USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 4
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The natural beauty of all of this county caused
hope, instead of misgivings, to fill the breast of the pioneer at the thought of venturing the fu- ture of his family in the magic land of game and verdure. His glorious wife, who with unfalter- ing faitli, has steadily held on her way in his and their children's company, casting no backward thoughts to the comforts of the castern home life they had exchanged for hardships and privations. is also touched by the glamour of their bewitch- ing surroundings, while the taller lads of the pro- cession, with flint or caplock guns on their shoul- ders, are in an ecstacy of bliss at the frequent siglit of deer and other game, and imagine themselves to be like Nimrod, "mighty hunters before the Lord." .
Some of these pioneers were unlettered, par- ticularly those of the earliest era, yet even among their number were men of marked ability, whose talents would dignify and honor any station of life. There were women in these processions whose attainments and culture fitted them to adorn any social circle in the most refined cities of the continent. Even those settlers who were uneducated were not ignorant or uninformed. They possessed strong practical sense and native ability of a high order, fully equal to those who came after them. They were educated in a school that perhaps best fitted them for a life of usefulness in the conditions in which they were to exist. They were accomplished masters in woodcraft. They could handle an ax as deftly as a fencing master his foil. They could con- struct a cabin as quickly and in accordance with the same natural idea of harmony that a beaver or 'a muskrat develops in the formation of its resi- dence. Game was abundant everywhere and de- licious fish were plenty in the multitudinous lakes and streams. Hunting was not an accomplish- ment, but an everyday pursuit. The rifle was found in every cabin. Its use was familiar to all from early childhood and the owners had steady nerves and quick sight.
The habits and manners of the people corre- sponded with their rough pursuits and surround- ings. Their recreations were those outdoor sports in which a vigorous and athletic people always take great delight. Wrestling was a popular
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amusement, universally practiced at log-rollings, "raisings" and on public occasions-elections and the like. The early settlers were remarkably gen- erous and hospitable. Their "latchstrings" ever "hung out." Isolated in the wildness, subject to common hardships, participating in the same simple enjoyments, the living in complete social equality caused true friendship and genuine be- nevolence to be cultivated and universal. Wealth was not necessarily a passport to respectability. Their charity was the unaffected and genuine charity taught in the Scriptures. They would re- pair to the cabin of their destitute neighbor, "down with the chills," while his family was "suffering from ager," and with the gentlest kind- ness, minister to his ailments, relieve his distress and provide for all their needs. If the afflictions they sought to relieve were the result of "shift- lessness," intemperance or other faults, they would administer a just rebuke and endeavor to correct the fault by a wholesome and sometimes' a rough reprimand, sometimes by a punishment pronounced as a penalty by a pseudo court.
Certain individuals of Jonesville at an early day formed themselves into an organization for the purpose of giving inebriates lessons which should teach them the error of their ways and frighten them into good conduct for the future, if possible. Each case was taken before Dr. Still- man Ralph, and a "post-mortem" examination held. One incorrigible drunkard, known as "Tommy," was, on one occasion, taken before the doctor, and the examination was about to proceed, when Wolcott G. Branch, then practicing law there, entered. Tommy saw and recognized him, ' and appealed to him for help, saying, they were "going to hold a (hic) post-mort- (hic) ise ex- amination" on him, and he "didn't want them to !" A pound which had been constructed in the south part of the village served as a jail, to which these fun-loving tormentors carried their victims. The gate was off the hinges, but the pound answered every purpose. One poor inebriated individual was taken to it at one time and pushed in, and he fell flat on his back after staggering a minute. Finally, after gazing upward for some time he
exclaimed, "Boys, for (hic) God's sakes, don't leave me in this old jail without any roof on !"
