USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 16
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PUMPKIN LEATHER
Pumpkins were dried by two methods: One was to cut them in narrow rings and after removing the rind, these were hung on a neatly dressed pole which was hung overhead in front of the fireplace, and kept there until thoroughly dried. The other method was to stew the pump- kin and when well dried out in the kettle in which it was cooked, it was spread out on a board prepared for that purpose and set up against something in front of the fire on the hearth, and kept there until by turning it over, it was dried out and put away for ready use. This was called "pumpkin leather" and was very convenient to nibble at and take to school. The children called this their tobacco.
PRESERVED FRUITS AND MEAT
Wild cherries, currants, gooseberries, dew berries, blackberries and raspberries were dried and thus kept for use in cooking. Wild plums. grapes and crab-apples were abundant and free from worms and insects. All went into the bill of fare at the table of the pioneer. Wild deer, bear and turkey furnished the principal sources of meat.
Squirrels and wild pigeons were plentiful and a person used to the gun could get a mess for breakfast without going out of sight of the house. The deer meat would be sliced in long, small pieces and after being salted, would be strung up over the hearth in front of the fireplace where it would soon dry. This made the most toothsome and delicious dried meat, and it has been said that a person could not eat enough to make him siek. It was called "jerk." In summer when too hot for fire in the fireplace to dry the meat and a deer was killed, a trench was made in the ground and a wood fire built and when burned to coals the meat
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would be hung over this until it was thoroughly dry. This saved salting the meat and it was much better when dried than salted.
COOKING ARRANGEMENTS
The cooking was mostly done in the open fireplace which was made by cutting a hole in one end of the cabin and building the fireplace and chimney with stiff mud mixed with straw or grass, which was rolled out into what was called "cats." The sticks which were narrow strips rived for that purpose, were covered with this morter; and this made the stick and elay chimney of log cabin days. There was not much danger of fire popping out and setting the house on fire, as the floor was generally made of dirt. Before the crane came into use a pole was placed in the chimney above the fire, on which were chains or hooks, and the kettles were hung on these when cooking or heating water.
One kettle in which boiled dinners were prepared was about all one family could boast of, and in this lye-hominy was also made.
JOHNNY CAKE, HOE CAKE, ASH CAKE AND PONE
The bread was made in the following manner: The corn was grated on a grater and mixed into a dough which was spread in cakes on a wide board which was leaned up in front of the fire until it was cooked a brown, then turned over and the other side cooked the same way. This was called "Johnny cake."
Some who had it would take a hoe without the handle and after cleaning it well and greasing it with bear's grease, would spread the dough on this and bake it the same way. This was called "hoe cake."
Sometimes the dough would be rolled in cabbage leaves or shucks of roasting ears, laid in the hot ashes and covered up with coals and hot ashes until thoroughly cooked. This was called an "ash cake."
The best bread, however, was made in the "dutch oven," or large skillet which stood on three legs and had a large heavy iron lid. After the dough was properly mixed and seasoned with salt and lard cracklins, it was put in the oven, or skillet, and set on a bed of coals and the lid covered with coals and hot ashes, until it was well cooked. This was the good old sweet pone which our grandmothers used to bake and was most delicious.
DRIED FRUIT AND MAPLE SUGAR
Some of the early settlers bought and set out apple and peach trees. even before the ground was entirely cleared of timber, so they had
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apples in a few years. And such apples as they were; no worms or insects in the fruit at that early date! Apples and peaches were dried by peeling and quartering them, then being strung with needle and thread were hung up over head until dry.
Those who had sugar camps on their farms, tapped the trees in the spring and made molasses and sugar for family use. The spiles were generally made out of elder bushes and the sugar troughs, by cutting a poplar some eighteen inches in diameter and three feet long, which was split in the center. By leaving the ends the center was hewn out and this was used to catch the water as it came from the spiles which were placed in an auger hole in the tree just above. The store trough was made out of a large poplar log some twenty feet long which was hewn out, leaving only a shell which would hold several barrels of sugar water, which was boiled down to syrup in a furnace of two or more kettles in the sugar camp.
Some of this was kept in molasses, some when ready to grain was poured into dishes or crocks and make into cakes, and some was stirred into fine sugar which had lumps in it. And oh, how sweet they were!
