USA > Iowa > Monroe County > An illustrated history of Monroe County, Iowa > Part 18
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The "sky-seraper" bonnet was an institution of a little earlier antiquity, but was worn by some as late as the pioneer period of Monroe County. Then came the "shaker" made of straw or palm-leaf. It somewhat re- sembled a calico sunbonnet in form, except that it was nar- rower. It looked a little like a sugar-scoop. They did not have any tails to them when purchased, and the first thing the purchaser had to do, on buying one, was to sew a tail to it, composed of cloth. Its beauty was ephemeral, as it soon lost its whiteness. The ladies kept it pretty well bleached by frequent baptism in a jar of buttermilk. Another way to bleach it was to place it near the top, inside an inverted barrel; then they smoked it all day with sulphur fumes. The odor of the sulphur remained with the "shaker," but that was not objected to in society, as sulphur and the odor from it was reckoned a safeguard against the prairie itch in those days. From that day to this, the bonnets, both great and small, have come and gone. each year witnessing some strange mutation in style, and bringing with the change fresh joys and gladsome smiles to the wearer.
After the linsey period, came the woolen mill, which en- abled the settlers to exchange their wool for eloth manufact- ured at the factory and of a little handsomer appearance. Casinet was a heavy cloth for masculine wear, composed partly of wool and partly of cotton. It wore like buckskin.
A calico dress was the one thing altogether lovely in the eyes of the pioneer maiden. It cost from 25 to 50 cents per yard, but most of the well-to-do ladies managed to secure one for Sunday wear, or in which to array herself when cir- ens day came. Many a poor girl, as noble and handsome as the fairest queen of earth, has wept until her eyes were red because she did not have a nice calico dress to wear to meet- ing, or in which to entertain her beau on Sunday night.
The acquirement of a pair of hoops was not so difficult a matter. If her father refused to invest in a pair of "store" hoops. the maiden went into the forest and selected a grace- ful grape-vine, and improvised a pair of hoops, which, to all external appearances, were fully up to the highest pinnacle of the fashion.
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About a dozen years ago the hoopskirt again made its appearance, but it had lost its old-time rotundity, and was but the shadow of its former self. It soon disappeared; but some day it will rise again, to fly in the face of providence and tempt fate.
About twenty years ago the ladies conceived an infatua- tion for dress-goods of a flaming color and marked in large figures like bed-spread calico. It was called "Dolly Varden" dress-goods. At another period, some years later, every girl wore spotted calico, called "polka dot," and a bevy of chat- tering, rollicking young ladies would look like a flock of guineas.
The "Mother Hubbard" is the greatest monstrosity of all. It haunts, like a specter, every lady's closet, but seldom walks forth in the broad light of day. For a while it made a bold, defiant effort to gain the street, but was soon rele- ยท gated to the back yard, where it is occasionally seen scamper- ing stealthily between the kitchen door and the wood-pile or pump, but instantly vanishing within doors on the approach of an intruder. In appearance it resembles a bag of table salt of prodigious size, the gathering-string at the top corre- sponding to the collar. Unhappily, the Mother Hubbard differs in one respect : it has no bottom in it, like the salt-bag.
Courtship in those days was conducted under about the same underlying principles as now-i. e., the object to be at- tained was marriage. The science was in a much more rudi- mentary state then, but the end seemed to justify the means. The process was sufficient unto the day, and every couple who were in the right frame of mind managed to strike up a match. They did it without buggy-riding (there were no buggies then), without lawn tennis parties, without sipping lemonade through rye-straws, or spooning at the ice cream table. They did not even have a sofa on which to sit on the veranda at late hours, when Cupid is supposed to Jurk in the vicinity. The swain courted his sweetheart in the presence of her folks, because the cabin had but one room; and when the other members of the family wished to retire for the night, the lovers had to hold up a bed-quilt between them- selves and the beds, until the old folks were safely tucked in bed. The swain then told his story of love in the faint, wavering light of the tallow-dip, and had to be brief about it. for the light was liable to go out at any moment. When they went to singing-school, they rode horseback, if he had two
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horses; if he had only one, and it carried double, he took her on behind and she hooked her arms around his waist to stick on. If they had to ride bareback, and encountered a steep hill to descend, they drew "Old Fan's" tail up over their shoulders, and, by holding on to it, avoided slipping forward over the animal's withers.
