this is my great, great grandparent, joseph marshall and elizabeth t. let marshall. this is elizabeth's brother. he is my great great great grand uncle. and his name is james hewitt and the only way i could really give you a flavor of what he is like us to read the passage from a book, so i'm going to do a little reading now. the details of hewitt's career fascinating that incomplete. he was a member of the african growth theater formed by william brown in 1821. so this is a location on mercer street. they gave you broadway, lawrence street and now this is mercer street. so the african growth theater formed by william brown in 1821. initially the aspen grove was simply a tea garden in brown's backyard, where black new yorkers congregated for musical events and social activities. once the theater company was formed, he played in different locations until brown opened his own space on mercer street in 1822. from then until the early 1830s, hewitt performed with rounds company and also in many other venues close to home, the military guardian in brooklyn, somewhat farth