Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich., Part 5

Author: Fisher, David, 1827-; Little, Frank, 1823-
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 598

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"Everybody borrowed and everybody lent, and by it business was kept prosperous and suffering often avoided. If the thing needed could not be borrowed or paid for 'dicker,' necessity then took the settler into pupilage and taught him how to make what he wanted, from an axhelve or plow to a house and barn. All undergoing common hardships made all equal and all friends. For developing neighborly traits, for leveling distinc- tions, and for carrying out the letter of the Scrip- tural rule, 'Do as you would wish to be done by, the settling of a new country is unsurpassed. It was here that a man went for what he was worth. not for station or his wealth; whether American, Scotch, Irish, or other nationality, the Man was taken into account, not the Mantle. If a settler went to the mill he lent his grist to every one who wished to borrow at the log cabins he passed on his way home. Sometimes, on reaching his house, of a large grist he would have but little left.

"A shed, constructed of logs, covered with marsh hay, answered for shed and barn. The first crop of wheat, cut with the old hand-cradle, was . bound, drawn and stacked near the shed. Near the stack a spot of earth was cleared and made smooth and hard for a 'thrashing-floor.' On this the wheat was threshed with the old flail. It was then cleaned of the chaff by the old handfan. In process of time, Dickey, of Marshall, made fan- ning-mills and the threshing machine made its appearance. Much labor was saved by its use. During the winter and spring, when fodder be- came scarce, trees were cut down and cattle driven to the forests to browse on the buds and tender part of the limbs. By this means, and sometimes only by this, the cattle were carried through the winter and early spring.

"In a little sunny glade, hard by the stream that ran through the farm, was an Indian corn- field. Their cornhills, with the stubble yet stand- ing in them, marked the spot where the previous year Mr. 'Lo' had engaged in corn-planting. The little mounds of earth showed where they had buried their corn. Their favorite camping ground . was the banks of the little lake. This lake was made by the beavers. The dam was at its foot, but the Indians, years gone by, had captured all the beavers and sold their skins to the Eastern fur traders. The beavers were succeeded by those other builders, the muskrats, who took possession of this lake, and, erecting their houses, increased in numbers and flourished for many years.

"The pioneer from Detroit followed the blazed Chicago trail or road until he struck off north or west or reached his lands on the line of this road. When he reached his wilderness possessions he pitched his tent and went to work in the wilder- ness to erect a home. He had his rifle, axe and plow, energy and courage, and, sometimes, a plucky wife to aid him. He brought a meagre outfit of household goods, perhaps, but his money was all gone. With these small means the work began. This was an embryo settlement, and meant not only a log house in the woods, but a clearing. It meant school houses and churches, machine shops and stores, township and county organizations, villages and cities. It meant the

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reproduction of Eastern life in this wooded terri- tory. It meant a great and glorious state in the future.

"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. Among them were women whose attain- ments 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 accom- plished masters in woodcraft. They could handle an axe as deftly as a fencing master his foil. They could construct a cabin as quickly and in accord- ance with the same natural idea of harmony that a beaver or a muskrat develops in the formation of its residence. Game was abundant everywhere and delicious fish were abundant in the numerous lakes and streams. Hunting was not an accom- plishment, but an every-day pursuit. The rifle was found in every cabin. Its use was familiar to all from early childhood and the owners had steady nerve and quick sight. There were no 'purse-proud' families. All lived in log houses, and were bound to cach other by neighborly acts of kindness. Pride of dress was in its healthy, normal state. Ten-dollar boots and hundred-dol- lar bonnets had not got into the new settlement ; neither had Mrs. Lofty and her carriage, and dap- ple grays to draw it, nor had Mrs. Grundy pulled the latch-string at the door of a single log cabin in the settlement. She and all her kith and kin were East. It was fashionable to live within your means and the best suit of clothes you could af- ford to wear was the fashionable one. All classes worked together for a living and thrived. Wealth and leisure were not here to create distinctions. Aristocracy was not in these regions. Yet every settler was an aristocrat-one of true nobility, who had carned his title by useful toil in the high school of labor."

The "latch-strings" ever "hung out." Isolated in the wilderness, subject to common hardships, participating in the same simple enjoyments, the living of the settlers in complete social equality caused true friendship and genuine benevolence to be cultivated and universal. Wealth was not necessarily a passport to respectability. Their character was the unaffected and genuine charity taught in the Scriptures. They would repair to the cabin of their destitute neighbor "down with the chills" while his family was "suffering from the ager," and with the gentlest kindness minister to his ailments, relieve his distress and provide for all their needs. If the afflictions they sought to relieve were the result of "shiftlessness," intem- perance or other faults, they would administer a just rebuke or endeavor to correct the fault by a wholesome and sometimes a rough reprimand.

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 jests, 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.

