He did a lot, said a lot, wrote a lot down. He did things worthy enough to leave behind historical records, personally published a lot of his own words, and was interesting enough for a bunch of authors to have done a lot of the digging on the more obscure bits before I ever came around.
But that's obviously not true of most people in history, who at most maybe had a birth, marriage, or death certificate, maybe appeared on a census or the tax rolls. Like... Maybe we know they were employed as a candle maker or something, and that's it.
Because of this, I've been keeping an eye out for ancestors of mine which are bound to be big characters while writing the book.
So anyways, I'm reading a letter Ben wrote to his wife while he was in England, responding to a letter she wrote him that has long since been lost. Portions of more than one page of Ben's letter are missing.
"[One half page missing]
sending it. I am glad he escap’d with his Life from those Cannibals. My Love to him and Patty and their Children; and to Cousins Dunlap.
I find Marble Work in great Vogue here..."
There is nothing else I'm aware of anywhere on him or any member of the family surviving a GODDAMN ATTACK BY CANNIBALS.