Thomas Smith, of Urbana Township, who died some years ago, used to relate his love-making experience. He was fat and jolly, and it seems that the incident did not permanently blight his heart. He went by the irreverent appellation of "old Bean Smith."
He and old Sam Daal were rivals for the hand of the widow Vandever, who lived over the line in Missouri. It took a day or two to make the trip, and it was vitally im- portant that both suitors should not make their calls on the same night, because there was but one room in the house. and the widow and her lover were obliged to sit up all night. There was neither straw-stack nor a dwelling-house near the widow Vandever's, and if both beaus called on the same date, one would have to go home, as there was no other place to lodge.
One night, a short time after "old Bean" had called, Daal shuffled in, not knowing that his rival was present. He was attired in his bare feet, as it was his custom to go barefooted on all occasions. There was a big rain that night, and the creek was up so high that the lover could not recross to return home. Both suitors sat up with the widow all night, but, as Smith arrived first, he held the "right-of-way," and did all the wooing, while Daal had to remain a silent spectator with his chin resting in his hands and his elbows supported on his knees. He was a "Pennsylvania Dutch- man." About daylight he slowly raised his head and ob- served: "I likes snapper better as c-o-o-n."
This confession seems to have been in conformity with the widow's own epicurean tastes, and as snapping-turtles were abundant on the creek, the declaration went straight to her heart ; for she married Daal shortly afterwards and the two subsisted happily on "snapper" for many years.
While in some respects the methods employed in pioneer courtship were of a tendency calculated to discourage the candidate, there were other phases of the process which in turn greatly facilitated the practitioners in ascertaining the "lay of the land," so far as any opposition from the girl's parents and brothers was concerned.
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If the girl's father or brother put the young man's horse up and fed it, it was a tacit understanding all round that the matrimonial negotiations between the lovers had the hearty approval of the family; but if the poor animal was left hitched to the fence to shiver and freeze with cold, the young man took the hint, and either gave up the enterprise, or, in company with the girl, ran off to Missouri and got married in defiance of the old folks. Thus a young man did not have to encounter the modern disadvantages of uncertainty, and was able to lavish his affections and good money on the girl in an intelligent and definite manner. Nowadays he does not know which way "the cat is going to jump" until the invitation cards are out. He simply invests his money and affections and takes his chances, the same as when dallying with the wheel-of-fortune spindle.
After the young folks got married, the bride, if of a well- to-do family, furnished the feather-tick and a quilted "com- fort" or two, and usually one cow, which every girl on contemplating marriage "claimed" from her pa's herd as her property. The cow was usually well paid for by the young lady in the way of services rendered her pa by "dropping" corn, or hoeing sod-corn, or performing some other field labor. The bridegroom usually supplied a horse, or, under more auspicious circumstances, a mare and colt. His mother usually gave him a pair of blankets, a straw- tick, and sometimes a bedstead. These, together with a cook-stove, a few dishes, and a pig or two, were about all a young married couple needed in the way of furniture for the first year; but invariably at or near the end of the year the young couple added to their collection of household utensils a rectangular box, mounted on the two semicircular halves of a barrel-head, each placed transversely near either end of the box and nailed edgewise on the bottom.
The "wool-picking" was a social event corresponding in some respects to the tea-party of the present day, only the hostess did not resort to the preliminary formality of issuing invitation cards; she did not receive her guests in a satin gown, and the hour and minute when the guests were expected to depart were not stated, as on an invitation card.
