A Christmas to Remember
Christmas day started pretty much like any other day in the life of Elisha, the eleven year old son of Nathan and Ann Speakman Hoopes. The Hoopes’ were Quaker farmers, living on their sprawling family farm near Westown, in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1776.
Up at the crack of dawn, feeding hay to the cattle, penned up in the barn for the winter and finding brown eggs in the nests of the laying hens, was the work that first born, Elisha, performed, generally before breakfast. Quaker boys were obedient above all–to be scarcely seen and not heard was their motto.
Elisha’s father had left the house earlier and presumably walked over to his father’s house, a few miles distant, to check on a faithful work horse, Old Toby, who had hurt his foot working the land the other day.
Elisha’s mother, in the prime of her motherhood at 31, was kneeling in front of the big iron pot hanging in the fireplace, stirring the mush for their meal. This was hard for her, as she was almost eight months pregnant, but her face glowed– because of the fire and because all pregnant women seem to have a glow. Elisha hoped that because it was Christmas day, there would also be something special, maybe even honey cakes with sweet butter, his favorite treat.
The day started out dark and damp, with dense fog rolling in from the marshes of the Deleware River, several miles from the valley where they lived. There was some snow left from the bad storm the week before, and there was ice where water had stood. It looked like it would snow again. Elisha shivered as he put on his soot blackened leather boots and pulled his black homespun cloak up tightly around his neck.
In the barn yard, Elisha found seven eggs, one of them cracked, and gently laid them into his black, broad brimmed Quaker hat, and headed into the house.
As Elisha entered the house, he smelled the sweet honey from the cakes baking on the hearth. His mother said softly, so as not to wake his little brothers, Enos and Amor, snuggled in the patchwork quilt nearby, “Hast thou seen thy father come from Grandfather’s?,” to which Elisha responded, “Nay, but please Mother, might I go and fetch him?” Ann knew that with six brothers and this being Christmas day, her husband may be detained, so she bid Elisha go quickly.
Elisha pulled his hat back on and tightened up his cloak as he pushed open the door and closed it gently. He started walking, then running, along the wagon ruts, cracking the thin ice on the road that led to Grandfather Hoopes’ place.
The first house Elisha came to was Uncle Daniel’s, his father’s 38 year old brother, the first born of Grandfather Hoopes. Elisha often wondered why Grandfather had named his first two sons Daniel and Thomas, and not until the third, his father, had he named one after himself. There was light coming from the window and smoke wafting from the fireplace–Aunt Elizabeth was there preparing their meal. Elisha hurried down the road past the lane that led to his Uncle Adam’s house. He couldn’t see that house from the road. As he got closer to Grandfather’s house, Elisha could hear strange sounds coming from that direction–something was going on at Grandfather’s.
As he approached the lane, Elisha could see fresh hoof prints in the snow–from several horses, and big ones at that. He wondered who they belonged to, and felt a little scared. He knew there were Hessians in the area, near the road that led to Philadelphia, and they had big horses. Hessians were German mercenary soldiers, sent over by King George to put down the Colonists. Elisha heard that the Hessians, like the British redcoats, just forced themselves into people’s homes, taking whatever they wanted, sometimes even harming the occupants. They were now here in Pennsylvania to fight against the brave troops of the Continental Congress. Elisha had heard that the Hessians were at the local tavern at all hours of the night, drinking and singing their crude German war songs about killing and looting. General Washington’s tired troops camped for the winter over at Valley Forge were poorly dressed for the biting cold weather, sometimes had no food to eat, and were in poor spirits.
Elisha had also heard his father and uncles talk of General George Washington, an impressive man, said to be six feet three inches tall, with shoes measuring 13 inches. Elisha had also heard other stories about General Washington, about his honesty, his bravery in battle, and his desire to make their land free from the oppression of the British. General Washington was a very famous man and Elisha, like all the boys his age, day-dreamed about fighting with General Washington–but Elisha was a Quaker boy and Quakers did not believe in fighting. Elisha knew that if his father and uncles were not so firm in their religious tenets against fighting and war, they too would be fighting with General Washington, for they believed in his cause of freedom. Elisha was glad about that, but he also felt that they should be able to do something to help win freedom from those bullies, the British and their allies, the German Hessians. Quakers weren’t to take sides on political issues, but Elisha certainly wasn’t a Tory.
