USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Missouri > Part 19
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
and in fact almost the only means of lighting the houses at that time. It was also used in connection with beeswax and other non-perishable things as something to be exchanged in the towns and cities for goods. Beeswax and tallow were considered a part of the currency of the realm, and legal tender in the matter of exchange for other products.
Any account of the pioneer people and conditions which left out the subject of marriage, the most sacred contract, and its attendant inci- dents would be incomplete. Early marriag has always been the rule among pioneers, and has been encouraged. The young people had the greatest freedom of social intercourse; parents were not inclined to be strict, and the word "chaperon" was not in the lexicons of that day. As a consequence marriages were contracted without the intervention of parents or other relatives. It can truthfully be said that most of them were "love matches," untarnished by commercialism or convenience. It is true a few of the young people found it easier to fall in love with one of the opposite sex whose father had a thousand acres of land than with one whose father had only eighty acres, but such cases were rare.
Marriage ceremonies were frequently brief almost to the point of being rude. There were no ring services, no giving away of the bride and seldom any music, as organs and pianos had not yet come into the homes of the people. At well ordered weddings the ceremony was solemn- ized by a minister of the bride's church, or by a minister of some other church, as agreed upon by the contracting parties. As a rule the mar- riage took place at the home of the bride, there being very few church weddings. There were many customs occurrent at weddings, wise and unwise. Some of these were uncouth, and almost barbaric, "more honored in the breach than in the observance." Happily all these customs did not accompany each wedding. No banns were ever published, and no marriage license was required. Persons contemplating marriage were supposed to be of lawful age; the man twenty-one years old and the woman eighteen. It was the custom for the minister or officer officiating to call for objec- tions before commencing the ceremony. He would explain the intention of the couple before him to be married, giving their names, and say, "If any person now present knows of any reason why this couple should not be joined in the holy bonds of matrimony, let him now state his objec- tions, or forever after hold his peace." Sometimes at the conclusion of the ceremony the preacher would kiss the bride, when all the men guests would feel privileged by this example to do the same, and in the meantime
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
the bridegroom went about kissing all the women in attendance. The germ theory of disease had not yet been promulgated.
The wedding dinner was the very best that could be prepared by the bride's family. The bill of fare included two or three kinds of meat, such as roast turkey or chicken, with most delicious and savory sauce and dressing, with sage flavoring ; also roast pig and some kind of game when it could be procured. With these meats were all the accessories that went to make us a sumptuous meal. There was cake a plenty. In addi- tion to the bride's cake there was jelly cake, fruit cake, pound cake, sweet cakes, "twister" doughnuts and ginger bread; there were pumpkin pies, mince pies and custard pies, and the most toothsome preserves of wild plums, crabapples, tomatoes and watermelon rinds; jam and jellies of various kinds, with oceans of milk and cream; also pickles of all sorts. Plenty of strong coffee crowned the feast. There were no courses, a part of everything prepared for the spread was put on the table, leaving a reserve for the second table. "There was always some mush in the pot." There were no waiters, the guests helped themselves and one another. There was no dessert, no napkins and no finger bowls.
On the day following the wedding came the infair. That was a party and dinner given by the parents of the groom, as a sort of welcome to the bride and her relatives. At this dinner practically the same guests were invited and in attendance as at the wedding.
A decidedly outlandish custom was that of "bedding" the bride and groom. Soon after the wedding dinner, then styled "supper," was over the young women took the bride and put her to bed in the room prepared for the couple. Some of the young men would then do the same with the groom. This being accomplished the unmarried guests of both sexes would repair together to the bridal chamber and exchange jokes and bandinage with the newlyweds. Another custom somewhat barbaric in its nature was the charivari (shivaree), which generally came on the night of the wedding. A charivari was a big, unmitigated noise, a wild tumult and uproar produced by every noise-making contraption imagin- able; guns, pistols, cowbells, tin pans, tin horns, conch-shells, whistles, rattle-traps, horse-fiiddles and dumb-bulls. Sometimes these numerous instruments of sound were accompanied by the yells of the operators. The perpetrators of a charavari generally held no malice against anyone. Their first purpose was hilarity and fun, and after that a desire to annoy the bride and groom sufficiently to bring from the groom a treat. It
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
was not usually intended to insult or harass the couples, or to express any dislike for them, or to indicate disapproval because of any incongruity in the marriage, such as disparity in age, or because one or both of the contracting parties had formerly been married, or that the bride was a divorcee. The youngest and most normal couples were chivaried the same as others.
