The Quest for Inez: Two Ways to Find a Grandmother

A HIGHLY UNUSUAL APPROACH TO A GENEALOGICAL MYSTERY In April 1910, a young woman named Inez Willick gave birth to a baby girl, put her up for adoption, and disappeared. When Inez's granddaughter began the search for her mother's mother, she didn't have much more than a name. But, as happens so often in genealogical research, she stumbled into an overwhelming bounty of information. Among her discoveries were another secret child, a close tie to one of America's titans of industry, and a second cousin in California with a cache of family photos. What remained elusive was a definitive answer to the question that lay at the heart of the story: if Inez was her grandmother, who was her grandfather? There were a few clues, including a mysterious marriage (and annulment) and a scandalous rumor with no one left alive to verify it, but every road led to a dead end. Kitty Burns Florey, the author of nine novels, did what a fictionwriter does: she took the facts she unearthed and turned them into a plausible tale of not only a grandmother but a grandfather, a quiet turn-of-the-century Ohio town that is less serene than it appears, and an intriguing love story. This is family history with a new twist. Here are two stories: the verifiable facts - fascinating in themselves - and alongside them an alternative universe that takes the research and flies with it in an attempt to come close to the truth. And, in the process of writing her grandmother's story, Florey delves into her mother's life and her own and finds some surprising parallels - and some revelations she was not expecting.n