The American memoirist and poet Maya Angelou once wrote: "Words mean more than what is written down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning."
In his book Mixed Roots – A Family History, David (Davy) Adams has given voice or indeed voices to those who went before him and are no longer able to speak for themselves.
In many ways, David is their voice. He is of their line. In searching the family lineage – from his great grandfather, John Adams from Annahilt, to the grandfather, Jack Adams, he never met, David brings together the threads of four generations.
In Mixed Roots, Adams has woven facts with some literary licence and created what could be described as 'his-story'. The story of John Adams, the lad who woke up one morning with a sense of purpose – albeit an unknown purpose. Joining the British Army and departing from Newry, here was a young man with a thirst which could not be quenched by staying in rural Co Down.
Family stories handed down from one generation to another, mostly by word of mouth and fuelled with some embellishment are often now lost to memory. The oral tradition so important for generations of Irish people has been diminished by busy lives and modern technologies.
Davy Adams recaptures this oral tradition from his family tree complete with innuendoes, rumours and, indeed, secrets.
The stories of John Adams, his wife and their sons become even more real because David paints a picture by socially contextualising the times they lived through with historical facts and economic commentary; world events from Sevastopol in the Crimea to the hills of Lucknow in India.
David allows the reader to walk through those times and despite the passing of two centuries makes the histories touchable.
What is history after all if not, as Napoleon said, "a set of lies agreed upon"? David tries to debunk some of those lies about Empire.
The book is scathing about the devastating impact of colonialism both in India and Ireland. It's explained in an unvarnished and brutal manner.
This could not have been easy for the author, whose background could be described as staunchly unionist and loyalist. Davy Adams was part of the Ulster Democratic Party which in 1994 helped negotiate the loyalist ceasefires and four years later assisted in the creation of the Good Friday Agreement.
He was immersed in loyalism, the Crown and the ever retelling of the Glorious Revolution, Empire and Ulster's great sacrifices at the Somme.
The author walked away from local politics – a turbulent exit which involved vile threats from paramilitaries.
There's nothing glorious or glamorous about life in the army in the 19th century. Even less so when living in the undercarriage of a world based on class and caste separation.
Meagre existences, bloody battles, famine and desolation stalk the pages of Mixed Roots. There is some happiness too but not much.
The fruitlessness of wars does not in any way diminish the bravery of the rank and file sent out to fight them. John Adams and his sons proved this.
The stoicism of matriarchal figures is not lost in the story either, as these women faced grief and incomparable loss. Making much of what little they had did not save them from infant mortality or fever.
It would be unfair to give away the family secret which arises through the research. Let's just say it would be as shocking to the sheltered residents of Annahilt in 2023 as it would have been in 1845.
The author's life since his days in the UDP have taken him to war zones around the globe. Through his experiences with the Irish charity GOAL, he has been an attestant to the immediate aftermath of famine, conflict and natural disasters.
Like his predecessor, David Adams is not immune to what he has borne witness. Unlike his ancestor, he has found his voice.
Mixed Roots is more than a simple family story, though that's at its core. It is a social history too – a social history which is spied through the eyes, not through the diaries of the great and the good, but through the travails, tragedies and endurance of ordinary people.
Those who were the footnotes of history but no less valid for that. As Maya Angelou also said: "Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory."
Mixed Roots – A Family History by David Adams is available on Amazon, priced £9.99 (paperbook) and £3.50 (Kindle)
