Whispers from the Past by Elizabeth Langston Read Free Book Online

right way—loving your man, yet still taking your time.” She shook her head confidently. “Don’t say yes until all of your reasons to say no are gone.”

    I had been scheduled for the late shift on Tuesday evening. With the weather report promising rain, Mark had driven his truck to school and would arrive in time to take me to Lucy’s at five.
    During my indenture, I had worked from dawn to dusk every day but Sunday. To work only forty hours in a week seemed decadent.
    I would spend my morning surfing the web on Marissa’s computer. Dorcas’s letters had brought forth long-buried questions in my mind. For days, I had fought against their pull—but no longer. I would seek answers today and find out what I could.
    My first attempts would focus on the people I loved. I would not query about Phoebe. I knew her tragic fate and had no inclination to learn more details. My attention must shift to my friends and family in Worthville. Since a tornado had destroyed the town, I would start there—seeking out those I hoped had survived.
    Although I combed meticulously through early nineteenth-century records, I could find nothing on Dorcas Pratt.
    Perhaps she had married, for a more beautiful and clever girl was not to be found in Wake County during the first decade of the 1800s. I did not wish to believe that an injury could have ruined the chances for a girl as wondrous as she.
    I tried “Dorcas” with “Wake County” and “North Carolina.” There was nothing that seemed promising. With growing anxiety, I tried “Dorcas” with every pertinent word I could think of. Naturally, there were many women with that Christian name, but none who could be my dear friend.
    The internet found no trace of Dorcas Pratt in history.
    What had happened to her? Of all the people I’d left behind, it was she who most concerned me now. Had she fared well? Had she escaped the storm’s fury?
    The lack of information was frustrating, for there could be no conclusions drawn. I wouldn’t give up, though. I checked next for her younger siblings. With Drusilla, I had no luck, but her brother, Peter Pratt, was referenced twice, both times as a young man.
    The tornado had spared at least one of the Pratt children who would have been living in the household at the time. This was hopeful news.
    With no more to be discovered about Dorcas on the web, I would have to find the opportunity to do research at the State Archives. Perhaps I would visit after my schedule at Lucy’s had settled into a routine.
    Who else might I research?
    My own family, of course. It took little time to collect answers. Both of my brothers, along with their families, appeared in the 1810 census. Joshua was listed in Hillsborough, while Caleb was listed with the people of Ward’s Crossroads. I was glad to discover that my oldest brother and his family had survived the storm and continued to make their living on the Marsh farm.
    There was a hit on the name Marsh in an article entitled “Wake County Casualties from the War of 1812.” I hovered over the link, wanting and dreading to know. I clicked.
    Josiah Marsh . Caleb’s oldest child. He’d lost his life when he was barely twenty. I closed my eyes and mourned a boy I’d hardly known.
    With a sense of inevitability, I searched for the older Pratts.
    Deborah was nowhere to be found, nor could I find Aaron Foster.
    Jedidiah had lived long in Raleigh. His name remained on census reports through 1820.
    With a great deal of foreboding, I finally entered the name I dreaded most in all the world. Jethro Pratt.
    Many links appeared. Mr. Pratt had often placed notices about his horses in the Raleigh newspaper. None were dated after 1805.
    The more information I uncovered, the more my curiosity increased. How many of the Worthville Pratts had perished in the tornado?
    And when, precisely, had the storm happened?
    I found an answer for the latter question quickly enough. Unfortunately, the date perplexed me. An online book