No. 32

The Elders in 1820, Watching

Dear Stewart,

“Valentine Brother, Esq., 47, member of Assembly-elect from Ontario Co., died in Seneca.”

When Henry Brother, the father of your uncle, Charley Brother, was nineteen years old, his father Valentine died. Henry was away at the time, working at a job in town, and it was winter and a shock.

Not waiting for the snow to stop, Henry returned to the farm to arrange things with his sisters and the youngest, Charles, who was nine years old. It was Charles who helped Henry remove the body of their father out of the sick room, down the stairs, and into the barn, where they wrapped him tightly for keeping until the ground was warm enough to give way.

Despite the cold, the church was full of people who were the early settlers and financial backers of the region, including Charles A. Williamson, all who were watching Henry.

He entered the Presbyterian Church with his mother, who was pure ice until Henry could improve the fire. As the reverend spoke, Henry fixated on the simple white walls, thinking about was his age.

Now, Stewart, this Valentine died at the same age as his father, Heinrich Bruder, so I think he must have been wondering, as you and I would, right? Will go that same time? Was this the script I inherited? What else did I inherit?

Weeks later, without his mother or his siblings, Henry took the farm hands men with him to witnesses the unsealing of his father’s will.

They listened as the neighbor and their pastor read aloud the inventory: the animals, the outbuildings, the acreage, the queens ware, the tools, the outbuildings. Henry watched for the laborers with him to nod that things were consistent with the list.

Henry settled matters, doing math, paying debts, and signed off. Later, he told himself, later, but not now, he would find a white wall and, with God's grace, maybe perhaps an open field of white and pine to give way or to collect his humiliation. Later, not now.

But for this moment, Henry was pulling through by counting and by his elders' watching and nodding.

It took him several days to process, but he figured out that he was now, suddenly, a wealthy man, but he not free.

He had a few years, perhaps only 17, to match or exceed the legacy of Valentine Brother, Esquire. So he had better get to it and find Dudley, and open the store.

— Miss Minnie

2025 Copyright Christine Friesel