USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 46
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 46
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Backward, turn backward, oh Time, in thy flight.
Pioneer life in all time has been characterized by incidents peculiar either to the locality or the make-up of the pioneers
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themselves. Western pioneer life has been subjected to condi- tions common to the experience of all. The primary element in the composition of those who cut loose from the moorings of civ- ilization and battled successfully with the hardships and priva- tions incident to settlement in a new and undeveloped country, without companions, save the members of their own families, the inhabitants of the forest in human and animal form, away from the echoes of civilization, depending for protection on, and the means of subsistence upon his own good right arm, was " pluck" and determination backed by a deliberate purpose to succeed.
Thus endowed, the pioneer set forth upon his long journey through the wilderness and pathless solitudes to his destination in the West. And after having successfully accomplished the same, and selected his location, he determined the spot where his home should be, made an "opening in the woods" and constructed his rude cabin after the prescribed model. Descriptively, it was composed of round logs or poles, and displayed the ingenuity of the pioneer and the poverty of his resources; about 10x16 feet in area, with a single door and window, the latter often closed with a greased paper instead of glass, and the door frequently closed with a simple blanket, the fireplace constructed of such loose stones as could be found, the chimney built up of sticks protected with a covering of mud, and the roof of clapboards held down by weight poles-this completed the tout ensemble of these early pio- neer homes. At first there was often no floor but the ground, but generally slabs split from unseasoned timber and smoothed with a common chopping ax were made to do good service as a protec- tion from the bare earth. When doors were made these " punch- eons" served as the material from which they were constructed, wooden pins taking the place of nails, and wooden hinges and latch and bars serving the purpose of the modern builders' hard- ware. The above description may be taken as a type of the ma- jority of the dwellings first erected by the pioneers of De Kalb County, although there were exceptions, some of the cabins hav- ing been constructed upon a more elaborate plan, while many were still more rude and indifferent.
A certain pioneer who settled near the present site of Union Star is said to have erected a log dwelling which differed from
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the regulation cabin, in that it had but three walls, one side hav- ing been left entirely open. Before this open space in winter weather was kept burning a large log heap fire, the heat of which penetrating the building kept the apartment comfortably warm, even when the mercury was hovering in the region of zero. The good wife cooked her meals by the fire, and with a roof over- head composed of brush and prairie hay, the pioneer family found themselves comfortably sheltered, and managed to spend their first winter in the new home without suffering any severe inconveniences.
The interior of the settler's cabin was in harmony with the rude simplicity of its outward construction. The furniture was unique and peculiar, household conveniences being few and of the most primitive pattern. The pioneer brought nothing with him but what the necessities of the situation demanded. One wagon generally sufficed to bring the family, household furni- ture, farming implements, and frequently two or three months' provisions. Hence, it requires no great amount of consideration to conclude that luxuries or even comforts could find no place in such an outfit, and so the pioneer, after providing a shelter, found his skill and ingenuity taxed to their utmost to supply the deficiency. It was necessary to manufacture tables, chairs, bed- steads, etc., before they could be used, and some of the most striking incidents of frontier life are founded upon this almost universal dearth of ordinary comforts. Hand tools were always a part of the load when possessed by the emigrant, but in the absence of these the common chopping ax accomplished all that was necessary. Blocks of wood, or benches made of puncheons, took the place of chairs, the table being generally the "old family chest" fortunately brought with the family as a packing box. Bedsteads were often constructed in the corner of the cabin with a single leg, the two sides of the structure supporting the rest of the bedstead, which was framed in the logs. Upon this were placed impromptu seats, which gave support to a tick filled with leaves or prairie hay. A similar ingenuity provided kitchen and table utensils, which consisted principally of articles manu- factured out of wood, such as noggins, trays, bowls, spoons, milk pails, churns, etc. In each dwelling the wide fireplace shed
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abroad its genial warmth of hospitality, or aided in the prepara- tion of the table's cheer. The crane hung with iron pots and kettles, and the Dutch oven half submerged in coals, were in all cabins the evidences of "things not seen," and furnished forth under the skillful guidance of the deft housewife table-fare which is still sighed for as the "grace of a day that is dead." The rich corn pone, or, when so exceptionally fortunate as to be able to use flour, the hop yeast or "salt rising " bread, the fresh, luscious vegetables, venison steak and other game, are memories that more pretentious days have not dimmed in the hearts of the pioneers.
