History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124

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"' The meeting-house' was a framed building. Its site was a high hill; its shape a rectangle, flanked with heavy porticoes, with seven windows upon each side. Every family was represented here on the Sabbath. The clergymen, who were often the secular as well as the spiritual advisers, were settled by major vote of the town, and tax-payers were assessed for his salary according to their ability. The people went to church on foot or on horseback, the wife riding behind the husband on a 'pillion.' Chaises, wagons, and sleighs were unknown. Sometimes whole families were taken to 'meeting' on an ox-sled. The meeting-houses had no stoves or furnaces, so that the worshipers were dependent for their comfort upon the ardor of the minister's exhortations and the fervor of their own religious emotions. Traveling was difficult and laborious. Neither men nor women were ever idle. Books were few; news-

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

papers were seldom seen at the country fireside. News from England did not reach the inland towns until five or six months after the occurrence of the events reported. Intelligence from New York reached New Hampshire in a week. In 1815 travel was mostly on horseback, the mail being so carried in many places.

"Inns or taverns in the thickest settlements were found in every four to eight miles. Feed for travelers' teams was: half-baiting of hay, four cents ; whole baiting, eight cents ; two quarts of oats, six cents. The bar-room fire- place was furnished with a loggerhead, hot at all times, for making 'flip.' The ' flip' was made of beer made from pumpkin dried on the crane in the kitchen fireplace, and a few dried apple-skins and a little bran. Half-mug ' flip,' or half-gill 'sling,' six cents. On the table was to be found a 'shortcake' and the ever-present decanter or bottle of rum.

" Women's labor was fifty cents per week. They spun and wove most of the cloth that was worn. Flannel that was dressed at the mill, for women's wear, was fifty cents a yard ; men's wear, one dollar.

" Farmers hired their help for nine or ten dollars a month - some clothing and the rest cash. Carpenters' wages, one dollar a day ; journeymen carpenters, fifteen dollars a month ; and apprentices to serve six or seven years had ten dollars the first year, twenty the second, thirty the third, and so on, and to clothe themselves.

" Breakfast generally consisted of potatoes roasted in the ashes, a ' bannock ' made of meal and water and baked on a maple chip set before the fire. Pork was plenty. If ' hash' was served, all ate from the same platter without plates or tablecloth. Apprentices and farm-boys had for supper a bowl of scalded milk and a brown crust, or bean porridge, or 'poprobin.' They had no tumblers, nor were they asked if they would have tea or coffee; it was, ' Please pass the mug !'"

The children of those days were expected to be quiet in the presence of their parents, and respectful in their manners and speech. " Early to bed and early to rise " was punctiliously enforced. Their food was plain, and with pure air and industrious habits they made stalwart men and long-lived women.

Carroll County Pioneers. - Two classes of persons, with very distinctly marked characteristics, penetrated this wilderness. The leaders were men of intelligence, energy, perseverance, and some had property. They had two objects in view : to furnish permanent homes for themselves and their posterity, and to acquire wealth by the rise of their lands. They brought horses, cows, swine, and sheep, and could supply their tables with meat, and in a short time had comfortable houses. Many of these pioneers were people of limited means and but little of this world's goods, but their brave hearts and willing hands stood them in good stead, and they patiently endured privations, sufferings, and discouragements unknown at the present day.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Hardships of the Settlers. - It is difficult for the present generation to con- ceive the hardships of the pioneers who a century and more ago invaded these forest wilds and determined to wring a livelihood from lands upon which the shadows of mountains lay at morn or eventide. Whether we read the accounts of the early inhabitants in Jackson, Conway, Bartlett, Albany, Ossipee, Sand- wich, Wakefield, Wolfeborough, etc., the trials are essentially the same. The perils of isolation, the fear of Indian raids, the ravages of wild beasts, the wrath of the rapid mountain torrents, the obstacles to communication which the vast wilderness interposed, -- every form of discomfort and danger was apparently indicated by these grand mountains as impassable barriers to intru- sion and occupation. But the adventurous spirit of man, implanted by the Supreme Being for his own wise purposes, carries him into the tangled forest, into new climates, and to foreign shores, and the great work of civilization goes on from year to year, from decade to decade, from century to century, and these forest solitudes are transformed into smiling fields, with manufactories and villages scattered through the intersecting valleys.

