USA > Indiana > The history of Indiana > Part 36
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The better form of the log house consisted of two pens made of hewed logs. The pens were separated by an entry about twelve feet wide, which served as a porch. A frame window and two stone chimneys with four fireplaces, two downstairs and two up, often added an air of luxury to the double log house. The floors were made of heavy puncheons split from ash, walnut or poplar logs, pinned to the sleepers and dressed smooth with an adz. The taverns were generally of this style.
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In one corner, on a framework of poles, was the shuck or straw bed, soon replaced by a more comfort- able feather bed, pieced quilts and the famous Carolina coverlets now highly prized as relics. In the opposite corner of the room was the table with its quaint table- ware, part pewter, part gourd, part wooden, and all remarkable for their scarcity. A huge fireplace six to ten feet wide monopolized the oposite end of the house, decorated with a semi-circle of three-legged stools, a trundle bed for the babies was hid away during the daytime under the big bed. The boys scampered up a pole ladder to sleep in the attic. Any number of visitors could be accommodated by spreading the feather bed on the floor. Tradition leaves no doubt that this log cabin hospitality was genuine.
There were not many cook stoves in pioneer Indi- ana. A few might have been found as early as 1820, after which they appeared in increasing numbers. Perhaps one family in five had a stove by 1840. The immigrant who trudged west on foot or came on horse- back even was fortunate if he got through with a skillet and a pot. A spider skillet with lid and an earthen pot were more than the average cooking uten- sils possessed by a family. The meat was usually cooked on a spit. Cornbread was baked in a small oven which, in reality, was a large skillet, if the family was fortunate enough to possess one. If not, then Johnnycakes were baked on a board. If there was no board, the handle was taken out of the hoe and the metal covered with corn dough and cooked. This was the famous hoecake. Practically all bread was made of meal. All cooking was done over coals drawn out to the front of the fireplace. Sometimes a crane was fixed in the side of the fireplace so that it could be swung on and off the fire at the convenience of the cook.
As stated above, cornbread cooked in one of a half
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dozen different ways was the staple food. Next came hominy and then some kind of meat. In the early days the most common was venison and bear. Turkey and squirrel were not uncommon. In a few years chickens and hogs became plentiful; later vegetables and fruit appeared on the table, the latter dried for winter use. The cooking was necessarily poor, and doubtless ac- counts for much of the sickness of that early period.
The very first pioneers depended almost entirely on skins and furs for their clothing. The hunting-shirt, trousers, and moccasins were made of deer skins. A well-made suit with fringed coat, laced leggins and coonskin cap appeared well and was fairly comfortable in warm, dry weather. When wet, it drew up to about one-half its usual dimensions, becoming cold and clam- my. Soon linsey cloth took the place of skins, which, while more comfortable, did not stand the rough wear like buckskin. All hailed with delight the time when they could lay aside both skins and linsey for the home- made woolen garments. A bearskin overcoat, a beaver hat, a pair of buckskin gloves lined with squirrel fur, were considered good taste down till the Civil War.
Women wore plain dresses with an extra jacket in cold weather. The petticoat was usually of homespun. Woolen shawls were worn instead of coats. Hooks and eyes were used instead of buttons. On their heads they wore a sunbonnet in summer, a knitted hood in winter. Shoe-packs were worn in winter and all went barefooted, men, women and children, in summer. Handkerchiefs and gloves were home-made, the former of cotton, the latter of squirrel skins.
The children did not wear enough clothes in sum- mer to warrant a description, the maximum being a long shirt hanging straight from the shoulders to the knees. In winter they dressed like their parents, the clothes being made on the same pattern and only slight- ly smaller. The pioneer boy in his everyday dress was
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a wonderfully skillful machine, but the same boy dressed for a camp meeting, with starched shirt and brogan shoes, was the most woe-be-gone, helpless crea- ture imaginable.
About 1820 imported goods began to appear, such as broadcloths, brocades, taffetas and peau de soies. Beautiful furs, beaver hats, flounced skirts, balloon- shaped hoops, hats with a garden of flowers, cut-away coats with double-breasted checkered vests, silk stocks over hard buckram collars-such wore the gentlemen and ladies of the old school from 1830 to 1860.