The frontier home, as a rule, contained but one room, which served all the domestic and social purposes of the family alike unchanged. Curtains arranged about the beds suggested the retirement of sleeping apartments, while the cheerful blaze of the fireplace afforded an unstinted glow to the whole establishment. In this primitive home, however crowded, the stranger or foot- sore traveler was received with a cordiality which sweetened his welcome, as hospitality was a virtue cultivated to perfection among the generous-hearted pioneers of our western country. "The women of those days ate not the bread of idleness. They were indeed the helpmeets of father, brother and husband, and no- where in the world did man prove such an unbalanced, worthless machine as the unmarried pioneer in the western wild. While the man with masterful energy conquered the difficulties of the new country and asserted his sovereignty over an unsubdued wilderness, it was woman's hand that turned its asperities into blessings, and made conquered nature the handmaid of civiliza- tion." The accepted life of the pioneer woman was to marry, bear and rear children, prepare the household food, card, spin, dye, weave, make garments for the family, and discharge the sacred duty of caring for the afflicted and distressed. Her whole life was given over to rugged toilsome duty, and about her homely industries gathered all the pride of womanly achievments, the mild dissipation of society and the hopes of future compe- tence. Some of these cheerful dames yet live to recount the privations and manifold hardships, as well as the charms of their early experience in the new and undeveloped county of De Kalb,
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and seem to regret the good old times which will never come again. All honor to them as hand in hand with the venerable sharer of their early toil they go onward to the twilight and the journey's end, forming a picture which many grateful hearts may wish shall never fade.
With all the helpful reliance of the good wife and mother in- doors, there was plenty to engage the vigorous activity of the male portion of the family in the woods and fields. The exigencies of the situation allowed no second experiment, and a life-time success or failure hung upon the efforts of the pioneer.
The labor of the farm was carried on under the most dis- couraging circumstances. The rude agricultural implements, and the too often inadequate supply of these, allowed of no economi- cal expenditure of strength, and for the first few years the pio- neer's life was a hand to hand struggle with adversity. Perhaps one of the most serious of the many discouragements was the little value of the crop for which he had labored through heat, cold and sickness. The markets were distant, the cost of trans- portation considerable, and the products of a year's labor, when sold, would scarcely bring the cost of getting it to the purchaser. But the pioneers, trained in the rugged schools of experience, had learned to labor and to wait, and in due time they triumphed. When roads began to be established and the flow of immigration increased, towns sprang up, home markets were pro- vided and stimulated by these improvements, the settler began to look beyond the difficulties of his surroundings, and renew his courage.
As settlers increased in numbers a common cause was made in meeting the wants of each other, helping for help again. The idea of assisting another for a pecuniary consideration never obtruded itself in those pioneer days. No greater insult could have been offered then than a hint that money was to pay for a neighbor's help. If a cabin was to be raised, all the occasion de- manded of the neighbors far and near was a knowledge of the time and place; distance was nothing, and other less pressing en- gagements had to succumb to the needed assistance.
A new arrival was always welcomed to the community, and a neighborhood which scarcely knew limits hastened to lend its
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friendly offices in rearing a cabin. A day was appointed, and no invitation was needed to draw together a company of willing, capable hands. To assist in raising a dwelling for a new settler was a duty which the unwritten law of the community laid upon every able-bodied man, and to know of the occasion was a suffi- cient invitation. On gathering, one party was told off as chop- pers, whose business it was to cut the logs of proper dimensions; a man and team brought these logs to the site of the proposed dwelling; others assorted, saddled, and otherwise prepared the timber to form the structure, which was frequently finished in one day and occupied the next. As with house-raisings, so with log rollings in those days of "mutual aid associations " when class distinctions were unknown, and when a community of wants made every man a genuine neighbor to his fellows.
