David Kendall Peterson was born in 1955 and raised on Staten Island, New York. A graduate of Northeastern University and a Chartered Financial Analyst, he spent more than forty years in the financial world, specializing in healthcare, with firms including Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and U.S. Bank. He now lives in North Carolina with his wife, Mary, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

After 9/11, Peterson turned his attention from finance to family history, beginning a search that would uncover an extraordinary legacy. What started as genealogical research became a rare historical discovery when he was entrusted with 433 handwritten pages belonging to his ancestor, Captain Horace Chance—diaries, ship logs, letters, and records that had been preserved for generations.

Captain Chance served the United States three times — in the Navy, the Naval Reserve during World War I, and the Merchant Marine during World War II.