USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 6
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PROVISIONS AND OUT-DOOR SUPPLIES.
The provisions in store consisted of wheat flour, corn-meal, salt pork, potatoes, dried pumpkins, and sometimes a few dried black- berries. In summer or fall there were to be had wild plums, blue- berries, black raspberries, red raspberries, huckleberries, and cran- berries. Salt was often very scarce, at one time costing $21 a bar- rel
But little attention was paid to vegetable gardens, partly be- cause cabbages, beets, onions, peas, parsnips, squashes, cucumbers, and the like were considered mere luxuries, partly because the peo- ple were very busy raising staple crops, and partly because they hadn't been trained in such work and looked at it as pottering
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
business. Trees for bearing apples, peaches, cherries and pears were set out very soon among the stumps, though the quality of most of them was very inferior. Occasionally in autumn some person would bring, in open wagons, apples from Monroe to west- ern Lenawee, a distance of about sixty miles, over bad roads.
Overhead in the house were small rough beams supporting a chamber floor. On the sides of these poles were wooden hooks made of pieces of small trees with some of the limbs. These fas- tened to the beams held the gun, powder-horn and sundry other articles. Small poles on such hooks held seed corn, onions, and cir- cles of pumpkin to dry for use in winter as sauce or pies.
There is no use in denying the fact that swamps were numer- ous in many places ; in fact, surveyors had said that Michigan con- sisted of scarcely anything more than swamps. Mosquitoes swarmed everywhere. There were no screens for windows or doors. At evening a smudge of decaying wood or chips was kept going until late into the night. Where people had not become used to it, they were not infrequently up once or more in the night hunt- ing mosquitoes and scorching them with a lighted candle. To this day I know just how a singed mosquito sounds as it drops from the flame of a candle. At evening the light was dim and sometimes flickering, depending on whether it came from a protruding rag in a saucer of grease, or blazing wood in the fire-place. The peo- ple were not accustomed to reading much. There were no maga- zines and few books or newspapers. In the evening men told stories, made plans for the next day or week, visited with neigh- bors who may have come in from six miles away, or they dozed by the fire, or went early to bed. The women usually finished some work or sat knitting the supply of stockings for the family, using every spare moment that no time be lost.
Many farms contained an abundance of maple trees, and in spring these were tapped with an ax, the sap running over spouts into small wooden troughs or dugouts. The sap, collected in pails and carried by aid of a wooden "neckyoke" on the shoulders, was boiled in open kettles hung on poles over a fire. It was not usually very clean, but it was highly prized by people, who could not af- ford to buy sugar from the market.
LIGHTS.
Light was not furnished by electricity, gas, or coal oil. Can- dles were becoming common, and they were handmade. About
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
twenty candle rods were made twenty inches long and a little larger than a leadpencil. On each of these were hung by a loop surround ing the stick, about ten twisted pieces of candle-wicking, each for the skeleton or frame-work of a candle. In a deep kettle was placed some hot tallow, reaching to the top. The expert dipped in the dry wicks, or got them into tallow in some way. These were shaped by thumb and finger as the tallow cooled. After dipping awhile the tallow became cooler and lower in the kettle. To warm it up and raise the tallow, hot water was poured in, going to the bottom be- cause it was heavier than tallow. Rod after rod was placed in turn over the tallow and the young candles dipped in, sometimes two candles sticking together, needing to be separated by hand. Very naturally, gravity assisted the lower part of the candle to become larger than the top. To remedy this to some extent, the lower ends were held in the kettle occasionally to melt off a little of the tallow. Later, candles were made in what are known as candle-molds. In connection with candles came the need of candle- sticks, snuffers, and sometimes extinguishers; the latter of which, your "ma," when a little girl, called the overshow to the candle.
In the '30s such matches as we now have were not known. It was the custom to take such pains in preserving fire buried in ashes. I remember to having gone half a mile to the house of a neighbor to get a new stock of fire. By use of flint, steel, powder, cotton and punk, one could usually secure fire. Scrolls of paper in a vase were made with which to light candles instead of live coals held by tongs.
ALL KINDS OF COMFORTS.
