Newspaper Veteran From Oxford Crafts Historical Fiction

For more than 40 years, veteran newspaperman Jim Smith has written about real events.

It’s only now that the Oxford resident has taken to crafting a fictional story chock full of historic figures and the story of this nation’s founding.

After ten years of research, Smith has completed Wah-say-lan: A Tale of the Iroquois in the American Revolution,” his first novel, which he said can be viewed as a history book, a tale of adventure or a love story.

Smith’s resume include stints at The Hartford Courant, The News-Times of Danbury and The Connecticut Post. 

He is now the executive editor of The Bristol Press and the New Britain Herald. 

Smith said writing a novel was quite a change from writing and editing copy for a daily newspaper. 

I’ve spent 40 years writing non-fiction as a journalist, so this is my first novel. It’s a really unique experience making it up,” he said. It has a frame of the American Revolution, but my characters and what they do is in my imagination. It was a fascinating exercise for me.”

The book’s title character is a 17-year-old girl of the Seneca Indian Nation. The book chronicles Wah-say-lan’s life during the Revolutionary War, her falling in love with a black slave who joined George Washington’s Continental Army to gain his freedom — and their encounters with historic American figures. 

The Seneca, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, were prominent in the area now known as Canandaigua Lake, N.Y., where Smith grew up. 

They were also allies of the British during the Revolutionary War.

Smith had been told many stories about the Seneca growing up from his parents and grandparents. I used to daydream about the Indians. I guess it just had to come out,” he said.

Smith said the story originally started as his master’s thesis while studying at Wesleyan University.

Wah-say-lan’s love interest, Jamwesaw, is a slave who lives in Wallingford before joining the Continental Army in an effort to find his mother, whom he was separated from at auction as a 10-year-old boy. 

Jamwesaw, also known by his slave name of Freemen Trentham, is based on the story of a slave from Wallingford who fought with the Continental Army.

Smith said he did plenty of research for the story, including having it vetted by African-American and Native American history experts. 

He also tried to get into the heads of his characters and imagine what they might be feeling or behaving. 

I had to really put myself there. I’m a white man. I’m not an Indian woman and I’m not a black man. But I think I was able to get inside their heads and make them believable characters,” he said.

He also had the chance to implement historic figures and events in the book, including meetings with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Smith said the book has interests for many people. 

People interested in the American Revolution, people interested in Native American culture, people interested in the slavery issue and the whole enigma will find this interesting,” he said. 

And people who like to read love stories will be treated to a love story. People anywhere can connect to it.”

The book is available or $19.95 from Plaidswede Publishing at www.plaidswede.com.

The book is also available at NHBooksellers.com.

Visit the Wah-Say-Lan Facebook page here.

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