The rocky hill is like one of those enormous stone buildings some overly egotistical fool believes is bigger, better and more invasive than its neighboring skyscrapers. It is about thirty feet high and has a girth of around forty feet. It's stone is a grey color with streaks of silverish quartz.
To be sure, skyscrapers or any other remnant of urbanization would be silently and pervasively outlawed if not publicly, then secretly by the "Rocky Hill Community Body."
This is not place were anyone passing through sees "For Sale" signs or for that matter, commercial strip malls. In fact, as one passes the enormous rock entrance, the first sight seen is an old two story stone house with a blacksmith shop at the rear.
Nothing in Rocky Hill is intended to be new or in a state of change. As proof of this, when one generation grows old and dies out, their Edwardian style homes are simply passed on to the next generation, always assuming of course, that the "next" generation has actually ever moved out of the family domicile.
Don't bother to park your vehicle. The only parking places are intentionally along the curb sides where you are sure to be seen as an "outsider."
Insularity is a prerequisite that dates back to Rocky Hill's establishment in the early 1500s. An aerial view of this village would appear like a kidney shaped dot on a map.
It is what is contained within that dot on the map that is an abrupt shock to the senses of those who live in modernity. As you traverse the only main road through the village, you cannot miss the sight of the still functioning "firehouse." Although, the only identifying feature of this antique town function is a wooden sign stating its purpose. Otherwise, it could be mistaken for a two story home with an adjacent, detached garage that is the firehouse.
Everything about Rocky Hill is old, including the family names like Brearley, Dayton, Hamilton, Gorham, Morris, Basset and the oldest, Oxton Some of whose relatives date back to the Mayflower and the first colonies. Possibly a few present day villagers continue to feel pride that their ancestors may have signed the U.S. Constitution.
However, it is the history of Rocky Hill and the Oxton family that present the unusual village patina.
When the first settlers, Zacharia Oxton first came Rocky Hill, they found themselves in a heavily forested, unwieldy and extremely rocky terrain that lay beneath the old pines, tall oaks and several varieties of maples.
To Zacharia Oxton, the first sight of a forest seemed an assurance of a place where his large family could settle and live without interference. He was wrong. As were the settlers who came after him.
The Oxtons sons, all five of them, quickly realized those beautiful trees and all that undeveloped land had one serious flaw: the soil was a layer a foot deep of shale rock struck throughout with granite.
Oxton sons realized they'd need to build a family home as soon as possible. Instead of battling with the cold, hard stone, they began to create their own quarrying methods and used rock separated from soil to build their stone home. Shale can be pounded to a fine powder and used to bind together other rocks to form a structure.
By the late 1500s, other settlers looked to the Oxtons to provide stone for their homes as well. Zacharia Oxton lived to age 92, but not before he and his sons created their Oxton Stone Quarry adjacent to the enormous entry rock.
The women in the Oxton family helped by building outdoor ovens from the quarry stone so they could bake bread.
Zachariah's wife, Martha and her three daughters, Eliza, Bettina and Mary, were the youngest in the brood of eight children. Which is probably just as well, since Zacharia truly required strong sturdy sons to help accomplish his goals.
The Oxton home stand to this day opposite the old English vicarage, a large white clapboard building built in 1515 with Oxton assistance and the lumber cleared from the Oxton land.
Zachariah was a born and bred Quaker whose family, mother, father, brother and two sisters, still lived in Lancashire, England. In his youth though, Zacharia longed to go to sea and was less the ardent practicing Quaker than his parents and siblings.
He was barely eighteen when he signed on to a ship bound for the "New World" he'd heard so much about. He had no idea how austere such a sailing would be and how many above ship as passengers would never reach their destination. Still, Zachariah felt impelled to seek his fortune even if it meant months aboard a ship.
It was his ship, he first met Martha Tillingham, his future wife. Sick as she was from the long hours aboard ship in some of the most turbulent waters Zachariah had ever seen, Martha was a handsome girl, not portrait beautiful, but enduring, courageous and forthright, a trait Zachariah highly prized. It also helped that she was from good English stock and was unafraid of long days of labor.
How precisely Zachariah reached Rocky Hill in the 1500s was a matter of avoiding places already settled by others. It would seem, in retrospect, that he had a vision of settling in a place where he could build an Oxton Empire.
As the Oxtons built upon Zachariah's vision, they realized a sense of power over nature and their own destiny. Under the guise of religious pretentions, the Oxton daughters were limited in the availability of future husbands and their father encouraged a deepening relationship between Bettina and his youngest son, Jacob.
In lieu of a formal vicar, Zachariah preached from his Quaker Bible in a fire and brimstone tone he knew kept his family in check. Having no opportunity for his daughters to marry, he found the Biblical passage in Genesis that allowed brother and sister to marry without fear of sin.
