Jessie and Her Pathfinder, part 2
Senator Benton and his wife had no doubts that their daughter Jessie and John Charles Fremont thought they were in love. The parents made the young couple promise to wait one year before marrying, until Jessie was 17. The parents hoped that in that time the attraction the couple held for each other would wane.
However, for once in the forceful senator’s life he was not in control of a situation. Nothing could keep Jessie and her Pathfinder apart. And dealing with one was much the same as dealing with the other. Jessie and John Charles were very much alike; impulsive, high-spirited, and loved adventure. Jessie and John Charles also agreed that one year was far too long to wait before officially pledging their love for each other. They eloped.
When the couple returned home they planned to keep their marriage a secret but that plan was short lived. Senator Benton became furious and refused to recognize his daughter’s marriage. He attempted to put John Charles out of his home while keeping his willful daughter at his side. Jessie left her parent’s home on the arm of her husband.
Soon the young Fremonts were the talk of Washington’s high society. They became the most sought after couple, receiving numerous invitations to parties and balls. If the senator and society thought the pair mismatched they were soon proven wrong.
As young as the new Mrs. Fremont was, she brought to the union a woman who would stand by her husband’s side. She could, and did, lend him strength and the support he needed. Jessie had a knowledge of politics and possessed a cultured background due to the detested months of her girlhood spent at her mother’s plantation home in Virginia.
Jessie’s parents carefully followed the events and actions in their daughter’s new life. Only a month had passed when they began to believe that perhaps they had been mistaken. They invited the new Mr. and Mrs. Fremont to return home. The offer was accepted and the illegitimate son of a French émigré who often felt insecure in his childhood found the security he’d dreamed of with the beautiful and intelligent young Jessie Benton Fremont.
Over the next few years, though not physically at her husband’s side, Jessie Fremont supported and loved John Charles as he conducted his expeditions into the Far West. On his returns her talents made it possible for his writing of his adventures to become a well-written and well-organized published account that was shared with the world.
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