Youth Transformed

Chapter 23

Joven

Sitting down at the kitchen table, I've met James's wife, Emily, and have seen pics of their beautiful children. He takes great pride, pointing to the son that will take this lighthouse duty next, even though, he says... his daughter would be just as good.

"Now, let's see what you've got, and I'll try to fill in all the blanks, of your Dewstone history," James says and seems almost as eager to me to solve the mystery. We both lean over to start putting my notes in chronological order.

The papers spread before me; I begin a quick history tutorial.

"So, between the diary entries, history books, and ancient scrolls.... here's how it looks... The cavern we now call, 'Dewstone,' was first inhabited by the Indians. More specifically, the Iroquois tribes of Seneca, Tuscarawas, Susquehannock, and Mingo. Which explains how our vicinages were named. We don't know if they were in the caverns at the same time or separate times, but meetings were held there, and many drawings were placed upon the walls. What we call the 'Forbidden Cave' they called the 'Sacred Place'."

I stop here to point to a drawing, an arrow facing many different directions means "unity." "We don't know if they meant unity with other tribes or within themselves?

"Then the early settlers came and the fights started. We have recordings of early skirmishes between the Native Americans and settlers... attacks at Fort Evans in 1756, and Fort Seybert and Upper Tract in 1758. The treaty of Paris was in 1763 and that ended the French and Indian war, moving the lines of power. With the French gone from American soil, the Indians were left alone against a growing number of colonials establishing towns as they marched westward. The history goes on from there, with more dates and acts of war. We know our government gave them bad deals, and they were pushed from their homelands."

Here I pause and reflect on my memories of what I was taught in school. Growing quiet for moment, until James nudges me to continue.

"They just didn't leave their homes, they left the land of their fathers, they believed the mother earth was life in everything. They knew the new settlers wanted what they had and would give them bad goods and would often witness money or items exchanged. They grew to hate the sight of currency; seen time and time again. The picture that was drawn in the book, details an early English spoon in either Sterling or Britannia silver. 'The standard Mark' was stamped with a lion passant, and a Britannia standard would also have a spear and shield. Sterling silver standard with a lion rampant or thistle, and a crowned harp if from Scotland."

"The Indians became so agitated that they made their Sacred Place free from any form of sterling or Britannia silver. Even though we don't know exactly how that was done? The westward movement of more settlers, increased the acts of hostilities, and the Indians were pushed onto Reservations farther west." Well, that explains some of the weird stuff going on back home, but let's go a little farther.

"What we know to be our original Ancients that colonized our current day Dewstone was Alfred Ainsworth, my ancestor, Richard Douglas-Hughes, and Christopher O'Malley," here James stops me and reminds me the last one is his Ancestor, "They met on the boat while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, upon realizing they all had silver spoons with different stamps. It was a sign of wealth back then, to carry your silver spoon with you," well, that's handy, "Taken from Christopher's diary, we see that they landed and struck out westward, deciding to stay together, here's the entry from finding the cavern:

In the year of our Lord, 1820, March 4th, while searching for gems reported to be in the mountains, we came across a large cavern. Alfred, Richard, and I proceeded down into the great expanse and found many jewels just lying on the ground."