As a sixteen-year-old, she worked several hours a day in her father’s office, and it was there that she met Elijah Clarke. He had been hired by a stableman to deliver twenty packhorses from Hillsborough to Norfolk, for shipment on to Newport. He was obviously confused when he entered the office, and Hannah soon realized that the young man could not read the directions he carried in his hand. She examined the paper, asked him a few questions, and told him to deliver the horses to the dock, have the invoice signed by the leading stevedore, and then return for payment. She was somewhat disconcerted because his eyes never left her face, and he seemed to have no embarrassment about his obvious illiteracy.

When he returned, Elijah began to tell her about his 150-mile trip from home and his prospective ability to acquire his own homestead and farm after he returned. Mr. Reddick came from his office after a few minutes and interrupted the conversation, paid what was due for the horses, and stood there until Elijah was gone. That evening, as her father was locking the door of the office, Hannah noticed the young man across the street, looking at her. As their carriage drove away, he casually lifted his hand in a slight wave, and she was relieved that her father had not noticed the gesture. The next day, a few minutes after her father left for the docks, Elijah entered the office and said, “I waited so as to see you ag’in.”

“Why would you have wanted to do that?”

“I’m hopin’ you’ll go home with me.”

Hannah turned away in deep embarrassment, but three days later she was behind his saddle as they rode westward to his future home, leading a packhorse that carried two bags containing her most precious possessions. She had never confronted her father, but merely left him a letter assuring him that she was well and happy and promising to write him after she was married and settled.

She had learned to love and admire her husband, even though he dominated her completely and made all the basic decisions about their family. She cherished the few books she had in the house and regretted that Elijah could not read them. Within a few months after their marriage, she had made a disastrous suggestion that she might teach him, and he had exploded in anger at what he considered to be a personal insult. She was courageous and self-sufficient, learned to expand her own family responsibilities without discussing them with her husband, and made as many friends as possible among the other women in the settlement region.