by Frank Felton
Upon seeing this, Aiden set to eliminating his competition. Her beau was an imbecile born with a silver spoon. He was weak, and possibly a drunkard. He cared less for Mary than card games. He was a skinny chap, as was Aiden, yet the latter was unafraid to engage in a pugilistic affair. He was focused solely on the success of his mission to woo this lady. Truth be told, and she would later confirm, she would have joined him regardless as there was no love in her heart for her current man.
Nonetheless, Aiden waited one night outside a saloon where the man played cards. Near midnight, the man stumbled out of the saloon. Aiden challenged him to a fight. The coward refused and attempted to run. Astonished at such spinelessness, Aiden tackled the man, and swung his fist directly into the man’s jaw. The beau immediately fell limp and rolled into a ball on the ground, begging to be left alone.
Aiden could no more beat on a weakling than he would cut his own skin. This man lacked any backbone whatsoever. Yet, Aiden had to be certain he would not return to Mary. So he held the man’s head in a watering trough, and after a few seconds, let him up for air. He told the man to leave town, to forget about Mary, else he would be back to finish the beating. The grateful beau fled, even offering an apology as he left. He would hole up at his family plantation for three days, scared to venture back to town.
Aiden had to make his move. The next day, he surprised Mary with flowers as she left the store. Mary was yet unaware of Aiden’s presence in town. She’d not recognized him about town as he slyly carried forth his plan.
He indeed made his move, and suffice to say; two months later they were married in a church in Huntsville. An able strategist in her own right, she made Aiden spend two weeks courting her, and nigh every dollar he’d brought on the trip to seal the deal.
He told her many a tall tale regarding his accomplishment; his unfinished moral compass at the time made him believe he had to lie to her to win her heart. The truth is, she cared not for money. She suffered the same sentimentality of youth as Aiden, particularly given the family hardships she’d endured since.
Mary and Aiden fell in love.
Of course, her family disapproved, at least on the outset. They thought any man who spent weeks traveling across the country in search of a woman was too lazy ever to be successful at anything. Even less, they doubted his ability to survive busting sod in the rugged frontier of Texas. Aiden didn’t care, and neither did Mary. She wanted a man who’d risk his life for a better future, and a man who’d already demonstrated such tenacity surely had more to offer.
~~~
Mary was the niece of Admiral David Farragut. Her family had known the Bensons in the northern Alabama territory, near Tennessee, long before the Bensons left to charter a new life in East Texas. Her grandfather Jordi Farragut was born in Spain. He was a short, squatty, man, albeit equipped with a genius intellect and undeniably adventurous.
Jordi took to the sea at a young age. He soon found himself trading goods throughout the Caribbean at a time when piracy was rampant. As hostilities between the colonists and the British reached a boiling point, he was forced to choose sides. Near the outbreak of the American Revolution, he joined the Americans. With his littoral experience, he was commissioned a naval officer and in the process Anglicized his name to George in lieu of Jordi.
George was captured during the Siege of Charleston in 1780. After his release, he continued to fight for the embattled revolutionaries at Cowpens. The Battle of Cowpens was an epic fight. It has been compared to Hannibal’s tactical genius at Cannae, as both battles led to a defining psychological turning point in their respective wars. At Cowpens, the founding generation of Americans pressed its mettle against British masters. Ultimately the American victory ignited a domino effect of defeats for Cornwallis in the south, ushering in Washington’s victory at Yorktown and the birth of America.
After the battles of the Revolution subsided, George Farragut was assigned by Thomas Jefferson to staff the port of New Orleans in 1805. He received this duty in part because he spoke fluent Spanish. This meant he was equipped to deal with the locals who distrusted English-speaking Americans.
This was during a time before the influx of colonists into Texas and a few years before the War of 1812. His posting at New Orleans was part of a larger strategy of expansion for the United States. It would ultimately result in the Louisiana Purchase; the largest acquisition of land in U.S. history. The young American state attained land from the French spanning from the Mississippi River to the Rockies, as it continued its march westward.
Manifest Destiny.
It would be a bittersweet assignment for George. Soon after assuming the post, his wife died of Yellow Fever. Dedicated to the job, George would remain at his post and send his children back to Tennessee. They were eventually placed in the care of a foster family, though most ended up returning to live with relatives. George stayed behind, spending his last days in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and living to the age of 53. He died in 1817.
As mentioned, one of George’s children was David Farragut. He would become a famous sea Captain as well. Described as notoriously aggressive and difficult, he rose to the rank of admiral during the Civil War, fighting with the Union. Famous for the battle cry “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” at the Battle of Mobile Bay, he was the real-world incarnation of Leeroy Jenkins. The admiral’s zeal for adventure and heroism—a characteristic of his father—were traits that would later emerge in Aiden and Mary’s lineage. The pedigree of their progeny would be abundantly fruitful with a proclivity for action.
Aiden and Mary both descended from a proud heritage which gave rise to the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. The nation would become a point of light and a beacon of inspiration built by such individuals as Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, George Washington; and the somewhat lesser known George Farragut. Sadly, the country was also built upon the backs of slaves. This tragic legacy would be remedied during the Civil War, as the country would tear itself apart to grant freedom to all.
