FAMILY HISTORY DRAMA : True Ancestry. Told Like Legend.

Travis M. Heaton
  • 4.9 (30)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Family History Drama is a true storytelling podcast that transforms actual ancestral accounts into immersive, emotionally rich audio experiences. It’s a place where true stories, well told, will inspire, caution, entertain, and instruct. By weaving personal stories and historical events with dramatized narrative, each episode brings context to the forgotten voices of the past—complete with the sounds of steam trains, battle cries, whispered prayers, and all the tragedies and divine providence of humanity. Family history isn’t just about names and dates—it’s the preserved energy, soul, and essence of ancestors past, recounted with power, humor, emotion, and heart. We invite you to feel your ancestors as well as think about them. Make the Día de Los Muertos an everyday occasion, because the moments of history become personal when family is involved.  Real ancestors. Real drama. Real lessons. Family History Drama—True Ancestry, told like Legend.

  1. Ep 28-Mary Chamberlain Pt 2:💰High Pay, No Glory🫣 & a Rollaway Saloon🍺 in Fried Onion, AZ🌵

    08/01/2025

    Ep 28-Mary Chamberlain Pt 2:💰High Pay, No Glory🫣 & a Rollaway Saloon🍺 in Fried Onion, AZ🌵

    Send a text The all-woman town council of Kanab, Utah, wasn’t just a quirky footnote in frontier history—they were a civic force with apron strings and iron wills. In this second half of their story, the ordinances keep coming, but marshals keep quitting. So the women place a help-wanted ad for a man with “spine, humor, and no fear of mothers.” But not every tale from their tenure is quite so grounded… We investigate the myth of the “Rollaway Saloon”—a bar-on-logs said to have dodged prohibition by rolling across the Utah-Arizona border. You’ll hear the outrageous cowboy version told by Rowland W. Rider… and the butter-churning, baby-raising truth recorded by the locals who actually lived it. Also in this episode: — A showdown over 12 gallons of “medicinal” liquor 🥃  — A marshal who answers to “Marsha” 🤠  — A fruit festival🍇🍑welcome party for the first automobile to reach the North Rim — A young Edwin Dilworth Chamberlain explaining why Kanab watermelons grow so big🍉🤭 — And a poetic farewell to the women who governed with grit, prayer, and a rocking chair in every meeting. This is the finale of Kanab’s Petticoat Government. And you’ll never see a “women’s meeting” the same way again. Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    29 min
  2. Ep 27 - Mary Chamberlain Pt 1: 🗳️Election Meddling, 👗Modest Skirts & Repo Cattle🐮

    07/01/2025

    Ep 27 - Mary Chamberlain Pt 1: 🗳️Election Meddling, 👗Modest Skirts & Repo Cattle🐮

    Send a text In the dusty crossroads town of Kanab, Utah, the year was 1911—and democracy was about to get a surprise makeover. What began as a satirical prank by frustrated young men turned into the most unexpected political shake-up in frontier history: the election of an all-woman town council. Part one of this dramatized two-part episode sets the stage with a cast of formidable frontier women, flustered cowboys, tormented marshals, and cattle in the crosshairs. We unpack the fiery election, local newspaper feuds, livestock on the lam, and the first tremors of change in a town that didn’t know what hit it. Featuring real journal entries, historical detail, period sound design, and that AM radio drama flair you love. From slingshot bans to citywide moo-hem, the petticoats are here—and they didn’t come to knit. Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    33 min
  3. Ep 26 Wade Morrison Pt 2 : From Virginia Clerk🧹to ⭐️Texas Legend🥤