The honeymoon was usually of the George Washington variety. It is historic that when Washington married Martha Custis they spent their honeymoon visiting relatives and friends who lived in a comparatively short distance from the Custis home in Virginia. The young people in the section of the country of which I write generally did something of that kind. They did not go on long journeys as is the fashion today. I presume there were several reasons why they did not do so. One was the matter of expense, and another the want of any comfortable or rapid means of transportation, practically the only method of traveling at that time being on horseback or in wagons.
The Nimrod of that day did not often return empty handed from his hunting excursions. There were still remaining some deer and occasional wild geese. Wild Turkeys, quails, ducks, prairie chickens, wood pheasants and pigeons were plentiful. Quails, ducks, prairie chickens and pigeons especially abounded. The passenger or wild pigeon visited the country in immense flocks almost countless in numbers. If they alighted to roost in a grove of small timber, so great was their number that many limbs would be broken by their weight. Hunters, visiting their roosting places by night with a torch, could kill thousands of them in a short time. It is said they could frequently be killed with clubs when they roosted low. This bird is now extinct. Quails were trapped in large numbers; they also afforded the hunter with dog and gun great sport. Wood pheasants were often found by the peculiar drumming sound they were want to make, and when driven to tree by a dog they would sit quietly to be shot by the hunter. The veriest pot-hunter could take an indifferent gun and a meal sack, go out into the fields in the morning of a fall or winter day, and in a few hours return with a sack full of prairie chickens. Usually only the breasts of these birds were used for food. There were also numerous rabbits which were hunted and killed, and sometimes eaten, but the killing of them was more for the sport than the food. Squirrels were quite numer- ous, both gray and fox, and were considered quite a delicacy. The flesh of the quail was more highly prized than that of any other game bird.
(15)
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Quail on toast was relished alike in the log cabin of the pioneer, and in the Delmonico Restaurant of New York City.
Neither the cost of living, nor the cost of dying was high in Cainsville sixty-three years ago. The following is a market list of prices published by the Bethany Star in its issue of December 27, 1860, which shows the extremely low prices of some of the common articles of food as compared with prices in Colorado Springs October 1, 1921. The difference is strik- ingly shown in the parrellel columns below:
1860
1921
Flour, per barrel
$8.00
$ 8.00
Meal, per bushel
.50
1.25
Coffee, per pound
.20
.50
Bacon sides, per pound
.10
.45
Bacon hams, per pound
.10
.35
Shoulder, per pound
.08
.20
Butter, per pound
.121/2
.50
Eggs, per dozen
.10
.50
Chickens, per dozen
1.00
13.00
Sugar, per pound
.121/2
.07
Tea, per pound
100
1.25
Beef cattle, per cwt.
3.00
6.50
Pork, per cwt.
1.00
6.75
1
1
1
1
I
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
1
I
I
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
It was not difficult for a family of two persons to live well on $400 per annum, this including the cost of clothing and house rent as well as food. The cost of amusements, upon which so much is spent by the people now, was practically nothing; a circus once a year, costing the family two or three dollars if they attended, was about the limit. There were no theaters or "movies" to call for money; there would occasionally be a magic-lantern show, the grandfather of the "movies"; a sleight-of-hand performance, or a lecture on phrenology for which a small admission was usually charged. The automobile and its up-keep was not then a feature of expense.
