Yet another ancestor had decamped to Cuba for 20 years in the early 19th century. As a result of his ventures, by 1720 he was able to purchase vast tracts of land. Timothy Fales, a Harvard-educated teacher for whom my father was named, left his post as BristolвЂ™s schoolmaster to enter in the вЂњWest Indies trade.вЂќ Read: slave ships. I journeyed back through the pages and the generations. Given Rhode IslandвЂ™s extensive role in the slave trade, it dawned on me that Samuel probably wasnвЂ™t the familyвЂ™s only participant. In its pages, I found euphemistic references to the вЂњWest India trade,вЂќ and ships captured by pirates off the вЂњcoast of Africa.вЂќ Everyone in the family had a copy of the book the problem was, like the Bible, few of us had ever bothered to read it cover to cover. It was devastating to realize that our вЂњfortuneвЂќ had begun with AmericaвЂ™s original sin.ДЄshamed of my own naГЇvetГ© and ignorance, I turned to вЂњThe Fales Family of Bristol, Rhode Island,вЂќ a вЂњcomprehensiveвЂќ history of the family written by my grandfather in 1919, to see how such essential truths had eluded me for so long. That email dealt a death blow to the pride I had always felt in hailing from a family of industrious and, I thought, uniformly upstanding Anglo-Saxons. He had first established his wealth through trading slaves. The Fales in question was none other than my great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel. The judge in the case, Joseph Story, chastised the plaintiff, Fales, for the horrific nature of the slave trade and its illegality under federal law. Mayberry, a lawsuit waged in 1815 against the captain of a slave ship for recovery of the proceeds from the sale of 150 slaves in the West Indies, and subsequent sale of the ship itself in Saint Bartholomew. I read on with dawning horror as he described the case of Fales v. I did do a quick check of my notes and found reference to a Fales who was involved in a slave trading prosecution from 1815.вЂќ At the emailвЂ™s end, he stated: вЂњYou may be disappointed (or gratified?) to see that I donвЂ™t mention any members of the Fales family. He wrote back, generously sharing his lecture notes. Unable to attend, I emailed the professor, asking if a podcast might be available and proudly informing him of my familyвЂ™s connection to the town. Knowing of my interest in Bristol, a friend sent me an invitation this past spring to a lecture at Yale by Sean M.

It never occurred to me that my family might have participated in the portвЂ™s inhumane commerce. Had I done my daughter a dreadful disservice? Upon reflection, I decided that naming a multicultural African-American after a slave port was in fact redemptive, the ultimate act of reclamation.

A year ago, I learned through new historical research that Bristol had in fact served as a main hub of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. To honor my forebears, my husband and I named our only child Bristol, after the town in Rhode Island where some of the Faleses first settled in the 17th century. вЂњYou have relatives on both sides of your family who fought in the American Revolution,вЂќ my mother would frequently remind me. His portrait has stood as an emblem of our familyвЂ™s pride in its history. Samuel Fales seemed utterly unperturbed by the changes the 20th century had wrought, among them his great-great-grandsonвЂ™s unorthodox choice of bride: my mother, a black Haitian-American actress, and my brother and me, his mixed-race descendants. IвЂ™ve known his face and taken comfort in his smile since I was a child attending Sunday lunch at my grandmotherвЂ™s in the 1960s. An eminent merchant and alderman of Boston, he was the founder of the familyвЂ™s shipping business. With his high collar, ruffled cravat and black waistcoat, Samuel Fales, 1775-1848, is the very image of the upstanding 19th-century New England gentleman. FOR nearly 20 years, my great-great-great-grandfatherвЂ™s portrait has watched over me from my red dining room wall.

My ancestors smile upon me