The Garland Family

Here is the full background of the Garland family, as written by Jeremiah Garland himself.

The Family
Officially named Jeremiah Pond, to father Joshua Pond and mother Mary Pond, Jeremiah was adopted at a young age, and never even knew this until he was well into his twenties. His adoptive family, the Garlands, decided to give Jeremiah the same last name.

However, while living in London, when Jeremiah was 11, his mother died of tubercluosis, and his father died a year later in a downtown London fire. Jeremiah lived alone on the streets of London, avoiding an orphanage. When he was 17, he applied to enlist in the British Royal Navy, and was accepted.

As a lieutenant in charge of a marine corp. and a ship-of-the-line, Lieutenant Garland spent four years fighiting in various places for the British, including Spain, Morocco, South Africa, and India. However, he soon developed a disgust for war, and went into a temporary retirement.

He moved back to his native Yorkshire, in England, where he attended university. He graduated with a degree in writing, and spent the next year touring England sharing his poetry. While making a brief stop in Manchester, England, one night, Garland came upon a woman, among the most beautiful he had ever seen. She, too, shared a love for poetry, and the two met. Her name was Joan Chamberlain, her father a lord of the EITC. Both Jeremiah and Joan had lost their parents (Joan lost her mother to famen, and Jeremiah was not aware he had not yet met his real parents), so the two bonded over their feelings. They soon fell madly in love, and a year later, married in Garland's native Yorkshire.

They spent the next two or three years touring England some more, reading to the villages their poetry. One day, though, Joan Garland learned that she was pregnant. Jeremiah and Joan agreed that poetry paid very little, and that it could not help support a family. Joan said that her father, Thomas Chamberlain of the EITC, could supply them with fair-paying jobs in the Caribbean. They set out for the Caribbean.

During the five-month journey to the Caribbean, Joan gave birth to a son aboard the ''HMS Druid. ''They agreed to name the son Nathaniel, in honor of Garland's great-grandfather.

They landed at Port Royal, Jamaica, and purchased a small shanty townhouse with the money they had. Garland worked as a lowly dock worker for the EITC. He spent his days working on the docks of Port Royal loading cargo onto trade ships, all for a low pay. Joan, meanwhile, had to stay home and take care of Nathaniel, but when she had the time, also applied as a part-time store clerk at Graham Marsh Imports.

Each night when Jeremiah returned home from work, he would go straight to his desk and begin writing, as this was his greatest love. Working on the docks all day, he heard many rumors of happenings in the EITC, and was very up-to-date. In addition, he was very familiar with their ways and customs. Eventually, Jeremiah decided to write a whole book, entitled The British Merchant, which was a collection of his thoughts and philosophies on the EITC. Despite his wife's insistence, Jeremiah did not make it public, but rather kept the book secret, as he feared it could cost him his job, and with that his home and family.

One day, however, Joan Garland was busy at work in one of Graham Marsh Imports's stores when an EITC lord walked in. He introduced himself as Lord Davy Menace, and Joan recognized him immediatly as one of the leaders of the EITC. She explained to him how she was the daughter of another lord, Thomas Chamberlain. Menace, always eager to get to know his colleagues' family, asked Joan about her life. She explained to Menace about Jeremiah, and how he was working on the docks. She also managed to slip in there that he was writing a book, which she found quite impressive. Menace was impressed too, and requested he read the book. Without her husband's permission, Joan retrieved the book and lent it to Menace.

The next day, Menace returned to the store and said he was quite impressed with Jeremiah's views, and that he had the true makings of a lord. Joan was excited with joy to hear this, and asked Menace to go tell Jeremiah this.

Menace walked to the docks, asked for Garland, and told Jeremiah himself. He invited Jeremiah to be an official member and lord of the EITC, which Jeremiah accepted.

In the monthes that followed, Jeremiah made nearly thirty times more money, and the Garlands soon upgraded to a big mansion along King's Way. Nathaniel was know one and a half years old.

'''This is incomplete. Please do not edit unless it is grammar or spelling. Thank you.'''