An Unremembered History
of the World
"I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my
face turned pale,
but I kept the matter to myself." Daniel 7:28
When we speak of history, we must always remind ourselves
that we are speaking only of "history as we know it." The task
of historians to document, revise and debate the events and meanings of
events in human history is a daunting one, even when simplified to contain
only that which is known. (By known, I mean known by the human race in our
specific line of experience from Adam to the present.)
We are not debating Adam and Eve here. That is a tedious debate that is
ultimately a matter of faith. Rather, I am proposing that our historians
make a greater effort to record the alternate histories,
the streams that flow from alternate choices that could have been made throughout
the courses of time.
In the village of Dunn on the outskirts of Devonshire, England, in the spring
of 1698, a sequence of events occurred which would have a dramatic impact
on the history of the world. Like the fabled grain of mustard seed, the
events seemed small and would have otherwise gone unnoticed had they not
been recorded in a journal which has been passed to us through the
generations.
The thing that happened - or rather, the sequence of events which this story
seeks to uncover beginning with this singular incident in the life of Thomas
Olney, a Dunn tailor - is staggering to consider. Perhaps this is
why our minds repress such knowledge. It is too weighty. But then, what
if... Let us leave off from musings and examine that which we have come
to know.
It is well known that in these parts nomadic tribes of gypsies passed with
frequency and, on certain occasions especially associated with lunar convergences,
the gypsies believed themselves to have the mystical ablity to confer special
powers to newborn infants.
Olney's wife had been in an unusally protracted labor. He feared her life
was endangered. It was a particularly bitter blow to Olney, being naturally
inclined to optimism as he was. The only town physician, his name is not
important, had gone to the sea for a holiday. Because Olney had expected
the good doctor to return in time to deliver the baby, he thus prevented
his wife from going to stay with her sister in Devonshire where there were
several doctors in service.
When it appeared that all was lost, that both mother and child would soon
perish, Olney sent word to the gypsies to send someone who could help deliver
his wife from her suffering.
Three gypsy women arrived and his son was born within the hour. Partly out
of gratitude and partly from delirium, the young father asked the gypsies
to bless his son. The women wept and said it would be a privilege.
The boy, who was named Thomas after his father, was placed in the midst
of a circle of candles. A strange ritual
followed, with incantations in strange languages. The women rubbed a
foul ointment on the infant's forehead and proceeded to prophecy. "One
day, when this boy is a man, he will be permitted the gift of having one
wish granted by the gods, when he wishes for it with all his heart. It will
be like a dream, and the world will never be the same."
The prophecy was accompanied by a strange feeling of both elation and dread,
which pierced Olney's heart like a thorn. He wondered what it would be that
his son would wish for. And he wondered how the world would be changed.
Many years passed and as the boy grew the strange prophesy seemed
to recede in importance. These were the days when England's disenfranchised
had begun dreaming of a better life, a better hope, a better world across
the seas... in America. A friend of young Tom Olney's had just returned
from this new world and spoke in glowing images of a sprawling untamed land,
luscious as Eden, {cf. J Warwick Montgomery, The Shaping of America, chap
1, Questing for a New Eden} where a man can put down his roots and truly
be a man.
Olney's imagination was stirred. His parents knew it would only be a matter
of time and their son would be swept away with the currents that drew dreamers
to the American Colonies.
The day came more quickly than they supposed, however. A scandal broke out
amongst the Brethren, the religious sect to which the Olneys subscribed,
and young Tom was in the middle of it. In the spring of 1718, a certain
Molly Hartwick, daughter of the venerable attorney Lyle Hartwick, was found
to be with child. Though the proper thing was hurriedly carried out, there
was no escaping the chatter that accompanied their every move about the
village. By the time the child was born, Tom and Molly were so wearied by
the galvanized glances and wagging tongues that they determined the only
hope for a decent life for their young son was in the New World. Arrangments
were made, farewells exchanged. They soon found themselves residents in
a place called Berks County, Pennsylvania.