PRIMITIVE SOCIETY.
Of the nature of the early society of De Kalb we can only speak in a general way. As already intimated the people were eminently sociable, and such thing as difference in wealth and observance of rank were unknown in a community where the richest were poor, and the poor lived in abundance. Under such circumstances there was no chance for the growth of caste, and families for miles around were linked together by the social cus- toms of the times, which in the spirit of true democracy drew the line at moral worth alone. Honor became a prominent word in the early vocabulary, and a person guilty of dishonest practices was speedily and effectually ostracised by the community. Friendships were warm and constant. Unbounded hospitality which freely offered entertainment to neighbor or stranger pre- vailed. Neighborhoods lived, worked, feasted or suffered to- gether in cordial harmony; families became mutually interested in the general good, so that every one was the natural ally of each one-ready to assist him in distress, or congratulate him in success. The limits of neighborhoods extended over a large area, and a ride of several miles on horseback to pay a friendly visit, was an unnoted and frequent occurrence. Social gather- ings were frequent, and were closely allied to the useful occupa- tions. Meetings to raise cabins, barns, etc., to roll up logs in a
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new clearing, or later for the opening of new roads, were occa- sions when the men, after a hard day's work would spend the evening in the rough sports of the period.
Every person has need of amusement and recreation, the desire for such being inherent in man. In our day there are many means devised for the gratification of this desire, such as plays, theaters, concerts, dancing, masquerades and the more vigorous field sports of base ball, to all of which the pioneers were strangers except dancing, which was indulged in at intervals. The favorite pastimes seem to have been the shooting match, and various kinds of athletic sports such as foot racing, jump- ing, lifting weights, wrestling etc., in which all were only too anxious to test their strength and skill.
Profanity and drinking are said to have been prominent characteristics of all social gatherings. Reference to ardent spirits is not meant to reflect any discredit to those who used alcoholic stimulants. The use of intoxicants was nearly universal, and became one of the unbroken customs of the times. Liquors were regarded as any other cheer, and were even partaken of by the temperate. For a short time the first settlers were abstainers from the force of circumstances. The nearest point where whisky could be obtained was many miles away, and its importation and manufacture was for some time rendered exceedingly difficult. But it was hardly to be expected that a class of people who had been educated to its use as a regular beverage would be forced to settle down to the practice of total abstinence, by difficul- ties which they braved without hesitation for objects of a much less pressing nature. When its manufacture was first intro- duced into the counties of Northwest Missouri has not been ascertained, but certain it is that generous supplies soon found its way into the cabins of the early pioneers. It rapidly came into general use and formed a part, not only of every public enter- tainment but of every cabin's hospitality. The most reputable thought it no disgrace to engage in its manufacture, and to with- hold it upon any occasion was considered a breach of hospitality. There were some, however, who were exceptions to the general rule. These were usually Methodists whose discipline required abstinence, but it was a cause of some reproach among members
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of other religious bodies; some even went so far as to suggest that they probably " drank behind the door. "
Recurring again to amusements, there were gatherings in which the fair sex took the leading part, such as quiltings and spinning bees. Toward evening the younger men would assem- ble and amuse themselves by athletic exercises without, until the removal of the quilt, when a supper table, groaning under its generous load of delicacies, invited the hungry crowd. At the conclusion of the feast the room was cleared, after which came on plays of various kinds, interlarded with jokes and bursts of laughter till the " wee sma " hours, when the dispersion took place. Corn huskings and in the later years apple cuttings en- gaged both sexes, and were popular sources of rude but absorbing amusement.
