Shakin’ the Tree: How Our Family Story Became a Play

Now that the documents have been collected, examined and organized in your family tree, it’s time to have some fun with all of that information. Let the facts inspire you. Maybe you can even bring your family into it. That’s what I did.

Setting the Stage for a Family Production

My cousin Barb Perry Dahlhauser, who shares my enthusiasm for family research and storytelling, suggested we enter a scriptwriting contest in her charming childhood home of Fremont, Nebraska, located about 30 miles west of Omaha.

The playwright competition was sponsored by the Fremont Opera House, an elegant five-story theater built in 1888. Still in use today, the ground-floor level has been modernized and refurbished, extending the varied lives this historic brick structure has led over the years—one of them being a grocery store. Since our grandmother, Pearl Schaal Perry, often shopped for produce in this very building, Barb and I thought it appropriate that our script should involve her.

Our Main Character: Grandma Pearl

Born in a sod house on the Nebraska prairie in 1889, Grandma Pearl lived to see her 96th birthday, sharp as cheddar till the very end. But did we ask her enough questions about her coltish pre-Grandma years? Alas, we did not, for in our minds, she had always been elderly. And she’s been gone now since 1985, so Barb and I were forced to revisit fading memories to spark our creativity. Old memories are indeed precious, but they are as fleeting as a fever dream—short on context, lacking clarity.

Fortunately, numerous documents uncovered on Ancestry^® shed bright light on spotty recall, providing specific context and an accurate backdrop for Grandma Pearl’s pioneer childhood anecdote, affectionately known only as “The Pig Story.” This beloved tale became one of the plot points in our stage play, “Of Pearls and Swine.”

Gram’s original storytelling might as well have begun “Once upon a time,” because her grandchildren actually had no idea what year this story took place. Grandma Pearl and her relatives were naughty children, deliberately taunting a mean old pig before her aunt’s homespun wedding.

Years later, Gram Pearl wrote her grandchildren a memoir, and included The Pig Story there as well. Problem is, she never explained who any of the other characters were. Who were her co-conspirators? Were they male or female? How old was she, exactly? Which aunt was getting married? Where were they?

Turning to Ancestry^® to Develop the Plot

Ancestry to the rescue. Documents built a timeline for the lives of Pearl and her relatives. Thanks to U.S. census records, marriage certificates, and previously-unseen family portraits posted by distant cousins, I could easily pinpoint who all of these characters actually were. And once I understood their ages and their relationships to one another, it was as if the scenes and characters became crystal clear, springing to life before my very eyes, whereas before the setting was too vague, filled with shadow people. 

Once I was given the means to define the characters, it felt very natural to put words in their mouths and develop their personalities. Almost like time travel—now that I’ve “met” these ancestors, what would they say? How would they behave? My grandmother would react like an adolescent girl, not an 80-year-old woman.

One of my favorite features of Ancestry is each ancestor’s Life Story—their life organized chronologically. For some reason, seeing the documented highlights of my grandmother’s life transformed her into a vibrant woman, rather than a fragile, white-haired senior who was hard-of-hearing and enjoyed embroidering pillowcases. Now I could visualize her as a spirited young girl.

Census Records Confirmed the Story Details

Take the 1900 U.S. census, for example. Pearl is an 11-year-old living with her parents and attending school. And Pearl’s Aunt Hattie has been married now for two years, revealing it was definitely Aunt Hattie’s wedding that was almost ruined by the escapades of Pearl and her cousins, Florian, Johnny, and Tris, who are all very close in age.

And here is the 1910 U.S. census, where Pearl is a 21-year-old single woman living with her parents. She marries Clayton Perry a few years later, on Christmas Day in 1914. By the time the next census is taken, she is a wife and mother of two young daughters. A Nebraska birth index confirms a tragic detail shared in her memoir, but rarely discussed, that her firstborn son was stillborn on March 26, 1916.

Pearl’s Descendant’s Know How to Put on a Show

Our script, “Of Pearls and Swine,” won the playwright’s competition, and was produced on stage in July of 2022. As thrilling as that was for both Barb and me, the joy doesn’t end there.

This event drew Pearl’s grandchildren and her “folks” (as she called them) together in what became a true family affair. I can think of nothing that would please her more.

Barb’s older brother, my cousin Bob Perry, artist and musician, designed clever artwork for the promotional pieces, and wrote and performed two original songs during each performance. Another cousin, a talented young actor by the name of Riley Rose, played the role of Johnny, Pearl’s cousin and co-conspirator. The funny thing is—we are not, by any means—what anyone would call a “Show Biz Family!” With a three-night run to a sold-out house, perhaps there is potential.

Filling the Seats with Family

But wait, there’s more.

Thanks to the Ancestry messaging feature, I was able to make several meaningful connections with second and third cousins who are also descendants of the characters in the play. Through active Facebook Family Group pages, Barb and I were able to promote the play among distant relatives.

Lucky for us, we’re part of an extremely large family! Cousins and cousins of cousins turned out en masse. One even brought an ancient crocheted cap and shawl that our Great-great-grandmother (Pearl’s grandma, born in 1841, who was a character in the play) wore in real life.

Barb and I were blown away—greeting all of these distant cousins in person for the very first time. A few drove hundreds of miles to see the show and connect. And we weren’t the only ones meeting cousins for the first time. Each night, as audience members took their seats, one could hear introductions and exclamations similar to “My mother was Betty!” or “You must be Fred’s son!”

So memorable, so magical, a true “pinch me, this can’t be real” experience.

The Last Act: One More Discovery

Lastly, thanks to a plat map and additional U.S. census and marriage records found on Ancestry, I was able to deduce that Zoey Ann Hurst, the actor who played the role of Pearl’s grandmother, descended from great-great-grandparents who later occupied the very same homestead where my grandmother Pearl was born in a soddie in 1889. That was on Zoey’s mother’s side. On her father’s side, she is my sixth cousin twice removed.

If you’re a big fan of “woo-woo” moments like these, you have found the right endeavor with genealogy!