As Elisha headed up Street Road, he could see Grandfather’s big masonary home, “Brooznool,” named after Great Grandmother Hoopes’ family home in old England. As Elisha pushed back the snow laden branches of the sycamores on the shortcut to Grandfather’s front door, he could now see that the hoof prints went around the house to the barn, partly hidden by the barren black berry bushes. Elisha instinctively went into the house, but saw no body there–the fire was blazing steadily in the huge fireplace and smells from the kettle were perfuming the air, but Grandmother was not to be seen. So Elisha quickly went out by the back door and headed for the barn. As he got closer, he could hear talking, but it wasn’t the soft spoken Quaker talk with its ‘thee and thou’ pronouns. He gingerly opened the door and there he saw, un-mistakenly before him, standing head and shoulders above his Grandfather Hoopes and Uncle James, an imposing figure in a three cornered hat, with white powdered wig, tattered, muddy breeches and leaning on his cane–this was General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He was talking with Grandfather, asking his advice about horses, along with about eight to ten other soldiers, also looking muddy and anxious to get on their way to battle.
Elisha, remembering that good Quaker children are scarcely seen and never heard, wanted to approach the giant of a man, and even touch him to see if he were real–but Elisha stood, motionless, behind the corn crib and just listened. The great General said that they were going to cross the Deleware River that night on boats that normally took pig iron to Philadelphia. They were on their way to find and fight the Hessians. General Washington’s horse had lost a shoe and so he had stopped at the house of a farmer, who he hoped would be a true Friend.
Grandfather was holding the horse’s hoof between his knees, measuring with his fingers to see if he had any shoes that would readily fit. If not, he would happily stoke up the forge and beat white hot metal to make a well fitting shoe. This was so exciting to Elisha that he didn’t even realize that his father was not there, nor what he had come for. He had come to find father--where was he? He now wanted his father to be there to see General Washington.
Grandfather had found a perfect fit shoe and was nailing it on the horse’s hoof–the nails held between his teeth while his deft hands pounded in the square home made nails with the little hammer. Much too quickly for Elisha, the soldiers were headed out–bidding goodby, asking the best routes to go. General Washington paused when he saw Elisha behind the corn crib, winked and tipped his hat to the boy. Elisha turned and could now see Grandmother running out of the house, bringing two loaves of still steaming rye bread snuggled within her big black apron, to give to the patriots. Elisha was choked with emotion.
Back in the house, beside the warm hearth, Elisha told his story of seeing General Washington to Grandmother, who said she had witnessed it all from her place by the butter churn. Grandfather had actually helped General Washington, who had stopped to obtain assistance from a Friend. Elisha had seen all of this. Elisha said he had come to find his father. Grandfather said that perhaps Elisha’s father stopped off at Uncle Aaron’s place. At noon the whole extended Hoopes family, nine grown children and 47 grandchildren, would be congregating at the local Friend’s meeting house for worship. Elisha had forgotten about this and it was late in the morning.
Elisha kissed Grandmother and said goodby to Grandfather and was quickly on his way home. As he passed Uncle Aaron’s he could see his father, leading Old Toby, who was walking with a slight limp. Elisha hurried to meet father, and on the way home told him what he had just experienced. His father, at first somewhat incredulous, was more anxious about getting Toby home and getting his family to the meeting. When they reached home, Mother was waiting, with seven year old Moses, his wide brimmed hat on crooked, five year old Susanna with her black dress freshly pressed but with breakfast egg spilled on it, and little brothers, three year old Amor and two year old Enos, already fidgeting in the sleigh. Elisha started to talk about his morning, but was quickly hushed–“thou should’st prepare thyself for Divine worship by being silent.”
When they reverently entered the Friend’s meetinghouse, with the brethren sitting on the right and the sisters on the left, Elisha saw his Grandfather Hoopes at his place on the end of the row. After meditating in silence, which to Elisha seemed like it lasted forever, Grandfather slowly got up, bowed his head and softly opened the meeting, “O Lord God, we are thankful for this Blessed day, when we recall the birth of Thy Son, who came to free us from the oppression of Satan. O Lord, who brought us to this bounteous land, free from the religious oppression we suffered in old England, we thank Thee for blessing us today with the privilege of helping Thy faithful servant, General Washington, in our simple way as he and his brave men prepare to drive out the oppressors from our promised land...”
Elisha smiled, a lump formed in his throat; now everyone knew, so he could tell his cousins, in a non-boasting manner befitting of Friends, after meeting and while their mothers were preparing their special meal, why he would never forget this Christmas day.
This story is fiction, but the Hoopes family, with names, ages and places accurately stated, was actually living near where General George Washington and his troops crossed the Deleware River on Christmas Day, 1776, on their way to fight the Hessian mercenaries, which was the turning point in the Revolutionary War. This prepared the way for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, embraced by Elisha Hoopes and his family within its first decade. Written on Christmas Day, 1998 by John L. Hoopes, 5780 Bernstein Drive, Ft. Mohave, AZ 86426