Eliza, although obedient, remained a spinster until the first of the wave of settlers discovered the quiet village of Rocky Hill.
Two families, the Bassets and Brearleys, came to Rocky Hill in 1518, shortly after the marriage of Jacob and Bettina. To say they were welcomed by the Oxtons would be a lie. In fact, Zachariah and his sons confronted Charles Basset on the very day their wagon was seen on the old dirt path that was located by the enormous rock entry.
Charles Basset had been an upper class English squire. Hearing about all of the successes of other pilgrims to the "new world," and the availability of so much open land, Charles and his wife, Victoria and their two sons, Luke and James, packed their belongings for "America."
Charles Basset would have no obstacles in his way to settling in Rocky Hill no matter what an Oxton said or did to try and prevent that. So, he selected a parcel of land on the shore of a large, wildly flowing canal that separated Oxton land from his.
Zachariah gritted his teeth at the prospect of incursion into his private world. Martha tried to calm the waters by reminding her spouse that Bassets would increase the number at "Oxton Vicarage." For a time, Zachariah resigned himself to the possibility that more settlers would discover his private little enclave.
In truth, the more he and his sons ventured out of Rocky Hill to sell their quarry stone, the more talk arose about the village.
One year after, the Bassets made Rocky Hill their home, the Brearleys moved onto a parcel of land at the edge of the river which flowed into the Basset canal.
"Father, it appears Rocky Hill village has another family occupying the parcel near the river," Matthias, the eldest Oxton son, said. "Tis true Father, I have seen four of their children...two sons and two daughters," Barnaby, the middle son said.
Zachariah shook his head sadly.
"Tis a blight on Oxtons that we should now share our privacy with others," he responded.
"Is there nothing can be done?" Ephram, one year younger than Matthias, asked.
"Of certainty, there always is an answer as God will show us in due time," Zachariah said.
What Zachariah was most concerned about was the marriage of brother to sister he had approved. With other families moving in, the heads of these families might not see that as acceptable. Scandal was to be avoided in order not to dishonor the Oxton family name.
It was not until Eliza and Mary Oxton went foraging in the forest for mushrooms that Zachariah began to realize his absolute control over his family was about to change. Not because his daughters were deliberately disobedient. Both were now young girls of marrying age, in fact, slightly past, and Zachariah considered marrying Eliza to Matthias and Mary to Ephram.
"Blood flows thicker than water, Martha, mind you that," he told his wife.
On a lovely, sunny spring day, Eliza and Mary walked into the wooded area of their father's land. In their desire to bring home two baskets full of mushrooms, they wandered almost to the canal.
"Listen, Eliza...Do you hear water flowing?" Mary asked.
"Surely, we have not ventured so far as to be at the canal's edge yet?" Eliza reponded.
The two girls heard something that frightened them...heavy footsteps crunching the dried leaves and fallen twigs of last autumn.
"Shhhhh, Mary. Be silent Someone is coming!" Eliza said.
She and Mary hid in a copse of shrubbery, hoping they would not be discovered.
The shrubbery in these woods was not yet in full foliage and so the heavy footed intruders saw them and called out to them,
"Who goes yonder? Show yourself."
Eliza and Mary were terrified. These were not native braves but white men, tall and bearing muskets. Eliza was not certain what they should do.
She decided to brave the situation, motioning for Mary to remain behind.
"We are here only to forage mushrooms, sirs," Eliza said.
"Where do you come from?" the tall, lanky young man asked.
"Oxton land," Eliza answered.
"And who are you strangers?" she asked.
"I am Luke Basset and this is my younger brother, James."
"We are neighbors, then?" James asked.
"Yes. This is my sister, Mary," Eliza said motioning for her shy sister to come ahead.
"Good day to you sirs," Mary said.
The two young men bowed low to the Oxton sisters.
"I know where there is a large mushroom patch near the canal. May we show you? You could fill those baskets much faster," Luke said.
Eliza and Mary cautiously followed the two young men until they clearly heard the sound of the rushing water.
"Look there...see the white heads of the mushrooms? They are lush as they will ever be," Luke said,
The two young men chatted away at Eliza and Mary as they plucked perfect white mushrooms for nearly an hour.
"We must return home. The sun is beginning to make the forest darker. It must be afternoon by now," Eliza said.
"Will we see you again?" Luke asked
"Tis not likely. Father would most assuredly forbid it," Eliza said.
She felt her heart beating faster as if someone was pulling on its strings. She felt sad when Luke's facial expression appeared dismayed.
As the two girls walked back home, Eliza and Mary were silent until the site of their stone house was nearby.