Humanity was their distinguishing trait, but exhibited in the rough manner peculiar to the pioneer. Many and many a benefaction was con- ferred in the form of a huge jest. They throve on practical jokes which were as plentiful as the occasions on which they could be carried out. Even the judge upon the bench was not exempt, his judicial ermine being no protection against the banter of his friends. A circuit judge who officiated at that time was accustomed to ask, on coming to open the court, "what new drive the boys had got?" that he might be pre- pared to meet their jest. A circuit preacher, who was rather a favorite with the young people, rode into Hillsdale one pleasant Sunday morning on his lean, half-starved horse, minus saddle and shoes, and tying him to a neighboring tree, pro- ceeded to the grove to hold service. The young- sters untied the horse, took him to the nearest shop and had him well shod, and then placing a saddle upon his back, returned him to his pre- vious location. The deed carried with it so much good-nature that the preacher could only gaze with amazement and gratitude upon the changed outfit ; but the joke was apparent, when he was afterward obliged to combat the charge of having shod his horse on Sunday.
The stranger new-comer was the recipient of a cordial welcome. He was accepted as an equal, considered in every way as a worthy con- panion until found to be otherwise. All were willing to lend a helping hand in the building or the raising of his cabin or log house, or in the other necessary labors incident to the beginning of life in the "woods," "openings" or "prairies." Often did it happen that men of doubtful char- acter, who here settled, by the fair and generous treatment they received, were made good citizens and ever after maintained fair characters. Not such people, however, were the counterfeiters, who, at that period, made their county their head- quarters, and from whose presence Bogus island in Baw Beese lake derived its name.
Whence came the people that occupied this
-
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land of brilliant promise? The roll list of the pioneers would show mostly a former residence in New England -- perhaps a later one in New York, and a still later one in Ohio, the emigrant coming hither, as it were, by easy stages. There was a peculiar condition in New York that forced many of its intelligent farmers to seek new homes in a state where land in its virginal beauty and wild- ness could be purchased at a price that the poor- est might be able to pay. Western and Central New York at that time lay in the possession of and paralyzing grasp of great land monopolies like that of the few Dutch merchants of Amster- dam, popularly known as the Holland Land Com- pany ( who controlled that great area called the Holland Purchase), the Morris grant, the Pul- teney estate and others. The New England states and the Hudson River Valley had sent an in- telligent and valuable population thither, who purchased the lands of their choice from these companies on contract, placing their ready money, if such they had, into the clearing and improve- ments of their farms.
Here they gave their labor of years, and, after the inevitable hardships, self-denials, and priva- tions of the first few seasons in the wilderness, most of the settlers had an abundance, much more than enough for their own use. But there was no market. It was only by converting ashes into black salts that they could get money to pay their taxes. The interest upon their debt at the land office was accumulating from year to year. The company was indulgent, but compound in- terest quickly magnified the amount of indebted- ness, and the full sum sooner or later must be . recover the negro his alleged owners must bring paid. The shadow rested on nearly every home. Many sold their contracts for a trifling pittance. These were the people who in a great measure sought new homes in the fertile West, numbers coming to Hillsdale county.
To these unfortunate enterprising sons of toil, who had left behind them all the result of years of earnest, industrious labor, this became the land of promise. They hastened to it with strong arms, iron wills and resistless energy to lay the foundations of new communities. The journey now performed almost by the light of a
summer's day, then required weeks of travel through wilderness paths and unbridged streams.
These settlers represented the best New Eng- land ideas of life, duty and religion. They were the finest productions of the Anglo-Saxon stock. Each pioneer as he came into the wilderness was the most perfect embodiment that six thousand years of progress could furnish of all the elements to lay rightly the foundations of new commun- ities. They were a superior race. They built up, transformed and developed the conditions they here found, until, as the ultimate result of their persistent efforts, we find the Hillsdale county of today an aggregate of communities, in which comfort, wealth, intelligence and cul- ture are preponderating factors, and an education- al center attracting students from near and far- away sections of the county.
Such communities have not appeared as an exhalation. The germ of this superior civiliza- tion is in the spirit of Christianity, asserting the divinity, the brotherhood, the equality, the immor- tality, the infinite worth of man. It was reserved for this county to take a marked advance in the cause of human freedom. A local historian has thus told the incident: "Hon. Henry Packer, who was afterward judge of the Probate Court of . Hillsdale county, while justice of the peace, soon after his arrival here, was called upon to issue a warrant for a fugitive slave from Ken- tucky. When the negro was brought into court and the case was about to proceed. W. W. Murphy, then practicing law here, spoke to Mr. Packer, and the latter decided that in order to
satisfactory proof that Kentucky was a slave state. It was necessary for the prosecution to go to Detroit to decide the matter, and, failing in finding sufficient evidence, the man was dis- charged. A similar case was not long after- ward brought up in Philadelphia, Pa., and the decision of Mr. Packer, of Jonesville, Mich., was there cited, and the same decision rendered in that instance also."