Courtship and marriage was marked by the same rude zest. There was little romance and less formalty in pioneer times, and marriage was viewed with far more practical concern then than now. There was little philandering. The character of the pioneer recreations brought the young of both sexes frequently together, and marriages were made up with little previous formality. Weddings were generally public occasions, and the only ones in the social regime of the frontier that were not as- sociated with a season of vigorous, physical exertion. They were anticipated therefore with lively satisfaction, and frequently at- tended by a revel in which the wildest spirit of fun and frolic ruled the hour. The wedding commonly occured in the day time, the ceremony following the arrival of the company. A prominent feature of the joyful occasion was the dinner, made up of a great variety of substantial food and whisky, after which dancing and games were begun, and generally kept up till morning.
"About 9 or 10 o'clock, a deputation of the younger ladies stole off the bride and put her to bed in the loft; and this done a delegation of young men took the groom and placed him snugly beside her. The merriment then went on, and if seats were scarce, as was generally the case in the western cabins, the young men when not engaged upon the floor were obliged to offer their laps as seats for the girls, an offer seldom rejected. On the following day the 'infair' would be held at the cabin of the
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groom's father, and thither the picturesque cavalcade, headed by the bride and groom, would early wend its way. Here the scenes of the wedding occasion would frequently be re-enacted with such new accompaniments as new members of the company could suggest, or the inventions of a night of excited genius had brought forth."
The land first cultivated by the pioneers was a few acres im- mediately surrounding or near their cabins. These farms or patches, as they would now be called, were always in the timber and planted in corn, pumpkins, melons, potatoes, and a few other vegetables. Wheat for some time was not generally cultivated, as there were few mills, hence it was of little service. Most of the first settlers were from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and the older counties of Missouri where the land is timbered, and as already stated, they looked upon the broad expanse of prairie as an uninhabitable desert. The idea of hauling rails, firewood and building material several miles was an idea not to be thought of by them. It was a current remark by many of the people that "the greatest drawback to the country was the great scarcity of timber." The question of cultivating the prairies was often dis- cussed, but the conclusion generally arrived at was that this broad expanse of natural meadow was designed for a great meadow, and must forever remain as such.
The roots of the prairie grass were almost as tough as hickory withes, and the small bar share and other rude plows used by the pioneers were not equal to the task of breaking the stubborn glebe. But as settlers increased, and the timbered lands were taken up, necessity developed the heavy sod plow, which, though in comparison to modern inventions seems illy conceived, never- theless revolutionized in a great measure the farming of pioneer days.
After it was demonstrated that the prairie properly cultivated produced equally well if not better than the timber lands, settle- ments multiplied quite rapidly, and in certain seasons these gigantic plows drawn by several yoke of oxen, or as many teams of horses, could have been seen in almost every direction turning under the rank prairie growth.
The sod was found tough and so tenacious that the plow
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turned out an unbroken strip of earth several rods in length. Occasionally this stubborn glebe would turn back to its natural position, and the plowman was then forced to lift by hand yards of the unwilling turf. The expenditure of all this labor was generally well repaid the first year if the sod became thoroughly rotted, even though it produced but a small crop. The second year a smaller plow was used to turn the sod back again. Be- sides this a small shovel plow was subsequently added which, with the hoe, made up the sum total of the farmer's implements until harvest, when the old reap hook, cradle, scythe and flail came into use. Corn was at first the only crop planted, and for some time furnished food for both man and beast. While the sod was being turned over, it was customary to drop the corn in the edge of the furrow, which grew and produced an inferior crop known as " sod corn."
Other crops were raised as the years went by, and it early became demonstrated that all the fruits and cereals indigenous to this latitude could be abundantly produced on the prairies. Experiments were made in an early day with cotton, tobacco and hemp, the last two of which proved sources of considerable revenue to the pioneers.
Each settler at first brought his team and cows. Horses were generally used first, but oxen were soon . found to be equally as serviceable, and involved a less outlay of capital. Hogs were soon secured and multiplied. These, fattening upon. the mast which the timber supplied in abundance, not only afforded the farmer an excellent meat, but also afforded a source of income, which though not so considerable as now was of great advantage, when a little money went a great way. The wild range of wild grass provided the most nutritious of pasturage, which sufficed for the stock with a very little addition of grain.
