History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 12

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 12

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" Facts prove, however,

"1. That character is universally formed for and not by the in- dividual;

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"2. That any habits and sentiments may be given to mankind;

"3. That the affections are not under the control of the indi- vidual;

"4. That every individual may be trained to produce far more than he can consume, while there is a sufficiency left for him to cultivate;

"5. That nature has provided means by which population may be at all times maintained in the proper state to give the greatest happiness to every individual, without one check of vice and misery;

"6. That any community may be arranged on a due combina- tion of the foregoing principles in such a manner as not only to withdraw vice, poverty, and in a great degree misery from the world, but also to place every individual under circumstances in which he shall enjoy more permanent happiness than can be given to any individual under the principles which have hitherto regu- lated society ;

"7. That all the fundamental principles on which society has hitherto been founded are erroneous and may be demonstrated to be contrary to fact; and-

"8. That the change that would follow the abandonment of those erroneous maxims which bring misery into the world, and the adoption of the principles of truth, unfolding a system which shall remove and forever exclude that misery, may be effected without the slightest injury to any human being."

Mr. Owen's efforts to establish a community on his principles failed, probably because he overlooked the deeper principle that the main element of "Liberalism " is "individuality " of life in all respects.

PIONEER LIFE.

Most of the early settlers of Indiana came from older States, as Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Virginia, where their prospects for even a competency were very poor. They found those States good-to emigrate from. Their entire stock of furniture, imple- ments and family necessities were easily stored in one wagon, and sometimes a cart was their only vehicle.

THE LOG CABIN.

After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be inter-

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esting to many of our younger readers, as in some sections these old-time structures are no more to be seen. Trees of uniform size were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally 12 to 15 feet, and hauled to the spot selected for the future dwelling. On an appointed day the few neighbors who were available would assemble and have a " house-raising." Each end of every log was saddled and notched so that they would lie as close down as possi- ble; the next day the proprietor would proceed to "chink and daub " the cabin, to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house had to be re-daubed every fall, as the rains of the intervening time would wash out a great part of the mortar. The usual height of the house was seven or eight feet. The gables were formed by shortening the logs gradually at each end of the building near the top. The roof was made by laying very straight small logs or stout poles suitable distances apart, generally about two and a half feet, from gable to gable, and on these poles were laid the " clap- boards " after the manner of shingling, showing about two and a half feet to the weather. These clapboards were fastened to their place by " weight poles," corresponding in place with the joists just described, and these again were held in their place by "runs " or " knees," which were chunks of wood about 18 or 20 inches long fitted between them near the ends. Clapboards were made from the nicest oaks in the vicinity, by chopping or sawing them into four-foot blocks and riving these with a frow, which was a simple blade fixed at right angles to its handle. This was driven into the blocks of wood by a mallet. As the frow was wrenched down through the wood, the latter was turned alternately over from side to side, one end being held by a forked piece of timber.

The chimney to the Western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving in the original building a large open place in one wall, or by cut- ting one after the structure was up, and by building on the out- side from the ground up, a stone column, or a column of sticks and mud, the sticks being laid up cob-house fashion. The fire-place thus made was often large enough to receive fire-wood six to eight feet long. Sometimes this wood, especially the " back-log," would be nearly as large as a saw-log. The more rapidly the pioneer could burn up the wood in his vicinity the sooner he had his little farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece about two feet long was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed sometimes by glass, but generally with greased paper. Even greased deer-hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut

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through one of the walls if a saw was to be had; otherwise the door would be left by shortened logs in the original building. The door was made by pinning clapboards to two or three wood bars, and was hung upon wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch, then finished the door, and the latch was raised by any one on the outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night this latch-string was drawn in; but for friends and neighbors, and even strangers, the " latch-string was always hanging out," as a welcome. In the interior, over the fire-place would be a shelf, called "the mantel," on which stood the candlestick or lamp, some cooking and table ware, possibly an old clock, and other articles; in the fire- place would be the crane, sometimes of iron, sometimes of wood; on it the pots were hung for cooking; over the door, in forked cleats, hung the ever trustful rifle and powder-horn; in one corner stood the larger bed for the " old folks," and under it the trundle bed for the children; in another stood the old-fashioned spinning-wheel, with a smaller one by its side; in another the heavy table, the only table, of course, there was in the house; in the remaining corner was a rude cupboard holding the table-ware, which consisted of a few cups and saucers and blue-edged plates, standing singly on their edges against the back, to make the display of table furniture more conspicuous; while around the room were scattered a few splint-bottomed or Windsor chairs and two or three stools.

These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the traveler, seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader might not easily imagine; for, as described, a single room was made to answer for kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, bed-room and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight members.

SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS.

The bed was very often made by fixing a post in the floor about six feet from one wall and four feet from the adjoining wall, and fastening a stick to this post about two feet above the floor. on each of two sides, so that the other end of each of the two sticks could be fastened in the opposite wall; clapboards were laid across these, and thus the bed was made complete. Guests were given this bed, while the family disposed of themselves in another corner of the room, or in the " loft." When several guests were on hand

A PIONEER DWELLING.

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at once, they were sometimes kept over night in the following manner: when bed-time came the men were requested to step out of doors while the women spread out a broad bed upon the mid- floor, and pnt themselves to bed in the center; the signal was given and the men came in and each husband took his place in bed next his own wife, and the single men outside beyond them again. They were generally so crowded that they had to lie " spoon" fashion, and when any one wished to turn over he would say "Spoon," and the whole company of sleepers would turn over at once. This was the only way they could all keep in bed.

COOKING.

To witness the various processes of cooking in those days would alike surprise and amuse those who have grown up since cooking stoves and ranges came into use. Kettles were hung over the large fire, suspended with pot-hooks, iron or wooden, on the crane, or on poles, one end of which would rest upon a chair. The long- handled frying-pan was used for cooking meat. It was either held over the blaze by hand or set down upon coals drawn out upon the hearth. This pan was also used for baking pan-cakes, also called " flap-jacks," " batter-cakes," etc. A better article for this, how- ever, was the cast-iron spider or Dutch skillet. The best thing for baking bread those days, and possibly even yet in these latter days, was the flat-bottomed bake kettle, of greater depth, with closely fitting cast-iron cover, and commonly known as the " Dutch- oven." With coals over and under it, bread and biscuit would quickly and nicely bake. Turkey and spare ribs were sometimes roasted before the fire, suspended by a string, a dish being placed underneath to catch the drippings.

Hominy and samp were very much used. The hominy, how- ever, was generally hulled corn-boiled corn from which the hull, or bran, had been taken by hot lye; hence sometimes called " lye hominy." True hominy and samp were made of pounded corn. A popular method of making this, as well as real meal for bread, was to cut out or burn a large hole in the top of a huge stump, in the shape of a mortar, and pounding the corn in this by a maul or beetle suspended on the end of a swing pole, like a well- sweep. This and the well-sweep consisted of a pole 20 to 30 feet long fixed in an upright fork so that it could be worked "teeter" fashion. It was a rapid and simple way of drawing water. When the samp was sufficiently pounded it was taken out, the bran floated

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off, and the delicious grain boiled like rice.

The chief articles of diet in early day were corn bread, hominy or samp, venison, pork, honey, beans, pumpkin (dried pumpkin for more than half the year), turkey, prairie chicken, squirrel and some other game, with a few additional vegetables a portion of the year. Wheat bread, tea, coffee and fruit were luxuries not to be indulged in except on special occasions, as when visitors were present.

WOMEN'S WORK.