Whence came the settlers that laid broad and deep the foundation of freedom in this land of great possibilities ? Most of them were of New England birth or parentage and had passed years in the settlement period of western and central New York, with perhaps a later settlement in Ohio. A strange condition existed in New York that forced a large number of its worthy, intelli- gent farmers to seek new homes in a state where land in its virginal beauty and wildness could be purchased at a price that the poorest might be able to pay.

Western and central New York at that time lay in the paralyzing grasp of great land monopo- lies like that of the few Dutch merchants of Am- sterdam, popularly known as the Holland Land Company (that 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

KALAMAZOO 'COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

intelligent and valuable population thither, who purchased lands from these companies on contract, placing their ready money, if such they had, into clearing and improvements of their farms. Here they gave their labor for years, and after the inev- itable hardships, self-denials, and privations 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 mar- ket. 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 interest quickly magnified the amount of indebtedness, and the full sum sooner or later must be paid.

The shadow rested on 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 Michigan. To these unfortunate, enterprising sons of toil, who had left behind them all the re- sults 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 England 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 communities. They were a superior race. They built up, trans- formed and developed the conditions they here found, until, as the ultimate result of their per- sistent efforts, we find the Michigan of today an aggregate of communities, in which comfort, wealth, intelligence and culture are preponderat- ing factors, and Kalamazoo county is an educa- tional center attracting students from near and far away sections of the state and county.

Such communities have not appeared as an exhaltation. 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. This is quite fully shown in the history of abolitionism appearing elsewhere in this volume.

The period of bark-covered cabins was of short duration. These were made of light material or 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 houses were built. They were quite uniform in size, usually about eighteen by twenty-two feet in size, some- times with a projection in front of ten feet, and 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 wash- tub, the wooden washbowl, splint broom, and other necessary utensils of the household. In the construction of this house straight trees of uni- form 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.

In the erection of these houses no foundation was required except the four logs marking the size of the building, that were laid up on the 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, access 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 repast of all 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 7 x 9 panes of glass),

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the floor laid with "puncheons" (split logs with the inside dressed off with an ax or an adz and laid smoothly 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 boarded, the roof made of "shooks" or shingles, and a log or stone chimney built with jambs, having an iron crane for the pots and ket- tles. Here was a home where happiness would enter as freely as into the marble palaces of roy- alty. The generous Indians were of valuable as- sistance in the "raisings" of the primitive pioncers. As the settlers were so far distant from each other it was often impossible to gather enough of them to quickly perforin the requisite labor, and the In- dians were the "main help" on these occasions. Mr. Van Buren says, "I know of an instance where but two white men were present at the "raising." the rest being Indians, who lifted cheer- fully and lustily in rolling up the logs." They also assisted much at raising in after years. Only let them know that "Che-mo-ko-man raise wigwam, like Indian come help him," and you could count on their aid.

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 time and trouble to gather it. Henry Little says : "Among the pioneers of Gull Prairie there were several from New England, where it was supposed by many that stony or rocky land was as good as, if not preferable to, any other for apple-trees ; even the steep side-hills and their summits were graced by the apple-trees, provided they had the everlasting rocks. About the begin- ning of the present century, one of my neighbors being about to set out an apple-orchard, and hav- ing none but sandy land to put it on, in his great wisdom conceived of the brilliant idea of carting from abroad large flat stones, and placing one at the bottom of each hole for the roots of the tree to rest on. It so happened that there were not stones enough, and the last tree was set without any. The fate of that tree was commented upon and watched by all the neighbors with profound interest. Notwithstanding all the adverse predic-

tions put forth, that tree flourished as well as the others.

"In the autumn of 1835 J. F. Gilkey brought from Indiana or Ohio about one hundred apple- trees, one-half of which he set out south of his house ; but the cattle had access to them and a few years thereafter not a vestige of the trees re- mained. The other half of the trees Judge Hins- dell set out west of his barn among the standing girdled forest trees. These girdled trees were afterward felled and burned without injury to the apple-trees. Those good old trees have faith- fully served their day and generation, and now, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, still remain as enduring monuments of the genius, thrift and re- markable enterprise of that wonderful, active and successful man. In 1835 John Barnes and Loyal Jones each set out eight or ten peach-trees, which were two years old at the time of setting, and were I believe the first peach-trees set upon Gull Prairie. At an early period of the settlement of the prairie Augustus Mills set out a goodly num- ber of the common red, sour cherry-trees. In 1844 they were great trees and had borne fruit several years. At that time there were many young sprouts or offshoots, one or two feet high, that had sprung from the roots of the large trees, a few feet from the trunks."