    06/01/2025

    Ep 26 Wade Morrison Pt 2 : From Virginia Clerk🧹to ⭐️Texas Legend🥤

    Send us a text In the summer shadows of Reconstruction-era Virginia, Wade Morrison stands at a crossroads—torn between the memory of a broken town and the promise of a boundless frontier. As Christiansburg heals slowly from war, whispers of Texas grow louder, tugging at the edges of his ambition. Farewells are spoken. Crates are packed. And across a thousand miles of rail, river, and red clay, a new chapter begins. But even as Wade heads west, one quiet question lingers: who was the real Dr. Pepper? This episode unveils a surprising truth buried in the 1880 census—about the man behind the name, and the life he preferred to lead. It wasn’t medicine. And it wasn’t fame. Featuring heartfelt goodbyes, the mystery of flavored seltzers, and the quiet birth of a legend, this episode traces the journey of a young man who would one day name a drink—but never forget the town that named him. Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    33 min
  4. Ep 25 Wade Morrison Pt 1: The Boy Who Named Dr Pepper🥤The Untold Story😮

    05/01/2025

    Ep 25 Wade Morrison Pt 1: The Boy Who Named Dr Pepper🥤The Untold Story😮

    Send a text In the shadow of a nation torn by Civil War, a young boy in Christiansburg, Virginia, sweeps the floor of a quiet drug store—unaware that his path will one day lead to the naming of one of America’s most iconic sodas. This episode traces the early life of Wade Brockenbrough Morrison: The forming of his surroundings, childhood, boyhood, the backdrop of a civil war, into the heartbreak of his father’s death in 1866, and his first steps into manhood under the mentorship of a kindhearted physician named Dr. William Pepper. Through the quiet rituals of small-town life—church bells, peppermint drops, and the hiss of hand-mixed seltzer water—young Wade learns how to carry grief, serve others, and look ahead with hope. As the town of Christiansburg limps through reconstruction, Wade finds a glimmer of light behind the counter of a pharmacy and the kindness of a girl named Minnie Pepper. But with each passing season, the question looms: will he stay where his roots were planted… or follow the call of a future only he can see? Family History Drama. True Ancestry. Told like legend. Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    39 min
  5. Ep 24 Bartholdi the Italian: 👞Cobbler ⛏️Miner 🍇Vintner🍷

    04/01/2025

    Ep 24 Bartholdi the Italian: 👞Cobbler ⛏️Miner 🍇Vintner🍷

    Send a text The article snippet below is all I could find on the life of an Italian legend in the San Gabriel Canyon, by the name of Bartholdi. No full name is given, and i could not locate him on any census. His arrival is as mysterious as his death was tragic.  “On the mesa above the hogan of Luisenna, an Italian shoemaker, Bartholdi, built a rude shelter of rocks and mud in 1872. Bartholdi had set up a boot and shoe repair shop at The Forks the year before, and had a good business but he, too, got the Gold Fever, and struck out for himself within a year. In later years this old Italian who was called "Bismark" by his friends, became more interested in his bees, to whom he gave the hut which still stands on the hill, and in the garden, vineyard and orchard which he had planted on the flat below. There he built a substantial house from the lumber of the abandoned hydraulic flumes, and developed an Old World atmosphere in his secluded self-sufficiency. He had a dozen varieties of grapes which he mixed to make a light red wine which had no name, but was of an unusual delicacy of bouquet. In the Fall of 1917 Bartholdi was riding his burro along the trail when the animal shied from the whizz of a rattlesnake, unseating the old man, whose foot stuck in the stirrup. The burro dragged him to safety but in trying to release the foot bit him, causing an infection from which he died. Although badly damaged by the March floods this vineyard is still held by Bartholdi's heirs and has been used in recent years as a picnic place for an Italian Club known as ‘Club Baton’”. (Trails Magazine, Summer 1938, Pg 11) Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    34 min
  6. Ep 23 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 7: Assassination🩸Arson🔥Death🪦& Divine Providence

    03/01/2025

    Ep 23 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 7: Assassination🩸Arson🔥Death🪦& Divine Providence