The period of bark-covered cabins was of short duration. The body of the primitive dwell-
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ing was made of light poles that could be placed in position by help at hand. As soon as the country began to be settled and sawmills were built where boards could be obtained, the more substantial log house took its place. These were quite uniform in size, usually about 20x24 feet. with a projection in front of ten feet of the roof resting on the beams that supported the chamber floor. This projection was called a "stoop," a word of good Dutch origin, and under this were placed the pots and kettles, the washtub, the wooden washbowl, splint broom, and other nec- essary utensils of the household. In the con- struction of this house straight trees of uniform size were drawn to the site chosen for the home, the neighbors within a radius of a dozen miles were invited to the "raising," and all made it a religious duty to attend, unselfishly forgetting the duties of home. 1143151
No foundation was required except the four logs, marking the size of the building that were laid upon level ground. Then four of the best axemen each took a corner and cut a saddle and notch to hold the logs in position as they were rolled on skids to the proper place. They were usually made a "story-and-a-half" high, the upper portion being the sleeping room of the family, ac- cess thither being gained by a ladder or by pins driven into the logs on one side of the house, and, occasionally, rough board stairs. Three or four hours in the afternoon generally sufficed for the "raising," and then occurred a bountiful re- past of all of the luxuries of the place and period.
When the body of the house was "up," the logs were cut away for the door and windows, (which were usually made of single sashes of four, six or nine 7x9 panes of glass), the floor laid with "puncheons" (split logs with the inside dressed off with an ax or an adz, and laid smooth- ly up for a solid floor), or unplaned boards, the spaces between the logs filled with split pieces of wood and plastered with mud, the gables board- ed, the roof made of "shooks" or shingles, and a log or stone chimney built with jambs, hav- ing an iron crane for the pots and kettles, and here was a home where happiness would enter as freely as into the marble palaces of royalty. Af-
ter brick could be obtained, a brick oven was often built on one side of the fireplace, the flue entering the chimney.
These ovens were large enough to hold a half- dozen loaves of bread, as many pies, and a pan of pork and beans. Fine dry wood was required to heat the oven for baking, but it is doubtful if the modern range has proven its superiority over this primitive oven. The house without an "oven" would substitute the bake-kettle, a flat- bottomed, straight-sided iron vessel, with legs four inches long and having an iron cover. The baking was performed by surrounding the kettle with live coals in a corner of the fireplace, renew- ing the coals as occasion required. A loaf of bread, made of three parts of cornmeal and one part of stewed pumpkin, baked in this manner was a great favorite with the pioneer. No better bread was ever made. It was thought that stand- ing over night in the kettle improved the flavor, for, lo! remove the cover in the morning and a brown loaf of a yellow tinge and a most delicious aroma greeted the beholder. This with coffee or tea sweetened with the maple sirup or sugar, which was in general use for "sweetening," made an enjoyable meal. "Johnnycake," or brown bread, baked upon a board or spider tilted before the fire, was also in common use. To cook a "spare-rib," duck or turkey, the fowl was sus- pended by a tow string before the open fireplace, with an iron vessel underneath to catch the "drip- pings," from which the cook would baste the fowl with a ladle or spoon, giving it at the same time a whirl that all sides might in turn be presented 'to the blazing fire.
Some of the settlers had a tin or "Dutch" oven. This was a tin frame about two feet long and a foot wide, having a sheetiron pan with a cover of bright tin, when open, standing at an angle of 45 degrees before the blazing fire, and this apparatus, when new and bright, performed the work of baking to perfection, but was not universally popular, for, when it stood before the hearth, it prevented the heat and light from reach- ing the family.
