Charles McAnally was a boy of eight years old that
summer. He and James had been exploring along the River Forth for about an hour
and a half when something near a small willow tree caught Charles’ eye.
2 “Hollo, I found something!” Charles shouted. “What
have ya got Charlie?” James asked as he turned toward his friend. "I don’t
know – I’m going to have a look!” he excitedly exclaimed.
3 By the time James scurried over the ground between
them, Charles was crouched down and digging with his hands near the base of the
tree. “Give me a hand with this!” he demanded.
4 “What is it, Charlie?” James asked again as he knelt
down beside his friend. “It’s a clay pot, and it’s filled with silver and gold
coins!” he replied.
5 In that instant, Charles was finally able to pull it
free from its resting place, and James helped him carry it out into the
sunlight. “This is a lot of money, Jamie!” Charles exclaimed.
6 They were much closer to James’ house, and Charles
knew that they would need adult assistance with this. “Run and get your
father,” he told his friend. James didn’t say a word. He jumped up and ran away
in the direction of his home while Charles watched over their hoard. It took
almost an hour for the boy and his father to return.
7 They rode up on horseback and quickly dismounted.
Mr. Vann then slowly walked toward Charles and looked down at the pot. His eyes
got bigger, and he knelt down beside the boy. James, however, was still
standing by the horse and was looking at the river (not at his friend and
father).
8 “You must go home and tell your own father,” the man
finally said to Charles. “He will have to help me divide up this money,” he
explained. “Can you take me to him?” Charles asked. “No, we will stay here and
guard the money,” he snapped.
9 “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” the boy assured
them. Then Charles got up and trotted off in the direction of home. Even so, he
thought it was odd that Jamie hadn’t looked at him or said a word since he had
returned with his father.
10 He had been walking along the road for about
fifteen minutes when he heard a horse ride up behind him. “He must have changed
his mind about giving me a ride,” Charles thought.
11 However, when he turned around, Mr. Vann wasn’t
there. Instead, a man with a long black coat was seated on the horse before
him.
12 “Where are ya going, lad?” the man asked him. “I’m
on my way home,” the boy answered. “A boy your age shouldn’t be out on these
roads alone,” the man observed. He held his hand out toward Charles. “Come on,
I’ll give you a ride to your father’s house,” he offered.
13 Without thinking, Charles took the man’s hand, and
he swung him up into the saddle behind him. “Hold on tight!” the man told him,
and they galloped on down the road.
14 After riding for another twenty minutes, Charles
began to wonder why they hadn’t reached his home yet. “He never asked me where
my father lived?” he thought. Suddenly, a sense of fear and dread welled up
within the boy, and he was afraid to ask the man why it was taking so long to
reach his home. He looked at the countryside as it flew by them, and nothing
was familiar to him.
15 Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they
came into a city. “This is Glasgow,” Charles thought to himself. A few minutes
later, the horse stopped. They were at the docks.
16 Without saying a word, the man reached behind him
and grabbed the boy and set him on the ground. He then quickly dismounted and
took Charles by the arm and began dragging him toward one of the ships that was
docked there.
17 “Where are you taking me?” the boy demanded. The
man smacked Charles’ face with his free hand and kept walking. Charles was
really frightened now. They proceeded to board a ship and stopped in front of a
bearded man who smelled very bad.
18 “This boy needs a job,” the man in the long black
coat snarled. “I needs me a good cabin boy,” the other man replied. “I want to
go home,” Charles sobbed. “That’s what they all say at the start!” the man
laughed. “I’ll take him,” the bearded man said.
19 With that, the deal was done. After accepting a
small pouch of silver coins, the man who had overtaken him on the road simply
turned and walked away. Charles never saw him or his home again.
20 The ship smelled bad and it pitched back and forth
as it rode across the waves. Charles was nauseas and homesick for the entire
voyage, but he had little time to feel sorry for himself. The captain (the
smelly man with the beard) made him work hard every day. He cleaned, fetched
and ran messages for the captain.
21 At first, he thought that the captain’s name was
“Bastard,” because that’s what the other men called him when he wasn’t around.
It turned out they didn’t like him any better than Charles did. Then, one day,
he heard one of the men call him “Will.” “He doesn’t look like any William I’ve
ever known,” Charles thought. Not that it mattered much, but he also discovered
that they were headed for America.
22 Finally, after weeks on the open sea, his journey
was over as quickly as it had begun. He learned that the ship had docked at
Philadelphia. Charles had heard about the city, but he didn’t know what to
expect. Indeed, by now, he had learned to expect the unexpected.
23 They had only been there for two days when Will
introduced the boy to Mr. Abraham Turner. “You are going to work for Mr. Turner
as his servant,” the captain told him. Charles couldn’t see how much money Mr.
Turner paid the captain, but he was told that he would be working for the man
for the next seven years. They even made him put his mark on a document they
called “a contract.”
24 It wasn’t a very auspicious beginning for a young
boy in the New World. For better or worse, however, Charles McAnally was now an
American.
25 Now these are the generations of Charles McAnally
of Scotland:
26 Charles was the father of John, Charles and Mary.
27 John McAnally was the father of David and Elijah,
and his brother Charles was the forefather of Andy Griffith (the television
actor).
28 Elijah McAnally was the father of Edmond, and
Edmond married Elizabeth Ketcham and had children.
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