Weston Wagons West: Levi Weston, L1-20 (1823-1874)

By Dr. Bill Smith

This volume of 20 episodes is a part of both the “Weston Wagons West” and “The Homeplace Saga” suites of family saga, historical fictions stories of the author. Jacob Weston marries and moved to St. Louis where he and his wife, Dinah have a son, Levi. These 20 episodes follow the story of Levi Weston from birth in St. Louis to Jefferson City. There Levi and his family meet Jake Patton and Levi decides to move and to Oak Springs, Missouri. The story chronicles the impact of the Civil War on Central Missouri as well as the devastation of the Oak Creek valley and the reconstruction of the town of Oak Springs.

Meet the people that Levi meets both before and after the Civil War. This is a story of loyalty and determination set against the backdrop of the settlement of a rural community in the Southern Missouri Ozarks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329361669

Book preview

Weston Wagons West: Levi Weston, L1-20 (1823-1874)

Weston Wagons West: Levi Weston, L1-20 (1823-1874)

William Leverne Smith aka Dr. Bill

Weston Wagons West: Levi Weston, L1-20 (1823-1874)

Copyright 2015 William Leverne Smith aka Dr. Bill

ISBN #: 978-1-329-36166-9

The cover image is taken from the author’s personal collection of photographs that he took, personally.

Preface

This ebook is a compilation of the first 20 episodes of the Levi Weston stories (Episodes L1-L20) of the Weston Wagons West series first published at:

http://drbill-wml-smith.hubpages.com/

About 100 more stories of the related series can be found at:

http://homeplaceseries.hubpages.com/

These stories are also a part of the larger works of the author known as The Homeplace Saga series of family saga historical fiction stories, based at: http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/

The Levi Weston character was introduced into the community of Oak Springs, MO, in this series of stories as another way for readers to gain a better understanding of and insights into the many families and characters of The Homeplace Saga set in the southern Missouri Ozarks, from 1833 to the present day.

Each episode (or chapter) in this series is about 1,200 words so that they may be read with only a short time commitment, but, we hope, will allow you to learn about the characters and learn to love them. We hope you will want to read more about them and the neighbors with whom they interact.

Stop by the HubPages site for the latest episodes, and, stop by the home blog, referenced above, for the latest information on The Homeplace Saga generally, found on various media platforms. Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

You can also visit William Leverne Smith on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/William-Leverne-Smith/100836503289407

and also see The Homeplace Chronicles for occasional updates at:

https://www.facebook.com/HomeplaceSaga

Episode L1 - Jacob Weston (father of Levi) moved his family to St. Louis, Missouri in 1823

Jacob decided to specialize in wagon building

In the fall of 1814, when Jacob, with his father's approval, decided he really wanted to specialize his career in wagon building, his father Fred arranged for him to begin spending quality time with Guy Tryon. Tryon had arrived in Picqua (OH) from Pennsylvania two years earlier with a well-earned reputation as a wagon builder. He was working at his trade in Picqua in partnership with the merchant, Jeremiah Parks. Parks, along with his son, Hiram, in his firm, took care of the business side of taking orders, ordering supplies, and dealing with customers on financial details so that Tryon could concentrate on building the wagons the customers wanted. This included supervision of the two or three assistants he needed to keep up with the growing orders he was receiving. Fred felt very fortunate that Tryon had agreed to take on Jacob as a protégé. (Read Episode T3 for more background on Fred Weston in Piqua)

Although Fred died a few months later, having become ill during a winter bitter snowstorm from which he did not recover, he would have been very proud of the way Jacob took to his work under Guy Tryon. Tryon quickly realized that Jacob had both a special talent for and passion toward excellent wagon building skills. It was not a set of skills just anyone was capable of acquiring. As his brother, Charles, took over most of the existing family business (with Truman in the early years), Jacob was able to truly specialize in wagon building. By 1819, Jacob was working full-time with the wagon builder.

A side benefit for Jacob as he became more involved with the Tryon-Parks business operations was meeting Dinah Parks, daughter of Jeremiah Parks. She assisted her father, part-time, in the office of the wagon building side of the business. Over three or four years, they had a number of opportunities to be assigned to work on common projects and became a good working team, and, in time, close friends. Being the same age, Jacob and Dinah found themselves invited to the same social events, frequently, on weekends. They did not see themselves as a couple, just good friends who worked well and hard together, but others began to see that they were a couple before they did.

More than just friends

One day, Jacob asked Dinah where her name came from, adding he had not heard it before. She giggled, nervously, but smiled, as she replied, It is a common Hebrew name, meaning 'judgment.' Dinah appears in the Bible as the daughter of Jacob and Leah, in Genesis. Do you read the bible?

Jacob replied, I have read the Bible as one of the available books in the house, but I've not read from it in recent years.

My family is Jewish, Dinah replied. We read the Bible every day. And, names of children, in our family, are selected very carefully.  From that day, they talked about personal beliefs and religion quite a bit in the following days, weeks and months.

Jacob shared that he, and his family, felt that spiritual and religious matters were an important personal belief. They respected the beliefs of others and hoped and expected that others respected theirs. It had worked well for him and his family. We serve and work with all people, he added.

Dinah mentioned that persons of the Jewish faith were few on the frontier, but they were there. If there were not enough people to form a congregation, each family worshiped in their own home, privately, but they did observe all the elements of their faith.

As the relationship between Jacob and Dinah became more personal, romantic thoughts still did not seem to cross their minds until a New Year's Eve party, as 1819 became 1820. The party included some mistletoe hung from an archway in the host's home. Their friends insisted they were permitted to kiss, under the mistletoe, on New Year's Eve, without any further meaning - it was just for good luck for the New Year. So, they kissed.

Lives were changed forever

As all their friends expected, the kiss did change the relationship between Jacob and Dinah. They were still close friends, but romantic issues became involved, and they realized they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. They were married in a Jewish ceremony at her family’s home in June of 1820. They had agreed that any children they might have would be raised in the Jewish faith.

Other events in the family and community were changing, as well, as they planned their wedding and looked forward to having a family. Led by Dinah's older brother, Hiram, several members of the Parks family and their associates had begun to talk about moving to St. Louis, where they believed prospects for business growth were going to be exceptional.

As the months went by, planning continued, and Jacob and Dinah made the commitment to move to St. Louis with Hiram's group, at his invitation, when the correct time arrived. Jacob received the blessing of his mother and brothers in