Besides cooking in the manner described, the women had many other arduons duties to perform, one of the chief of which was spin- ning. The "big wheel " was used for spinning yarn and the " little wheel " for spinning flax. These stringed instruments furnished the principal music of the family, and were operated by our mnoth- ers and grandmothers with great skill, attained without pecuniary expense and with far less practice than is necessary for the girls of our period to acquire a skillful use of their costly and elegant in- struments. But those wheels, indispensable a few years ago, are all now superseded by the mighty factories which overspread the country, furnishing cloth of all kinds at an expense ten times less than would be incurred now by the old system.

The loom was not less necessary than the wheel, though they were not needed in so great numbers; not every house liad a loom, one loom had a capacity for the needs of several families. Settlers, having succeeded in spite of the wolves in raising sheep, commenced the manufacture of woolen cloth; wool was carded and made into rolls by hand-cards, and the rolls were spun on the " big wheel." We still occasionally find in the houses of old settlers a wheel of this kind, sometimes used for spinning and twisting stocking yarn. They are turned with the hand, and with such velocity that it will run itself while the nimble worker, by her backward step, draws out and twists her thread nearly the whole length of the cabin. A common article woven on the loom was linsey, or linsey-woolsey, the chain being linen and the filling woolen. This cloth was used for dresses for the women and girls. Nearly all the clothes worn by the men were also home-made; rarely was a farmer or his son seen in a coat made of any other. If, occasionally, a young man appeared in a snit of " boughten " clothes, he was suspected of having gotten it for a particular occasion, which occurs in the life of nearly every young man.

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DRESS AND MANNERS.

The dress, habits, etc., of a people throw so much light upon their conditions and limitations that in order better to show the circumstances surrounding the people of the State, we will give a short exposition of the mauner of life of our Indiana people at different epochs. The Indians themselves are credited by Charle- voix with being " very laborious,"-raising poultry, spinning the wool of the buffalo, and manufacturing garments therefrom. These must have been, however, more than usually favorable repre- sentatives of their race.

"The working and voyaging dress of the French masses," says Reynolds, " was siniple and primitive. The French were like the lilies of the valley [ the Old Ranger was not always exact in his quotations],-they neither spun nor wove any of their clothing, but purchased it from the merchants. The white blanket coat, known as the capot, was the universal and eternal coat for the winter with the masses. A cape was made of it that could be raised over the head in cold weather.

" In the house, and in good weather, it hung behind, a cape to the blanket coat. The reason that I know these coats so well is that I have worn many in my youth, and a working man never wore a better garment. Dressed deer-skins and blue cloth were worn commonly in the winter for pantaloons. The blue handker- chief and the deer-skin moccasins covered the head and feet gener- ally of the French Creoles. In 1800 scarcely a man thought him- self clothed unless he had a belt tied round his blanket coat, and on one side was hung the dressed skin of a pole-cat filled with tobacco, pipe, flint and steel. On the other side was fastened, under the belt, the butcher knife. A Creole in this dress felt like Tam O'Shanter filled with usquebaugh; he could face the devil. Checked calico shirts were then common, but in winter flannel was frequently worn. In the summer the laboring men and the voyagers often took their shirts off in hard work and hot weather, and turned out the naked back to the air and sun."

" Among the Americans," he adds, "home-made wool hats were the common wear. Fur hats were not common, and scarcely a boot was seen. The covering of the feet in winter was chiefly moccasins made of deer-skins and shoe-packs of tanned leather. Some wore shoes, but not common in very early times. In the summer the greater portion of the young people, male and female,

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and many of the old, went barefoot. The substantial and universal outside wear was the blue linsey hunting shirt. This is an excel- lent garment, and I have never felt so happy and healthy since I laid it off. It is made of wide sleeves, open before, with ample size so as to envelop the body almost twice around. Sometimes it had a large cape, which answers well to save the shoulders from the rain. A belt is mostly used to keep the garment close around the person, and, nevertheless, there is nothing tight about it to hamper the body. It is often fringed, and at times the fringe is composed of red, and other gay colors. The belt, frequently, is sewed to the hunting shirt. The vest was mostly made of striped linsey. The colors were made often with alum, copperas and madder, boiled with the bark of trees, in such a manner and proportions as the old ladies prescribed. The pantaloons of the masses were generally made of deer-skin and linsey. Coarse blue cloth was sometimes made into pantaloons.

