Introducing Family Lore

Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now: link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD

• 0:03Speaker 00

  There's something that happens when you're sitting around family, maybe at a holiday dinner, maybe just an ordinary afternoon, and someone leans in and says, "Did I ever tell you about..." And just like that, you're pulled into a family story, so specific, so detailed, you never think to question it. It just becomes true. Until one day, you hear it again and wonder, "Wait, is that actually what happened?" That's where the new podcast, Family Lore, begins. It takes those stories, the ones passed down, polished, protected, and gently starts to pull at the edges. Not to ruin them, but to understand them. In this special presentation,

• 0:47Speaker 00

  you'll hear a preview of Family Lore, Episode 1, "The Unsinkable Margarita Sames." Yes, that margarita. The one that shows up at celebrations, vacations, sometimes Tuesdays. But like any good story, it comes with a question: Who actually invented it? Family Lore follows one family's claim that their aunt created the legendary cocktail. As you listen, search for Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts. And when you're done, maybe call someone in your family. Ask them to tell that story again. And this time, ask questions.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  I want to tell you a quick story that might be the true origins of this podcast. It was a hot summer afternoon in Texas, and I was about 12 years old. I was spending some time at my grandfather's house, and at some point, he said he wanted to show me something I might find interesting. So he went to his office, and he took out a small wooden box, a little bigger than a shoebox.

• 1:49Speaker 01

  He opened the lid, and inside were three pistols. One was the standard-issue Colt 45, which he carried in World War II. The second was a German Luger, which he got from someone who wouldn't be needing it anymore. And the third was a Colt 45 1917, a big hefty six-shot revolver. I knew the story behind the first two, but I didn't know anything about the revolver. And that's when he told me that I had a great uncle who ran a bank in Kansas. And this uncle was considered a potential target by the famous bank robbing duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. So the United States government shipped this revolver to my great uncle in the event he had to defend himself from Bonnie and Clyde.

• 2:34Speaker 01

  I love hearing stories like these. You know, family lore. And not just lore about my family, anybody's family. You hear it from time to time. "I'm related to Pocahontas," or "my great uncle invented the yo-yo," or "my grandmother was almost cast as Dorothy Gale." Those are kind of unusual examples, but I'm interested in the unusual ones. The ones that seem a little far-fetched are just intriguing. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell their family stories. And then, we're going to find out if there's any truth to these stories. Our investigations will not always be easy or predictable. Because the stories we hear in this show aren't taken from textbooks or documentary series. They're preserved in a different format.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  This is Family Lore, and I'm your host, Lloyd Lockridge.

• 3:25Speaker 02

  Hello Lloyd.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  Hi there.

• 3:27Speaker 02

  How are you doing?

• 3:28Speaker 01

  I'm good, how are you?

• 3:30Speaker 02

  I'm just well. Been so excited just to talk to you. Not...

• 3:34Speaker 01

  I know.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  Here's what we're talking about. I'm just glad to talk to you.

• 3:37Speaker 01

  I know, I know, it's been a while.

• 3:40Speaker 02

  It's been a long time.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  This is Martha Sayers. Martha is not an easy guest for me to introduce. First of all, I've always called her Miss Sayers. Two of her five kids, William and Markham, are two of my best friends. I've known them for as long as I can remember. And I've known Miss Sayers for as long as I can remember. You know the old saying, "It takes a village to raise a child"? Well, Miss Sayers is a very important person in the village that raised me. There are many stories Miss Sayers could tell you that would be very embarrassing for me. Frankly, she could stop this podcast right in its tracks. But instead, she's agreed to tell us a story about her life. In the past, when I've told people a shortened version of the story you're about to hear, they think I'm kidding. But I'm not. This is real family lore.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  And it centers around Miss Sayers's great aunt. A woman named Margarita Sames.

• 4:32Speaker 03

  This is a colorful and romantic country. One of the oldest, and yet one of the newest cities on the border is Laredo, Texas, the gateway to Mexico.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  The story begins in the early 1960s in Miss Sayers's hometown of Laredo, Texas, which at the time was a sleepy little border town. Her home life when she was a little girl was pretty normal and down-to-earth, as she puts it. But every once in a while, her family would get a visit from Uncle Bill and his wife, Margarita. And Bill and Margarita were just different, especially Margarita.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  They would come to Laredo and stay at my grandmother's house. And that's where I got to be around her a few times. She's the person you take a second look at, you know, you don't just walk by and not notice because she was stunning, very attractive, and she was very made up all the time and had fancy clothing. And Margarita just had this swagger, you know, hand motions all the time, and she smoked and she drank and, you know, I mean, and everybody was just kind of, whoa, she was way ahead of their game.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  I think we all have relatives like this, the ones who roll through town unexpectedly and dazzle us with glimpses of something different. Every family has its culture, and with that, there are usually members of the family who have a counterculture. And the rarity of these characters has a way of burning memories into our minds.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  So, one of the first things I really remember, she was putting her makeup on. I was just standing right by her side, just she was talking to me and telling me stuff, and I was just like taking it all in at five. And all of a sudden, she took out this tool, you know, or whatever it was, I didn't know what it was, and she curled her eyelashes. And I can still see her face. I never in my whole life seen somebody curl their eyelashes. I'm not going to say my mother didn't know about curling eyelashes, but she didn't do it, you know, I mean, she wasn't like that, but no, that's bad. I'm not saying it's bad. She was, she was just over the top on everything, and it was always just a little bit, you know, Margarita and Bill are coming to town, you know, and so, get ready.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  But when it came to anticipating Bill and Margarita's visits, there was something a little more to it than eyelash curlers. There was something else about Margarita that made her a particularly interesting guest. I think Miss Sayers, as a five-year-old girl, could sense that. Because Margarita was not just her aunt's name. It was the name of the drink she allegedly invented.

• 7:10Speaker 02

  I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita.

• 7:14Speaker 01

  She invented the margarita. That's quite a claim, isn't it? To invent the margarita. When I first heard this, I found myself thinking, "Did somebody really invent the margarita?" It just seems like something that would naturally come into being. But of course it didn't. Tequila, Cointreau, and lime is not going to mix itself. And salt does not magically appear on the rim of your glass. Someone had to have been the first to make it.

• 7:40Speaker 00

  So who invented the margarita? To find out, search for Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts.