The Hamptons and the Lamanais of New Bern by Katie
Once upon a time there were two families that shared a field of cotton and the names of the families were Hamptons and Lamanais. Mr. Hampton had a daughter named Charlie who had light blonde hair and green eyes also she was his only child, because Mrs. Hamptons had died in childbirth and he didn't feel like there was anyone in the world like her. But when Charlie was about two years old he found a women named Charity that he thought would be a great mom to Charlie because she had a daughter of her own who was four years old named Molly who had dark brown hair with gray eyes. So Mr. Hampton got married to Charity and Molly became Charlie's annoying big sister. The Lamanais's had a son named Hanson who had brown hair and dark blue eyes and a daughter named Sallie who had Strawberry blonde hair with light blue eyes. When Charlie turned fifteen, Mr. Lamanais decided to make sure that his family and the Hamptons always share the field, decided that Charlie should marry his son Hanson, who was nineteen. The Hamptons thought it was a great idea because they were thinking the same thing. But Charlie couldn't stand to be around Hanson. So when her father told her that she would marry him within a years time, she started yelling at the top of her lungs. The only reason she stop is because he was in another part of the house and her house was big and made out of wood and it looked very nice for a farmer to have. And she had always loved it there so it wasn't easy to decide to run away, but it had to be done. And before she could leave she had to go see Sallie who was her best friend who was the same age as her. When she got over to the Lamanais she hide because Mr. Lamanais was talking to Hanson she over heard the conversation is was like this “Why do I have to marry her? I am in love with Molly, Charlie's stepsister.” said Hanson “Well that may be so but if you don't and your sister can't. We may not share the land if her husband wishes it.” said Mr. Lamanais. When they were finished talking Charlie sneaked past them into the house which looked a lot like her house because they were farmers too but it had stairs which was pretty cool. When she came in the door Sallie saw her and they went up to her room. As soon as they got
to the room Sallie said ”I just heard that you are having a arrange
marriage to my brother Hanson.” “Yes, but since I don't want to
marry Hanson I am going to run away to a little town nearby called
Vanceboro. In Vanceboro I can go to my Aunt Amina who will keep me a
secret from my family.” said Charlie. “How are you going to get
to Vanceboro without anyone knowing that is where you are going?”
said Sallie. “Well I was hoping that you would say that you and me
were going to go to town on horseback to tell the news. And when you
come back alone say that I ran-away.”said Charlie. “Yes, of
course I will do that just promise me that you will not come back
until you are married to someone you love.” said Sallie. “You
know I ain't going to come back to be put in a bad marriage. But I
will miss you so much more than every one else.” said Charlie. “I
will miss you too. You need to go get your things ready on a horse at
your house. I will tell your father and my parents the lie and be
over soon.” said Sallie. Charlie sneaks out of the house and into
the stables of her family and saddles her favorite horse named
Buttercup and then went in the house and got some of her cloths and
some money and hide it all in a saddle bag. When she was finished
with that Sallie came in on her horse named Vanilla. They gallop away
from the house to Vanceboro. Once they were in Vanceboro they went to
Amina's house and right before Sallie left she said “I will miss
you but a least I know you are safe and here is a little money so you
can stay here for a while.” Charlie yells after her “ Bye and
thanks.” she went in her aunt's house and she gave her Aunt some
money for letting her stay there and to put Buttercup in the stables.
Since it was only about twelve in the afternoon she decided to go
exploring the area. She came across a boy that looked sixteen who had
a little baby boy who looked about eleven months old and they were
living in a abandon house also they both had dark brown hair with
greenish orange eyes. Charlie could tell that they needed her help so
she got close enough to see them both and came out and said “Hi,my
name is Charlie and I wouldn't hurt you or tell anyone you were
here.” the boy says “Hi,my name is Liam and this is my son Liam
II. Do you have any food on you?” she had a little bread so she
gave it to him and said “That is all I have on me right now. Why
are you down here with your baby?” “Well I am down here because
my wife died of child birth and her family didn't like me
so they disown me and my family is dead and left me nothing. So I
came here because I had no money.”said Liam ashamedly. So to make
him feel better Charlie says “Well I ran away from home because I
didn't want to get married to someone that I didn't love.” Liam
said “No, really you ran away from your home.” “Yes, I am not
going to be put into a marriage I don't like.” said Charlie
proudly. Liam sat down and started eating the bread and gave the soft
part to the baby. Charlie broke the silences by saying “Are you and
your son going to live in here forever.” Liam says to that “Do
you have a better idea.” Charlie says “Yes,come and live with me
at my aunt Amina's house.” Liam says “Really you would let me and
my son live with you and your Aunt.” “Well I wouldn't have you
both dying of a cold out here.” said Charlie. So Liam said
“Okay,but I can't walk far with him.” “Well I will go get
Buttercup and be right back or I could hold him.”said Charlie.
“Just bring Buttercup and be quick.” said Liam. So Charlie said
“Okay.”And took off running she got back to the her aunt's house
and took Buttercup and went to the abandon house. When she got there
Liam was laying on the floor asleep and Liam II was asleep beside
him. So she woke Liam up and tied the baby to him and Charlie got on
the back of the saddle and Liam and the baby in front. When they got
to the house Charlie gave Liam and Liam II a room beside hers. Then
Liam and Liam II went to the room and fell straight to sleep. The
next morning Charlie went to see if the her aunt had cooked any food
she had cooked some oatmeal and ham. So she got three bowls of
oatmeal and some ham. And she went to Liam and Liam II's room and
knocked on the door and Liam answered it and Liam II was still
sleeping. Charlie gave Liam two bowls of oatmeal and a pieces of ham.
So Liam said “Thank you. You are very kind to me and my son.”
“Well you seem like nice boys.”said Charlie. “I not a little
kid so would you please not call me boy.”said Liam. “Of course.
How old are you and your son?”said Charlie. “Well I am seventeen
and my son is one. How old are you?” said Liam seriously. So
Charlie said “I am Fifteen.” “So you were to be married at the
same age of my wife.” said Liam. “How old were you when you got
married?”said Charlie. “Well I was Sixteen. But unlike in your
case we were in love.” said Liam. “It must be nice to be married
when you are in love with the other person.”said Charlie dazedly.
“Yes,it is. But it is very sad when they die.
And really hard when there is a newborn baby.”said Liam. “Was it
really hard to raise little Liam II all
by
yourself ?” said Charlie. To make Charlie feel better Liam said
“Yes, but it gets easier when they get older they don't depend on
you as much as they do when they are babies.” Right when he gets
done saying that Liam II starts to cry really loud. Both Charlie and
Liam walk into the part of the room that the baby was in. Liam picks
Liam II and rocked him but it didn't help Liam II was still crying.
So Charlie asked “Could I try to calm him down?” Liam said
“Okay,just be careful.” Liam hands Liam II over to Charlie and
she rocks him a little and he stopped crying. When Liam saw that
Charlie could stop Liam II from crying he fell in love. Over the next
couple of weeks Charlie slowly fell in love with Liam and Liam II.
Liam could tell that she was in love but he wasn't sure so one day he
asked “Would you marry me, Charlie?” Charlie said “Yes,of
course. And once we are married we can go to my family in New Bern.”
So they were married in the Post Oak meeting house in Vanceboro and
got a carriage from Amina and hooked Buttercup up to it and packed up
their things and put them in the carriage. They left for New Bern and
it would take about four hours to get to the Hampton's house. Once at
the house Charlie went to go look for her father she found him in his
office. When he saw her he said “Where have you been?” So Charlie
said “Well I didn't want to marry Hanson. So I went to find myself
someone I did and I got married to him. His name is Liam Drake I and
he has a son named Liam Drake II.” “Well bring them in and you
can live here with me. Just don't leave me all alone here.” said
Mr. Hampton. So the Drakes moved in with Mr. Hampton. When Mr.
