Simple: To answer the basic question of why someone—anyone—would come to the settlement at Jamestown when it was common knowledge the place sucked.
It was through conversations with friends and family, that I realized these pre-Colonial settlers must have had compelling, perhaps even desperate, reasons for making such a harrowing journey. Once I began my research, I discovered Jamestown provided a very real, very tangible way for the settlers to create a new future for themselves—a future worth risking their lives to travel. Whether or not they were successful is another story, but the place did offer them a chance for something they would never have in England. And that was my “in”: explore what compelled them to take that chance. The real story is about the people, not just the events. It was also inspired by the fact that my father’s family was in with the first group of settlers, and we are not a venturous family! So, why did they take this risk? I don’t have a definite answer to this question, although I now have an idea as to why, but I discovered some very interesting characters along the way.