"Mary...I don't think we should tell Father or Mother about our meeting with Luke and James, do you?
"No, sister. You know Father would punish us severely."
"Yes, Father believes goodness comes only from punishments that teach us right and wrong," Eliza said.
It was true. Zachariah doled out punishment in ways that were cruel and harsh. Not just beatings, but other kinds of punishments that left scars and made the girls in the family cower at the sound of their brothers screams of pain and agony.
His youngest son, Jacob was expected to "discipline" his children as his father commanded. Or, Zachariah threatened to punish his two toddler grandchildren himself.
Bettina couldn't bear the sound of her tiny son and daughter's screams. So, she often covered her ears with a bed pillow. She made sure not to allow Jacob to see her shrink from her children's discipline or she would taste the same by Jacob first and later Zachariah.
Although Zachariah Oxton professed to be a Quaker, he had no problem adding a few of his own religious "interpretations." Most of them, severe and brutal.
Zachariah Oxton relished his duties as the only man of the collar within a fifty mile vicinity. He set his sons to building his own church.
As each of his sons remained unmarried, Zachariah invented a reason for them to be wed to their sisters. Since there were only three daughters and Bettina was already wedded to her brother, Jacob, Zachariah reasoned that the four remaining brothers should choose the wife they wanted, either Eliza or Mary.
"Sister, do ye think twas right for Bettina to be married to brother Jacob?" Eliza asked.
"Nay. I will not marry Ephram or Mathias," Mary said.
"Nor I to Barnaby or Malachy," Eliza said.
"What shall we do? If we remain here in Father's house, we are sure to wed our brothers," Eliza said.
"Are you of a mind to have an eye for Luke or James Bassett?" Mary asked.
"Sister, may I confess my heart stops beating when I think of Luke?" Eliza said.
"Oh Eliza! Never speak so where even the wind might be the only one to hear," Mary said.
"Come now, sister. I saw the light in your dark eyes when you glanced at James," Eliza said, with a girlish giggle.
"What are you thinking?" Mary asked.
"Would it be better to be forced into marriage with an Oxton brother or find a happier life with James," Eliza said, poking her sister gently in her thread bare ribs.
"We cannot expose our feelings. We've only just met," Mary said.
"Mother said her marriage to Father was planned and they'd never met until the day they were wed," Eliza said.
Mary went silent. To wed a Bassett might have Father gunning for Luke and James. Unless the Bassetts were to hide them away.
"Mary? What be your thinking on this?" Eliza asked.
"I dare not say aloud. The better question is what will Father do?" Mary said.
"Must we always live under Father's rule? Do we never have a chance to live our own lives?"
"Not if Father doesn't allow it," Mary said.
The two girls didn't see the Basset brothers for almost a month. Eliza feared Luke had forgotten all about her.
Mary felt her stomach turn at the thought of being Malachy or Ephraim's wife. What kind of God would marry a sister to her own blood brother?
It was as if Zachariah had read Mary's mind when at the next church meeting service he read from the book of Genesis Chapter 19 Verses 30 to 38. Where Lot's daughters got their father drunk and over two consecutive nights had sex with him without his knowledge and both bore him children.
Mary shot a glance toward Eliza. Later as the two prepared dinner and when their mother, Martha, was out of earshot, they talked about their father's sermon.
Already his little congregation had begun to accept marriage of the Biblical kind between blood relatives.
"Eliza, sister, we must hasten to flee Rocky Hill. Any day now, both of us will be bearing children of our brothers. I cannot be a part of that. It makes me want to retch," Mary said.
"Sister, you are wise to come to this decision. For I overheard father and our brothers already pairing us off," Eliza said.
"When did you hear this?"
"Not two days ago. Father said the Oxtons need to increase our numbers so that our family will be the largest in Rocky Hill."
"What shall we do?" Mary asked.
"Mother wants us to replenish the supply of mushrooms tomorrow. It may be our only chance to escape," Eliza said.
"But, where shall we go?"
"We will survive. We are hardy women who know how to make do. First, let us see if we can find Luke and James. We will tell them of our plight. I know they will help us," Eliza said.
That night the two young women prepared for the next day's chore by setting out the large baskets. But first, they hid their few meager belongings and a days worth of food scraps they'd been hiding just in case they were unable to find the Basset brothers. They piled the dry straw on top of their cache in the basket bottom.
Before dawn, the two sisters, tiptoed as quietly as mice out of the Oxton family home. They set off for the woods.
"Eliza, I think we should not take the usual path. Our brothers would take the path first off," Mary said.
"I'm afraid. We don't know what kind of wild animals there are in the woods," Eliza said.