§ 79 OCCUPATION
THE pioneers as a rule came to their western homes empty-handed. While raising their first crops they lived on game. Many of them made their first pay- ments for their land with money obtained from pelts and venison hams. In their hunting they depended on their dogs, traps and flintlock rifles. The woods were full of game. Deer, bears, turkeys, pigeons, and wild ducks were plentiful. The deer were found in large numbers around the salt licks. Droves of them ventured into the wheatfields or cornfields. Wolves were a pest that preyed on sheep and hogs.
Swarms of wild bees were numerous in the woods. They made their homes in hollow trees or clefts of the rocks. By watching the loaded bee, usually sprinkled with flour so that he might be seen as he made a "bee- line" for home, the pioneer located the bee tree. He could either cut the tree at once or mark it. All pioneers respected a bee-hunter's mark. The tree was usually cut in September, if only the honey was wanted. It was cut earlier if it was desired to save the bees.
The more serious work of the pioneer consisted in preparing his little home. He prospered just in pro- portion to the time he devoted to his farm. He found his land covered with a heavy growth of oak, poplar,
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walnut, beech, gum, ash, maple, hickory and various other kinds of hardwood timber. It was necessary to kill the trees so that sunshine might get through to the growing crop. The clearing might be made either by cutting and burning all the trees or by "deadening" or girdling the heavy timber. In either case the under- brush had to be cut, piled in heaps, and burned. Then the large trees were felled with an ax and cut into suitable lengths for rolling. The cuts were about twelve to twenty feet long. In some cases the logs were "niggered," that is, a smaller dry log was laid across the larger one and a fire kindled where they were in contact. In time the log was burned in two. The chopping in the clearing went on incessantly dur- ing the winter. In the spring, about the last of April, the settler was ready for the rolling.
The "log-rolling" was almost an institution in Indi- ana for fifty years. All the men in the neighborhood, probably from twenty to fifty, gathered early in the day with axes and hand-spikes and piled the heavy logs in large heaps, three to ten logs in a heap, ready for burn- ing. The men worked in "squads" of from ten to twenty each. There was both individual and team rivalry. Young bucks "pulled each other down" at the hand-spikes, while the squads worked to see which could work over the most ground or build the most heaps.
After the logs were piled the young men spent a social hour or two jumping or wrestling. While the men were rolling logs their wives and grown daugh- ters were busy at the house, "quilting." The house- wife usually had two or three quilts "pieced" for the occasion. One of these at a time was stretched in the quilting frames by which it was supported high enough to be convenient to the women sitting. The best quilt- ers gathered around the four sides of the quilt while the others helped in preparing dinner and supper. The
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meals were a feature of the event. Everything good was prepared and all the tableware of the community was borrowed for the table service. After the supper was over, a short time might be spent in dancing, but this was not common at log-rollings, both on account of the hard day's work and the necessity of changing clothes after handling the dirty logs. The number of log rollings in a community varied from twenty to forty. May was a hard month for the pioneers.3
If the settler had time, the easiest way to clear his land was to "deaden" the trees in July or August, let them stand two years before clearing. Many of them would then burn up as they stood. Such "deadenings" were to be seen on almost every farm. Many of the best cuts of oak, poplar, walnut and ash logs were left at the rolling to be split into rails for the fence. The "new ground," however, was usually fenced during the fall or winter.
The plowing was done with a jumping shovel, of which the stock was wood and the point iron. An up- right cutter stood just ahead of the point to jump it over roots. This was a modest implement and plowed where it could and jumped out where it couldn't. It had a reputation for kicking. When the point struck a root or rock the handles were thrown back violently, striking the unwary plowman just be- low the belt. The harrow was made entirely of wood. If no harrow was handy, a "drag" made of brush did quite as well. The harness, single- and double-trees were the flimsiest. "Truck" wagons with solid wooden wheels were common. Oxen were used about as much as horses. Pitchforks and spades were made of sea- soned wood. The cultivation was anything but satis-
3 Those who are fond of telling of the good old days may try this program : Rise at 3 a. m., "chunk up" ten acres of log-heaps before 6 a. m., breakfast, walk three to ten miles, roll logs till 6 p. m., walk home, "chunk up" ten acres of log-heaps before going to bed. Repeat it thirty days in succession, rain or shine.
