Highlights Archives
A New Book Explores Family History
Every family has a character who seems larger than life and who often takes on a mythical quality in the telling and retelling of his or her stories. For Wendy Bilen, her grandmother Josie Broadhead was that character. And years after Josie's death, Bilen embarked on a journey to unearth Josie's story, a story told in the new book Finding Josie from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
Josie Broadhead was born in 1911 on the North Dakota prairie. She married a Wisconsin farmer and moved to a dairy farm outside La Crosse. Along the way, she began taking in people in need of a home: "… beggars and drunks and children of drunks, mentally ill children and children with mentally ill parents. Brothers and cousins and sisters and in-laws and strangers."
In taking on these challenges that no one else wanted, Josie left an almost mythical legacy. As Bilen dug into her grandmother's past, she came to know the woman, the real woman, behind the stories and old photos. And in the process, she realizes that the search is about her, too. Discovering her grandmother's complicated nature, she learns much about herself and her own choices.
Much more than mere memoir of family history, this dual story about Bilen's journey illuminates the surprising ways our lives intersect with those of our ancestors.
Finding Josie is available for purchase from the Wisconsin Historical Museum Shop by calling 888-999-1669 toll free and at your local bookstore. Author Wendy Bilen will be at Pearl Street Books in La Crosse on June 28 at 10 a.m. and in Madison at A Room of One's Own on June 29 at 2 p.m.
:: Posted June 11, 2008
|