Home-made bedsteads were constructed of four-by-four scant- ling, or nice poles from the woods. In either case holes in the sides and ends were made through which a bed-cord was strung "criss- cross," with meshes about eight inches apart. On this rope was placed a bed-tick filled with straw for use in summer, and above the straw tick was placed a feather bed, if the family was well-to- do. To economize space, a low, small bed, the trundle-bed, was kept during the day beneath the larger bed, and at night drawn out for the use of the children. Soft soap was home-made of lye from wood ashes and refuse grease.
Blankets were made of wool or flax mixed, spun or woven by the woman of the house, or by someone in the neighborhood. Cloth- ing was nearly all home-spun from wool or flax.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
A few black sheep were kept that the wool could be mixed with white wool, and thus save dyeing the yarn. It was not long be- fore material for striped shirts could be had. Women bought cal- ico for dresses. Suspenders were made of woolen yarn, and if a button gave out, a small stick or a nail took its place.
An itinerant shoemaker spent a week or more in the fall at a house measuring and fitting and making the winter supply of footwear. At the same time he probably repaired or made har- nesses for horses. The local tanner tanned and dressed hides for the farmer. If the housewife did not possess the required skill, a woman tailor sometimes went from house to house, making clothes for the children.
CLEARING THE LAND.
Much of the land was covered by a heavy growth of timber which had to be hewn down and gotten rid of that the farmer might grow wheat, corn, potatoes and other crops. The bushy growth, "underbrush," was cut and piled, then the trees were attacked. The expert woodchopper who knew his business, could usually fell his trees in one of three different directions of the compass. He usually felled them so that a number of tree-tops would come close to each other, making one round or long pile, thus saving the labor of handling them all over to make a pile. Most of the logs were cut into pieces of 15 to 20 feet. Some very large ones, of little use, were not cut at all, but allowed to rest where they fell, and were destroyed by piling and burning smaller timber next to them. Some of the best oaks were cut 11 feet long and split into rails of irregular shape, each about the size of a four-by-four scantling, and laid up seven to eleven rails high in a zig-zag or worm fence. It was considered important that the rails be evenly laid so that a bullet would hit every corner when shot on one side of the fence.
A rail splitter would cut his timber and split 100 rails in a day, and an expert 200, receiving therefor one dollar a hundred, and board himself. He needed an axe, a wooden beetle or very large mallet with an iron ring on each end, two or more iron wedges, two or more wooden wedges (gluts) of ironwood, 18 inches long, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and a handspike. When enough timber had been cut to make a new field for crops, and the weather became warm and dry, the torch was applied to one
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pile of brush after another till all were fired. The leaves and small sticks were mostly consumed. Later the charred logs and poles received attention. Then some morning came a gang of men with sleeves rolled up, driving one or more teams of oxen, most of these men carrying each an axe and a handspike or lever of ironwood. The logs were drawn and rolled into piles located in hollows. Poles and rubbish were carried by hand to the log- heaps. When many heaps had been made and the wind was right and the weather dry, they were set on fire. It was a grand and unique sight never to be erased from the memory of the person who had seen a group of log-heaps burning in a dark night.
As the logs were burning, a man went from place to place to roll the fragments together. Timbered land thus cleared, only needed a rough, stout A-shaped harrow containing nine to eleven teeth, each stout enough to stand the strain of a yoke of oxen as they pulled among the roots and stumps. After the team had jerked the harrow in every direction over the land, it was ready for a crop of corn, wheat, or potatoes. There were very few weeds and not a foot of sod of any kind. It was too rooty to admit of plowing. If a man was ill, sometimes the neighbors turned out, making a bee and doing the logging for him. Two or three or more sowed or hoed crops, often followed in succession without seeding to clovers and grasses.
As the smaller roots and stumps decayed, some rough plow- ing was done. On oak openings, the underbrush and the scatter- ing trees were cut and burned, after which the land was broken up (plowed) by the use of a very stout plow, and three or four, sometimes as many as seven, yoke of oxen, hitched one team ahead of another. This stout plow was almost always a home- made affair, constructed of wood, excepting the coulter and the share. This plow cut off and turned over oak-grubs (small stumps and roots) that were three or four inches in diameter. An axe was carried along to cut off obstructions and to release the plow when caught by roots. The driver carried a whipstock eight feet long, holding a lash made of home-tanned woodchuck skin. He went back and forth along the team, touching up Bright, Broad, Brim, Tom, Jerry, and the rest, as necessity seemed to dictate, seeing that each did his part of the work. A breaking-up team had a regular vocation, like threshing machines of today, and went from place to place at about five dollars per day.
