My aunt’s grandfather called Jefferson Davis—cousin. Jefferson Davis wanted to go into politics and could not let any voter know that he was once married to an Indian girl. That Indian girl died giving birth to Jefferson's baby boy. The boy lived, grew up, married an Indian girl and they had a baby. Unfortunately, they both died before their baby could talk. Jefferson Davis could not take this girl into his house where visitors could learn that the Indian girl was his granddaughter, so he gave the girl to my aunt’s grandfather to raise. John Riley Davis raised Jefferson Davis’ granddaughter, a half-breed named Novella.
I grew up, went into education, and retired with her stories in my head. I had time on my hands after retirement and I began doing research to learn if those stories were true. I did find support for everything she said. While doing research for "Lincoln's Family" and "They wanted Lincoln Dead"—I learned about Izola. Her story was so interesting and compelling that I wrote Izola.
