Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History

281 Pages·2008·0.86 MB·English

by  Thomas Norman DeWolf

Inheriting the Trade
e
al
H
y
Ell
The Family of Ten at Cape Coast Castle,Ghana,July 2001.
(Top,left to right) Dain Perry,Elizabeth Sturges Llerena,Katrina
Browne,Jim Perry,Holly Fulton,Ledlie Laughlin,Keila DePoorter.
(Bottom,left to right) Tom DeWolf,Elly Hale,James Perry.
I n h e r i t i n g t h e T r a d e
A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy
as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S.History
Thomas Norman DeWolf
beacon press, boston
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston,Massachusetts 02108-2892
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2008 by Thomas Norman DeWolf
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
11 10 09 08 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated
paper ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
Text design and composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeWolf,Thomas Norman
Inheriting the trade :a northern family confronts its legacy as the
largest slave-trading dynasty in U.S.history / Thomas Norman DeWolf.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8070-7281-3
1.Slave traders—New England—Biography. 2.DeWolf,Charles,b.1695
—Family. 3.DeWolf,Thomas Norman,1954—Family. 4.New England—
Biography. 5.Slave trade—New England—History. 6.Slave trade—Africa,
West—History. 7.Slave trade—Cuba—History. 8.DeWolf,Thomas
Norman,1954—Travel—New England. 9.DeWolf,Thomas Norman,
1954—Travel—Africa,West. 10.DeWolf,Thomas Norman,1954—
Travel—Cuba. I.Title.
F3.D48 2008
306.3'620974—dc22 2007019708
For my grandchildren,
Seth and Allison
And for your grandchildren
May you embrace the things you fear
in order to awaken your heart

Contents
Family Tree viii
Preface xi
chapter 1 Growing Up White 1
chapter 2 “Frail limb’d,well fed,and speaks good English” 12
chapter 3 “So let all thine enemies perish,O Lord!” 30
chapter 4 The Great Folks 39
chapter 5 “I tremble for my country...” 55
chapter 6 Akwaaba 71
chapter 7 “Under a Patchwork of Scars” 91
chapter 8 The Door of No Return 110
chapter 9 “I have to do it every day” 121
chapter 10 Gye Nyame 132
chapter 11 The Middle Passage 146
chapter 12 La Habana 155
chapter 13 “Our Nice Protestant Selves” 169
chapter 14 Arca de Noé 182
chapter 15 In the Fishbowl 197
chapter 16 My Harvard Education 209
chapter 17 Repairing the Breach 219
chapter 18 Sankofa 230
Afterword 241
Acknowledgments 252
Notes 257
Charles DeWolf (1695- ?) Hopestill Potter (1700- ?)
m. Margaret Potter m. Lydia Finney
Simon DeWolf Mark Antony DeWolf Abigail Potter Simeon Potter
(1719-61) (1726-1793) (1726-1809) (1720-1806)
Charles DeWolf The Honorable
(1747-1814) James DeWolf William DeWolf John DeWolf Levi DeWolf
(1764-1837) (1762-1829) (1760-1841) (1766-1848)
m. Ann Bradford
Giles Meigs DeWolf Mary Ann DeWolf Mark Antony DeWolf John DeWolf
(1782-1865) (1795-1834) (1797- ?) (1786-1862)
m. Capt (USN) m. Sophie Chappotin
Raymond H.J. Perry
Charles DeWolf James DeWolf Perry John James DeWolf
(1821-52) (1815-76) (1807-94)
Frank C. DeWolf The Rev. James DeWolf J. Winthrop DeWolf Herbert Marshall
(1850-1927) Perry, Jr. (1830-81) Howe
(1838-1927) (1844-1916)
The Rt. Rev.James DeWolf Perry III
(1871-1947)
Giles Norman DeWolf Presiding Bishop of John Winthrop Halsey DeWolf Edith Howe
(1889-1931) Episcopal Church DeWolf (1870-1964) (1877-1958)
(1930-37) (1864-1947) m. 4th cousin m. 4th cousin
Edith Howe Halsey DeWolf
Giles Laddie DeWolf The Rev. James DeWolf Alice Winthrop DeWolf Mary Howe DeWolf
(1929- ) Perry IV (1898-1995) (1917-2007)
(1908-89) m. Frank Pardee m. Marshall N. Fulton
m. Nancy Ann Pinckley m. Adela Carter
Daingerfield
Thomas Norman DeWolf Edith Howe Fulton Holly Marshall Fulton
m. Li(n1d9i5 J4.- S )quier NancAy bD(e1re9cW2ro6om-l f)b Pieardee m. Jer(“r1Ky9 e4Di1lea-P ”)oorter m. Wi(l1li9a5m6 -P )eebles
John Haigh Daingerfield
James DeWolf Perry V
“Dain” Perry
(1941- )
(1944- )
m. Shirley May Dunn
m. Constance R. Leonard
James DeWolf Perry VI
(1968- )
Abbreviated DeWolf Family Tree
(limited to those directly connected to Inheriting the Trade)
Shaded boxes indicate family members involved in the slave trade
or related business dealings.
Rounded boxes indicate Family of Ten.
Abigail DeWolf Three additional sons, Mark Antony, Jr., Samuel
(1755-1833) (also in the slave trade), and Simon, all died at Charles DeWolf
m. Perley Howe, Jr. sea. Simon’s son was Nor’west John DeWolf. (1745-1820)
The generation of Mark Antony DeWolf’s grandchildren
John Howe was the third, and last, to be broadly involved in the trade,
(1783-1864) with business interests in New England, plantations in George DeWolf
(1779-1844)
Cuba, and an auction house in South Carolina. Five died at
sea. Two died, one by suicide, on the coast of West Africa.
The Rt. Rev.Mark Antony
deWolfe Howe Theodora DeWolf
(1808-95) (1820-1901)
m. Christopher Colt
Mary Amory Howe Alfred Leighton Wallis Eastburn Howe Samuel Pomeroy
(1837-67) Howe (1868-1960) “Unkie” Colt
m. the Rt. Rev. (1854-1911) m. Mary Emily Locke (1852-1921)
William Hobart
Hare
Hobart Amory Hare Roberta Moody Howe George Locke Howe Mary Rosalind Howe The Rev. Halsey
(1862-1931) (1899-1991) (1898-1977) (1907-1999) DeWolf Howe
m. Ledlie I. Laughlin Author of Mount m. the Rev. Philemon (1921-2007)
Hope Sturges, Jr. m. Carol S. Edgelow
David Whitney Howe
Mary Amory Hare The Rev. Ledlie I. Linda Locke Howe (1948-)
(1885-1964) Laughlin, Jr. (1929-1981)
m. Arthur B. Cook (1930- ) m. Edward E. Hale IV Mary Locke Howe
m. Roxana Dodd (1949-)
Deborah Lighthall Howe
(1959-)
Ellen deWolfe Hale
Hobart A.H. Cook (1959- ) Philemon Sturges III Helen Potter Elizabeth W. Sturges
1912-83 m. Brad Rodgers (1929-2005) Sturges Nadler (1941- )
m. Julie A. Jones (1931-) m. Stanhope S. Browne
Hobart A.H. Cook, Jr.
(1945- ) Elizabeth Banford Sturges Katrina Colston Browne
m. Myrna J. Allen (1969- ) (1967- )
m. Fari Llerena Director: Traces of the Trade