Among the many obstacles of early farming in De Kalb Coun- ty were the prairie fires which were almost as regular a phenomena as the recurring seasons, and while fortunately they were less de- structive than the uninitiated might expect, they were none the less serious to deal with. As already stated, a heavy growth of coarse grass from four to eight feet high covered the prairies and all the upland timber, as well as much of the bottom land. When 21A .
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the grass became dry in autumn, or killed by the frost, it furnished material for vast conflagrations, which frequently swept over the country with destructive force, consuming everything of a dry nature in its pathway, and in some instances burning up wild animals overtaken by it in its devastating course. These fires broke out sometimes by accident, but were frequently started on purpose to burn the grass off, so that people could see to hunt to better advantage. When the farms and settlements were few this was not objected to, but as fences, houses, and other build- ings increased, the great danger to property by these fires kept the farmers upon the alert to guard against the evil. It was the habit of many of the farmers to plow a few furrows along the line of their fences, and then a few rods further out to plow another series of furrows. Between these lines of plowing the grass was burned, care being taken that the flames did not leap these bar- riers. This arrangement, when successfully carried out, proved a sufficient protection against an ordinary fire, as the flames would not leap the space thus bared of fuel. The operation, however, often proved the direct cause of igniting the prairie beyond, and once thoroughly fired there was no checking its fury until a stream or heavy body of timber checked its further progress.
As may be imagined from the height of the grass, a fire on the prairie at that time was a grand and fearful spectacle, es- pecially at night. When fanned by a strong wind the flames rose to a height of twenty or thirty feet, presenting on the large prai- ries an unbroken wall of fire miles in extent, having the form of a semi-circle, with the convex side in front, and sending forth a roar that could be heard at a great distance. With a heavy wind the flames advanced so rapidly that instances occurred where per- sons, even on horseback, barely escaped being overtaken before reaching a place of safety.
MILLS AND MARKETS.
In giving a history of the mechanical arts as they were exer- cised at an early period in the settlement of this western country, we have already presented a people driven by necessity to per- form works of mechanical skill far beyond what a person enjoy- ing all the advantages of civilization could expect from a popula-
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tion placed in such straitened circumstances. For a few years in some of the settlements the pioneers were thrown almost entirely upon their own resources. The nearest point where flour could be got or wheat ground was at distant points in some of the older adjacent counties. A temporary supply of corn was occasionally secured from some older settler, who had harvested a crop which sufficed until the growing corn became of sufficient size to eat. When the kernel was sufficiently firm the grater was brought into requisition, and a sort of bread and porridge made. When the grain became harder, and the grater no longer effective, the mortar was brought into requisition. Descriptively the mortar or hominy mill consisted of a large block of wood, two or three feet in length, and from one to two feet in diameter, set endwise on the ground, the upper end scooped out so as to form a hollow, capable of holding from a peck to half a bushel of grain. The corn was put into this opening and pounded with a maul or other heavy weight made for the purpose. These primitive mills were sometimes made in the stump of a tree when conveniently situ- ated, the cavity being chiseled or burned out. The operation of manufacturing meal by these mills was in the fullest sense "earn- ing bread by the sweat of the brow."
The hand mill which came into use a little later was superior to the grater and hominy block. It was made of two circular stones, the lower of which was called the bed and the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop, with a spout for dis- charging the meal. The grain was put into an opening in the runner by hand, and the same, turned by a laborious process, ground a coarse article of meal. Although the streams of the county afforded fair sites for water mills, the necessary machinery and mechanical skill were for some time wanting. Horse mills came in to supply this need, and, while they were called corn crackers, did much more effective service than the name would imply. These consisted of a small set of "nigger head " buhrs propelled by a large cog-wheel set upon a perpendicular axis. The wheel was often ten or twelve feet in diameter. In the lower part of this axis horizontal levers were attached so that two teams might give motion to the machinery. They ground very slowly, and the patron was obliged not only to furnish the motive power
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