    Send a text 🚨Are YOU related to ME? Find me on Family Search: Jesse Perse Harmon 🔗 Then click “VIEW RELATIONSHIP” to see if we are cousins.  Joseph and Hyrum Smith are assassinated by those who were assigned to protect them. No one is held accountable. Turmoil continues to increase. Hundreds of home are burned by mobs. The evacuation planned is expedited by rumors of a federal army marching to Nauvoo. Hundreds will die along the way as most are unprepared for the winter elements. Ann Harmon dies at Winter Quarters. Jesse arrives in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in the autumn of 1848. Work to do in the new land, as Jesse is busy helping to build new communities and put down roots, retirement and death in Holden, Utah. Hindsight reveals why such treachery was allowed to come upon the Mormonites.  Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    1h 12m
  7. Ep 22 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 6: Bounty 💰 Treason 🫣 & Arrested

    02/01/2025

    Ep 22 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 6: Bounty 💰 Treason 🫣 & Arrested

    Send a text 🚨Are YOU related to ME? Find me on Family Search: Jesse Perse Harmon 🔗 Then click “VIEW RELATIONSHIP” to see if we are cousins.  The year 1844 was a pivotal and tragic time for Nauvoo, marked by rising tensions, internal betrayal & external political divisions. Early in the year, dissent grew within the Church, leading William Law and others to establish the Nauvoo Expositor, accusing Joseph Smith of corruption. When the Nauvoo City Council declared the press a public nuisance and ordered its destruction on June 10, anti-Mormon sentiment exploded. In response to growing threats, Joseph declared martial law and called out the Nauvoo Legion. Seeking to avoid greater conflict, he and Hyrum traveled to Carthage under Governor Thomas Ford’s promise of protection. However, that visit would turn our worlds upside down, and would jostle the snow globes of our realities in a way that took years if not decades for the flakes to settle.  Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    52 min
  8. Ep 21 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 5: 🥶 Alpheus 🤠 Posse 🚢 & The Maid Of Iowa

    01/01/2025

    Ep 21 Jesse Perse Harmon Pt 5: 🥶 Alpheus 🤠 Posse 🚢 & The Maid Of Iowa

    Send a text 🚨Are YOU related to ME? Find me on Family Search: Jesse Perse Harmon 🔗 Then click “VIEW RELATIONSHIP” to see if we are cousins. After the 1842 assassination attempt on Lilburn W Boggs, life in Nauvoo would never be the same. My work as police sergeant became increasingly complicated. Conspirators seemed to come out of the woodwork from the community itself. Protecting President Joseph Smith Jr. became a nonstop task day & night. We rode hundreds of miles in a posse of Nauvoo Legion cavalry to retrieve him from illegal arrest in Dixon, Illinois. The implosion of our community from forces inside and outside of her was imminent. We did our best to enjoy the small moments, as hell was breaking loose and our lives were being sanctified by the persecutions that rained down on us.  Support the show 🕵️‍♂️ Find me at https://www.FamilyHistoryDrama.com 📧 Email me at FamilyHistoryDrama@gmail.com 🐦 Tweet the Podcast @FamilyHistoryFM Generational Healing Through Family History Memories Are Passed Through DNA From Your Grandparents, Say Scientists https://www.buzzworthy.com/memories-dna-grandparents/ Sound Credits: https://freesound.org INSTAGRAM: @FamilyHistoryDrama @TravisM.Heaton

    53 min
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4.9
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30 Ratings

About

Family History Drama is a true storytelling podcast that transforms actual ancestral accounts into immersive, emotionally rich audio experiences. It’s a place where true stories, well told, will inspire, caution, entertain, and instruct. By weaving personal stories and historical events with dramatized narrative, each episode brings context to the forgotten voices of the past—complete with the sounds of steam trains, battle cries, whispered prayers, and all the tragedies and divine providence of humanity. Family history isn’t just about names and dates—it’s the preserved energy, soul, and essence of ancestors past, recounted with power, humor, emotion, and heart. We invite you to feel your ancestors as well as think about them. Make the Día de Los Muertos an everyday occasion, because the moments of history become personal when family is involved.  Real ancestors. Real drama. Real lessons. Family History Drama—True Ancestry, told like Legend.

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