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After stumps were partially gone, it was often the practice to use a yoke of oxen next the plow and a horse-team ahead, driven by a boy of 17 to 20, and he soon regarded it as a sleepy job of little interest.
The man at the plow had all he could attend to in looking out for stumps, stones and roots. Sometimes they stirred up a nest of yellow-jackets or bumblebees that had to be humored, or ex- terminated when possible. This served to break up the monotony.
I remember to have seen a plow with a wooden moldboard and only one handle. Wood's patent was the first plow with a cast- iron moldboard that I remember to have seen or used. I have read of a prejudice among farmers against using an iron plow on the ground that it poisoned the land for crops, but I never heard of this among the farmers of southern Michigan. A friend from North Carolina told me that in his state the wooden moldboard was often covered with the hard skin of a garpike or bill-fish, and that it was a great improvement over wood alone. On rough, new land the farmer required a boy to ride and guide the horse, as he looked after the shovel plow.
Heavy ox-carts were not uncommon, as they could get about rough ground to better advantage. Sleds were mostly home-made, the runners being natural crook for the turned-up apex, and shod with ironwood or cast-iron shoes, made at the nearest foundry. A cart or wagon could not be bought of a dealer or manufacturer, as there were none, at least not in our part of the state. When wanting a wagon, the farmer held a council with a wheelwright, who had his shop near a blacksmith shop. The wagon-maker got up the wood-work to order, the farmer bought his iron, and the blacksmith ironed the vehicle, and one of the three put on a coat or two of red paint.
In the '30s wild flowers were abundant almost everywhere. There were a few scattering weeds, mostly natives of the neighbor- hood.
PESTS AND ANNOYANCES.
Potatoes knew no blight, no sun scald, no scab, no rot; the Colorado beetle had not migrated eastward. In leaf mold of the virgin soil the potatoes were unmolested and abundant, often crowding each other in the hill. Wheat rusted, but the midge and the Hessian fly had not arrived. Smut was uncommon, and yet the wheat crop was not without its enemies. While seeding in
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
autumn the farmer had often to guard his recently-sown wheat by killing or frightening wild pigeons which appeared in immense flocks. In October, deer frequented the young wheat to gather flesh for a long winter. In some portions of the southwestern counties in open winters, wild geese trampled down and fed on the wheat when not too far from a lake or pond. In cold weather the geese kept swimming about to keep the ice from closing in.
Spring frosts were more troublesome than now. Black, gray, and red squirrels carried off some wheat. At times of corn-plant- ing, chipmunks (striped ground squirrels) must be shot or caught with a trap, consisting of a short board under which was a baited figure-four trap. Larger squirrels and coon were sometimes very annoying, as they were fond of roasting ears or even older corn. On one frosty morning a man, of course without club, gun, or dog, found five coons on one corn shock. The coons all escaped, in- stead of having their hides nailed on the north side of the house or barn. In the fall and winter, large flocks of quail, and occasion- ally flocks of wild turkeys, ate some of the corn left in the shock on account of mismanagement or illness of the owner of the farm.
At one time my brother and I made a trap about eight feet square, of sticks, covering well with corn, unhusked. In a day or two, watching from the house, we saw eight turkeys not far from the trap, and not long after, we were delighted to see the trap spring and only seven turkeys depart. We had caught a turkey ! This was as good as a circus for the boys.
THE LIVE STOCK.
During winter and spring when fodder became scarce, trees were cut down, and the cattle were driven to the tree tops to browse on the buds and tender parts of the limbs. The young branches of black ash were the favorite for this purpose, as they were very large and tender. Wheat was cut with a cradle, some- times with a sickle, and raked and bound by hand. It was threshed with a flail and cleaned by tossing up a shovelful at a time, where it was exposed to a strong wind. Later the open threshing ma- chine, having no carrier or separator, was employed. Cheap mills soon sprang up over the country, where farmers had their wheat ground by giving one-tenth toll for the work.
