The history of the Fales family is socially, geographically and commercially aligned with their more prominent Bristol neighbors, the DeWolfs. Although the slave trade was officially abolished in 1808, the DeWolf Family used their wealth and political power to ply the "triangle trade" long afterwards. One of the points of that triangle was Cuba, where they owned coffee and sugar plantations well into the nineteenth century, and where Stephen Fales ran his plantation for twenty years.
Stephen Smith Fales was born in Bristol, Rhode Island., on 24 November 1783, the eldest son of William and Mary (Smith) Fales. His father died in 1797 at age 38, and in 1803 Levi DeWolf (brother of Sen. James DeWolf, a prosperous Bristol slave trader) became the guardian of Stephen and his four surviving siblings. (According to some accounts, Levi was to his brother James as Moses was to John Brown; after one slave voyage, Levi abandoned the trade.) Stephen married his second cousin Phebe Wardwell (17 Feb.1784-26 Sept.1839) in 1804, with whom he had nine children. He was a shipmaster and lived on a plantation in Cuba for twenty years before returning to Bristol shortly before his death on 22 June 1839. His wife Phebe died the same year on September 26.
His sister Lydia Smith (Fales) French was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, on 15 November 1790. In 1816 she married Capt. Zechariah French, who died at sea six years later. After his death, Lydia kept a school in Bristol and died on 1 March 1877.
Thomas James Fales was born in Bristol on 18 June 1815. He married Anna Gray in Cuba and had one child.
References
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Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Fales family letters, Ms. 2008.006, Brown University Library.
This collection consists of a single series of letters, arranged in chronological order.
Although a small collection, the Fales Family letters comprise a remarkably complex portrait of a prominent Bristol, Rhode Island, family during the early days of the republic. The correspondence includes letters from three generations and touches upon such subjects as slavery, politics, religion and commerce. Altogether, they provide glimpses of a family’s attempts to maintain its bonds over distance and time.
Most of the letters were written by Stephen Fales (who came to sign himself "Esteban") from his Cuban plantation to his sister Lydia (Fales) French in Bristol. Many of them concern arrangements he has made for his children’s education—his sons William and Thomas had extended stays with Lydia as boys—and general discussions of finances and health. Although the reader does not directly hear Lydia’s voice, Stephen’s responses to such topics as her money worries (". . . your present embarrassments . . .") suggest the culture of restraint and gentility that governed family relations during the early nineteenth century.
His son Thomas was a droll and affectionate correspondent, often teasing his Aunt Lydia and reporting on family and friends with self-deprecating humor. The bonds he formed during a childhood stay with his Bristol relatives seemed to have deepened over the years, as is evidenced by his acute disappointment at his aunt’s failure to write frequently.
The Stephen Fales family lived in Cuba during the later years of the so-called “sugar revolution”, which saw an explosion in the slave population as the sugar industry grew. The vigorous expansion of slavery in Cuba at a time when the rest of the western world was disavowing it is not discussed by these correspondents but it provides one context for a contemporary appreciation of the collection. The Fales family’s connections to the DeWolfs of Bristol perhaps allowed them to profit from slave labor long after it was abolished in their native state.
The Fales Family Letters were purchased in 2008.
Brown University Library catalog record for this collection:
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Letter from Mary (Smith) Fales to her 22-year-old son Stephen Smith Fales in "Havanna" Cuba, sent by way of Levi DeWolf, guardian of the Fales children. In it she quotes Cowper and reports that Stephen's "sweet little boy [William] grows finely and is handsome as ever and I much fear I shall love him too well."
Letter from Mary (Smith) Fales to her daughter Lydia at the Misses Patten School in Hartford, Conn., in which she mentions her own school in Bristol, Rhode Island, and Lydia's brother William's voyage to Calcutta, India.
Letter from Louisa Smith to Lydia Fales in Hartford, describing her own trip to Connecticut and referring to several of their friends' romances.
Letter from Mary (Smith) Fales to her daughter Lydia in Hartford, written on Mary's birthday. She describes a funeral procession and reflects on her own mortality.
Letter from Mary (Smith) Fales to daughter Lydia in Hartford, in which she expresses her longing to be reunited with her children and responds to Lydia's wish to remain longer at school: "...were my abilities equal to my wishes every rational desire of yours should be gratified as far as it lay in my power." She also worries about Lydia's brothers Stephen and William, both of whom are abroad.
Letter from Harriet Patten to Lydia Fales in Bristol, Rhode Island. Harriet's effusive religious sentiment in this letter reflects the religious revivalism of the time: "...time will not admit or I would write you concerning the awakening..."
Letter from Stephen S. Fales to his sister Lydia at the Rev. Henshaw's in "Brookline" Long Island. He writes about his need of spiritual revival, "so far from God, so little engaged in things of eternity," and closes with news of the improved health of their Aunt Howe.
Letter to Lydia (Fales) French from her nephew William Fales describing family matters on the plantation in Cuba. Of his younger brother he writes: "Thomas can talk very plain and a little spanish and he is all the time a playing with the little Negroes..."
Stephen Fales writes from Madruga to his sister Lydia with instructions for his son William's care and education during William's stay in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Upon the return of William to Cuba, Stephen expresses his gratitude to Lydia and asks about her husband, Captain Zechariah French.
Stephen writes Lydia to tell her that he and his family are well and hopes that she is "equally blessed."