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factory and the crops meager. Grain, except corn, was sown broadcast and "brushed in" with a light "drag." Corn responded best to this rough agricul- ture and creditable crops were raised.
The early pioneers of the upper Mississippi Valley lived largely on corn and its products. Roasting ears lasted from the first of August to the last of Septem- ber. By that time the early corn was ready for the "gritter." By November, the first grists were ready for grinding. Cornbread and hominy were staples from then till spring, when garden vegetables took the place of the hominy. From corn was made the everpresent whiskey, without which nothing of conse- quence could be done.
After the log-rolling season work on the farms was without excitement until the harvest season. Begin- ning with wheat, which ripened about June 20, the harvest season lasted until the hay was in the mow, about August 1. Again there was a community of work. The harvesters gathered in groups of ten to twenty. The cradlers vied with each other in laying a straight, even swath and in not leaving a stalk of wheat standing. Then there was racing across the fields by the cradlers. When the field was done the "stubble call" was given. The housewife, assisted by the neighbor women, prepared bounteous dinners and suppers for the reapers. Lunch, consisting of pie and coffee, was served at 10 a. m. and 4 p. m. The hay harvest followed hard after the wheat, when the cradlers took up the scythe and the binders the pitch- forks. The wheat and hay were put into stacks and then the harvest season was over. Sometimes a big harvest home barbecue or picnic followed.
A period of inactivity followed harvest, during which the farmer watched his corn crop ripen, hunted squirrels, fished, built a house or barn, broke ground for wheat or attended shooting matches or camp meet-
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ings. It was during this period, also, that sickness prevailed, especially fevers and chills.
With the appearance of frost, the corn gathering time was on. Much of the corn was cut in fodder, and after the fodder was cured the corn was shucked off. The remainder was gathered off the stalk, the ears being snapped off and hauled to the barn. During the long winter nights the neighbors again gathered together, this time for a husking bee or "corn shuck- ing." The above was the usual program of the year's work. Produce for down river trade was gathered in the fall and loaded on boats in March or April, the boatmen returning by June. One cannot help but notice the mutual helpfulness of the pioneers of each neighborhood.
§ 80 THE FIRST PUBLIC UTILITIES
EACH farm was largely self-sustaining. Each neighborhood had a small store where powder, lead, salt, iron, leather, whiskey and a few other commodities were bartered for beeswax, tallow, ginseng, furs, deer- skins and other marketable produce. At the county seat stores, one could buy calicoes, silks, cambric, blue cloth for men's suits, collars, stocks, coffee, tea, sugar and plug tobacco. The latter articles were costly. Money was very scarce and little of it passed over the counter. Trading horses was almost a passion with the pioneers. Two horsemen rarely met without a banter for a trade. Saturday afternoons at the taverns or towns were devoted to horsetrading, or "swapping horses," as it was called.
The most inconvenient work of the pioneer was getting his corn and wheat ground into meal and flour. Horse mills were the earliest. Such a mill consisted of a pair of burrs made of hard stone so set that one stone revolved on the other, their rough surface almost touching. The grinding was slow and the meal poor.
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Next came the water mills. These were often built by settlers from the east. An undershot waterwheel usually furnished motor power. They did better and quicker work than the horse mills, but it was often forty miles to the nearest one, and then one had fre- quently to wait two days to get his "turn." In later years the miller kept a large stock of flour or meal on hand, and could trade with the farmer at once. The most common evidence of pioneer life existing today in Indiana is these old mills with their races and dams.
Travel through the country was tedious. The roads were mere bridle paths. The coach roads were con- tinuous mud holes. In course of time the mud was replaced with poles to make the corduroy; the poles with boards to make the plank roads; the boards with stone to make the pike. Neither has proved satisfac- tory.
