An hour later they came to the house chatting happily; Dorothy having convinced John that her happiness was dependent upon their marriage; and that before the end of another year Captain Fairfax would give his consent.
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John and Richard rode with the Fairfaxes and the Clarks to the ford of the Cumberland and after farewells and many promises of extended visits, left them to continue their journey over the Wilderness Trail to Logan Station; and they returned home.
Two years passed before John saw Dorothy again, though he wrote her many letters sending them by travelers from Virginia to the settlements. He received fewer than he sent, as the travel was mainly to and not from the settlements.
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Colonel Campbell, his son, their one servant and Richard Cameron were kept busy through the fall and winter completing their buildings, foraging for grain and roughness for their cattle, more than thirty head, and making [pg 183] necessary clearings for the spring crops. There was not a great deal of clearing, as they used the meadow of nearly a hundred acres across the creek, from which the Indians by their repeated fires had years before burned off the timber to make pasture land for buffalo. More than half of this, after being cleared of briars and bush growth, they expected to cultivate in corn. John and the servants were assigned to this work while Colonel Campbell and Richard attended to the cattle and other duties. Their work was somewhat retarded by immigrants, who, coming through the gap, stopped overnight, sometimes longer, at Campbell’s Station, as the place from the first was called. Several traders made a proposition to Colonel Campbell to open a tavern; which he declined, although it was an excellent place for one.
Their life was a rude and busy one. The days were given to great physical labor, particularly during that first winter. Under it and the plain wholesome diet of meat, corn bread, milk and dried fruits, John thrived and grew muscular and broad of shoulder.
The windows of their house were without glass and there were many crevices between the logs, but the great fireplaces were heaped with seasoned logs, which burned through the night and which as they burned out were replaced by John; though an oak or hickory one occasionally taxed even his strength.
From the ingoing settlers they procured small quantities of flour, grain and tea, voluntarily exchanged or offered for their entertainment; as Colonel Campbell always refused to charge a guest.
Late in the fall two other families settled in the Valley and increased their colony by eight persons. One of these was a girl nearly John’s age; who when she saw him cast her vote in favor of the valley location.