No. 26
The Elders in 1810 with Van Campen
Dear Stewart,
In 1810 Valentine Brother got up from his seat in the statehouse and reached over to his George Hornell and Moses Van Campen, who were ready to band together to build the road from Canandaigua to the Olean river. The men stood and shook hands, determined to get work started.
Valentine, now 37, was the youngest and understood his position. He watched.
Moses van Campen, 53, respectfully feared the Indians, having been a prisoner of the Seneca tribe. From his confrontation with these warriors and the frontier, his knife and gunshot-scarred face reminded to his friends how he could and would use his wounds, just as you should, Stewart. Be practical.
George Hornell, 41, was adamant that his slaves keep up with the plan. A romantic, he struggled to manage their escaping and his road building. He shared with Valentine how he would become, by default (by his romance) of being in his position: The first to build the road, the first postmaster, first grist mill owner, first sawmill operator, first school builder, first tavern owner, and doing all this while getting back to the New York legislative sessions— first.
Valentine, by his faith, when head and heart shake hands, held his wife and new baby in their warm bed. He watched the April snow out the window in the little pocket of light that flickered by their bedside candle. Valentine liked the idea of a new tavern: build first and fast, with Hornell. Build when it was impractical, in the winter so they are ready by the spring. The spring would be too late. Valentine blew out the candle. For the night he would hold his baby. It was for his family that he would manage. Not dream, but manage.
As the grandfather of your uncle, Stewart, the grandfather of Civil War Marine, Charles Brother, well, he wanted to future generations, like you, to be the first to pack, the first to build a road, the first to welcome the weary traveler, the first to drive one of those contraptions, and always, according to God's will, the first to fight.
