I already have penned such a novel. My title : Echoes of a First Love
My sixth great-grandfather married his first wife when he was but 16 years old and she 15, in the Fall of 1761. While she was of 'age', he was most certainly young. However, this couple made it work. He ran his own plantation, worked as a Clerk in his father's Trading Post, went on to open his own Trading Post. Ultimately, he began the town of New Market, Virginia, platting it off and selling the lots to others. This is where he built a Tavern and had an Ordinary (Inn), besides his Trading Post. He was also off fighting the Shawnee whenever they raided. Any time he was gone, be it trading in furs, hunting, or chasing after these renegade Shawnee (who were 'working' on behest of the British, then the French, the the British again), his wife would run his businesses.
Then he got a bee in his bonnet to remove his family south east of the Shenandoah Valley where they lived. This was in the early 1770s. With seven small children (my own fifth great-grandfather a babe in arms) the family removed to the Watauga Settlements (arriving on Christmas day in 1773) in what turned out to be western North Carolina. There they faced even bigger threats. The land was quite the wilderness, often dubbed the original 'Wild West'. If the Cherokee weren't trying to push these 'invaders' out, they had black bears, rattle snakes and copperheads to contend with. Three more children were brought into the family, giving this young couple ten children.
This family moved several times down in the Settlements. First on the north bank of the Holston, then to the Watauga about three miles above the rocks (in what is now Elizabeton), then to the north bank of the Nolichucky River, then to the south bank of the same river. The last one brought them to the Little Limestone Creek (a subsidiary of the Nolichucky). While he was busy building mills, he got word that the Cherokee were on the march again. His wife had just given birth (and had complications) when he grabbed up his family to fort. There were no real roads to traverse. It was a very hectic, difficult six mile ride over bumpy roads in a wagon. Sarah made it to the fort, but her health declined for the rough ride. Early one morning she passed away. She was buried that same night in the forest that surrounded Fort Nolichucky, (Indian territory), things completed by midnight in the pouring rain amidst claps of thunder. They didn't mark the grave and smoothed it over, spreading leaves to make it look as if the land hadn't been disturbed. John was terrified the Cherokee would desecrate her grave.
John married again, as was the thing in that time frame. He had children ranging in age from newborn to just 17. Besides being a magistrate for this community, he was also the County Clerk, and a member of the Safety Commission. A militia member he was now a full Colonel. He went on to become a Hero of the Revolutionary War through his part in the Battle of Kings Mountain. By his second wife, he had eight more children.
North Carolina, who had taken the Settlements under their wing, making them citizens of that colony, once again abandoned them, ceding the land right out from beneath them, to the new United States to defray their share of the War costs. This angered the community and there were calls to become autonomous once again. John, reluctantly, became the first and only governor of what is now called the failed State of Franklin.
Eventually, the Settlements became the Southwest Territory and following the steps provided by the United States, they achieved Statehood, which is what they desired in the beginning. John was then voted in as the very First Governor of the State of Tennessee. His second wife, Katherine Sherrill the State's First Lady. Sadly, some historians have Sarah dying before her time. Some even suggest she stayed behind in Virginia. Some go so far as to suggest that when John rescued Katherine during the siege on Fort Watauga in 1776, that this is where the romance between John and 'Bonny Kate' began. This is wholly untrue.
John kept Sarah close to his heart all the rest of his time on the earth. She was the love 'of his youth'. Next to nothing is known about their private lives. Some don't even recognize he had a wife, other than the second wife. For a certainty, many have no clue as to just what Sarah brought to the Settlements. Family Tradition suggests she helped form him into the man he would become, since they were married during those formative years. They were just shy of their 19th wedding anniversary when she passed in the Spring of 1780.
So, I have written a novel, keeping close to his timeline, and as many facts interwoven as possible. And while he came to love Katherine, he never stopped loving Sarah.
