Redfield Farm: A Novel of the Underground Railroad (38 page)

Polly was the only child Preston and I had. She lives in Bedford now, married to a doctor. Has four little ones of her own to tend to, a houseful of energy and noise. She’ll fret about me all alone out here on the farm now that Jesse’s gone, but I’ve given her to understand that this is the only place for me.

Ben’s youngsters are scattered all around the country. The girls all married. Jonas took over the farm, raising and breeding horses. He stops by every day to keep an eye on me. I’m thankful for that. And their baby Micah’s a senator in the state legislature. Course he always did have a way about him. Friendly, likable. Kind of like his Uncle Jesse. Ben died in his early sixties, some said from overwork, but Rebecca lived on into her seventies. Died just a year ago. I sorely miss her.

James Buchanan Schilling got himself sent to West Point and became a soldier. Always was fascinated with soldiers. Last I heard, he was stationed over in the Philippines. I keep a globe on the shelf in the kitchen so I can keep track of where he goes. Fancy that. He’s a captain now, and who knows how far he’ll go?

Our little Ellen is back in Altoona where she started life, with two young boys to raise alone. Her husband up and died around Christmas two years ago. Hard life for a woman raising children alone. She runs a boarding house to make ends meet.

Baby John was a doctor, but he caught some kind of flu and died when he was only forty. They buried him up on that hill in Altoona, by his mother. He’d like that. Never did get enough mothering, it seemed.

Josiah’s gone, too. Stopped to help a black man whose wagon was stuck in the mud and got kicked in the head by a scared horse. So sad. I grieved for him as much as any of them. But I saw to it that Sam got to go to college up there in Ontario, and he became a real lawyer and was elected to the Provincial Parliament. I hear from him regularly. He’s married and has two lovely children. Lettie still lives with them. They visit now and again.

Jesse lost Abby to childbirth in 1870—brought her back and buried her at Spring Meadow. Now, there was a good woman. If I hadn’t had my hands full here I’d probably have gone out to Indiana and helped him raise his children. As it was, he did it himself for five more years. Then he decided to come back and live here with me after Preston died. That was fine. No explanation needed between Jesse and me.

Jesse never did sell his land out there in Indiana. His boys went back and took over the orchard. Now he’s gone to join Abby.

It feels good to know they’re both here—not far away. I’ll be joining them in a couple of years. That’s where I’ve spent my life: two years behind Jesse.

J
udith Redline Coopey is a native of Pennsylvania
and a student of Pennsylvania history. Her studies of family history created the background, characters and setting for Redfield Farm. A log cabin built around 1799 near Pleasantville by her great great great grandfather, Thomas Blackburn, is rumored to have been a station on the Underground Railroad, though no documentation exists. A summer spent working to prepare the cabin for restoration provided the inspiration for Redfield Farm. A graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University, she lives in Mesa, Arizona, with her husband and a beautiful German Shepherd named Mollie.