It's 1619, and fourteen-year-old John Gowen's world was just destroyed. All he has known of his former home in Africa is lost. John, and 350 other Angolans, were captured as spoils of war by Portugal, loaded onto two slave ships, and sailed for the Americas. Deep in the belly of The White Lion, he sits among the dead and dying as he makes the months-long voyage. Yet, despite his tragic beginnings, he grew up to be a man of significance.
When I researched my distant ancestors and my DNA results came in, I discovered ninety 5th great-grandparents. On my direct paternal line was Thomas Christopher "Sobering Wind" Gowen (black, white, and part Cherokee). I was shocked and amazed. How could that be? I had reddish/blond hair, freckles, and blue eyes.
Researching Thomas, I discovered my 7th great-grandfather, John Gowen. He was among the first twenty to thirty Africans to come to the British Colonial American settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, ten years before the Pilgrims landed. What he did with his life as a fourteen-year-old, black, indentured servant, alone in an unchartered new world, who became one of the first freed black men in North America, was amazing.
I've included prompts in A Man of Significance to help you learn about one of your ancestors. You can take joy in the distant one you find, erase disappointments of the past, and embrace love. You may be surprised by what you find and enjoy the basic truth that family is everything.
You must hear John Gowen's story. He was truly a man of significance. This narrative nonfiction book is for everyone.