"Yes. We do. How many times have we picked wild berries or mushrooms and never saw so much as a squirrel?"
"Well...Yes. That is true."
"Of course, it is. We'll head off in the vicinity of the Bassett property. There must be more than one path throught these woods. So long as we can hear the water gushing from the stream, we'll be fine. Be glad this is summer and not winter where snow would be the death of both of us," Mary said.
Around mid morning, it was obvious to Zachariah and Martha their two daughters were either abducted or they had run off.
Zachariah gave the order to his sons to bring their sisters back. The tone of Zachariah's voice was reminiscent of an enraged buffalo about to stampede.
Martha knew she would be blamed for not raising Mary and Eliza "right." She feared Zachariah would punish her severely, as his punishments were always, he claimed, in proportion to the degree of the crime.
Mary and Eliza stayed in the thick of the woods. Suddenly, they heard heavy footsteps.
"Eliza, quickly. we must hide ourselves," Mary said.
"Mary, the brush is much thicker over here and there is a slight rise. We can hide behind it."
From their vantage point, they saw an unusually tall, older man with a long grey beard. He was carrying a rifle.
Mary glanced toward Eliza with her finger to her lips. Eliza nodded silently.
The man stopped for a brief moment to listen to something. Then, he called out.
"Luke! James! Where are ye?"
Mary breathed a sigh of relief. The older man must be the father of Luke and James.
When the two sons reached their father, Luke spoke first.
"Father, tis an awful thing! We met up with the Oxton sons on the path. They were out looking for their two sisters, Mary and Eliza. Old Zachariah thinks they've been abducted," Luke said.
"Carried off? Just like that? By whom?"
"Can't say. Rocky Hill has no unmarried men we know of. What if the sisters are hurt? Should we try to find them as well?"
"Nay. Old Zacharian Oxton would only take issue with us interfering. Meanwhile, let us go on with our hunt."
Mary and Eliza realized they had to reveal themselves now or be returned to their father and forced to marry their brothers.
"Sire, we are here! Can we beg your help?" Mary asked.
"Your father has sent your brothers to find you. Why are you so far from your home?" Justinian Bassett asked.
"Please sire, give us leave to explain. We beg your help to escape our fate at our home. Father is sure to marry us off to our brothers. From the depths of our souls, we cannot do this. We cannot!" Eliza said.
"What would you have me do to help you?" Justinian asked.
"Could we perhaps work in your home for our shelter and food?" Mary asked.
Justinian looked at his two sons.
"Oh I don't know as that would be proper. My wife has only recently died of fever, not more'n a month past. If your father should discover Bassetts are hiding two Oxton daughters..."
"But, we asked. You didn't abduct us against our will," Mary said.
Justinian Bassett knew if he agreed to this and Zachariah Oxton found out, there would be trouble. Still, he was Christian enough to want to do right by those most in need. He also was a God fearing man who believed marrying blood was a sin. He reasoned he would be preventing two young girls from damnation.
"You may stay with us. But, you must not make yourselves to be seen by anyone. We have room in our home. I would not ask you to stay elsewhere," Justinian Bassett said.
Luke and James were not displeased in the least. Nor, were they specifically concerned about Zachariah Oxton or his sons.
Their father had refused to attend Zachariah's church services as a matter of principle. What Zachariah preached was, according to Justinian, sacrilege. It was the gospels only of Zachariah Oxton.
While Mary and Eliza made themselves useful in Bassett House, Luke and James kept watch for Oxton sons.
Zachariah, true to his usual cruel nature beat Martha so badly she took to her bed. He'd broken her leg and her collarbone. The bruises she endured from the beating became infected. He would not allow any medicinal treatment.
After two weeks, Zachariah forced Martha out of their bed. But not until, he forced her to do her "duty" as a wife. She tried to take a step but fell. Her broken leg was not healing. She could barely move for the pain in her collarbone.
"Husband! Please. Have mercy!"
"Your pain is your punishment from God."
Martha realized she began to question that God. What kind of God subjects a woman to such evil cruelty? She hobbled around Oxton House trying to keep her balance and preparing meals. But, it was of no real use. She wanted to die. Dying seemed to her a more pleasant fate than living out the rest of her life with a brutish husband who used God as his excuse for vicious cruelty.
Each night, he reminded her she was the fault of their two daughters mysterious disappearance. After a month of physical abuse, Martha knew what she had to do.
I am die and my punishment will be hell for doing this. But, I would rather be in hell than live another minute with Zachariah Oxton.
After her spouse fell sound asleep, Martha swallowed whole several of the toadstools she had gathered. She knew only the stems were poisonous.
"Martha! Martha! My tea!" Zachariah bellowed.