"Linsey, neat and fine, manufactured at home, composed generally the ontside garments of the females as well as the males. The ladies had linsey colored and woven to suit their fancy. A bonnet, composed of calico, or some gay goods, was worn on the head when they were in the open air. Jewelry on the pioneer ladies was uncommon; a gold ring was an ornament not often seen."

In 1820 a change of dress began to take place, and before 1830, according to Ford, most of the pioneer costume had disappeared. " The blue linsey hunting-shirt, with red or white fringe, had given place to the cloth coat. [Jeans would be more like the fact. ] The raccoon cap, with the tail of the animal dangling down behind, had been thrown aside for hats of wool or fur. Boots and shoes had supplied the deer-skin moccasins; and the leather breeches, strapped tight around the ankle, had disappeared before unmentionables of a more modern material. The female sex liad made still greater prog- ress in dress. The old sort of cotton or woolen frocks, spun, woven and made with their own fair hands, and striped and cross-barred with blue dye and Turkey red, had given place to gowns of silk and calico. The feet, before in a state of nudity, now charmed in shoes of calf-skin or slippers of kid; and the head, formerly unbonneted, bnt covered with a cotten handkerchief, now displayed the charms of the female face under many forms of bonnets of straw, silk and Leghorn. The young ladies, instead of walking a mile or two to church on Sunday, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands until within a hundred yards of the place of worship, as formerly,

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now came forth arrayed complete in all the pride of dress, mounted . on fine horses and attended by their male admirers."

The last half century has doubtless witnessed changes quite as great as those set forth by our Illinois historian. The chronicler of to-day, looking back to the golden days of 1830 to 1840, and comparing them with the present, must be struck with the tendency of an almost monotonous uniformity in dress and manners that comes from the easy inter-communication afforded by steamer, rail- way, telegraph and newspaper. Home manufacturers have been driven from the household by the lower-priced fabrics of distant mills. The Kentucky jeans, and the copperas-colored clothing of home manufacture, so familiar a few years ago, have given place to the cassimeres and cloths of noted factories. The ready-made clothing stores, like a touch of nature, made the whole world kin- and may drape the charcoal man in a dress-coat and a stove-pipe hat. The prints and silks of England and France give a variety of choice and an assortment of colors and shades such as the pioneer women could hardly have dreamed of. Godey and Demorest and Harper's Bazar are found in our modern farm-houses, and the latest fashions of Paris are not uncommon.

FAMILY WORSHIP.

The Methodists were generally first on the ground in pioneer settlements, and at that early day they seemed more demonstrative in their devotions than at the present time. In those days, too, pul- pit oratory was generally more eloquent and effective, while the grammatical dress and other " worldly " accomplishments were not so assiduously cultivated as at present. But in the manner of con- ducting public worship there has probably not been so much change as in that of family worship, or " family prayers," as it was often called. We had then most emphatically an American edition of that pious old Scotch practice so eloquently described in Burns' " Cotter's Saturday Night:"

The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face They round the ingle formed a circle wide; The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace, The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride ; His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside, His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare;

Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide; He wales a portion with judicious care, And " let us worsnip God," he says with solemn air.

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They chant their artless notes in simple guise ;

They tune their hearts,-by far the noblest aim ; Perhaps " Dundee's " wild warbling measures rise, Or plaintive " Martyrs," worthy of the name; Or noble " Elgin " beats the heavenward flame,- The sweetest far of Scotia's hallowed lays. Compared with these, Italian trills are tame ; The tickled ear no heart-felt raptures raise: Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page,- How Abraham was the friend of God on high, etc.