21. Milam County, Texas
So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. – Matthew 11:9
Aiden Benson would never have been mistaken for a ladies’ man, so it is truly a miracle that he ended up married to the best of the lot. He was mostly aloof, a man given to thoughts of adventure rather than prurient interests. It would not dawn on him until near adulthood that he was even attracted to women. He was a truly innocent boy; that innocence only slightly tarnished when sent to fight a battle of not his choosing.
Even once he matured enough to entertain thoughts of the opposite sex, his sense of honor forbade him from such tacky pursuits. Such was a possibility in the 1800’s, a time when Maslow’s hierarchy still meant survival had to be certain before one could pursue pleasure. Had he been plucked from the era and transplanted to the modern day, he might have turned out much differently. Man wants for very little today, and every indulgence is available with the most minimal of effort.
During his imprisonment, it was only through keeping a journal that he deciphered his own inner being and resolved that should he ever escape with his dignity intact, he would accomplish two things: find the secret of Sam Houston, and marry the one woman he knew was intended for him. Yet, he knew not whether either of these even existed.
Something within told him he would find both waiting for him after the war.
Seek and you shall find.
~~~
Aiden and Mary’s journey back to Texas was fraught with peril, though both were starry eyed and impervious to the hardships. She was not initially keen on moving to the edge of the Texas frontier where Indian raids were still a threat. She also knew should she turn down Aiden’s proposal for marriage, he would go west regardless, and likely she would never see him again.
No longer were Indians and enemy soldiers the biggest fear in Texas, but rather the threat of crossing paths with outlaws in a region where law was
in a fledgling state. Despite not being fully aware of what he sought, the mystery left him intrigued. He could not force away the selfish thought that maybe, this journey would leave him enriched. Such was not his primary objective, though human nature afforded him no reprieve from such self-centered assumptions.
His search for the treasure would slow from an intense hunt to a lifelong passion. What began for this young man as a youthful adventure of excitement and mystery, would become much more difficult and evasive. Had he been gifted at that point with an ability to see the future, he might have turned his horse around and raced for the Louisiana border.
Mary’s well-to-do family sent her along with a small dowry. One thing she learned quickly is that Aiden would seldom relent once he got an idea in his head. For whatever reason, he seemed fixed on settling the frontier in pursuit of his prosperity. In turn, he learned soon that she was not one to base her charter in life on others’ ideas of what was proper; and she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.
Once they arrived back in Milam County, Aiden’s first stop was the county seat of Cameron. He there formally registered his title deed with the courthouse. Milam County was no longer the rugged frontier of a quarter century before. By the time of the Civil War, Milam had more than 3,600 residents. Between 1850 and 1860, the amount of settled or improved land increased six-fold, yet still represented less than three percent of the total area.
Aiden scouted his new homestead for three days before he decided where to build a new house. He planted the foundation for his structure on a small hill raised against the river’s flood plain, but nested only 50 feet from the water’s edge. In times of high water, the ripples of the Gabriel’s flow might nip the edge of the house, but its rise would be halted by drain-off in numerous gullies.
He was no geologist; he put faith in his own discretion and a little nod from the gods. As luck would have it, that same house would stand for almost 100 years. Its base was overcome with water only once, and its demise came not at the hands of the mighty Gabriel, but the crushing blow of the pecan he’d planted that same year. In that respect, one might argue the Gabriel indeed crushed the home. The tree’s root tapped the supple water of the river and caused the tree to grow to a stellar height. Correspondingly, the drought of the 1950’s shrank the Gabriel, and in turn caused the mighty tree to topple as its root system dried up.
Mixed in with the predominant pecan trees were mighty oaks, which would be cut, hewn and mauled into the structure for his future family. The Benson farm was supplied with water by the spring-fed Gabriel. The land would soon bring forth a bounty of crops from its fruitful soil, washed over with sediment from ages of flooding in the Gabriel bottom. Over the years, Aiden would fell many a tree as he cleared the land to plant crops. Mary took to the new life undeterred by the difficult road ahead.
Aiden likely would never admit his wife brought more accomplished military experience and history to the family. He viewed her in a much more passive style, and was drawn to her elegance and beauty. A nobler lady he could not imagine, though in her blood ran the genetic line of kings and generals. Their offspring would boast vestiges of these traits, leading to moments of excitability and recklessness.
On that topic, when you have as many years under your belt as me, you learn the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I must confess to you that the ancestry of Mrs. Mary Benson is downright fascinating. Some of these thoughts are speculative intrigue, based more on a sophisticated hunch than direct records. Precise lineage is specious in the early 1800’s, but there is one interesting thing which jumps out at me, and I must tell you because it seems too perfect not to be true.
While her grandparents are known, not much is known of Mary Benson’s parents. Her mother would have been a sister to Admiral David Farragut, a child likely missing from the record books during the tumultuous years of the Revolution and Jordi’s station in New Orleans. She would have been born sometime in the early 1800’s, and likely died a decade or so before the Civil War.