With the exception of chills and fever the people were as a rule quite healthy. They lived an active out-door life, giving them plenty of exercise, and their food was of the very simplest. The local doctors charged $1.00 a visit. There were no $35 .- per-week nurses; the sick were nursed by mem- bers of their own family, with a little aid from the neighbors. There were
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
no high-priced surgeons and no money-grabbing hospitals. The most prom- inent citizen in the community, upon his death, was given a funeral cost- ing the family from $15 to $25. Two men were sometimes employed to dig the grave at a cost of $5.00; the coffin would be made by the village car- penter or cabinet maker for $10 or $15; a common farm wagon was the hearse, and friends and neighbors were the undertakers.
The people at that time were handicapped to a considerable extent by financial conditions in the country. There had been a serious panic in 1857, and the country had not yet recovered from its effects. The panic was believed to have been the result of a bad currency system, wild specu- lation in land and over-construction of railroads. The banking affairs of the country were in a chaotic condition. Each state created its own bank- ing system, and in some of them the laws were imperfect or not per- fectly enforced. Banks of issue had been organized all over the country under the state laws, and were issuing bills without having the necessary, or, in fact, very often any gold reserve behind their notes. On this ac- count banks were continually suspending specie payment all over the United States, and this was usually equivalent to failure; at least it made their bills almost valueless. It was the day of "wildcat" money. The money received this name for the reason that among the first banks that. failed were some that had printed on their bills a picture of a wildcat. This bad currency caused great inconvenience in business. Bank bills that were good in the neighborhood of the issuing bank declined in value as they were carried father away. With such money in circulation the citi- zens never knew when they sold property for paper money whether they had real money, or only worthless promises to pay money. There was a periodical called "The Detector" which claimed to give the value of all the paper money in circulation and the standing of all the banks of issue then doing business in the United States. This periodical was published month- ly, and upon receipt of money the first thing the recipient did was to consult The Detector to ascertain the value of what he had received. This system of banking continued until the passage of the National Bank Act in 1864. There were some banks that at all times redeemed their bills in coin. One of them, as I remember, was the State Bank of Ohio.
As before stated there had been great speculation in land and town lots in 1857; prices rose rapidly, but the lands were usually heavily mort- gaged. There was a crisis in the fall of 1857, and the speculative house of cards fell. Many banks failed, merchants were ruined, railroads went
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
into bankruptcy and the financial disaster seemed complete. This condition led to some noticeable results. Banks were not being organized in new ter- ritory, and were therefore very infrequent in Northern Missouri; the near- est bank to Cainsville being at St. Joseph, Missouri. For want of safe banks, checks and bills of exchange could not be used. People coming to Missouri from some point in a distant state could not carry exchange, letters of credit or traveler's checks, as they do today, because there would frequently be no bank near the point to which they were coming to cash them. So the people who found it necessary to carry money for a consid- erable distance would often convert their property into gold, put the gold in a buckskin belt made for that purpose, which was then buckled around their bodies beneath their clothing; thus they became their own express. The want of a stable and abundant currency also led to much barter. It was a practice of some of the merchants to gather large quantities of beeswax, tallow, dry hides, the pelts of fur-bearing animals, such as the mink, racoon and skunk, and send the accumulation to St. Joseph by wagon and there exchange it for goods of whatever character they needed. There was also much barter among the farmers because of the scarcity of money.
I write almost wholly from memory, and may, therefore, be excused if I make some mistakes regarding people and events of over half a cen- tury ago. A Pepys would have kept a dairy, but I neglected to do so.
The adult population of Cainsville and vicinity in 1858 are nearly all dead, but they live again in their descendants, who abound. Even the boys and girls from ten to fifteen years of age, who were my school mates, are almost all gone. Among the first acquaintances I made after reaching Cainsville were Lilburn H. and Millard F. Oxford, familiarly known by their nicknames of "Bud" and "Polk" Oxford; James M. Moss, Jr., a son of Dick Moss, and John Robinett. Later I became acquainted with John M. Rogers and T. G. Rogers, Chesley B. Woodward, Alex Cain, Ralph O. Woodward and others. Only two of these mentioned are now living, Millard F. Oxford and Ralph O. Woodward. As far as I know, Millard F. Oxford, who has long been a prominent citizen of Cainsville, is now (October, 1921) the only person living in the town who was there when I came. Ralph O. Woodward lived on a farm adjoining the town. He is now an old and honored citizen of that section of the country, a man of excellent parts, who has stood all the tests imposed upon him by the vicissitudes of life.