Horses were a mixed lot, mostly of an inferior grade; cattle were also a mixed lot, many of them entitled to the name "scrub."
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Most of them ran at large, picking a living wherever it was to be found. One of the leaders was supplied with a bell, which told where the herd could be located, if they were not lying down. Sometimes they strayed away. Usually most of them were un- ruly, and would let down and jump fences to beat all. To pre- vent animals from jumping or crawling through a fence, almost everything had on its head or neck a poke or yoke of some style. This was true of cattle or horses. Pigs had a yoke on the neck which stuck up above and below the head to prevent them from crawling through the fence. The pigs were often very slim and hungry. I have heard that in some places they kept pigs from getting through a rail fence by tying a knot in the tail, but I never actually saw a pig so hampered. Geese had their necks adorned with yokes. Pigs were variable in quality, and got much of their living in the woods, especially in fall and early winter, eating beechnuts and acorns.
Nearly every farmer knew enough to butcher pigs and cattle, but experts of a crude sort were to be had in almost every neigh- borhood.
The United States mail soon penetrated every new settle- ment. There were very few letters or papers. Once a week the mail bag was taken on horseback over the route. Postage on a letter was twenty-five cents and was paid by the one receiving it. Each person had to learn how to fold a letter written on fools-cap paper, as there were no envelopes. It required about a month to get a letter from Western New York to Southern Michigan, a dis- tance of about 500 miles. When a person was to make a visit to his friends in the east, all the neighbors took advantage of the fact and sent letters by the traveler.
EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.
There were very few papers, no such thing as a magazine, and very few books to be found in the houses of the pioneers. I re- member only two books that could interest young persons; one of them was Robinson Crusoe, the other was an account of a man by the name of Robinson, who kept a diary while he was wander- ing about the Sahara desert as a captive by Arabs.
The schoolhouse was cheap, home-made, and inconvenient, and school was taught by most anyone who could be found willing to undertake the job. The benches consisted of slabs, supported
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
by legs inserted in auger-holes from the round side of the slab. There was a chance to write in a copy book, the teacher making pens out of goose-quills. School tax was paid by rate bills, a rule which was favored by most of the wealthiest men, especially those with small families. There was no grammar taught and no blackboard on the walls. The teacher usually boarded around. Attending college was not thought of. Science was crude and elementary. No women served as clerks in stores or anything of the kind.
Amusements were very few and simple in character. There were tea parties, quilting, husking, logging bees, and barn raisings. Boys were enthusiastic over washing sheep, visiting a neighbor- ing lake for a swim, and for catching fish.
Science had not yet become prominent enough to prevent the reign of superstition. Farmers relied on the almanac for the phases of the weather, and the moon, learning by these rules when to plant potatoes, kill hogs and other operations. Gradually a kind of aristocracy crept in, the first symptoms of which were the possession of a large brass kettle, and a large iron kettle, known as a potash kettle. This was convenient for scalding hogs, cook- ing food for cattle, and for various other purposes. Later, some of the wealthiest purchased some silver-plated knives and forks, and a silk dress now and then.
Religious exercises were usually held in the nearest school- house about once a month or once in two weeks. The country doctor rode on horseback for long distances, carrying medicines in saddlebags.
The roads were almost always poor, and often terrible. Peo- ple frequently went on foot from place to place, or rode in lumber wagons, sometimes over a road of poles on stringers a quarter of a mile long, without dirt or gravel on top. This was a corduroy road, long to be remembered by anyone who has ever ridden over such a thing in a wagon without springs .- Written by Professor W. J. Beal, of the Michigan Agricultural College, and published in "Pioneer Collections."
OLD TIMES FROM A WOMAN'S STANDPOINT. BY MRS. HENRY CHURCH.
The following paper was written by Mrs. Henry Church, a pioneer of the county, at Emporia, Kansas, and delivered by Mrs.
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J. J. Packard before the Woman's Club of Sturgis, in March, 1910. The editor of the St. Joseph county history is especially indebted to Mrs. George B. Reading and Mrs. R. C. Hamilton for a copy of the reproduced paper.
