- A photo of Trinity Church from the Newport Historical Society’s collections.
Thursday March 21, 2013 at 5:30pm
Colony House, Washington Square
$5 per person, $1 Newport Historical Society members
Please RSVP to 401-841-8770
Cherry Fletcher Bamberg, FASG, and Michael F. Dwyer will discuss Margaret Ward and her penchant for marrying bad boys.
The speakers will present their discoveries in the tumultuous stories of one of Trinity Church’s founders, Robert Wrightington, his wife Margaret (Ward) Bradley, daughter of a prominent merchant, and Margaret’s eldest son, the short-lived George Bradley. Was Robert a pious Anglican or did he seek to cloak pirate activities with respectability? Did George evolve from being a man pressed into piracy into a notorious villain of the high seas during the Golden Age of Piracy?
Cherry Fletcher Bamberg, FASG, is the author of many books and articles on Rhode Island history and genealogy. She has been editor of Rhode Island Roots, the quarterly journal of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society, since 2002. She grew up in Newport and attended Trinity Church as a child, never dreaming of its unusual origins.
Michael F. Dwyer has ancestral roots in Newport on both sides of his family. A high school English and history teacher for the last 30 years, he was named Vermont Teacher of the Year in 2003 by the Vermont Department of Education. A contributing editor of The Maine Genealogist, Michael has also has had articles published in the New England Historic Genealogical Register, American Ancestors, and of course, Rhode Island Roots. He and his family live in Pittsford, Vermont.