When the guests had all assembled, the wool was placed in bunches upon the chairs. Chairs were usually of the "split-bottom" variety-i. c., the bottoms were formed of strips of hickory or lind bark interwoven. (There was
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always a handy man in every neighborhood who bottomed chairs.) Then the wool was beaten with sticks until it was loosened up, and the grit and dirt dropped down through the chair bottom. The guests then took it by small bunches and "picked" it with their fingers until the fibers were all loosely intermixed. While doing this, they chatted and gossiped just as ladies now do over their tea.
After being "picked," the wool was ready to be washed. It was usually taken to some clear pool of water of some neighboring stream, and, when placed in tubs of hot water, was tramped by barefooted boys until of a snowy white color, when it was taken to the carding machine, greased, and run into "rolls," or long loose ropes about the diameter of one's finger. These were then ready for the big spinning- wheel, which was to be found in every well-regulated family.
This wheel was a wooden circle, about five feet in diameter, and in the center of its periphery was a groove, in which ran a band or cord, which, acting as a belt in con- nection with the spindle, caused the latter to revolve with great rapidity when the wheel was put in motion. The housewife would moisten the end of the "roll" with her thumb and finger, place it in contact with the spindle, start the wheel by means of a short stick held in the hand, with which she struck a spoke of the wheel with a propelling movement. The wheel was made to revolve with great rapidity. The spindle, humming cheerfully, would twist the "roll" into a strand of yarn the length of the roll, when another roll was spliced on, and a continuous thread was thus spun.
The "Hairy Nation."
When the Lord confused the tongues at the building of the tower of Babel. a small colony, finding that they could not babble with any degree of satisfaction. concluded they would follow Horace Greeley's advice and "go west and grow up with the country." They departed in eight small vessels, which were "tight like unto a dish." as the report says. They finally landed on the New England coast, in the State of New York, where they grew into a great nation. They inhabited America for about fifteen hundred years. and were finally all destroyed for their wickedness about six hundred years before Christ. The prophet Esther wrote
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their history. He lived to witness their entire destruction, and deposited his record where it was afterwards found by a colony of Jews, who came from Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, to repeople America. This last colony were descendants of the tribe of Joseph. They increased rapidly, and finally became divided into. two mighty nations. One of these nations was called the Nephites and the other the Lamanites, Nephi being the leader of one branch and Laman of the other.
The Lamanites were dark-skinned, and did not take much to civil pursuits. They wore feathers down their backs, and bear-claws as ornaments around their necks. They were copper-colored, and became skilled with the bow. The Nephites were fair-complected, and received enlighten- ment. They were highly favored of the Lord, and received visions and the gift of prophecy, and finally were favored with a personal appearance of the Lord.
The two tribes got along nicely for a while, and by close application to study soon learned to talk in a language of their own. The children of these pioneer families learned their A B C's rapidly, and multiplied on the face of the earth. The two tribes finally drew the color line, and fell out. They began a war of extermination.
The Nephites occupied the lower portion of North America and Central America. Here they built the cities of Ottulum, Gadiandi, Gimgimno, and others, in the reign of King Jacobuggath the Second.
The old sunken city of Port Royal, on the Nicaragua coast, submerged far beneath the surface of the blue depths of the ocean, was one of these ancient cities; for, as the prophet Coriantimer said: "Behold, the great city of Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city of Moroni have I caused to be sunk into the depths of the sea, and the in- habitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, the great city of Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the in- habitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abomi- nations from before my face. The city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk; yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhab- itants thereof; and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof."
Mormon was a gentleman who lived at that time and
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wrote a history of his people. When he died, his son Moroni continued the records down to 1. D. 1820. and then deposited them in a vault on a hillside, called Cumorah, in what is now Oneida County, Manchester Township, New York.
Here the records remained until Joseph Smith, in 1824, was directed to the spot by an angel of the Lord. The angel showed Smith the locality, but would not let him take them up until he had spent four years in prayer and fasting. Then in 1827 the angel escorted Joe to the spot and told him he might dig. Joe dug, and pried open the vault, and found two tablets of beaten gold containing Hebrew characters. "And lo! the angel of the Lord, who had previously visited him, again stood in his presence, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the glory of the Lord shone round about him."
