Submitted Photo While Nancy Silcox usually does nonfiction books, her new project partly set in New Ulm is historical fiction.
NEW ULM – Writing about a family’s journey from Cincinnati Ohio to New Ulm Minnesota from 1856-1862 was Nancy Silcox’s first foray into historical fiction.
The book, “A Place Called Home”, follows the Beck family through the eyes of 10-year-old Carolina Beck. As German immigrants driven out of Cincinnati by anti-immigrant sentiments, they travel to New Ulm by steamboat and seek to establish their homestead. By 1862, the family has to defend their home from attacks during the U.S.-Dakota war.
Silcox said she stumbled upon this idea when her cousin told her about a quote, where trader Andrew Myrick said the starving Dakota could eat grass if they were hungry.
“That got me questioning more about the U.S.-Dakota War,” Silcox said. “Then I really wanted to know more about the settlers who came to New Ulm. Why did they come?”
While the genre is historical fiction, Silcox said she wanted to make sure everything she wrote about was as accurate as possible to the real-life conditions and experiences of immigrant settlers in New Ulm. To do so, she said she contacted several local experts.
Submitted Photo The cover for Nancy Silcox’s new book, which describes the journey of an immigrant family from Cincinnati Ohio to New Ulm Minnesota from 1856 to 1862.
“Most of it came from files, memoirs, and personal accounts I found at the Brown County Historical Society,” Silcox said. “Darla Gebhard found many things I could use to inspire the writing of historical fiction. I also went to Cincinnati because the story starts in Cincinnati. I met with librarians at the public library and the archivist at the Cincinnati Historical Society.”
Silcox said she learned about an active community of Germans who came with the Turners in 1857 to settle in New Ulm.
To get a feel for what had already been written on the subject, Silcox combed through numerous nonfiction books on the U.S.-Dakota war. She said these books focused on the battles and tragedies that happened, and she wanted to focus on a different side of that history.
“I wanted to write something that got into the feelings people had,” Silcox said. “[They] were living through this experience of building a new community, finding and growing their own food, building a house, and starting from scratch.”
Currently, the book is at the printers and Silcox is waiting on the final proof. The book itself will be released August 24. Silcox said she has been working on the book for four years. With the finish line in sight, she said she is relieved to have told the story she set out to.
“It’s really become a part of my life,” Silcox said. “The characters have become real for me and also my friends and family. One of my friends would regularly ask me, ‘What’s Carolina doing today?’”
On August 24, Silcox will be hosting a book talk and signing at the Brown County Historical Society Annex Building from 12-1 p.m. The event is free to attend but will require a reservation to attend beforehand.
For more information on the event, visit https://www.browncountyhistorymn.org/event/book-release-author-talk-signing-a-place-called-home/.
For more information about the author, visit https://nancynoyessilcox.com/.