We will still further quote from Mr. Van Buren : "Tea, coffee, sugar and butter were rarely seen on the settlers' tables. An herb called 'tea- weed.' a kind of wild Bohea, that grew in the woods, was used by some of the settlers. The Icaves were steeped like our imported teas, and the decoction was drunk. But it was soon abandoned when the green or black teas could be had again. Crust coffee or a coffee made from wheat or other grains browned, was in common use for drink at table. Our pioneer mothers and their daughters found many occasions when they could not enjoy the accustomed tete-a-tete with their lady visitors, over cups of fragrant Young Hyson or Bohea ; but their tea-table chats were had over their flow- ing cups of crust coffee, and there was many a wish from the young ladies for the good time coming, when they could once more 'turn up their teacups' and have their 'fortunes told.' Teapots

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

were ransacked and old tea-grounds were saved by the girls for the purpose of having their for- tunes told by some of the older matrons, who knew something of the gypsy art of divination."

The usual meal consisted of a platter of boiled potatoes, piled up steaming hot, and placed on the center of the table, bread or "Johnnycake," per- haps some meat boiled or fried, and an article largely partaken of was a bowl of flour-gravy, looking like starch, made something like it, of flour and water, with a little salt, and sometimes it was enriched by a little gravy from a piece of fried meat. This was the usual meal, and it was eaten and relished more than the sumptuous meals on many tables now-a-days. The table was always swept of all the edibles on it. Nothing but the dishes remained after the meal. The dog, the pigs and the chickens. fared slim. "Tell me what a people eat and I will tell you their morals."

The old pioneer bill of fare was simple and wholesome. Its morals can easily be deduced. The old iron crane, tricked off with its various sized pot-hooks and links of chain, swung from the jambs at the will of the housewife, who hung on it the kettles containing the meal to be cooked for the family, and pushed it back over the fire, where it hung till the meal was prepared for the table. Pigs, chickens and spareribs were roasted splendidly by suspending them by a wire before the fire. The baking was mostly done in the old brick oven, that was built in one side of the chim- ney, with a door opening into the room. The old iron-covered bake-kettle sat in the corner under the cupboard, and was used for various baking purposes. Many will remember the much-used "tin reflector" that was placed before the fire to bake bread and cakes, and how finally it baked the Pinkeye and Neshannock potatoes.

A few years' time after the settlers had es- tablished their homes, improvements had so pro- gressed that the bountiful crops could find no market, wheat selling as low as thirty-five cents per bushel; pork and beef, two dollars and two dollars and fifty cents per hundred in goods or store pay-they 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 nine dollars per hundred pounds; oats as high as two dollars and fifty cents; corn was scarce, a frost the pre- vious summer, on August 27th, killing most of it. Flour, pork, butter, cheese, dried apples, in fact, most of the necessities of life were imported from Ohio.

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 appoint- ed time would be there assembled, sometimes fifty or more men and sometimes their wives and children. Operations were always begun 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. After the logging was completed sport commenced. The strength and activity of the various teams were tried by turning them "tail to," with several feet of slack log chain, and dropping the hooks to- gether, and starting at the word "Go." ' The best in the 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 merri- ment. The whisky jug was an important factor at all of these gatherings. It gave strength and activity to the men, it was believed, and increased the hilarity. In no case must the supply be ex- hausted. The last act 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. Spinning bees were com- mon, especially when one of the matrons fell vic- tim to malarial 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

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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 supper at their house some days later. No woman of Kalamazoo county was ever known to refuse her share in the work of this kind, and on the appointed day cach one with her skein of yarn under her arm, the roses of health upon her checks and with the pulsations of generous kind- ness throbbing in her heart, would enter the sick neighbor's home, where she and all her fellow workers were received with the strongest evi- dences of friendship and love.

During the log-cabin era feather beds were considered indispensable. The rough boarding of the gables of the house would warp and it was frequently the case in winter that the snow would be several inches deep on the floor and bed cover- ings. 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 her 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 store or at the occasional wagon of the peddler.

The furniture of the house was extremely plain and inexpensive ; square-legged bedsteads. with rope or dark 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 win- dow stood a chest of drawers, near it a square- legged stand, over which hung a looking-glass brought out by "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 on Thanksgiving and Christmas occasions. Nearly all of the clothing and linen of the family was

made at home. Most of the little clearings had a patch of flax, which it was the business of the farmer to prepare for the spinning wheels of the women. In doing this he used a simple machine called a brake, following this by the hetchel and swingle, by these producing 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 lit- tle wheels were actively operated by "mother" and daughters. 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 soft coo 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 a nimble step beside the big spinning wheel of fully twelve feet circumference spinning the bolts into varn. Thirty "knots" were an ordinary day's work, some, however, producing forty "knots." Each knot contained forty threads of six feet, two inches in length, or about two hundred fifty feet. Occasionally a damsel might be seen who could 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 women 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 ap- parel, their eyes shone as brightly and their smile was as bewitching and attractive as can be seen today. During the summer months the women, as well as the men and boys, went about their home duties with bare feet.

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Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich., Part 5

Author: Fisher, David, 1827-; Little, Frank, 1823- Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 598

Author: Fisher, David, 1827-; Little, Frank, 1823-
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 598