Welcome.

Leaving Secret City is a non-fiction narrative derived from memories, documents, photos, and whispered secrets. The memories are my own. The documents and photos come from various sources which I cite. The events related here are as factual as I can make them, but sprinkled here and there may be a few educated guesses. I will clue you in when that happens. As for what this website is "about," I will leave that for you to unravel. Navigation is a mix of conventional, unorthodox, and hidden. Good luck.

Au Family Photos

Mary Elizabeth Au,
circa 1908, Mansfield,
Richland County, Ohio

One day my Grandmother and I sat down on the davenport in the parlor of her home to look at some of the old family photos she kept in the bottom drawer of the bookcase. As we did so, I numbered each photo lightly in pencil on the back. Simultaneously we made a list on notepaper setting out the identities of the people who appeared in each print. When we finished, we returned the photos to the drawer. I kept the list of names. There were a total of 25 paper photographs plus a few tintypes on the list. Grandmother passed away in 1990. The photos vanished shortly after that.