Privations, etc. - Living at a distance of many miles from the seaport towns, all heavy articles, such as salt, iron, lead, and in fact everything indis- pensable to civilized life that could not be procured from the soil or forest was obliged to be transported upon the backs of men or horses. One man once went eighty miles on foot through the woods to a lower settlement for a bushel of salt, the scarcity of which had produced sickness and suffering, and returned with it on his back. Several of the earliest settlers lived for years without any neighbors for miles. One man was obliged to go ten miles to a mill, and would carry a bushel of corn on his shoulder, and take it back in meal. But often these brave men did not even have the corn to be ground ; they were threat- ened with famine, and were obliged to send deputations thirty, fifty, and sixty miles to purchase grain. These families were tried by the freshets that tore up the rude bridges, swept off their barns, and even floated their houses on the meadows. On the Saco intervale, in the year 1800, a heavy rain swelled the river so that it floated every cabin and shed that had been built on it.

Many times, when by their industry and hard work the settlers had accu- mulated provision for the future, the bears would come down upon them and steal their pigs or anything else they could take. Meal and water and dried fish without salt was often their diet for days, when game was shy or storms prevented hunting. Pluck, perseverance, and persistency were the cardinal virtues of these pioneers, and, endowed with strong and vigorous constitutions, they cultivated the spirit of endurance so necessary to their condition in life.

They suffered much from the inadequate legislation of those early times, and their patience was often tried to the utmost, when they sent petition after petition to the legislature without receiving an answer until years had passed.

As soon as possible after these people had made rude habitations in which

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

to abide, they would make arrangements for the preaching of the gospel and the education of their children. A primitive structure of rough logs was rolled up for a schoolhouse. This was lighted by an occasional pane of glass ; and here their religious services were often held, and here the same desire for learning was kindled and fed as in the convenient and pretentious edifices of to-day. There were but few props and helps to climb the hill of learning, but many a man has taken his place among the cultured people of the land who was taught his A B C's in just such a schoolhouse.

The dress of these pioneers was necessarily simple and of their own manu- facture. The women were obliged to work very industriously, so many duties devolved upon them. Many of them would work from eighteen to twenty hours a day. They would card and spin the wool from their sheep, weave and color it (in some primitive way), then cut and make their plain garments. They had neither the means nor opportunity for fine clothes, but they were dressed neatly and generally scrupulously clean. Before they raised sheep, the men wore garments made of mooseskin, and towcloth was also used largely for both men and women. No luxuries, no laces, no " lingerie," in which the women of the present take so much pride. Linen and tow were used instead of cotton, and dressed flax was to some extent an article of export.

Hard wood was cut from large tracts of land and burned to obtain ashes, which the early settlers leached and boiled into "salts," and carried where they could find a market. Those who had no team either drew their load by hand or carried it on their backs; and the man who could not carry a hundred pounds on his back was not fit for a pioneer. Money was so scarce that the most that could be obtained went for taxes. In winter the snow was so fear- fully deep that the few families with their homes at some distance from each other could not keep the road or marked ways open, and consequently great suffering often ensued.

But these hardships, privations, and sufferings did not dwarf their intellects or diminish their physical powers, and a good character of solidity, intelligence, and industry has ever been connected with the inhabitants of this county. Men distinguished in the domains of law, literature, medicine, and science with just pride point to Carroll County as the place of their birth, while the county with equal pride elaims them as her sons.

PRIMITIVE MANNERS AND) CUSTOMS.

CHAPTER X.

