The Author
Growing up in eastern Massachusetts, Susan Snow Lukesh heard stories of ancestors from New Bedford, Massachusetts, studied the family tree of her maternal grandparents with family lineages extending back to the early seventeenth century, lived among a handful of family antiques, and was entrusted with a gold bracelet—her third great grandfather’s fiftieth wedding anniversary gift to his wife. Clearly, this instilled an abiding interest in the past and when she went to college she elected to study the Classical Mediterranean. Ultimately, PhD in hand, she excavated prehistoric sites in Southern Italy and Sicily (1972-2000)—how much farther from her family history could she travel and yet still appreciate the study of the past?
After some twenty years as an administrator in higher education, excavating during the summer, an opportunity to live and work in the Middle East arrived. Coming at a time when her decades-long colleague had retired and her field work ceased, the chance seemed irresistible. While there (2007-2010) she traveled to many surrounding countries during work breaks and reported her daily life and travels in a blog so family, friends, and colleagues could see that part of her life. Now the Middle East is in chaos and she feels very fortunate to have visited eight countries in the region while living and working in Qatar. During this time out of the US she reflected on what drew her initially to archaeology and to consider the possibilities of using her research, problem solving, and writing skills to further explore, understand, and share her family history.
Once back in the US, she took up this effort, starting with the skeletal family tree developed by her maternal grandfather, added many branches to the tree and proved the dates and people provided, finding, in fact, that the family was descended from eight Mayflower families. The depth and complexity of this small band of colonists and the families they started suggested that she consider ways to tell their stories. She reached out and met her mother’s cousin—Deborah Snow Simonds—who was delighted to discuss family history and share many documents and stories. One such treasure is the carte de visite album created by her great-great grandmother that is the basis for Frozen in Time. And so the story of her nineteenth-century ancestors was born. Yet a question remains—how to present the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ancestors?
For more on the author see:
http://www.susanslukeshllc.com/Publications.html