In January, 1873, I left Cainsville, going to Bethany, and never re- turned except as a visitor. After living in Bethany twenty-six years, I
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
heeded the call of the West and removed to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where I have since lived.
The men of Cainsville and the country adjacent, at the time under con- sideration, while not by any means perfect, having as they did many of the foibles, vices and defects incident of frontier life and a pioneer people, yet they were in spite of all drawbacks quite well fitted by reason of their determination, endurance and adaptibility to be, and were, efficient units in a population intent upon developing and maintaining a great common- wealth like Missouri. For this they deserve much credit. In the affairs of everyday life they labored under many difficulties and were compelled to go forward as best they could without the help of needed business and social conveniences, such as money, credit, banking facilities, means of casy communication and rapid transportation. There was little money, even less credit, no bank near enough to be of any use, and the mails were carried weekly on horseback. There were no automobiles, no telephones, and no railroad or telegraph nearer than Chillicothe, a distance of forty miles, to which point all goods consigned to Cainsville were shipped. The most abundant thing in the country was land. The business of the people primarily, and almost exclusively, was farming and stock raising, yet they were destitute of effective means for carrying on that business, such means as almost every farmer has at his disposal today. Considering their surroundings, their success in accomplishing as much as they did is commendable, even remarkable. With a slight modification of language we may say of these Knights of the Plow, as the poet has said of the ancient Knights of the Sword:
"Their bones are dust, Their plowshares rust, Their souls are with the Saints we trust."
A PIONEER HOME.
CHAPTER XXXV
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Edgar S. Miner, president of the Miner and Frees Lumber Com- pary and one of the organizers of this company which for over forty years has been one of the most important industrial institutions of Harrison County. The Miner and Frees Lumber Company handle coal, lumber, cement, brick, tiles and all kinds of building material.
The Miner and Frees Company does an extensive business in two states; they have yards at Ridgeway, Missouri; Brimson, Missouri ; Coffey, Missouri; Spickard, Missouri; Gilman City, Missouri; Mound City, Missouri; Oregon, Missouri; Bethany, Missouri; Blythedale, Missouri; King City, Missouri; New Hampton, Missouri; Ford City, Missouri; and Leon, Iowa, the company operates fourteen yards in all and the capital and surplus of this company is $600,000. The following are the pres- ent officers of the company, E. S. Miner of Bethany, Missouri, president ; Elbert S. Miner, vice-president and treasurer; Lawrence Miner Crossan, secretary and R. M. Stanley, auditor. This company is also extensively interested in the banking business, including the First National Bank of Ridgeway, the Bank of Mount Mariah and the Bank of Coffey, Mis- souri.
Edgar S. Miner was born in Madison, Wisconsin, June 19, 1846, a son of Rev. S. E. and Mariah Catharine (Kelley) Miner, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New York. S. E. Miner, was a Congregational minister in early life and was the first minister of that denomination at Madison, Wisconsin. The old church which he built, where he preached there is still standing, and also the house where E. S. Miner was born, one block from the State Capitol. Later in life he engaged in the lumber business at Monroe. Juda and Broadhead, Wiscon- sin. He did an extensive business and was prominent throughout the state and was intiminately associated with the leading men of his time.
1
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
During the Civil War, although he was past the military age he took an active part in behalf of the cause of the Union and contributed his best efforts in that direction. He was chief sanitary officer and had supervision and the care of all the Wisconsin Troops that were sick or wounded during the Atlanta campaign and furloughed all soldiers home who were unfit for duty. He died at Gilman City, Missouri, while visiting his daughter, Mrs. George Richardson, and his remains were buried at Monroe, Wisconsin. The Miners belong to an old Colonial family which was founded at Stonington, Connecticut at an early day, and several members served in the Revolutionary War.