Then kneeling down, to heaven's Eternal King The saint, the father and the husband prays; Hope " springs exulting on triumphant wing," That thus they all shall meet in future days; There ever bask in uncreated rays, No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear,

Together hymning their Creator's praise, In such society, yet still more dear, While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.

Once or twice a day, in the morning just before breakfast, or in the evening just before retiring to rest, the head of the family would call those around him to order, read a chapter in the Bible, announce the hymn and tune by commencing to sing it, when all would join; then he would deliver a most fervent prayer. If a pions guest was present he would be called on to take the lead in all the exercises of the evening; and if in those days a person who prayed in the family or in public did not pray as if it were his very last on earth, his piety was thought to be defective.

The familiar tunes of that day are remembered by the surviving old settlers as being more spiritual and inspiring than those of the present day, such as Bourbon, Consolation, China, Canaan, Con- quering Soldier, Condescension, Devotion, Davis, Fiducia, Funeral Thought, Florida, Golden Hill, Greenfields, Ganges, Idumea, Imandra, Kentucky, Lenox, Leander, Mear, New Orleans, North field, New Salem, New Durham, Olney, Primrose, Pisgah, Pleyel's Hymn, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Reflection, Supplication, Salva- tion, St. Thomas, Salem, Tender Thought, Windham, Greenville, etc., as they are named in the Missouri Harmony.

Members of other orthodox denominations also had their family prayers in which, however, the phraseology of the prayer was some- what different and the voice not so loud as characterized the real Methodists, United Brethren, etc.

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HOSPITALITY.

The traveler always found a welcome at the pioneer's cabin. It was never full. Although there might be already a guest for every puncheon, there was still "room for one more," and a wider circle would be made for the new-comer at the log fire. If the stranger was in search of land, he was donbly welcome, and his host would volunteer to show him all the " first-rate claims in this neck of the woods," going with him for days, showing the corners and advan- tages of every "Congress tract " within a dozen miles of his own cabin.

To his neighbors the pioneer was equally liberal. if a deer was killed, the choicest bits were sent to his nearest neighbor, a half- dozen miles away, perhaps. When a " shoat " was butchered, the same custom prevailed. If a new comer came in too late for " crop- ping," the neighbors would supply his table with just the same luxuries they themselves enjoyed, and in as liberal quantity, until a crop could be raised. When a new-comer had located his claim, the neighbors for miles around would assemble at the site of the new-comer's proposed cabin and aid him in "gittin'" it up. One party with axes would cut down the trees and hew the logs; another with teams would haul the logs to the ground; another party would "raise " the cabin; while several of the old men would "rive the clapboards " for the roof. By night the little forest domicile would be up and ready for a "house-warming," which was the dedicatory occupation of the house, when music and dancing and festivity would be enjoyed at full height. The next day the new-comer would be as well situated as his neighbors.

An instance of primitive hospitable manners will be in place here. A traveling Methodist preacher arrived in a distant neigh- borhood to fill an appointment. The house where services were to be held did not belong to a church member, but no matter for that. Boards were raked up from all quarters with which to make tem- porary seats, one of the neighbors volunteering to lead off in the work, while the man of the house, with the faithful rifle on his shoulder, sallied forth in quest of meat, for this truly was a " ground-hog " case, the preacher coming and no meat in the house. The host ceased not the chase until he found the meat, in the shape of a deer; re- turning, he sent a boy out after it, with directions on what "pint " to find it. After services, which had been listened to with rapt at-

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tention by all the audience, mine host said to his wife, " Old woman, I reckon this 'ere preacher is pretty hungry and you must git him a bite to eat." " What shall I git him ?" asked the wife, who had not seen the deer; " thar's nuthin' in the house to eat." " Why, look thar," returned he; " thar's a deer, and thar's plenty of corn in the field; you git some corn and grate it while I skin the deer, and we'll have a good supper for him." It is needless to add that venison and corn bread made a supper fit for any pio- neer preacher, and was thankfully eaten.

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History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 12

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192