Smith claimed further, that with the tablets he found two clear stones, corresponding to the urim and thummim of the Bible. These he looked through and translated the inscriptions, from which he devised the "Book of Mormon." which contains the foregoing narrative.
The Nephites were all exterminated by the Lamanites. The Lamanites were the American Indians. Smith had previously found a pair of very clear pebbles, and the thought occurred to him to turn them to some account.
At about that time a gentleman named Spaulding, having visited the country of the Montezumas and made a study of Aztec and Toltec archeology, wrote a fictitious sketch, purporting to be a history of the early settlements of America, prior to the times of Columbus. Joe Smith stole the manuscript before Spaulding got it printed, and as soon as the latter died, he, with the aid of Sidney Rigdon, dressed it up into what they called the "Book of Mormon," on which is based the religion of the Mormon Church.
Later. the Mormons, under the leadership of Smith, were driven from place to place; and when they were expelled from Nauvoo, Ill., after the assassination of their prophet in the Carthage jail in 1846, they. under the leadership of their new prophet. Brigham Young, began their long march for the Salt Lake basin. While en route many stopped along the way to rest and raise a crop before continuing their wearisome journey. Some settled in Davis County, Iowa, while others settled in Monroe County and at Garden Grove, Lucas County. and other places in the West.
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Those who settled in Davis County were called the "Harry Nation," and the same appellation was applied to those who settled in Monroe County, in Mantua Township. While they had been Mormons, they apostatized when Young, the new leader and prophet, began to inculcate the doctrine of polygamy. It will be remembered that polygamy was not instituted in the church until Brigham Young was selected as their leader. Hence the "Hairy Nation" were never polygamous Mormons.
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CHAPTER XIII.
Early Joys and Sorrows.
While the early settlers had to encounter many hard- ships, there were still a few threads of gold running in the woof and warp of their pioneer lives. Their cheeks were aglow with health, their hopes were strong, and their hearts were light.
There were no social barriers excluding the poor from the rich; all were poor in this world's goods, yet all enjoyed a wealth of honor, social equality, and contentment. Some- times the meal-chest became empty, and before Haymaker's mill had been built on Cedar Creek, a domestic strait of this kind entailed considerable inconvenience on the settler. A milling trip required from a week's to three weeks' time. Sometimes the settler had to "wait his turn" for several days. When this was the case, he slept in the mill at night, or used his own wagon as a sleeping apartment. He also took along provisions for several days, and if these became exhausted, he had his rifle and fishing tackle with which to solve the dilemma. The mills were located at Bentonsport. Keosauqua, or sometimes the settler had to go as far as Burlington.
When there were deep snows or impassable roads, every- body ran out of bread-stuff and had to either live on boiled corn or else take their corn to the home of the writer's grandfather, Thos. Hickenlooper, who lived where the town of Foster now stands, and grind their grist on a hand-mill something similar to the spice-mills now seen in grocery stores. It was operated by a crank, and contained a fly- wheel about two feet in diameter. Grinding on this mill was laborious work, and, like the mills of the gods, ground slowly; but not exceedingly fine, like the latter, for the buhrs were dull. The remains of the old mill are still lying about the old Hickenlooper homestead.
It may seem strange to state that during the first few years of the county's settlement water was scarce. The settlers either did not know where to dig for it or else there was none on the flat, high, prairie regions. Old settlers still claim that there was but little living water in the
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ground until after the soil had been broken and cultivated for several seasons. It all drained off into streams, the virgin sod shedding it without absorbing it. Nobody ever thought of constructing ponds or reservoirs.
The prairie-itch was another pioneer luxury which the people of the present generation do not enjoy. It usually entered on a seven-years lease with the latter, but at the end of that period the lessee was seldom evicted from the premises. It ran through families, and many well regulated families were never without it. It was a sort of heirloom in those families. It is generally understood that the itch is fostered by habits of filth and unwholesome neglect of the bodily condition, thus inviting a small animal parasite to burrow near the surface of the skin, subsisting on the impurities of the blood. It is hard, however, to account for the greater prevalence of the disease in early days unless it may be referred to the fact that in those days of scarcity of clothing many people were obliged to wear a single suit for a great length of time without change or washing. This, of course, rendered the skin impure, and made it possible for the parasite to seize a foothold.