EXIIIBITS OF PIONEER UTENSILS
Some of these primitive utensils and methods of preserving food stuffs, as also the flax break, hackle, scutching knife and flax wheel (by which the flax was converted into threads ready for the loom) ; and the spinning wheel, reel, winding blades and the loom with the warping bars by means of which wool was made into cloth that furnished most of the clothing for the pioneers in early days-and even the trundle bed in which the kids slept, may be seen at the log cabin in the City Park at Wabash.
Those who visited the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1903 and noticed tlfe Philippine exhibit met with many remembrances of early pioneer life in this country, and which lead one to believe that they as a people are more than one hundred years behind our civilization.
One source of income was from ginseng which grew on the hills and high ground, and when dug and dried commanded a good price.
ASHERIES
Another source of income was concentrated lye, made by burning timber, leaching the ashes and boiling this down to a solid substance, called potash, as black as tar and very brittle, which sold readily and was used for making soap. There was an ashery at Ashland in Liberty
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Township, also one west of Pioneer conducted by Bentley. The small creek which runs there took its name from the fact that this ashery was located on its banks and is called the Ashery branch to this day.
PRIMITIVE TANNERIES
One source of revenue enjoyed by the early settlers was the bark of oak trees which were ent in the clearings or for rails.
This bark was stripped off of the timber when the sap was up and was about four feet long, which was corded up and sold to those who were running tanneries, by the cord. The bark was ground up by breaking it in small pieces over the edge of an iron hopper in which it was ground. The hopper was fastened in a frame and was covered with a circular roof. A beam was placed in the upright piece and a horse hitched to this, and it turned the hopper by going round and round.
The vats were made in the ground some six feet deep, and the bottom and sides were made of plank, water tight. When the hair had been removed from the hides that were to be tanned, they were spread in the vats and a quantity of the ground tan bark placed between them until the vat was filled. Then this was kept covered with water and the ooze from the bark did the work, if kept there the proper length of time. An apprentice learning the tanner's trade would have to serve seven years, and then some of them were not very good tanners.
Elihu Weesner conducted a tannery in early days at Somerset, David Painter one near Red Bridge, Iliram Pickering one at New Holland, Chris. Brininger one at La Gro, Jacob Ridenour one in Wabash and Chris Gerlach one at Laketon, John Comstock at Liberty Mills. Doubt- less there were others in the county. When the clearing was practically all done and the rails made tan bark became scarce, and the tanneries went out of business.
OLD-TIME SHOEMAKERS
There were shoemakers in almost every neighborhood, who made the shoes, sometimes by taking his tools and stopping at the house of his customers until he had fitted out the entire family. Jonas Lee, Charles Votaw and Jacob Staley were shoemakers in Waltz Township in an early day. The people furnished their own material and they did not like to send it away from home for fear they would not get their own material in their boots and shoes, and it might be used by other parties, but when it was worked up in their presence they felt safe. Shoe pegs were made out of good sugar timber.
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THE UPPER WABASH IN A STATE OF NATURE
In 1860 Sanford C. Cox. of Lafayette, wrote his "Recollections of the Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley," much of which is of interest to the residents of Wabash County. For instance, his descrip- tion of the natural scenery of the Wabash Valley will appeal to all, but especially to those of the older generations who remember it before the progress of modern institutions had made much havoe among the charms of Nature.
"Having had but little personal acquaintance with what might be termed the Lower Wabash Valley lying south of Vermillion and Parke counties, " says Mr. Cox, "it could not be expected that I would have many . Recollections' of that beautiful, fertile and prosperous portion of the Wabash Valley.
"The natural scenery of the Wabash Valley, as it was found by the first settlers, although not bluffy and broken, was nevertheless beautiful and picturesque. Hills and dales, forests and prairies, grottos, rivulets and rivers, checkered and diversified every portion of it.