The hinges and latches of the doors were made of wood, and the door was opened from
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the outside by a string passing through a gim- let hole in the door, attached to the latch on the inside. When freedom from intrusion was de- sired the occupant of the house would pull this string through the hole, so that there would be none of it to be seen on the outside, and the door was then securely locked. From this fact arose the pioneer description of a hospitable home, it being one where "the latchstring always hung out." Any person not of the household, who wished to enter the dwelling, would rap with his knuckles on the outside of the door and would be greeted with a hearty "Come in." He would then pull the latchstring and enter. The one room was at once kitchen, dining-room, "sitting-room" and parlor. If the stranger came at mealtime, he was always invited and made welcome to a meal.
The early settlers liberally planted apple and other fruit trees and in a very few years' time the fine orchards were so plentiful that in the fall fruit could readily be obtained without cost, by taking the trouble to gather it. By this time im- provements had so progressed that the bountiful crops could find no market, wheat selling as low as thirty-five cents per bushel ; pork and beef, $2 and $2.50 per hundred, in goods or store pay- could not get salt for it ; oats, ten cents, and corn, twenty cents per bushel ; butter, if very good, brought five cents in 1843. In the spring of 1837 flour sold at $9.00 per 100 pounds ; oats as high as $2.50; corn was scarce, a frost the previous summer, on August 27, killing most of it. Flour, pork, butter, cheese, dried apples, in fact, most of the necessaries of life, were imported front Ohio.
Nearly all of the clothing and linen of the family was made at home. Most of the little clearings had a patch of flax, from which was the business of the farmer to prepare the flax for the spinning wheels of the women. In doing this he used a simple machine called a brake, fol- lowing this by the hetchel and swingle, thus pro- ducing a soft and pliable mass, twisted into a head of flax ready to be spun and woven. In most of the little log cabins, the big and little wheels were in active operation by the mother and larger girls. The mother would sit at the little
wheel, distaff in hand, one foot upon the treadle, while perhaps the other was jogging a cradle con- taining a tiny rosebud of humanity, a low, sooth- ing lullaby, more charming than the cooing of the dove, meanwhile filling the air. One of the girls would be seated beside a basket of tow, carding it, with a pair of hand cards, into bolts one foot long and two inches wide, while a sister would be moving backward and forward with nimble step beside the big wheel of fully twelve feet circumference and spinning the bolts into yarn. Thirty "knots" was an ordinary day's work, some, however, producing forty "knots." Each knot contained forty threads of six feet, two inches in length, or about 250 fect. Occasionally a damsel might be seen who could "spin her forty knots a day," and then pass the evening knitting by the light of the ruddy fire.
During the winter and early spring the wo- men had "spun and wove" enough tow and linen cloth for the summer clothing of the family. The men and boys had their clothes made from cloth made of linen warp and tow filling, which was full of "shives," that rasped and scratched the body for weeks like a thousand needles. The mothers and daughters had pure linen cloth for their clothing, for dresses, striping or checking a piece with copperas, and, in this primitive apparel, their eyes shone as brightly and their smile was as bewitching and attractive as can be seen today. During the summer months the wo- men, as well as the men and boys, went about their home duties with bare feet.
The weaving was done by women, one or two skilled in the art dwelling in each neighborhood. The price for weaving plain tow, linen or flannel cloth was about six cents a yard, from six to ten yards being a good day's work. The tow-and- linen cloth was made up into clothing for the "men folks." dress for the "females" and into sheets, pillow-cases and towels, and then came on the making of flannel and winter garments. Nearly all of the farmers owned a flock of sheep, which were carefully yarded nightly to protect them from the wolves, which were so numerous and destructive, that, at nearly every town meet- ing, the question of bounty on wolves occupied a
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large share of the proceedings. The wool taken from the sheep was hurried to Emery's carding mill, there to be made into rolls, and soon the girls were again busy at the spinning wheel, their work being valued at seventy-five cents a week. A day's work was thirty knots of warp and forty knots of filling, but some of the more active would spin twice that amount. From this spinning and the subsequent weaving, resulted the chief part of the family's winter clothing, although most of the young women owned one calico dress, the most most popular color being blue. Those "boughten" dresses cost twenty-seven cents a yard and were rarely worn, only being brought to light on Inde- pendence Day or at New Year dances and were expected to last for years.