The Charivari.
In 1847 there were but four families in the village of Albia. Two of these families occupied the little log court- house -- viz., the Flints and the Marcks. Dr. Flint had two charming daughters-Amy and Nancy. Jonas Wescoatt won the heart of the fair Amy, and Robert Meek, who for many years since was one of the proprietors of the well- known woolen mills of Bonaparte, Ia., wooed the equally charming Nancy. The wedding was to be a double affair, and special efforts were taken by the contracting parties to evade the inevitable charivari.
On the 10th of October the wedding day was arranged, and Mr. Meek drove over in a spring-wagon, and the plan was to drive to Eddyville immediately after the ceremony and escape the serenading crowd. During the evening of the 9th the boys "got wind" of the affair on the morrow, and of the plans to escape; so they took off one of the wagon- wheels and concealed it. No trace of the wheel could be found, and the bridal parties were thrown into great con- sternation. When the hour fixed for the marriage arrived, the justice made his appearance on time, but the bridal
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quartet was conspicuously absent. The assembled crowd of boys grew uproarious in their glee, for they thought the wedding had been postponed. The justice, however, had been notified to return home and reappear in the evening and tie the knot secretly. He did so, and the newly coupled quartet repaired to the cottage of Mr. Wescoatt to spend the night.
In the meantime, however, when Mr. Michael Lower, the justice, reappeared, he was followed by a spy, who saw the nuptial proceedings and communicated the fact to the crowd. Late at night they stormed the Wescoatt strong- hold and forced the garrison to capitulate. The charivari was a grand success, and each bride was compelled to present herself to receive the blessing of the crowd.
In the morning the missing wheel was found by the side of the wagon.
An Interesting Find.
One fall, in the '50s, Dr. Gutch, then a young medical student, was teaching school near where Maxon now stands. One day, during the noon hour, he and the school-boys were out on the hillsides, gathering hazel-nuts. They saw a strange object some distance away, near the roadside. Some thought it a deer. others a mad dog having a fit. They crept cautiously up to it to investigate, and they finally discovered that it was a man. They approached the apparently lifeless form, and discovered it to be that of Joe McMullen. Gutch examined his pulse, and then remarked: "Damned if he ain't alive!" They carried him to a hay-stack near by, and in due time he became conscious, and returned home. He had just made a horse-trade with Jesse Snodgrass, and had gotten $15 to boot. He had considered it a good trade; and to get the better of Jesse Snodgrass, in a horse-trade was an achievement worthy of celebrating by taking a drink at Harrow's grocery. He had taken a little too much, and on his return home had become "becalmed."
Bec-Hunting.
The early settlers found the forests alive with wild honey-bees. Almost anyone could find a bee-tree by stroll- ing through the woods and examining every knot-hole in the trees; but the professional bee-hunter had a more method- ical way of locating the hive. The honey-bee, as everyone
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knows, flies straight, or in a "bee-line," to its home, when laden with honey, and in order to get the exact bearings of the bee-tree, the hunter took the "course" of the homing-bee. There were several ways of securing these observations. One way was for the hunter to lie down flat on the ground in the midst of a growth of wild flowers, and as the bee which came to work on the blossoms took its departure, the falcon- eyed bee-hunter got its "course" and followed it up. Some- times the distance would be a mile or more.
It is said that when the bee-hunter became old and dim of eyesight. he seized the bee, and, removing its sting, thrust in its place a tiny white feather, and then released the insect. In its flight homeward he could follow with his eye the white feather for a long distance. This, however, is perhaps a popular vagarism.
Another method was to attract the bee to a certain lo- cality by means of "bait." This bait consisted of a pair of corn-cobs placed in a fruit-can and saturated with a saline fluid always available. The bees would gather in large num- bers, and the hunter, lying on his stomach underneath the suspended "bait," got his "courses."
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