How Can I Tell?

I set about editing a story I wrote in the mid 1990s. Re-reading the story made me cry. I wish that meant I thought it was a good story. I have no way of knowing if it is good or not. What made me cry is the connections the story bore to my real life and no one else reading it will have those connections. The story revolves around the very personal ramifications of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry has on a distant family. The protagonist is a seven year old girl who is destined to become a working detective in the next forty years. It will be the first in a series of stories that follow her through that career. There is a character in needs of an alias, so he chose Richard for Richard I, Coeur de Lion, but there is a real Richard. There are two historical people in the story, one a favorite of my husband, one my favorite. I have been to one of the graves, the other is in Italy, so I don't think I will ever get to see it.
Given my own emotional ties to the story, how can I ever tell if it is any good, or just a personal memory wrapped is a wisp of fiction?