A talk about Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts, is being given in the church where his family worshipped over four hundred years ago.
Ian Blackwell is a published author who is noted for his books on the Italian Campaign of World War Two rather than on 17th century history.
However he and his American wife Bonnie have lived for nearly thirty years in Roger Conant's birthplace of East Budleigh, and Bonnie has a special connection to Salem.
Both her parents can trace their roots to the Mayflower, and her father's family lived in Salem for many generations. Her great-grandfather was associated with the city's Peabody Essex Museum and her uncle was involved with the Salem Historical Commission.
In researching the book, as far as possible, Ian has gone back to primary sources written at the time the Conant family lived in East Budleigh, for example documents held by the Devon Heritage Centre and the National Archives.
He has also made extensive use of work done by reputable historians such as Dr T.N. Brushfield, who, after a career as a psychiatrist, moved to the area and wrote extensively about East Budleigh and All Saints' Church, becoming President of the Devonshire Association.
Much of the writing on Roger Conant has repeated without question the errors made by earlier authors, some of whom have chosen to embellish his story, and untangling fact from fiction has proved to be a not inconsiderable part of the task.