BEAUTIFUL APRIL PICTURES
"It was the month of April when I first saw the Wabash River. Its green banks were lined with the richest verdure. Wild flowers inter- mingled with the tall grass that nodded in the passing breeze. Nature seemed clothed in her bridal robe. Blossoms of the wild plum, haw- thorn and red-bud made the air redolent. The notes of the blackbird and blue-jay mingled with the shrill cry of the king-fisher, river-gull and speckled loon. On the points of the islands, eranes and herons were carrying on piscatorial adventures among the unwary minnies that had ventured into the coves that indented the islands. Large flocks of wild geese, brants and ducks occasionally passed overhead, or would light down into the bayous and hold a general carnival. It was rare sport for the young Nimrods of the neighborhood to fix up their 'blinds' around those duck ponds and bag more game than they could carry home at a load. Schools of fishes-salmon, bass, red-horse and pike-swam close along the shore, catching at the blossoms of the red-bud and plum that floated on the surface of the water, which was so clear that myriads of the finmy tribe could be seen darting hither and thither amidst the limpid element, turning up their silvery sides as they sped out into deeper water.
WILD FRUITS AND BERRIES
"Perhaps no country ever produced a greater variety of wild fruits and berries. The wide fertile bottom lands of the Wabash, in many
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places presented one continuous orchard of wild phun and crab-apple bushes overspread with arbors of the different varieties of the woods grape, wild hops and honeysuckle fantastically wreathed together. One bush, or cluster of bushes, often presented the crimson phim, the yellow erab-apple, the blue luscious grape and festoons of matured wild hops mingled with the red berries of the clambering sweet briar, that bound them all lovingly together.
"Gooseberries and strawberries were the first gathered by the early settlers. They were soon succeeded by the blackberries, dewberries and raspberries, which grew thickly in the fence corners, in the woods and in the vicinity of clearings and fallen timber. In more sterile and sandy regions were to be found the huckleberry and whortleberry, and in wet and marshy districts cranberries grew in great abundance.
"Black walnuts, butternuts, hickory and hazel nuts grew in great pro- fusion throughout the Wabash country. A few persimmon bushes and apple trees, planted no doubt by the French and Indians, were found growing near the old Indian town on the north side of the Wea Prairie above the mouth of Indian Creek.
ANIMATED PESTS
"The gopher and the prairie-hawk, the wolf and the rattlesnake, with many other drawbacks that surrounded and annoyed our early settlers, should be adverted to. Black, gray and prairie wolves were quite nu- merons, and in many localities it was next to impossible to raise sheep and pigs until they had been hunted out. The Legislature enacted laws granting a bounty on wolf scalps sufficient to stimulate a more active and thorough extermination of these noisy serenaders, who would often approach within a few rods of the cabin and make night hideous with their prolonged howling.
MODE OF HUNTING WOLVES
"Wolf hunts were then common, in which the inhabitants of several neighborhoods, and sometimes of a whole county, took part. They were usually conducted in the following manner: The territory to be hunted over was eireumseribed by four lines, sufficiently distant from each other to enclose the proper area. To each line was assigned a captain, with his subaltern officers, whose duty it was to properly station his men along the line and at the hour agreed upon to cause them to advance in order toward the center of the arena. The lines all charged simultane- ously toward the center on horseback, with dogs, guns and clubs, thus
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completely investing whatever game was within the lines, and scaring it from the advancing lines toward the center, where the excitement of the chase was greatly heightened and the greatest carnage ensued. Ofter from two to ten wolves and as many deer were taken in a day at these hunts, and wild cats, foxes and eatamounts in abundance. Horses and dogs soon became fond of the sport. and seemed to enter into it with a zest surpassing that of their masters.
SNAKE "BLUFFERS"
"There was another subtle and dangerous enemy to the early inhab- itants the legislative enactments could not reach, and the most cautious vigilance of the settler could not guard against. The 'snakes in the grass' in all their fearful varieties were excedingly numerous in the country. Besides the rattlesnake, viper, adder and blood-snake, there were a great many large blue and green snakes in the prairie districts, quite saney and pugnacious, that delighted to give chase to new comers and frighten them by their hostile attitudes and convolutions. If you would retreat, they would chase you like a regular black racer; but if you would turn and give them battle, they would immediately retreat with all possible speed, glide off into the grass and wait for a 'greener customer' to pass along, when they would again dart out at him as if they were boa-con- strictors determined to take their prey. These snakes were harmless, but served to put people upon their guard for their more dangerous and venomous relatives, whose poisonous fangs were greatly dreaded by all.