Edgar S. Miner was educated in the public schools and during the Civil War while he was still a mere boy, he ran away from home and enlisted in Company G, First Regiment, Wisconsin Cavalry, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of the Cumberland. He enlisted in November 1862, when he was a little past sixteen. During the course of his military career he took part in a number of important engagements and skirmishes although he was fortunately never wounded or taken prisoner. He was under General Sherman on the Atlanta campaign. He had one brother, Charles E. Miner, who was also a soldier in the Union Army and was serving under General Custer as sergeant when he was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. After the close of the war, Edgar S. Miner, was honorably discharged and mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky.
After he was discharged from the army, Mr. Miner returned to his home at Monroe and became foreman in his father's Lumber yard. He remained in that capacity until 1880 when he in partnership with Captain Benjamin Frees, established the Miner and Frees Lumber business at Bethany, Missouri. At that time there was no railroad in Harrison County and their first lumber was hauled from Lamoni, Iowa by wagons to Bethany, Missouri. This was the beginning of the Miner and Frees lumber business, which in forty years has reached its present magnitude and has become one of the important business concerns, not only of Harrison County but of the state of Missouri.
E. S. Miner was married in 1868, to Miss Ermina, Gardner, a native of Monroe, Wisconsin. She is a daughter of Hon. E. T. Gardner who was prominent in the affairs of that state and served as a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature and later was state senator. He was a prominent attorney and practiced for many years at Monroe, Wisconsin. Mrs. Miner had a brother, Capt. Silas E. Gardner, who
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
served as chief of scouts under General William T. Sherman, during the Civil War. He is now deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. Miner have been born the following children: Daisy, married E. M. Crossan, who is now deceased and she resides with her pare !nts at Bethany, and has one son, Lawrence M. Crossan, who served as lieutenant in the World War, and is now engaged in the automobile business at Bethany, and Shirley, who is now the wife of G. C. Zingerle, of Bethany.
Mr. Miner is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has always supported the policies and prin- ciples of the Republican party and takes a keen interest in political mat- ters and for many years he has been an active temperance worker. Mr. Miner is progressive and public spirited and has always stood ready to do his part for the betterment and upbuilding of his town and county.
Walton E. Todd, state bank examiner, was for years prior to his ap- pointment to this important position, one of Harrison County's widely known and successful bankers. Mr. Todd is a native of Harrison County, born near Hatfield, Missouri, July 17, 1888. He is a son of Richard D. and Jala (Underwood) Todd. Richard Todd is a native of Kentucky and came to this state in his boyhood days and for many years was engaged in farm- ing and the mercantile business in Harrison County. He is now living retired at Hatfield. His wife died in 1889 when Walton E. Todd of this review was about one year old.
Walton E. Todd received his early education in the public schools of Mercer County, Missouri. Later he attended Elliott's Business College at Burlington, Iowa, and was graduated from that institution in 1908. Earlier he served as a clerk in a mercantile house in Mercer County, and after graduating he engaged in the mercantile business with his father at Hat- field, Missouri. Some years later they disposed of the business and he ac- cepted the position of cashier of the Bank of Hatfield, which position he filled most successfully. He left Hatfield to become cashier of the Citizens Bank of Blythedale, in 1919. While at Blythedale, Mr. Todd became in- terested in the project of establishing the Bethany Trust Company and assisted in organizing that company in 1919. This company began busi- ness January 1, 1920, with Mr. Todd holding the position of assistant treasurer. Later he succeeded I. E. Nelson as treasurer of the institution
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
and was capably filling that position when he was appointed state bank examiner May 1, 1921.
Walton E. Todd was married March 26, 1910, to Miss Grace A. Brazzell of Hatfield, Missouri. She is a daughter of John P. and Alice (Dixon) Brazzell of Hatfield. To Mr. and Mrs. Todd has been born one son, LeRoy, born March 3, 1911.
Mr. Todd is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and Mrs. Todd are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Todd has been a close student in the practical field of banking and is well posted in the details of the many phases of this important business and is eminently qualified to fill the responsible position which he holds.
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