"But then, of course, what would happen is, when she would try to put on her shoes on the weekend, she couldn't get them on because her feet were so swollen," Cheney said.

Cheney liked the story so much that she included it in her best-selling history book for children, "A is for Abigail, An Almanac of Amazing American Women."

"It seems to me always important to tell children that children were a part of history. And the story of Fannie Peck trying to save her shoes, I thought, would be very appealing to small readers," Cheney said.

Cheney says she has pushed nationally for at least the past 20 years, since she led the National Endowment for the Humanities, for Americans to take more interest in history — and to make it more interesting. She has continued the initiative in the White House, including creating a new $10,000 annual prize for the writing of history. She personally funds the award from sales of her children's books.

But she isn't just encouraging professional historians. She is also urging families to research, write and pass along their histories. As she said at a White House forum on American history, "We have an obligation as parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles to pass along our nation's history."

Of local interest, she notes that the genealogical collections of the LDS Church have been a significant help to her and could be to others. "The resources of the LDS Church are just amazing, and I am very grateful for the help they have given me in learning more about Katurah Vaughan and Fannie Peck" and other ancestors.

Following is information about some other of Cheney's ancestors with Utah ties, with some information coming from her and much coming from biographies in the history department of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum:

• Father, Wayne Edward Vincent. He was born in Salt Lake City in 1915. But his father, Leon Edwin Vincent (born in Provo in 1892), was a clerk for American Express and was transferred with his family to Cheyenne, Wyo. Cheney says her father was LDS when young but later left that church. His daughter, Lynne Vincent Cheney, would be born and reared in Casper, Wyo. Vincent was an engineer.

Of note, Wayne Vincent's mother (and Cheney's grandmother), Anna Albertina Madsen, was born in Manti in 1893. Her parents, Niels Peter Madsen and Sarah Albertine Bolander, both immigrated to Utah from Denmark.

• Great-grandfather David John Vincent. He was born in Provo in 1868. The 1900 Census lists him as a saloon keeper in Provo. His wife, Mary Eleanor Elliott, also was born in Provo in 1870.