PRIMITIVE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

BY B. F. PARKER, ESQ.

Clearing Land - Planting - First Crops - Preparation of Flax-Carding - Garments - Houses - Modes of Traveling- Food - Primitive Cooking -" Driving " - Game - Liquors -Tools - Spinning - Loom and Weaving.

T HE early inhabitants were generally small farmers, depending mainly on the annual products of their farms for their sustenance. In the winter some attention was given to the manufacture of staves and oars, with which a portion of their groceries were purchased. The early spring was devoted to sugar-making, while the principal part of the summer season was occupied in " clearing land " and raising crops. Trees were usually felled in June, as then they were in full leaf. The branches were "lopped " and the trees left to "dry " for several weeks. They were then set on fire, and the leaves and small branches burned. If it was intended to put the land into rye, the principal grain crop, the scorched trunks were at once "cut up " and " piled," and the "heaps burnt off." In piling and burning, the father and sons were frequently assisted by the female members of the family ; and at the close of a day thus spent in "the lot" the whole group would have well passed for " contrabands." The ashes left from the burning heaps were gathered and sold to "the storekeeper," who had "a potash" connected with his little grocery. Sometimes the felled trees, after being " burned over," were permitted to remain until the following spring, when they were cut, piled, and burnt, and the land planted to Indian corn by the method termed "under the hoe ; " the farmer, after removing a little of the burnt surface of the earth with a hoe, would loosen and raise a small portion of the soil. At the same moment a nimble boy or girl would deposit a few kernels of corn beneath the hoe, and the work of planting was completed. The erop would require little or no care until the harvest, but sometimes it would be necessary to cut down a few tender weeds. Early in the autumn, before gathering the corn, the land was sown with winter rye, which was "hacked in " with hoes. Subsequently grass seed was sown. The harvest of rye would come off in July or August of the following year, leaving the soil, if there had been a "good catch," which was usually the case, well swarded. The hay crop the succeeding year was

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

generally very heavy. So rankly would it grow as to render the use of the rake in gathering it unnecessary.

Grain was threshed with flails in the fields on plats of earth rendered hard by beating. It was winnowed by being shaken in a strong current of air. That portion of it mixed with the earth was fed out to swine or used for seed. Sometimes threshing-floors were built of timber and boards. Corn was husked in the open air, and secured in corneribs or small latticed buildings. Portions of the corn-fodder, straw, and hay were deposited in stacks, the barns, or, more properly, hovels, being too small to contain the whole. A roof of split-stuff, or boards, was usually placed over the stack.

Wheat, oats, and potatoes were but little cultivated. Turnips were a common crop. Flax was an important product. It did not succeed well on " burnt ground," and it was the custom with those who were making new farms to hire it grown on the plowed lands of the first settlers. It was harvested by being pulled from the roots and tied in small bundles. Then, after being exposed to the sun for a few days, the bolls were threshed to obtain the seed. Subsequently it was taken to the field and thinly spread on the surface of the ground, until the straw became so much rotted as to be easily broken. It was then gathered into bundles again and stored, where it usually remained until the early spring of the following year. March was accounted the best month for "getting out flax." It was first "broken," by being repeatedly beaten in a machine with wooden knives, or teeth, termed a " break," until the straw was reduced to small fragments, leaving its external covering, a strong fibre, uninjured. It was then " swingled." This was done by suspending it beside an upright board fixed in a heavy log, and beating it with a large wooden knife, until the greater portion of the shives and coarser fibres was removed. It was then hackled, or combed, by being repeatedly drawn through a machine of strong pointed wires attached to a wooden base. It was sometimes again subjected to a similar process, a finer instrument being used. What remained was termed flax; that which had been removed by the several processes, tow, of which there were three kinds - fine tow, coarse tow, and swingle tow. "To get out flax " required a certain degree of skill and practice, and persons who were adepts at the business were accustomed to go from place to place for that purpose. The manner of spinning flax was peculiar. It was first wound about a distaff made of the terminating twigs of the pine bough, fastened together in such a manner as to form a globular- shaped framework. This distaff was attached to a small wheel called a " linen wheel." This was moved with the foot, the hand being employed in drawing out the flax, and occasionally applying it to the lips, for the purpose of moistening it. Flax-spinning furnished an opportunity for a class of social interviews called "spinning-bees," when the women of a neighborhood would take their wheels to one house and spend the afternoon in busy labor and talk,