Along the larger roads certain houses with accom- modations for travelers came to be known as taverns. Such were usually the double log houses. The law com- pelled the tavern keeper to have at least one extra bed and an extra horse stall. The county board fixed prices for meals, lodging, drinks and horse feed. Each tavern paid a license fee. All classes of travelers ate and slept together, the sleeping usually being done on the floor. What was lacking in style, however, was usually made up in geniality. One could appreciate the latter when he "alighted" at a tavern after a hard day's ride in the rain or snow and mud. The traveler was wel- comed into the "big house" and given a seat before the roaring fire. A boy removed his muddy boots and leggings, giving the guest a light pair of slippers in return. Dry clothing was furnished, after which there were a steaming supper and a warm feather bed. Next morning his boots, dry and greased, his leggings and greatcoat, all dry and warm, were brought, he stepped dryshod from the door of the hostelry into the saddle
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stirrup and pursued his journey, thankful for the good night's rest and entertainment.
§ 81 FESTIVALS AND FESTIVITIES
THE chief fixed holidays of the pioneers were New Year, Fourth of July and Christmas. These days were, in general, set aside for the little folks. In the larger towns on the Fourth there was usually some formal banquet with endless toasts by the dullest of orators. On New Year's day there was frequently a neighbor- hood hunt, ending with something to drink. Little work was done, but no great amount of celebrating was ever indulged in. Christmas was the supreme holiday for the children. In a humbler way it was much as it is now. Apples, sweet-cake, home-made candy, such simple toys as could easily be contrived, together with warm gloves or stockings, knit by the mother, were the common gifts. The poor were remembered with sub- stantial gifts of things to eat and wear. The young folks often arranged for a sleighride if there was snow. Except among the Quakers, Santa Claus was a uni- versal visitor Christmas eve. The Christmas dinner was the principal attraction for the married folks.
The greatest sports for the men were the shooting matches, which were in order from September 1 till Christmas. The long squirrel rifle, with flint lock and "set triggers," was a favorite with every pioneer and shared with his dog the pioneer's affections. Resting on a pair of deer antlers, it held the place of honor over the cabin door. Up to a distance of 100 yards it was fairly reliable, up to fifty it was accurate.
The shooting match, like the old English contest with the bow and arrow, was primarily a trial of skill. Little value was placed on the quarters of beeves or venison won, as compared with the glory of winning. An elaborate system of rules and regulations governed it, but the essentials were as follows: A level stretch
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of ground 100 yards long, a large tree to receive the balls as they passed through the boards which were charred so that the balls would make a neat round hole. Those who fired "offhand" stood eighty yards away, those with a "rest" one hundred yards. Old marksmen fired "offhand." There were two ways of determining the result. In one case the nearest shot took first choice, the next took second, and so on. In the other the added distance of three shots was taken. Under some rules all three shots had to be within a certain distance, say two inches, of the center or the man lost.
A form of amusement that came from the South, but which was soon abandoned in Indiana on account of its rudeness, was "gander pulling." A gander was hung head downward from the limb of a tree about ten feet high. The bird's neck was coated with grease. The participants rode under at a gallop and endeavored to pull the gander's head off. Some one stood by with a whip to see that the horse passed at the proper gait.
Dancing was generally indulged in before the relig- ious revivals of the late twenties and early thirties. The folks usually gathered at some house that had an especially smooth puncheon floor and danced the night away. The sleepy old fiddler's arm was made of iron and he could reel off "The Arkansas Traveler," "Old Dan Tucker," or "Cotton Eye Jo," for hour after hour. The dancing consisted of the square dance, three figures to the set, with a Virginia Reel, a "jig" or a "hoe down" when some ecstatic couple wished to show their artistic execution of the "side step," "back step," "single" or "double shuffle," "heel and toe" or other fancy foot maneuvers. This harmless amusement may still be seen in many parts of Indiana. In many places it disappeared long ago before the relentless crusade of the Protestant churches, largely because rowdies made the dance the scene of drunken brawls.
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Those who had moral objections to dancing substi- tuted social games which in nature much resembled the dancing. "Keeping Post Office," "Picking Cher- ries," "Weevilly Wheat," "London Town," "Dusty Miller," "Needle's Eye," were the names of some of the commoner of these. The players sang the refrains, accompanying them by rhythmic performances almost like those of the dance. Many of the games had forfeit features in which kisses were the invariable penalties. The intermissions at spelling schools, singing schools, and debates were occupied by these games.
