No. 20

The Elders in 1787

Stewart,

Now came the time when Henry Brother, the great grandfather of our Civil War Marine, Charles Brother, had to get creative to find and trade goods.

He took off for Kentucky, then a wilderness, because he knew those frontiersmen, including Daniel Boone’s kin. Now Valentine, the grandfather of Civil War Marine Charles Brother, was at this time a teenager, and put in charge of the tavern operations. While his father went again to Kentucky to sell goods to the new hungry settlers, Valentine was jealous, then, as it usually follows, he was lazy: he allowed customers to take goods on risky terms.

After Henry Brother returned, his shocked father tried to collect the debts incurred but was still too kind and easily swindled. Valentine later wrote in his memoir that it was difficult to watch his father try to collect money owed, thus we know that this is true and we understand what was snipping at his heel most of his life.

—Miss Minnie

2025 Copyright Christine Friesel