From Family Tree to Historical Fiction: Fawn Brokaw Doyle's Quest to Recover Sarah Rapalje
When Fawn Brokaw Doyle answers Instagram's viral question "What's your Roman Empire?" with "The Dutch/Walloon origins of New York City and my 8th great-grandmother," she realizes she has a story worth telling. "I'd been researching Sarah's life for six years at that point," Doyle recalls of that fall 2023 moment. "I thought, 'I could write a book about that.'"
That book, Salt People of the Cloud Houses, transforms Sarah Rapalje from a historical footnote, "the first Christian daughter born in New Netherland," into the complex protagonist of a debut novel that excavates the multicultural foundations of what would become New York City.
From Genealogy to Genesis
Doyle's journey to Sarah's story began with a personal decision in 2017. "I got engaged and began wondering if I should keep my maiden name (Brokaw). I researched my genealogy for the first time." What she discovered completely shifted her understanding of American origins. "That led to discovering my Walloon/Dutch ancestry and how New York started as a Dutch colony. I grew up in New York State and never learned this history in school!"
The revelation that her 8th great-grandmother was the first child of European heritage born in New York state sent Doyle deep into archives and historical sites. "I couldn't stop researching the history and imagining what Sarah's life was like." What began as genealogical curiosity evolved into a six-year scholarly undertaking that would reshape her understanding of early American diversity.
The Designer's Approach to Historical Fiction
A designer by profession, Doyle brings a unique methodology to storytelling. "I had an amazing painting and drawing teacher who instructed to 'work the whole page at once.' It means that if you perfect details without considering the overall composition, you'll end up with disjointed elements that don't add up. Crafting a novel is similar in needing an overarching structure, with scenes being in relation to one another to create the story."
This design philosophy extends beyond plot structure. "The 'whole page' also includes cover design, blurb, website design, social media—there are a lot of elements that need to be cohesive." For Doyle, even the book's research phase required this comprehensive approach. She hand-stitched a complete 17th-century working-class woman's outfit—chemise, skirt, stays, apron, and coif—to gain a deeper understanding of Sarah's world.
"The process of making clothing by hand gave me understanding," she explains. "Sarah had a large family and I imagined the time it would take for her to make and alter their clothes as they grew or their garments wore out, since there weren't clothing stores and imported fabrics and tailors were costly." The physical experience of creating period clothing informed her writing in unexpected ways. "My takeaway from wearing it—the stays (which look like a precursor of a corset) are actually very comfortable and practical for physical work like going for a hike or gardening."
Discovering a Different Colonial Story
Growing up in upstate New York gave Doyle unique insight into both Native American culture and pre-industrial life. "Attending Pow Wows hosted by the Seneca Nation in my area as a child strongly imprinted a reverence for Native culture. It inspired research and representation of the Lenape tribes that would have been Sarah's neighbors in the Dutch colony," she reflects. "The Amish communities in my area made it convenient to observe their farming practices, which avoid modern technology. Driving in any direction, it's a common occurrence to slow down for a horse-drawn buggy on the road and imagine I was in the 17th century."
These experiences prepared her to understand what she discovered in the archives: a genuinely multicultural society from its inception. "The Dutch colonial court records surprised me," Doyle explains. "They're often like episodes of a reality tv courtroom show. They're so entertaining and bring people from the past to life."
More importantly, these records revealed women's roles that challenged her expectations. "I found many voices of women in the Dutch records—things beyond marriage, birth, and death. These women were running businesses, taking people to court for slander, negotiating child support for their illegitimate children, and securing apprenticeship contracts for their siblings. I loved how much agency women had to speak for themselves in Dutch-colonial courts."
Yet perhaps most striking was what happened when political control shifted. "Rights slip slowly and then all at once," Doyle observes. "Thirty years after the English takeover women's rights abruptly changed. The Duke's Laws went into effect and women drop out of records beyond birth, marriage, death, theft, or prostitution. They couldn't run their own businesses or own property as freely as they could under Dutch rule."
Bridging Past and Present
Doyle sees clear connections between Sarah's world and contemporary America. "I think the surprising thing is that it's not unlike present day New York," Doyle notes. "People were drawn to the city by economic opportunities and there was toleration of different cultures for the sake of commerce. At least nineteen languages were spoken, with business bridging cultural divides. There was the familiar 'hustle' and 'grind' culture—a sense anyone could make a fortune with hard work and luck." Her novel challenges common assumptions about early American society while illuminating the roots of modern New York's character.
The Writer's Journey
Doyle's "portal" moment came at the Wyckoff House Museum, the oldest structure in New York. "It's a simple structure, but the Dutch were known for having cozy, clean homes, and standing there, I could feel what that meant. It feels like walking into someone's home instead of a museum." Historical documents provided another entry point: "Reading intercepted Walloon correspondence between family members who fled the Spanish Netherlands and those who stayed was heartbreaking. The situation must have been dire for Sarah's parents to take such a risky voyage and be the first to settle in an unknown land."
Balancing historical accuracy with narrative demands required careful consideration. "I started with facts. I combined the personal records of Sarah and her family with historical records of the colony and, more broadly, world politics. Almost every side character is based on a real person." Where records ended, plausible inference began. "I wanted to tell the story from Sarah's POV, so fiction was the bridge to give her a perspective on historical events."
Looking Forward
As Salt People of the Cloud Houses prepares for its June 9, 2025, release, fittingly, the 400th anniversary of Sarah Rapalje's birth, Doyle has already identified her next projects. "There are several possibilities in the works. All are historical fiction and most are inspired by genealogy (mine and other people's). Some are also set in Dutch New York. I have an idea for a novel set in the early 1800s upstate NY that I'm really excited about, but I have a lot of research yet to do."
The novel arrives at a moment when understanding America's diverse origins feels particularly urgent. "I plan on continuing to tell their stories, so they aren't forgotten among America's founders," Doyle explains. By recovering Sarah Rapalje's voice, she reminds us that the story of American origins is far more complex, multicultural, and female-driven than traditional narratives suggest. Through meticulous research and creative imagination, Doyle has given us a founding mother whose story helps explain how New York became the city of immigrants it remains today.
Readers interested in following Fawn Brokaw Doyle can find her on her website and Instagram.