The Long Way Home; The adventure begins!

The Long Way Home: The Adventure Begins!

September 1843

She sat on the back porch of her daughter’s home in McMinn County, Tennessee, savoring the crisp morning air. Now a frail woman, she was often described as feisty, hardheaded, and stubborn. She preferred to think of herself as strong-willed, candid, and determined.

As she wrapped her hands around a steaming cup of coffee—freshly poured from the pot atop the wood stove—her thoughts returned to the journey ahead. The coffee was still too hot to drink, yet her unease was unmistakable. In truth, the journey had already begun. Her son-in-law, William, had brought her from her home in Blount County to his and her daughter Nancy’s house, nestled in the rural hills of McMinn County, not far from the small but bustling town of Athens.

Travel along rugged wagon trails was no longer easy for her. Even so, her resolve remained firm. Nearing eighty years of age, she carried the aches and burdens of a long life. Born in 1764, she had endured personal hardship and lived through the upheaval of wars and frontier conflict.

She had been born in the British-controlled Carolinas, where the Revolutionary War raged during her teenage years. The region was a patchwork of Loyalist (Tory) and Patriot strongholds, and violence between the two was common. Skirmishes, raids, and even massacres left lasting scars on the land and its people.

By the time she eloped with Reuben, North Carolina had become an independent state within the new United States of America. Their plantation lay five miles outside Asheville, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The countryside was lush and rolling, with dense forests and fertile valleys; nevertheless, the threat of conflict with the Cherokee Nation—whose capital lay just across the Little Tennessee River—was never far removed.

Tennessee, once part of North Carolina, was still a frontier. Settlers pressed westward, and tensions over land and sovereignty persisted. In time, those pressures would reshape the region and the lives of those who called it home.

Circa 1785

In those early years, she and Reuben built a life that appeared, at least from the outside, to be secure. Yet security on the frontier was often fragile, and the choices of one person could alter the course of many.

Reuben eventually left. Whether through ambition, restlessness, or disregard, he abandoned her and their children, forcing her to shoulder the responsibilities of survival alone. She did what she could to provide for them, relying on endurance, resourcefulness, and an unyielding sense of duty.

Life in Pendleton was difficult for a single mother in the late eighteenth century. With no support from Reuben, she labored to keep her household intact and her children fed, clothed, and sheltered.

September 1843

Back in the present, she encountered Reuben’s nephew, Reuben Casada, at the general store. He spoke of their days in Asheville and shared news of Reuben’s failing health—rumored to have begun after a horse kicked him in the head, possibly revealing, or causing, a tumor. Reuben had since moved to a plantation on the French Broad River, a fertile region known for rich farmland and abundant livestock.

Reuben’s estate was substantial: four plantations, a dozen enslaved people, and herds of horses, cattle, hogs, and other livestock. Such wealth could change the prospects of her descendants, many of whom struggled to provide for their families.

As she considered the journey, she believed her children deserved recognition—and support—for the years they had endured without Reuben. Nancy, her eldest, had been young when they left Asheville, and she had done what she could to raise her children alone. Now she hoped, at last, to secure a better future for them all.