"Madam President and Ladies:
"I labor under great difficulty in furnishing incidents of pio- neer life, with all records of the same hundreds of miles away, and only a desire to once more contribute in a place where I have ever found benefit and happiness could tempt me to write under such adverse circumstances.
"From memory, I can relate, as told at pioneer meetings, of the long journeys over nearly impassable roads as they dragged their weary way, with wives and children nearly exhausted and of the joy when they reached their destination; of the hastily built cabins; of the wandering away of the stock not yet wonted to the new home and of the precious time lost in hunting it; of the malaria that came from the newly broken sod, causing fever and ague, freezing first the very marrow in their bones, followed by a burning fever and racking pain; after which, pale and trembling the victims would take up their work till a recurrence of the same and so for weeks many times until the disease would wear itself out. Of nights, when the wolves, fierce with hunger, would howl around them to be driven away, only by hurling firebrands in their midst, from which they would slink away in terror.
"One thing I would state, that while the records only tell of the struggles of men in the new life, that brave as he may have been, the wife who followed was also worth her full meed of praise ; she, who with tear-stained cheeks turned her back on parent and friends and left the endearing associations of a life- time to face the vicissitudes of an untried life.
"In the absence of facts, will describe things as they were used, showing not so much the pioneer life as the advancement in every direction that has been made and which attribute much to applying the power of steam to machinery, cheapening produc- tion and placing the blessings of life in the hands of many, and to the busy brain so fertile in its power of intuition. I will simply describe things as I remember them, hoping, if I fail to interest, that you will patiently listen between naps until the reading is ended.
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"While I now quote a letter I have before me, giving a description of the beautiful prairie which now makes our home, I will state that the letter was written with a pen from a quill plucked from a goose-they had no other kind-made with a pen- knife, sharpened and kept for the purpose. Beside the writer was a little dish of black sand brought from far away and only found in one place in the world. As there were no blotters, this was sifted over the paper as the ink flowed too freely to absorb it. Afterward every grain had to be gathered up to be used again. At that time there were no envelopes and the last sheet was left blank and the letter folded so this sheet would slip over to be fastened by wafers. The postage was twenty-five cents, too much for poor pioneers. So my father would take a newspaper and write with skimmed milk, which, when held to the fire, would scorch and thus show the writing, bringing happiness at the ex- pense of our dear Uncle Samuel.
"I now quote : 'I have a most beautiful situation in the center of a small prairie about two miles across; a small village, three stores, three taverns and three doctors. This is one of the finest countries I ever saw, being the most productive. Good water, distance sixty feet. Good wheat, old, seven shillings per bushel; corn, three to four shillings per bushel. Dried apples, $3.00 per bushel.
" 'If you could see this prairie, as it is now, covered with fields of wheat, corn and oats, frequently from one to two hundred acres in a field ! Inhabitants are beginning to set out orchards, etc., etc.'
"This village was called 'Sherman' the part lying east of Farr's hotel; and 'Ivanhoe' the part lying west of that place. Eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, the year before the letter was written, was ever known as the sickly season. There were not enough well to care for the sick. There were two men who were coffin makers. I might say right here, these coffins were of wood widening to give room for the shoulders, then tapering to the feet, lined with glazed cambric and pinked to relieve its bareness. The men worked at them by night, and by day went from house to house to relieve the necessities of the sick. A friend of mine buried her mother in the cemetery, marked the grave by those around it. Sickness prevented her visiting it for two weeks; then the graves had so multiplied that she never found her resting place. Physicians were compelled to hire drivers so they could sleep while riding. Do not think of them starting out with a
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nice little case filled with nicer medicines, but with a pair of un- couth saddlebags with sloping covers fastened with a strap and united with a strip of soft leather six or eight inches wide and long enough to rest each side of the saddle if riding on horseback. In- side were many packages of roots and herbs, replaced now by fluid extracts, quantities of calomel and jalap, and pills almost inde- scribable in their horrid taste and tremendous size. No spoon of sauce would be great enough so they would not sicken, and worse still, it seemed, it would take hours to remove the taste from the throat. An old man put one in a tumbler with a little water to carry it down. For hours it lay in his throat, driving sleep away. When he arose in the morning he found it in a dish where he had placed it the night before. Afterwards there was sickness but never to such an extent.
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