A NIGHT OF HORRORS
"On the night of the 12th of November, 1833, the heavens were liter- ally filled with blazing meteors darting about in every direction from the zenith to the horizon, resembling falling stars and presenting a sublime and terribly grand spectacle. Many thought the Day of Judg- ment had come and that the stars were flying from before the face of the angel that was descending to place one foot upon the sea and the other upon the land and swear that 'Time can be no longer.' Serious consequences resulted to many on account of this brilliant display of aerial fire-works. Some fainted and fell to the earth (according to accounts given in the newspapers), others became insane, and a few siekly and nervous individuals died of the fright produced by this super- nal illumination.
A SQUIRREL INVASION
"In the summer of 1834 there was a remarkable travel among the grey squirrels. Their appearance was sudden, and in a short time the
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woods and prairies literally swarmed with them for two or three weeks. Men and boys laid aside their guns and killed scores of them with clubs, until they became tired of the slaughter-which at first was entered into as a matter of sport, but soon became an urgent business transaction to protect their growing crops and granaries from the depredations of these hungry invaders ; who, like the loensts and frogs of Egypt, were not only a great annoyance, but threatened to destroy the substance of the land."
THAAD BUTLER TURNED DOWN BY JOHN IVORY
On September 7, 1910, Wabash celebrated its diamond anniversary as the county seat and a real town, as well as Old Settlers' day, and it was a "double-header" truly. The paper of the day was read by Thad Butler, the old-time editor, for years at the head of the Huntington Morning Times. He came to Wabash as a youth in war times. The city was then a place of 2,000 people, and he relates how he got into trouble at once by not knowing all about its importance.
"It was after dark when the train pulled in from the East, and I got off the wrong side of the cars. A boy with a one-horse dray was unloading some boxes from a freight car on an adjoining track. I asked him the question . Which way is town?' The tone of contempt and the reply were a shoek. Pointing to the west he answered : 'That way. Any damn fool ,ought to know that!' That lad was John Ivory, a loyal- hearted Irish boy with whom I became better acquainted later."
A RIVAL RUBS IT IN
Mr. Butler's introductory remarks to his "Recollections" are well worth quoting. "The first notification that I was to speak here today." he says, "came to me through the columns of my more or less esteemed contemporary, the Huntington Democrat, and the talented aggregation of discourteous Rubes who control that publication lined it out as follows: " . Wabash, a suburb to the west of Huntington and a little farther west than La Gro, will observe its seventy-fifth anniversary on September 7th in the park at that place. Wabash, in the good old days past cut some ice, and a special effort will be made to induce many former resi- dents to spend at least one day in the burg on the occasion of the anni- versary celebration. Thad Butler, who was a power in the good old canal days, is scheduled to give an address on "Early Recollections of Wabash." They will have singing, geography and old-fashioned spelling, and the day will no doubt prove of much interest to those who used to do things seventy-five years ago.'
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ON " GROWING OLD"
"However we can afford to ignore the ill-mannered drive, for, after all, 'Growing Old' is not such a heinous crime, if we do it right ; and all Wabashians can be expected to do that.
" 'Your eyes may fail and your limbs grow weak, and the blood in your veins run cold; deep lines may furrow your shrunken check, and your heart that was strong and bold may do its work with a feeble beat ; the road may weary your stumbling feet, you may sigh for friends that you'll no more meet-but that isn't growing old.
" 'The years may number four-score or more that over your head have rolled; you may hear the wash on the other shores of the waves that are dark and cold ; while your brain is keen and your soul is strong. and your heart is full of a hopeful song, you still are one of the youthful throng, and years will not make you old.
"'When your voice is harsh and your words are mean, as you sit by the fire and scold, and your mind is fat and your heart is lean, and your thoughts are blue with mold; when you bring to the breasts of the chil- dren fears, and bring to the eyes of the women tears, it is not needful to count your years-all know you are growing old.'"'
