SATURDAY STORY - FEBRUARY 12, 2022

 SATURDAY STORY - FEBRUARY 12, 2022

(In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, let’s do a historical story - fiction)

*****

Hi.  I’m Elijah Brookings, but most people just call me Eli.  I grew up in Kentucky as a slave on Winfred Jennings farm.  Kentucky wasn’t been on plantations so there weren’t as many of us black slaves there.  Winfred Jennings did have a farm.  It was never determined whether it was Winfred or Eliza Jennings that couldn’t have children, but seemingly they tried, and seemingly there never were children born to that couple.  

Winfred was a good enough man and master.  Without any children (and more specifically, without any sons), Winfred’s farm just didn’t prosper.  Somehow he went to a slave auction and with money borrowed from some relative he purchased me and my sister, Maggie, in northern Tennessee.  We then went to live on Jennings farm near Hodgenville Kentucky.  

Jennings wasn’t much of a farmer.  He was the third son of a Virginia lawyer - who wasn’t good at studies and wasn’t going to inherit any land or much money, so struck off for Kentucky about 1820.  It was about 1823 when Jennings brought me and my sister to his farm.  There were some legal disputes so the Jennings family moved to southern Indiana and eventually to central Illinois where he squatted on some land near Springfield Illinois in 1831.  

The land was pretty wild and open.  If you just picked a spot with some water and trees and some meadows you could almost make a living by farming.  Our neighbors were Tom and Sarah Lincoln.  Their son was Abraham Lincoln - or as we knew him - Abe Lincoln.  

We interacted frequently with our neighbors.  Both the Jennings property and the Lincoln property had a lot of trees so clearing the land was almost a full-time job.  Between Abe and myself, with Winfred Jennings and Tom Lincoln supervising, we cleared a lot of land and built barns and stables and fences.  

Eliza Jennings thought it was important that we (that is Maggie and I) learned to read, especially the Bible.  They didn’t have many books so the few we had we shared with the Lincolns and they shared their books with us.  

There also wasn’t much for churches in the area.  Homer Beckman was a circuit rider who stopped in Tom Lincoln’s house about every two months for service.  In between Tom Lincoln and Winfred Jennings would have a weekly service on Sunday mornings.  The Lincoln house was bigger than ours so we would have maybe 10 to 15 people at those gatherings.  Somehow Eliza Jennings thought it was important for Maggie and myself to hear the Gospel.  

Eliza would hear me speaking with Maggie about the Gospel and what I was reading and asked me to preach one Sunday morning.  Imagine that - me, a poor black man talking about Jesus to white folks!! 

I picked the story of Moses freeing the Hebrew slaves from Egypt and taking them to the promised land as my first reading.  Then the Gospel story of the Pharisee and the tax collector where the Pharisee is standing in the front of the temple bragging about how he was so good and the tax collector was in the back praying “Lord be merciful to me a sinner”. 

It was a well-received message and so from time to time, I was asked to preach. 

After that first sermon, Abe came up to me and told me how he liked the message.  He commented that it was wrong for anybody to be slaves - in Egypt or in the United States.  

After that time, Abe and I grew to be close friends.  We would round up some eggs and milk and take it into Springfield and sell it - and we would buy a book at the general store.  

Abe got to be famous in those parts of Illinois as a good and Godly man.  He started to travel around Illinois.  Sometimes I went along - as a friend and a helper.  A few times he had me give an opening prayer to a campaign rally or sit on a stage with him.

But, most of the time, Abe and I were sensitive to the community and I helped with setting up chairs and being around to help with arrangements.  Since Illinois was a free state, we could stay in the inns in the towns and cities.  Sometimes Abe would be asked to stay at some local politician's house.  If I was with him, he insisted that I get a place to sleep as well.  Some folks were nice and included me under their roof and others put me out in the barn.  

*****

When Winfred Jennings passed on, I inherited the farm.  Maggie had found a husband in a neighboring town, and I had met a lovely girl, Henrietta, who became my wife.  I was a prosperous and upright member of the community.  When the abolition of slavery was being discussed I was asked to speak about it.  And, after the war, and after the death of my good friend, when the government made it possible for Black men to vote, I was a county commissioner for a while before retiring.

*****

Shortly before his election as President, Abe and I had our picture taken together.  

*****

I’d like to think I was responsible - at least a little - for Abe’s stand on slavery - and on the Emancipation Proclamation and other policies.  

He was a good man and a great friend.

Elijah Brookings,

February 12, 1872

Springfield Illinois

*******

Thank you for reading my story today - 150 years after Elijah Brookings memoir!!

Karen White

February 12, 2022