PRIMITIVE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

permitting the friend whom they visited to have the benefit of their toil. Tow was carded with hand cards, and spun in a manner similar to wool. Swingle tow was used in the manufacture of meal-bags and straw ticks. Combed tow formed a part of towels, coarse tablecovers, and common outer garments. It was sometimes used for under garments, in which case, it is said, flesh brushes and hair mittens were rendered unnecessary. Flax and wool were the principal materials from which were manufactured the cloth and clothing of the family. Occasionally small purchases of cotton would be made, but this was very little used. Not only was there a supply of cloth sufficient for home uses manu- factured, but also a little for sale. Hence, in setting up housekeeping, it was necessary to provide the young couple with a large and a small spinning-wheel, a loom, reeds, harnesses, warping bars, spools, and quills. These were regarded as matrimonial fixtures, and a young woman was not considered as " fit to be married " until she had supplied her wardrobe, dining-room, and bed-chamber with the manufactures of her own hands.

Garments were made in the family. Sometimes a tailor would be applied to for the purpose of "cutting out " a coat. This was usually the only required aid from abroad. The rest of the household apparel was made by members of the family. In warm weather almost every one went barefooted. In the autumn the shoemaker with his kit, consisting of a hammer, a strap, and a few knives and awls wrapped up in his leather apron, went from house to house for the purpose of "shoeing " the several families, his employers furnishing the material - leather, thread, and bristles, and even the resin and tallow used in manufacturing the wax. He was also expected to provide a lapstone and lasts. If the latter were wanting, blocks of wood were shaped to accommodate the several members of the family. The cordwainer was generally a jovial fellow, full of fun and stories, and pretty sure to give the unlucky urchin who might chance to stand near his elbow a thrust in the ribs. Cattle were also frequently shod upon the farmer's premises. They were " cast " on beds of straw and securely bound, their feet pointing upward. In this position the shoes were secured to them.

Much of the woolen cloth designed for men's clothing was woven with a wale, and colored a yellowish brown with the bark of the yellow oak. Blue was a color greatly in vogue, and an indigo dye-pot was found in almost every chimney-corner. This color, however, was generally combined with some other in the manufacture of cloth. A " copperas color and blue check " was regarded as very desirable for female attire.

The clothing consisted principally of home manufactures. In winter the men sometimes wore deerskin garments, but more frequently short woolen frocks and trowsers. In summer the same style was preserved, but the material changed, tow-and-linen being substituted for wool. Holiday garments were made of thick "full-cloth." Nearly every substantial citizen was the possessor

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

of a grayish-white "great-coat," which lasted a lifetime. Boots were almost unknown, shoes and buskins being worn in winter. The buskin was simply a footless stocking fastened to the shoe for the purpose of protecting the foot and lower part of the leg from the snow. The "go-to-meeting" dress of a woman consisted of a bonnet called a calash, which resembled a chaise-top, a short, loose gown, a skirt, an apron, and a handkerchief fastened about the neck. A hooded cloak, somewhat similar to the style of the present day, usually of a red color, was worn in winter. The stylish ladies wore straw bonnets; one, with an occasional bleaching, would last for a decade. They also dressed more elaborately than the common class. The vandyke was also worn.