Weddings were the occasions for a two days' festi- val, the night intervening being devoted to dancing. The wedding was performed at the home of the bride. A formal invitation was sometimes written by the schoolmaster and carried around by the groomsman,
but the usual way was just to "send word."
The
guests were supposed to arrive about 11 a. m. The groom, accompanied by five or six of his best friends, left his father's home on horseback in time to reach his destination about 11:30 a. m. As soon as the cere- mony was performed, the married couple sat down at the head of the table, around which all the guests gath- ered. Of all the neighborhood feasts this was the most sumptuous. Everything available in the way of rations and table service in the whole community was brought into service. After a night of dancing interspersed with all kinds of jests and pranks, including a cha- rivari, at the expense of the married pair, the whole company repaired to the home of the groom's father, where another dinner, the "infare," was served. In the afternoon the newly married couple were escorted to their new home, if one were ready. If there was no house ready the couple lived with the old folks until a house was built, when the young people gathered to- gether for the last ceremony of the wedding, that of inducting the couple into their new home. This, and
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the dancing which accompanied it, were called the "house warming."+
§ 82 SICKNESS AND PHYSICIANS
CONTRARY to most statements in novels, the health of the pioneers was bad. Poisonous vapors hung over the swamps and drowned woodlands. The sun was un- able to penetrate the deep foliage and dispel the mias- ma. The river bottoms and flat lands were notoriously subject to malaria. No one thought of the housefly or mosquito being disease disseminators. There was no science of medicine, only a practice. We know now that most of their diagnoses were wrong, hence it is diffi- cult to say what diseases were most destructive. There can, however, be no question of the terrible ravages of smallpox, typhoid and malarial fevers, pneumonia, tuberculosis and bronchitis. Among the children two diseases were especially prevalent at this time-croup and cholera infantum. The fact that at least half of the babies died before they reached the age of four will help one understand the terror caused by these ailments, croup in winter and cholera infantum in summer. -
Here is a recipe for cholera infantum copied from the Medical Investigator, published by Horace N. T. Benedict, a botanic physician of Springfield, Lawrence county, Indiana, in 1847: "Take a double handful of dewberry roots, double handful of the roots of crane- bill, two gallons of witch hazel leaves. Boil these sepa- rately until the strength i's all extracted. Strain and
4 Besides the above there were muster day, election day, and the camp meeting which have been described elsewhere. Discus- sions of early customs in Indiana are too numerous to mention. The following, however, are excellent: Baynard Hall, The New Purchase; D. D. Banta, Making a Neighborhood; Young, History of Wayne County; William F. Vogel, "Home Life in Early In- diana" in Indiana Magazine of History, X; the various county histories.
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pour the liquid into one vessel and boil down to a quart. Add a pint of good French brandy and a pound of loaf sugar."
Or, take the following recipe for "yaller janders" (yellow jaundice) : "A double handful of the bark of wild cherry root, an equal amount of bark from the root of the yellow poplar, a like quantity of sarsapa- rilla, same of red sumach roots, and half that amount of bitter root. Boil them in two gallons of water until it is reduced to one-half gallon. Strain and let it sim- mer down to one pint. Mix this with a gallon of hard cider, shake it well and add two ounces of madder. Take a half teacupful three times per day." These and others at hand illustrate the practice of the herb doctors or "botanic physicians," as they called them- selves. They have only recently disappeared. The concoctions were intentionally made as bitter and nauseous as possible. In most cases the medicine was called "bitters."
There were a few physicians in the State who had been trained in the east, but the greater number were strictly home-grown. As a result, this period was the heydey of the quack, who either came from the east or operated from some eastern city. The treatment of the best physician of that time seems rather blood- thirsty to us. Taken as a class, however, they were honest, trying to the best of their ability to serve their fellow sufferers.
The herb doctors, or the "Botanic School," led a spirited fight against the other school of practitioners, whom they called the "calomel doctors." The calomel doctors won out in the long struggle, and the reputa- tion for quackery has fastened itself on the "yarb" doctor just as it has on the "wildcat" bank and the "deestrick skule."
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