Max asked Reyna Favis:

I did not see (or did not find) your usual explanation of what is fact and where you leave off. Was any part of this, other than the clean out and restoration, at the Roseberry Homestead? Any connection with the people that lived there?

Reyna Favis Hi Max,
The Roseberry Homestead is real and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. All the physical details (e.g. architecture. floor plans, stencils) of the house in the story are accurate. The association with Peter Kinney is also accurate. Kinney was a First Lieutenant in the First Regiment of the Sussex Militia of the Continental Army and owned the Roseberry Homestead in 1787. Historical research has shown that he owned two slaves, but any association with Phebe, also a real historical figure, was fabricated for the story.

Along with Phebe, Mark and Phillis were also real people. All three were involved in the murder trial of the slave owner by poisoning. Phebe ratted them out during the trial and was transported to the West Indies for her part in the murder. Just as in the story, Mark was hung and gibbeted; his body was still on display twenty years later when Paul Revere rode through to warn the populace that the British were coming. Phillis was burned alive at the stake.

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