It is my belief that Mary’s father was of the Grissim clan from Kentucky, and died fighting in the Civil War. The Grissim family is much storied. Descended from line of Owen Tudor in the 1600’s, it makes the children of Mary Benson a line of English royalty. The same line would also spawn Jeannette de Lafayette Grissim, whose daughter would be the mother of one Howard Robard Hughes.
Part of this speculation lies in the overwhelming similarities between Howard Hughes, and Aiden Benson’s great-grandson, Troy. Since I’ve had the pleasure to meet both of these men, it’s about all the proof needed for me. Now, you don’t know much about Aiden’s great-grandson just yet, but we’ll discuss him later in the story. His adventures with Crash Carter are soon to be legend. You can decide for yourself.
Both of these men were geniuses, obsessive-compulsive by nature, with an almost unhealthy fascination with airplanes. They were stubborn to a fault, failing to give up even after numerous crashes and other setbacks. At heart, two headstrong and determined individuals who lost their parents at a young age; who developed a sense of direction of their own accord.
Howard Hughes captured the imagination of generations over the span of decades. It is my guess that in a completely different way, Troy Benson and Crash Carter are about to do the same. The difference is the latter duo will do so in the twinkling of an eye. Such is fitting for a society that moves both upon the back of, and at the speed of, an escaped electron.
The speed of light.
22. Home on the Range
Many years passed as Aiden and Mary proudly built their homestead. The honeymoon period had long since vanished, and frontier life’s hardships made them realists. Nonetheless, the love that took hold was true, and they pressed on despite numerous setbacks – droughts, floods, and lack of civil society and neighbors. He knew how to cheer her up, and in those days, new clothes were a rarity. He returned home from town one day, and retrieved a new dress from his saddlebag.
A baby in her arms, Mary let slip a smile as he walked to the door.
They were now the parents of two small children, with another on the way. Eventually they would have three more. Mary loved children, and not just her own. She had already become a schoolteacher. First to teach her own children, but as other families settled in the area, Aiden built a schoolhouse on the property and Mary started taking in any child she could.
The railroads came in the 1870’s, and Milam continued to grow. Many of the settlers were uneducated folks, and Mary’s instruction made the Benson family grow in stature quickly in the remote territory. Outside of raising her own family, teaching would become her lot in life. Her passion became education, to instruct the young children through basic reading and writing, and even a bit of math, all skills which were rare in this part of the world.
While she lacked her husband’s mechanical genius, he lacked her patience, empathy, and ability to communicate effectively. He also had a difficult time focusing on any one discipline, nor on the fundamentals. While his thoughts and theories might have been genius, his writing ability was still at an elementary level. Over time, she would not only help him perfect his writing, but he’d learn Spanish and Latin as well.
Milam County developed an above average public school system, and this was in no small part due to Mrs. Benson’s determination. Nearly every Milam County settlement boasted a school by the end of the 1870’s. Mrs. Benson traveled from town to town throughout the year to help establish curriculum.
Aiden was an entrepreneurial man. He parlayed his endowment from Sam Houston into numerous successful and profitable ventures. He dabbled in farming and, eventually, in livestock. He built the first cotton gin in the settled area which was used for over 60 years. Aiden would use his wealth to buy up land, and gambled some of his profits trying out new and cutting edge technologies of the era.
Farming was his first love, and it was by chance that he expanded into cattle ranching operations in 1876. He was in Austin handling land deeds, whe
n he made a too-good-to-be-true deal while drinking whiskey with some cattlemen. He had a few dozen head of cattle back at the ranch, primarily for his own family’s milk and beef supplies. He now found himself buying another hundred head from a herd that was passing through the area en route to Montana. They were planning to establish a ranch in that cattleman’s paradise as they called it.
He spent the evening chatting with one of the captains. It was a sign posted to the outfit’s wagon which sparked the initial conversation. Not only did it have a humorous vignette which mentioned something about renting pigs, but also had a Latin phrase; uva uvam vivendo varia fit. As this garbled corruption made no sense, and Aiden now understood Latin, he made quick friends with the Captain.
Aiden always appreciated a man who didn’t take life too seriously. The outfit started the drive with 2,600 head of stolen Mexican cattle and needed to sell a few to finance the upcoming trip. He made a deal with the Captain for the hundred head and had their cowboys peel them off to drive over to Milam County. Two years later, he heard the men had successfully established their ranch in Montana, although one of the captains died after crossing paths with a band of Indians while scouting the territory ahead of the herd.
Aiden and Mary would meet their first tragedy in 1884. Their eldest son, Miller, ran away and joined a trail drive passing through Austin on the Chisholm Trail en route to Kansas. Miller was already on the verge of being disowned by his father, having been reported stealing whiskey from a gin palace in Rockdale. It was the last in a long line of infractions committed by the renegade and directionless child, starting with a propensity for dishonesty from the time he could speak.
Regardless of how Aiden and Mary reared him, Miller Benson was a derelict from the day he was born. He inherited bad genes from Mrs. Benson’s side of the family, according to Aiden. While he admired his wife for her redeeming qualities, both intellectual and physical, he knew that several of her kinfolks were prone to being idiots. This attribute of his wife he was willing to overlook, or perhaps, he didn’t have much choice at this point.