Lamanais heard that Charlie had a husband he was so mad he rushed
right over to the Hampton and Drake's house. When he got there he
went straight to Mr. Hampton and said “Why do you allow your
Daughter in your house when she has run away and got married?” so
Mr. Hampton said “Well I missed her when she was gone because she
is all I have left of my family. And she only disobeyed me because
she wanted love.” “Well now I don't know if we will always share
the field.”said Mr. Lamanais in angry. All of a sudden Liam comes
in because he heard their conversation and he said “I have a idea
if one of your children has a little girls that is a couple years
younger than my son Liam Drake II. Then they
will spend the summers with each other. All day and everyday of the
summer.” So Mr. Lamanais said “ Okay.” Then Mr. Lamanais went
to find out how he could do it and then he remembered that his son
Hanson is in love with Molly. So he found his son and told him”Go
ask Molly to marry you.” Hanson said “Yeah” and he went to go
find her. Once he found her he said “Molly, I love you. Will you
marry me?” Molly said “Yes,and I love you too.” So they were
married the next week. A nine months and two weeks later, both Molly
and Charlie had baby girls. Charlie named her baby Samantha who had
light brown hair with green eyes and Molly named her baby Stephanie
but is going to call her Stephe who had light strawberry blonde hair
with dark blue eyes. One day after their birth Sallie came over to
see how Charlie was. But on her way to the house she meet a traveler
named Philip he had been beat and had a broken leg so she helped him
up and took him to Charlie's house which was closer. Once in the
house she and Charlie fixed his leg as best they could but it would
take a couple of weeks for it to heal completely and Charlie said “I
will not have enough time to take care of him. So I was wondering
would you come and stay over here and take care of him?” Sallie
said “Yes, I will come and stay but only because he needs help and
it is nice to help people.” “Thank you so very much and this will
be great I will get to spend some quality time with you.” said
Charlie. So to end the conversation Sallie said “Yes, it will be
great and I will be back in a few minutes.” So Sallie went to her
house and got some cloths and went to back to Charlie's house. At
Charlie's house, Charlie gave Sallie a room next to Philip and Sallie
figured out that Philip name is Philip River. Since she had to spend
a lot of time with Philip she fell in love with Philip. And one day
Philip asked “Will you marry me?” Sallie said “Yes” They were
married the next Monday. Three weeks and nine mouths later Sallie had
twins a boy named Philip II who had blue eyes and black hair looked
like his father and a girl named Hope who had dark strawberry blonde
hair and blue eyes. Fifteen years later after many summers of Stephe
and Hope staying with the Drakes. Mr. Hampton died of the age of
fifty-two. Also Molly and Hanson died of Typhoid. After the fifteen
summers Liam II had spend with Hope and Stephe he finally had to
choose between them. Also during those fifteen summer Samantha and
Stephe had become the
best of friend and acted as if they were sisters. Liam II liked
Stephe but he knows that his mother wants him to choose Hope because
that is her best friend's daughter. But he like Stephe's happy
behavior and it wasn't because his sister likes her or for any reason
like that. He liked how she walked and talked so he walked into his
father's office and said “Father, I have decided the at I want to
marry Stephanie Lamanais.” Liam I said “Okay. Then go asks her
already.” Liam II ran over to the Lamanais's house. But before he
got there he was hit in the head by a mule and that made him get to
want to marry Hope. So he found Hope asked her to marry him and she
said “Yes.” So he brought her to the Post Oak meeting house in
Vanceboro where his mom and dad had got married and they got married.
When he came back he remembered that he didn't want to marry Hope and
that he had made a mistake but he was going to have to live with it.
Ten months later Hope died from childbirth but had twin girls who
both had Blonde hair and green eyes. Liam II decide that the girls
would need a mother so he asked his mom “Will you watch the girls I
need to go get Stephe and ask her to marry me so the girls will have
a mother.” She said “Yes I will watch the girls but I needs their
names.” Liam said in reply “Their names are
Lily
and Clare.” Then he took off running and went to the
stable and found her brushing Caramel who mom was Vanilla. So he
said “Hey, will you marry me?” She said “Yes, I will marry. But
what happen to Hope” He said “ Oh she died in childbirth and now
I have two daughters whose names are Lily
and Clare. And I want you to be their mother. And I hope you know I
only picked Hope because I fell and thought I loved her not you like
I always have.” Stephe
said “I feel the same way about you. But I have a question when are
we going to get married?” So Liam said “Is right now a good time
for you because we can always go get dressed and have a wedding in
the field I can go get the preacher and get him to marry us.”
Stephe said “That would be amazing I will go tell your family and
you can tell my family. And Don't worry they will not kill you.” So
everything went as planned they had a big wedding in the field
Stephe looked amazing in a white dress and Liam II was so happy that
he finally got to marry her he had a smile so big he looked like a
joker. And since now the two families that shared the field were one
family everything was okay and jolly between them.
- - - -
I wrote about this because I feel as though people might not know about stuff like that Vanceboro had no church but used the Post Oak meeting house as a church. The story shows you that land was hard to come by and people sometime shared the land. And it shows that sometimes arrange marriages were made to keep peace. Craven county is very special to me it is where I was born and raised. It is a place where you can feel safe and you feel like the world is full of different things and people.
- - - -
I wrote about this because I feel as though people might not know about stuff like that Vanceboro had no church but used the Post Oak meeting house as a church. The story shows you that land was hard to come by and people sometime shared the land. And it shows that sometimes arrange marriages were made to keep peace. Craven county is very special to me it is where I was born and raised. It is a place where you can feel safe and you feel like the world is full of different things and people.