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His daughter and namesake, William’s great-great-grandmother Frances, kept it up, achieving the Gilded Age honor of inclusion on Mrs. Astor’s “Four Hundred,” a list of New York’s most promising socialites.

I calculated the consequences of replying “Four Hundred Pound,” and finding them against me, went as near the answer as I could—which was somewhere about eightpence off.

I learned from “Four Hundred Souls” that my ancestors arrived here on a slave ship before the Mayflower.

Although this review is based on reading a hardcover copy, it’s easy to imagine how satisfying the audio version of “Four Hundred Souls” would be.

Feb. 4 A Zoom discussion of “Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019,” hosted by the California African American Museum from 5 to 6:30 p.m.