She had always risen earlier than the menfolk to prepare their morning meals and tea. Fuming Zachariah ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Woman! Did ye not hear my call?" he bellowed.
He stopped short of getting ready to hand her a blow when he saw the rigid body on the kitchen floor.
"Ephram! Barnaby! Malachy! Matthias! Get ye down here now!" he yelled.
The four brothers hurried down the stairs.
"What do you suppose he is angry about?" Ephram asked.
"With Father, it could be anything he sets his mind to," Malachy said.
"Malachy! That's blasphemy against your own Father," Barnaby said.
"Shhhh. Hurry up! Or we'll all be punished!" Matthias said.
The four sons appeared in the kitchen. They heard Zachariah fuming in the front room when they appeared in the doorway.
"See? See what your mother has done? She is burning in hell now!"
"Father! What do ye speak of?" Ephram asked.
"Your mother is dead. She took her own life. Go out and bury her in unhallowed ground off our property," Zachariah commanded.
"Father, ye know her body may be carried off by animals in the woods," Barnaby said.
"Then, that is God's will and His judgement upon her! Now Go!"
The four sons of Zachariah Oxton buried their mother as they were commanded. But, not exactly as their father would have wished. They placed her body in an old wooden feed crate and covered it with pine branches to avert the scent of her decaying body to wild animals in these woods.
When word went out throughout Rocky Hill that Martha Oxton committed suicide, Zachariah's congregants dwindle down to only his sons.
"Damnation upon them!" Zacharian bellowed one year later when he saw himself preaching his sermons only to his sons.
There was a growing fear his sons would flee as his daughters had. It mattered little to him that in escaping Oxton House, Mary and Eliza might be dead. He had wished it so from the minute he knew they were gone.
Ir was only when the four Oxton sons hunted deer in the woods and ventured too close to Bassett land that they knew for certain where Mary and Eliza had gone. Their two sisters were dutifully washing laundry in the canal waters.
"Eliza! Quickly! Someone is near!" Mary said.
They two young women picked up the wet laundery and hurried back to Bassett House as fast as their feet would take them.
The Oxton sons deliberated whether they should tell their father.
"If we don't and he finds we have not been truthful, all four of us will be punished," Matthias said.
"If you don't tell Father what?" Jacob asked.
Ephram, Barnaby and Malachy shot a warning glance toward Matthias hoping to silence him in time.
"We know where Mary and Eliza are. We saw them this day while on a hunt," Matthias blurted out.
"What are ye saying? You know where your sisters are?" Jacob asked.
Matthias realizing he missed his brothers' warning glance too late hesitated.
"Ye must tell Father! Ye know t'would be dishonoring him and damnation would be sure to follow!:" Jacob said.
"Aye, Jacob. We shall do as ye bid," Barnaby said.
"Are Bettina and the young'ns well?" Ephram asked, hoping to move away from Jacob's original entreaty.
"They honor me as they must," Jacob answered.
"What be your business this night, Jacob?" Malachy asked.
"I require your aid to harvest my crop," Jacob said.
"Should ye not ask Father?" Barnaby added.
The four sons realized Barnaby's questions was a mistake. Now, Jacob, an ardent follower of Zachariah Oxton's brutish religion, would tell their father of the discovery of their sisters at the bank of the canal.
"Brother Jacob, did ye and your good wife know of our mother's death?" Ephram asked.
"Mother Oxton? Dead? She was but a woman of sixty two," Jacob said.
Almost as if to silence Jacob, Matthias quickly advised his youngest brother of the cause of her death.
"This be her grave you stand over?" Jacob asked.
"Aye, Ephram answered.
"Tis well of Father to demand she be buried on unhallowed ground then," Jacob said.
Jacob rushed off.
"Ye know he will tell Father about Mary and Eliza," Malachy said.
"That is with certainty," Ephram said.
"What do ye think Father will do?" Barnby asked.
"Perhaps nothing. Father will not want to war with Justinian Bassett," Matthias said.
As they expected, when they returned after burying their mother's body, Jacob had informed Zachariah about Mary and Eliza. The four Oxton sons saw their father pacing in front of the fireplace in the front room.
When Zachariah heard his sons were returned, he angrily called to them.
"Your brother, Jacob, tells me my own sons knew where your two sisters are and didn't inform me?"
The four sons looked at each other with eyes filled with terror.
"What will you have us do, Father?" Ephram asked.
"You will receive your punishment..but not until Oxtons take their revenge on Bassetts for abducting my two daughters."
"Father, do ye know with certainty Bassetts abducted them?" Malachy asked.
Zachariah with such fury brought his hand down upon Malachy's face.
