based character.
For those who missed the book festival, A Splendid Country will soon be stocked at the Museum Center gift shop, according to Curator Sue Ellen Grannis.
Contact Danetta Barker at Danetta.Barker@lee.net or call 606-564-9091, ext. 272.
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