In this letter Stephen chides Lydia for not responding to his last letter, which informed her of their brother William's death. "Poor William ... express'd his fear that if he was taken sick he should not survive--his apprehension poor fellow was not groundless."
He also expresses his wish that his daughter Betsey go to school in either Baltimore (where the Rev. Henshaw is now located) or Boston, and asks Lydia to inquire about tuition.
Stephen describes to Lydia his "flourishing" plantation and wishes that "brother Zach." (Lydia's husband) could settle in Cuba "as I know you would be charmed with the country." He also praises his own son Tom for his planting skills.
Stephen expresses his shock at the news of the death of Lydia's husband, Captain Zechariah French, and promises a visit to Bristol from his wife Phebe and daughter Betsey.
Stephen reports to Lydia that he has spent the previous autumn confined with illness, relying on his wife Phebe to oversee the plantation. He, along with several members of his family, suffered from parasitic Guinea worms. Although his wife and daughter did not make the promised trip to Bristol, he is considering sending his daughter Harriet, "she is growing quite wild having no school..."
Stephen remarks on the death of his maternal grandmother as well as that of Levi DeWolf. He devotes the remainder of the letter to a description of "Mrs. O", the pampered wife of his business partner, Captain Oliver. She has "a very limited understanding [and her] whole time is devoted to dress and flesh and not unfrequently given to fibbing."
Suffering once more from Guinea worms Stephen responds to Lydia's last letter, in which she described the family's financial straits. "[I]t would have given me infinite pleasure to have had it in my power to extricate you from your present embarrassments...but [I] am still a debtor." Later he alludes to "the recent change in Gov't. here" and reassures her that no local disturbances have ensued.
Description of the slave uprising in Cuba on 15 June 1825, the death of all the members of the Armitage family who owned a coffee estate near the Fales, and the escape of the Fales family into the woods. Stephen wrote: "I have great reason to be grateful that my Negroes are perfectly contented & submissive. Had they have joined the insurgents no doubt our names would have been added to the killed, as we live retired from the main road." Includes transcription.
Writes of family matters and reports that the slave rebellion which began in June of 1825 has been stopped.
In this letter, Stephen promises Lydia two sacks of coffee and asks after his son Thomas who is being schooled in Bristol.
On the verso (dated two days later) Stephen's son William writes that he is unable to send the promised coffee and chides his aunt for failing to write.
Stephen expresses his gratitude to Lydia for overseeing Thomas's education.
Stephen describes his financial difficulties and reports that his daughter Mary has given birth to another son.
Stephen expresses his gratitude to Lydia for taking care of his son Thomas, who has now returned to Cuba.
Stephen reports that his daugher-in-law Martha (wife of William Fales) is recovering from smallpox, but the rest of the family is well. He requests that Lydia collect a $70 debt from James Fales: "If you cannot collect but by coercion I wish you attempt it, after getting proper advice..."
An affectionate letter from sixteen-year-old Thomas Fales to his aunt, expressing his wish to be back in Bristol. He hopes to find a position as a clerk in a "mercantile house in Matanzas" he tells her, "... but there are so many young men that are seeking the same situation ... that I almost despair of finding one ..."
Stephen sends news of his family and promises Lydia "a barrel of good brown sugar" by way of Capt. Usher of the Brig Clyde.
Thomas expresses his disappointment at not receiving a letter from Lydia, despite the arrival of several ships from Bristol. He reports that he has grown very tall since he left her and "am much changed in looks too I believe (They tell me it is not for the better)."
Stephen writes that his daughter Mary has given birth to a girl and that she and her husband William Brown will be leaving Matanzas for New Orleans. He ends with a nota bene: "Please write oft'ner."
Thomas sends news of his position in the counting house of Mr. Albers in Matanzas, and he mentions the cholera epidemic in Philadelphia and New York.
A relatively long and informative letter in which Stephen expresses his concerns about "the Colera" spreading to Cuba, having heard of its occurrence in Rhode Island. "Our Cities are dreadfully filthy," he writes and "... most of our practioners [sic] are merely charlatans..."
Thomas informs Lydia of his sister Betsey's marriage to John Mayo and of his sister Harriet's new son.
Thomas writes about the prospect of a visit to Bristol and describes the Cholera epidemic in Cuba: "It is supposed that near ten thousand persons mostly negroes have been attacked in the Havanna nearly all of them died."
Having received no reply to his letter of 13 Apr. 1833, Thomas pleads with Lydia to write to him. He sends news of his own health (an eye inflammation treated by "a Dunce of a Doctor") and that of his family.
Thomas thanks Lydia for her last letter and writes of family matters. He sends her a half-barrel each of white and brown sugar "as a token of my affection for you" and asks her to send him "one or two Bottles of good Rose Water."
Thomas writes that he is happy to hear that Lydia has given up her school "as I am convinced it must be a great bore to any body to keep one." He notes that he has passed his two-year anniversary in the mercantile house.
This letter describes a recent church fair and some of the articles that were sold at it.
Thomas writes with news of the family ("Harriet 'is in a way that all wives like to be who love their lords'...") and requests that Lydia price several books, including The Life of Napoleon and The Natural History of Insects.
William responds to Lydia's letter informing him of the deaths of both parents--Stephen and Phebe Fales--during a visit to Bristol.
Article relating the history of the Fales family in Cuba as described in their letters. Includes transcriptions of many of the letters and a table of the postmarks used on all of them.