"I will brook NO more insolence from my own flesh and blood. The four of you will go out to the Bassett land and burn down Justinian Bassett's barn and run his livestock off," Zachariah said.
The Oxton sons were in shock. Ephram wanted to remind his father that such an action might be sinful..until he saw Matthais shake his head warning his brother to be silent.
These young men knew that Malachy's bloodied face was not the last of their father's punishment upon them.
They feared disobedience to their father's law could mean damnation.
They left Oxton House quickly for Bassett land in the dark of night. They made their way with lighted lanterns in case a wild animal should attack.
"Brothers, hear me. What Father asks is wrong. Ye all know it to be so," Matthias said.
"What can we do? If we disobey Father's word, it is damnation upon our souls," Ephram said.
"Is it?" Malachy asked,, his bloodied face swollen and painful.
"Malachy, Tis your anger and pain speaking," Barnby said.
"No! Tis I, Malachy Oxton and none other. We would endure Father's punishments no matter. But, we may end up in trouble with the law and go to prison," Malachy continued.
"What are ye suggesting, brother?" Matthias asked.
"I am suggesting we do nothing. We must warn Justinian Bassett and his two sons of Father's revenge. If Father chooses to destroy Bassett property, let him do it!" Malachy said.
His three brothers were shocked, but not entirely in disagreement. It was true that even though Rocky Hill had no law in place, the state did. And, they knew Justinian Bassett had many contacts with state officers, having been a member of state government.
"What shall we do when Father discovers we disobeyed?" Ephram asked.
"We are four. He is one. His treatment of our mother was wickedness and evil. He must not be allowed to continue his vile punishments. We are no longer little children. We must all four stand together against him!" Malachy said.
"And when he disowns all of us?" Barnaby asked.
"We are old enough now to seek land of our own here in Rocky Hill or as far from Father as needs must if that be our only option," Matthias said.
It was true. Matthias was nearly thirty and his three brothers not much younger.
"We all know how to plant and work with our hands. We could find wives away from Oxton House and create a small enterprise of our own!" Ephram said.
"And what we would do for money?" Matthias asked.
"We will work for others until we earn enough to create a small business of our own," Ephram said.
"Work for whom?" Malachy asked.
"We must make our plans before Father inflicts his punishment on us. Tomorrow, we will warn the Bassetts and we will make it understood we are no longer willing to make enemies of our neighbors on Father's behalf," Malachy said.
"What about Jacob and Bettina?" Ephram asked.
Jacob is our youngest brother and Bettina our sister, Perhaps, when we are settled in our own lives, they will see we are right about Father," Barnaby said.
Zachariah, without Martha, grew even more hostile toward his four sons. Beatings were a regular part of their lives until they could stand no more.
On their first opportunity, the four Oxton brothers showed up at the Bassett property. Luke and James drew their rifles from the rack over the fireplace when Mary and Eliza came running to warn them their brothers were headed toward Bassett House.
"What's this?" Justinian Bassett asked.
"Father we believe they have come for Mary and Eliza. We will not allow that to happen," Luke said.
The two young men marched out the door and straight toward the Oxton brothers.
"What be your business here?" James asked.
"We have run away from our father. We come in peace. Please...lay down your guns," Malachy said.
With the escape of the Oxton brothers, Zacharia became a virtual recluse.
The tiny little hamlet of Rocky Hill remained insular and relative isolated from the outside world even as World War I raged and ended and the stock market crashed in 1929. Not even World War II separated Oxtons and Bassetts from intermarrying for more than five generations.
They had no need of business and worse, didn't want any commerce to infect their town. By the time the 1900s arrived, Zacharia Oxton's land lay fallow and untouched.
Until one of the Oxton great grandsons three generations removed laid claim to the property. Samuel Bassett Oxton had kept the bloodline between Oxtons and Bassetts pure. His wife was his cousin three generations removed.
Samuel and Olivia Bassett Oxton were proud to own land and the house old Zacharia had lived in. Olivia with Samuel's permission made a few changes. What furnishings were not used were stored in an attic.
Olivia was with child and went up to the attic to search for a trunk she needed to store old clothing. She found just the trunk she needed under the attic window. What she discovered inside caused her to scream.
Samuel came running from the barn He knew it couldn't be Olivia's time. It was four months too early. He hoped she hadn't lost the their first born.
He heard her call out his name from the attic and ran up the stairs as if he had wings on his feet even with his heavy boots slamming against stair boards.
"My dear...What is it?"
"Samuel, I can't bear it. Look for yourself."
Samuel walked to the opened trunk and saw what appeared to be a skeleton that still had grey hair on its bony head.
He stood in shock.
"Olivia, we must tell no one about this. You understand?"
"But Samuel, who is this woman?"
