Peggy Chapman is a descendant of German, Scotch-Irish, and English Pietist emigrants. She has written two genealogical family histories, a number of genealogical and historical entries for Lincoln and Burke County historical Heritage books, and several articles for the book Burke County Tales. She abstracted Burke and McDowell County court records for her book Diehl Descendants. She has taught a Sunday school class in the Baptist Church for forty years. Peggy began researching early German immigration to fill in the gaps of official records. She familiarized herself with history of the times, including white and black slavery, lifetime slavery and Indian removal. 

      She intertwined dramatized fictional scenes into the current history for that time period and place, bringing her fictional characters to life. She particularly adhered to the spirit of the Pietist movement, which emerged from Luther’s Reformation. It continues to this day throughout the nation. It took her nearly seven years to reach her goal. 


      Having studied art at times during her life, she decided to illustrate the book herself, using pencil and pen drawings. She has created a number of oil paintings. She has also worked with watercolor, pastel, acrylic, charcoal, and collage.