What is significant is between the eight generations that separate he and I is another William Beckford — my great grandfather. He rode with John Brown and Brown’s sons in relief of Lawrence, Kansas the first time it was raided. Same family, same name. Each fit into his time and his historical context.
When you take people out of their context you dishonor the remembrance of them all.
Exactly. People are products of their age. Only idiots judge historical characters by contemporary standards - idiots or people with an insidious surreptitious political agenda