"I cannot be sure. But from her dress, I'd say it is old Zacharia's wife, Martha. The Oxtons sons had long gone before their mother died. It looks as if if none of the Oxtons knew their mother was dead. Old Zacharia was a strange man who wanted no interference from the outside," Samuel said.
"But why didn't he just bury her?" Olivia asked.
"My dear, no one buried him either. It is likely we may find his body hereabout."
"Oh Samuel, this is so horrible!"
"It will be more horrible if the Solderberg Township officials found out. We don't want strangers sticking their noses into our business," Samuel said.
Olivia had grave trouble with her husband's decision. It kept her awake at night and she began to imagine she saw the old woman's ghost and that of old Zachariah's.
Samuel Oxton knew the scandal that would erupt in such a small village town like Rocky Hill. The truth is though, that the Bassett family knew more than an Oxton hoped was possible.
Some believed in later generations that was the reason the two Oxton daughters, Mary and Eliza married two of the Bassett brothers. The ties between these two families was virtually inextricable.
Still, Rocky Hill remained a village town where the original incest incurred by Zacharia Oxton and his two eldest sons kept families ties tightly knitted to avoid scandal.
Meanwhile, the Brearley grandsons began to create a small business on their parcel of land near the river.
Brearleys prospered in ways Oxton grandsons and great grandsons felt was sinfully ambitious. The Brearley patriarch, Clement and his wife Judith, knew there was plenty of value in rocks that were everywhere on their land. They made full use of the wild water that often raged in the river to power Clement's rock cutting and sanding machines.
Brearleys prospered in ways Oxton grandsons and great grandsons felt was sinfully ambitious. The Brearley patriarch, Clement and his wife Judith, knew there was plenty of value in rocks that were everywhere on their land. They made full use of the wild water that often raged in the river to power Clement's rock cutting and sanding machines.
It might be said the Brearley Quarry was the first true Rocky Hill industry.
What Oxtons hated most was huge trucks that battled their way through muddy roads along the river's tapering canal. The Brearleys two sons, Adam and Jason were sent off the college using the profits from Brearley Quarry to pay for their university tuition. None of the Oxton or Bassett children had ever had formal education.
Adam and Jason were destined to carry on their father's business and studied geology and business administration to ensure the family business remained secure for the long term.
Adam became so well known as a geologist that he was often prodded to write books. Jason, unafraid of risks, made his way East to New York City where he spent his post college time studying the business methods of wealthy moguls of industry.
It didn't hurt either that Jason Brearley made certain the Brearley Quarry name was given lots of promotion.
He kept his eyes and ears open for opportunities to expand the reach of Brearley Quarry. That opportunity presented itself when Jason returned to Rocky Hill to be welcomed with open arms by his father and brother.
Clement informed Jason that Brearley Quarry was offered a deal to purchase an upstate NewYork Quarry that was failing and about to close its doors.
Jason Brearley met with Richter's Quarry officials and a deal to buy was sealed. Now Brearley owned two quarries.
By the time the two Brearley sons married and their children were half grown, the quarrying business had boomed to the point where it became a leader in business.
But trouble was brewing in Rocky Hill. The Oxton and Bassett families were not thrilled to have such a huge industrial operation in their exclusive village town. The expansion of the Brearley Quarry brought with it strangers looking to build outlandish style homes.
The problem in Rocky Hill was what it had always been: Refusal to create a town government over which issues like strangers and outlandish style homes could be contained.
Instead, Rocky Hill relied on the nearest large town to oversee the village's needs for repairs to roads that eroded every time the river overflowed its banks which it did at least two to three times every year.
In a village town where no strangers are welcome, anyone passing through Rocky Hill felt the unwelcome attitude instantly. It was as if they were poisonous insects. That attitude was pervasive even when the secret of incest among the Oxtons had now become hidden by generations of intermarrying between Oxtons and Bassetts.
Thus, it was pretty easy to create a tight circle around their village town simply by shunning strangers who had any ideas of making Rocky Hill their home.
The Bassetts capitulated somewhat by creating a town village board of five councilmen. All with the last name Bassett.
Only one Oxton great grandson flew in the face of Oxton insularity, Ephraim Oxton IV. He was considered the dark horse of the Oxton family because not only was he also married to a Bassett, but he dared to take part in a public discourse his great grandfather, Zachariah would have beaten him severely for.
The first order of business was to demand that any new construction in Rocky Hill be stopped. It would be laughable, if not for the need to keep the village town in tightly held hands.
So it was that Rocky Hill's 5 member council imposed a fine for anyone who built on land in the town.
This legislative act repelled strangers until one of them brought to a council meeting a New York City lawyer to represent his interest in a large parcel at the north end of town.