During the log cabin era feather beds were considered indispensable. The rough boarding of the gables of the houses would warp and it was frequently the case in winter that the snow would be several inches deep on floor and bed coverings. Hence every well-ordered family had its flock of geese. Each young lady expected to receive upon her marriage at least one or two feather beds to complete the housekeeping outfit of linens and flannels which she had long been preparing. Geese feathers were a ready medium of exchange for goods at the pioneer stores or at the occasion- al wagon of the peddler.
The furniture of the house was extremely plain and inexpensive ; square-legged bedsteads, with rope or bark cordage, around which were not infrequently depended a drooping fringe of network or calico, tipped with tasty little tassels, and called a "valance." Sometimes, near the window stood a chest of drawers, near it a square- legged stand, over which hung a looking-glass brought out by the mother from her eastern home in a feather bed. In close proximity stood the unvarnished, often unpainted, table of natural wood and domestic manufacture, while several splint-bottomed chairs stood in the nooks and corners. On shelves against the walls, or in the tall cupboard, in some of the wealthier homes were displayed rows of bright pewter plates standing on edge, most prominent among them being the great pewter platter, always'in use at
"boiled dinners," when it would be heaped high with cabbage, turnips, beets, potatoes and other vegetables ; near its side lying the bag of pudding, stuffed with some kind of wild berries, a tempt- ing slice of which, covered with sweetened cream, was given to each participant of the meal. No car- pets were seen on the floors and, as long as this simple life continued, and money was not invoked to bring in luxurious furnishings and surround- ings, universal contentment reigned and merri- ment and cheerful song and jollity were the life, not only of each home, but of the community as well. Spinning-bees were common, especially when one of the matrons fell a victim to ma- larial fever or other diseases, and was unable to prepare her web of tow and linen cloth for summer use. In such a case someone of the family, with a team loaded with flax and tow, would visit every house within some miles' dis- tance, leaving enough of his load at each house for a day's work of the inmates, with an invita- tion to a supper at their house some days later. No woman of Hillsdale county was ever known to refuse her share in work of this kind, and, on the appointed day, each, with her skein of yarn under her arm, the roses of health upon her cheeks and with pulsations of generous kindness throbbing in her heart, would enter the sick neigh- bor's home, where she and all her fellow workers were received with the strongest evidences of friendship and love.
In the timber lands logging-bees were com- mon. The neighbors for miles around were in- vited to come with their ox teams to such a place on a specified day, and, punctually at the appointed time, would be there assembled, some- times fifty or more men and oftentimes their wives and children. Operations were always be- gun at the lowest edge of the field, the logs being drawn and rolled into a heap on a down grade more easily. When the men got to work, there was always a strife to see who would first reach the opposite side of the field, and the encouraging shouts of the teamsters to the animals could be heard for miles. The oxen seemed to partake of the excitement and it was marvelous to see the speed with which the logs were moved.
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After the logging was completed, sport com- menced. The strength and activity of the various teams were tried by turning them "tail to" with several fect of slack log chain, and, dropping the hooks together, starting at the word "Go." The best in three trials was declared the winner and the victors were usually the team that made the first start. This finale of the bee created much merriment. The whiskey jug was an important factor at all of these gatherings. It gave strength and activity to the men, it was believed, and in- creased the hilarity. In no case must the supply be exhausted. The last aet in a logging bee drama was a substantial supper of meats, pies, cakes, sauces and all good things of the housewife's larder given in a bountiful profusion. Then the men would go to their homes happy with the thought that each had bestowed his best efforts to foster good will and encourage his neighbor in the battle of life. These were the days of strenuous activity, of rugged earnestness in the development of muscle and brain power to be ex- ercised in the preliminary stages of an ever-advan- cing civilization. If there were a lack of refinc- ment, it was but the offspring of the peculiar and primitive surrounding circumstances. A gen- uine democracy existed in these new lands. There were none of the distinctions or favoritisms of these opening years of the Twentieth Century. There were no aristocrats of wealth and fashion that to-day sunder the great heart of humanity. All were on the same planc, few felt themselves independent of their neighbors, and all, cherish- ing the type of the good Samaritan of old, by their acts, their kindness and their sympathy, pro- claimed universal brotherhood to all the world.
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