COLONEL HANNA'S CONVENIENT HORSE
While Thad Butler was gracefully growing old in Wabash he was thrown in with all of its leading citizens; the early ones he knew as a boy, the latter ones as a man. Let him deseribe some of those he met and loved them. To this end, he says: "I was a boy and had little intimacy with Colonel Hana and Robert Cissna, two of the mighty men of the early days of Wabash, but I recollect the Colonel as a benevolent kindly old gentleman whom we all respected and loved. And these were times when the rising generation did most provoking stunts with his old driving horse. The horse would be left standing, hitched to the family carriage, while the Colonel enjoyed a visit or nap with old neighbors or friends in the stores. To quietly take possession, drive away and take the girls out for a ride, was an every-day occurrance. The Colonel hit upon the expedient of taking the lines off the bridle and carrying them into the store. It made no difference, however; the horse was gentle, strings were substituted for the lines, and the joy rides went on just the same, whether the Colonel visited or napped.
CISSNA VS. FERRY
"Mr. C'issna was an old-time abolitionist and A. P. Ferry, the editor of the Plain Dealer, was also a rank republican, but they would disagree
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sometimes and it was worth more than the price of a trip to Nevada when they joined issues and got into a political serap-although their quarrels never led to anything more serious than the use of adjectives.
MAJOR FISHIER'S QUESTIONABLE ACT
"There was another of these grand old pioneers who was one of the best friends of my youth, Major Stearns Fisher. Ilis name is not to be spoken except with reverence. I never knew of but one questionable aet of his life. The Major was caught in a rain storm down town without an umbrella. Unele Dan Sayre, another of the mighty men of the period, came by carrying a rain-stick. 'Why, Dan, you have my umbrella!' Nobody ever thought of questioning Major Fisher's veracity, and Unele Dan promptly turned the umbrella over with the remark 'Well, Major, I knew it wasn't mine, but I didn't know it was yours.' The Major went home in the dry triumphantly, and after the storm was over returned the umbrella to Mr. Sayre with his compliments.
RATTLED DOCTOR AND PREACHER
"And there was Dr. James Ford, the pioneer physician, thoroughly versed in medicine but sometimes absent-minded. The Doctor chased me to a drug store one day to have a prescription compounded, but he got the fee and the dose mixed and the preseription read: 'Take one dollar every two hours.'
"Unele David Thompson, preacher and miller, furnished me with a fine theme for a newspaper joke. The milling form was D. Thompson & Son, and Uncle David filed with the county clerk his certificate of a marriage he had solemnized duly signed 'D. Thompson & Son, officiating clergyman.'
NOT AN IVORY HEAD
"No more genial and witty representative of the Ould Sod was to be found in the Wabash Valley than its first and, for many years, its only drayman, Pat Ivory. Quick of repartee, he was always ready for any emergency. Pat was poor, his family was large and his domicile was not noted for luxuries. He carried no watch and one day a local wag asked : 'P'at, what time is it?' Slapping his hand on his side, the answer eame promptly 'Mother of Saints, Osear, but I've left me watch home on the pianer !'
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GARFIELD LOST NO VOTES ON ILIM
" Elder Fowler was another man worth knowing. In the 1880 cam- paign he became intensely interested in the success of General Garfield, a fellow preacher of his own denomination, but did not get home to vote. I upbraided him and he replied : 'Now, don't you worry about that, Thad. I was paired with a man in Huntington County, another in Kosciusco County, and also with a man I was stopping with in Iowa. If they kept their pledges, I am sure Mr. Garfield didn't lose any votes on my account.'
ALANSON P. FERRY AGAIN
"I would not be true to myself were I to pass the name of Alanson P. Ferry, the first associate I had in business. Mr. Ferry was a man of brains, heart and conscience, and one of the ablest political editors I ever knew. His humor was spontaneous and clean, his logic strong, his English forcible. He was not a publie speaker, but as a reader of either prose or poetry had few equals. The last time Iheard him was at a Fourth of July dinner given under the trees at the old homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Sivey, at which the Sivey family were all present and Mr. and Mrs. Ferry the guests of honor. My wife brought him a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and he read it gloriously. It was his last publie reading, as he died the next year. I still own and use the editorial arm-chair made for him by the Wabash School Furniture Com- pany, and these lines (about Growing Old ?) were penciled on its shelf. It is a constant remembrance of a man who lived an unselfish and cheerful life, harboring no malice against any citizen in the community.
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