I was introduced to the story of Captain James Gibson, my seventh great-grandfather, as a ten-year-old. James Gibson’s daughter told the story to her grandson, who first published the tale in 1847. Then his nephew published the narrative again in 1895. According to the legend passed down through the generations: He was a wealthy Boston merchant who owned land in Jamaica and Barbados. He was a British Army captain who married a wealthy widow. He was a volunteer in the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg who personally paid for troops and petitioned the House of Commons for reimbursement, which was approved. The funds left London but never made it to him. He sailed to Jamaica in 1752 to confront a man who was a source of great financial losses, only to reconcile, dine with the man, and then die mysteriously on his ship a few hours later, which caused his crew to suspect foul play. Upon hearing the news of his death back in Boston, his wife Thomazin died of grief, leaving their only child, fourteen-year-old Mary, an orphan. Her father’s estate was stolen, and she would never see a penny of it. She would spend her early adulthood trying to recover the lost wealth but gave up when her husband drowned in their quest to find Gibson’s stolen property. That’s the family legend of Captain James Gibson that was passed down to me. This is my story of how I spent thirty years searching for the truth behind the legend.