The transition to life on the American frontier was not terrifically difficult.
There were many Quaker Brethren here, and the young family had a heart full
of dreams. The land was good, the forests amply supplied with game. The
increasing numbers of settlers were eager to help one another. Settlements
of Delaware, Susquehannocks and Shawnee in that region had become accustomed
by now to the presence of the white man and were no serious threat.
As an aside it should be remarked upon how fertile this new colony was to
become in the shaping of future history. It is noteworthy that the forebears
of Abraham Lincoln resided here, that the Daniel Boone legacy originated
here, that Benjamin Franklin and others of similar stature trace their roots
to this selfsame soil. And most significantly, the firstborn son of Thomas
Olney: Charles Rogers Olney
Two years later Molly gave birth to a robust redheaded daughter, Elizabeth
Mary Olney. It was a difficult birth and afterward the Lord closed Molly's
womb, leaving her unable to bear more children. Somehow they found this
difficulty acceptable, and they rejoiced greatly in the two wonderful children
that seemed to blossom under their care.
Over the course of years it seemed the Lord's hand of blessing was with
this family in a special way. The fields Olney planted seemed to produce
twice the harvest as his neighbors, and the skill, intelligence and character
of the Olney children gained the Olney's recognition from as far away as
Philadelphia. It was said that son Charles was fluent in four languages
and on his fifteenth birthday demonstrated his mastery by reciting in five
languages -- English, Dutch, French, and Shawnee, the local native indian
tongue -- a short narrative he had written.
For all these blessings the elder Olney, with evident humility, gave all
credit to our gracious and Almighty God.
Tragically, the tables turned and a series of devastating losses
occurred, beginning with the death of the family dog which Olney's daughter
found cruelly beheaded in a shallow stream near their home. The perpetrator
of this horrible thing was a passing stranger who had been seen hanging
around in town the previous week and who many believed to be demon possessed.
The man disappeared and was never seen again, but the incident produced
in Olney a great foreboding.
That fall heavy rains fell, lasting for several weeks, followed immediately
by a severe cold snap. But for the potatoes, Olney's entire crop rotted
on the vines. Though publically he declaimed, "The Lord giveth, and
the Lord taketh away," in his heart he began to be anxious, fearing
still further losses.
It was February when the fire broke out that took his homestead and his
wife. People say he was talking like a madman for days, blaming himself
for the sin that led to his marrying Molly in the first place, though he
loved her dearly and she him and that though God forgives he still punishes
even though it doesn't seem right. It was the first that anyone had heard
of the illegitimate conception.
Nevertheless, the church family pulled together to aid the wounded Olneys.
The teenage children were housed with the Hamiltons while Olney himself
was given a room with Robert Russell who promised not to leave his side
till all was well. Olney wept bitterly and would not be comforted.
The gossip spread like an acid. In spite of the illogical nature of it,
the neighbors began to wonder if Olney was not indeed cursed. He himself
had said it, referring repeatedly to the brutal slaying of his dog as an
omen. They were difficult days for everyone, as each searched his own heart
and wondered the same. Even his best friends became awkward around him,
and sensing this awkwardness, Olney knew inwardly that he was no longer
at home here, that he had become an alien.
That spring the house was not rebuilt. Olney and his two children determined
instead to move further west, to clear a new homestead, more isolated and
remote, deeper in the Blue Mountains.
Of the difficulties that summer, the small crop, the ramshackle one room
home -- there is no need to create details which have so long been forgotten.
What is known about this period is that people in those days experienced
many hardships. In addition to disease and famine, the occasional indian
uprising presented a serious threat to personal safety.
For the sake of this story we are most concerned with an incident which
took place during one such uprising in the autumn of 17xx.
CONTINUE
copyright 1997 ed newman
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ennyman@cp.duluth.mn.us
an original story by ed newman
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