The stranger's name was not known in Rocky Hill, but was well known in New York Cuty, Lance Carrington, son and heir to his father Senator Justin Carrington.
Lance, a bushy haired eager beaver with a lust for money and success for everything he touched saw Rocky Hill as a great venture capitol potential.
He was certain his unbridled enthusiasum and sense of innovation would not deter him from his plans. Besides, if he met with any obstacles, his father's legislative position could remove them.
The 5-member council thought it could just get rid of the stranger and get back to their normal council business. Unfortunately, their arcane ways and archaic ideas of insularity was almost laughable to James McGregor, Lance Carringon's lawyer.
"With due respect to your councilships, my client, Lance Carrington, has put in an application with the state to purchase 100 acres of land at the northern end of RockyHill," McGregor stated officipously.
"That land is not for sale," Council President, Sam Bassett said flatly.
"It's my client's understanding that it remains town property as a result of property taxes that were unpaid at the time of the original landowner's demise," McGregor countered.
"The town wants that parcel to remain open space," Sam Bassett said.
"My client would use it for his medical supply byusiness to manufacture surgical supplies. Such a facility would reduce the tax burden of your townspeople," McGregor continued.
"Rocky Hill has kept taxes low by keeping strangers out," Sam Bassett said.
"We can seek the assistance of the state if we are denied that land," McGregor threatenedl.
"That would accomplish nothing and cause locals here to protest your interference."
"We are willing to compensate townspeople for any losses."
"We can't be bought!" Thom Bassett said.
"We allowed the Brearly Quarry to go forward and now our town has trucks barreling across our tiny bridge, tearing up our roads and bringing all manner of business people into town to assess it for more businesses. We like our quiet here!"
McGregor had nothing more to add. He and Lance Carrington left the meeting.
"Lance, does it seem odd to you that these people are terrified of strangers?" McGregor asked.
"Hmmm. Now that you mention it. Yes."
"I believe they are hiding some dark, dirty secret they would not want strangers to know. There has to be someone in this clanny town willing to accept money for town secrets," McGregor said.
"You mean buy information to force them to sell?"
"Yes. I'm willing to bet they will never sell unless they are forced."
"What kind of secret could there be in a tiny hamlet like this?"
"You'd be surprised how twisted insularity can make some people."
"Jim, just keep in mind my father's position. He would not be pleased if we uncover anything that would cause his office scandal."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure the operation is covert. I have to admit, the fact that all 5 council members have the same name has me curious. I don't ever recall such a blatant example of nepotism."
"But doesn't that nepotism mean they will lock arms and seal their lips?"
"Not if there is one disgruntled son of the town's history in need of money. As the saying goes, "Money can buy anything. Including silence."
McGregor spent several weeks pouring over Rocky Hill history his aides had uncovered. Something caught his eye and he was determined tom see it for himself.
He drove down the main road to a wooded area thick with brush. It being winter though, the grass was mercifully packed in ice. He slipped several times but soon nmade sight of an old path.
The path led to an odd octagon shaped clearing. It was a cemetery! He could barely make out the names on the stones except that all ended in "ett" or "ton," meaning he supposed, "Basssett" or "Oxton."
The stones were nealy all sunken into the earth which accounted for why nthe names were barely legibly. Yet e could see the names on nthe stones were hand carved. All the stone, he guessed, had to be more than a century old.
Yet further on, there was a lone grave as if deliberately kept separated from the rest.
McGregor's curioisty couldn't e contained. He had to know whose grave this was.
Like the others, it had the letters "ton," meaning Oxton, McGregor supposed. But as he smoothed away the forename above it, asll he could read was a large letter "M" that ended in an "a" in a lower case "a."
He knew Oxtons were probably the town's oldest family.
Again he poured through the documents his aides had found.
There it was! "Martha Oxton, wife of Zachariah."
He called Lance and told him what he found. He advised Lance to allow him to hire a professional genealogist to do a lineage map of the Oxton family. Lance agreed that was a good idea.
Mark Hallinane, a university genealogist, was hired. What he found was the very issue Rocky Hill had kept secret. .
Zachariah Oxton was a beastly tyrant whose wife, Martha, committed suicide and had her buried in unhallowed ground sown with salt.
But it was the incestuous intermarrying of Rocky Hill's wickedness that had been kept secret for more than five generations. That explained why the strict insularity prevailed for so long.
Now fresh new people would move into the village. Or, would they?
The Rocky Hill concil had called in one of their native sons, also a Congressional DA and the deal to build new businesses and construction was tabled. Apparently for as long as the descendants of Oxtons, Bassetts, Hamiltons, Brearlys and Morris kin were alive.
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