Shoes, and generally stockings, were worn to church. With many it would have been regarded as an unwarrantable waste to have worn shoes on the way. They were carried in the hand until the place of meeting was nearly reached, and then put on, to be taken off again on the return. Some of the more wealthy wore coarse shoes on the road, and exchanged them for " moroccos " when near the church door. Such carefulness was necessary in order that a person might preserve suitable apparel for holiday occasions, since a young woman with her week's wages could only purchase two yards of cotton print. " Fancy goods " bore a corresponding price.

The walls of many of the houses were constructed of logs, which, however, usually were hewn and the interstices between them filled with clay mortar. The better class of the people had frame-houses covered with rough boards and unpainted. The interior was seldom completely finished. The rooms were separated by a ceiling of boards, sometimes planed and occasionally paneled, but more frequently rough. Chimneys were built of rough stone, and topped with laths plastered with clay. In the better class of houses they were built of brick. In all cases they were very large and provided with spacious fire- places. The oven opened into the fireplace. In some instances it was built in the open air, but not frequently. These large chimneys were more easily constructed of coarse materials than smaller ones, and were also necessary on account of the large fires kept burning in the cold season. These fires could not be dispensed with, the houses being so openly constructed as to readily admit the open air. The hovels for the shelter of stock consisted of walls built of hewn logs fastened at the corners, and covered with a roof similar to that placed over the haystack.

The mode of traveling was principally on foot. Few horses were owned by the people. These were used for horseback riding. It was a common practice for two persons to ride at one time, usually a man and a woman - the man riding before on a saddle, and the woman upon a pillion attached to the saddle. Not unfrequently one child, and sometimes two children, would be carried at the same time. Wheel carriages were rarely used by the inhabitants. In

PRIMITIVE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

the winter season sleds drawn by horses and oxen were in common use. These sleds were also used for drawing hay from the fields and other burthens in the summer season.

The food of the people was quite simple. Rye and Indian corn were the principal grains raised. These were ground at the grist-mill, but not bolted. The coarse bran was separated with a hand sieve, and when it was desirable to obtain fine flour, the sifted meal was shaken in a fine sieve. Various but simple were the ways of cooking these meals. Some of the methods are still in use. The "rye-and-Injun " loaf will probably be retained to the latest posterity. One mode of preparing bread then very prevalent is now entirely out of use, the baking of bannocks. It was in this manner : Thick batter was spread upon a plate or small sheet of iron, sometimes upon a bit of board, and set up edgewise before the kitchen fire. Where the family was large, a con- siderable many of these would be before the fire at the same time. Rude as this method may seem, it required some skill to properly manage the baking. Care must be taken that the bread did not burn or slide down on the hearth- stone. When one side was sufficiently baked, the bannock must be " turned," that the other side might be presented to the fire. To do this skilfully was regarded as a very desirable attainment. Meats were somewhat sparingly eaten. Beef and mutton could not well be afforded on account of the scarcity of cattle and sheep. Pork was not very abundant; for although almost every family kept swine, they were required to obtain their living by running at large during the summer season, and were but little fattened in the fall. Some wild meats were eaten, and a good supply of fish was obtained from the brooks, ponds, and lake.

One very common dish was "bean porridge," prepared by boiling meat, beans, and Indian corn together. "Boiled corn " was much eaten. The shelled kernels were first slightly boiled in weak lye, by which means the hulls were removed. They were then repeatedly rinsed in pure water in order to remove the alkaline matter, and afterwards subjected to several hours' boiling. When sufficiently cooked the corn was served up with milk or molasses. Roasted potatoes, boiled fish, and butter furnished a healthful repast. Boiled meat, turnips, and brown bread afforded a substantial dinner. Poultry, bacon, and eggs were eaten to some extent. Puddings were very common. Fine meal bread, sweetened with maple sugar or West India molasses, and pies sometimes graced the supper table. " Hasty pudding and milk " was a very common dish, especially for children.

This simple manner of living rendered the people of that time hardy and capable of performing a large amount of labor. It was not an uncommon thing for a man to fell an acre of trees in one day. To be sure, this was done in part by "driving," as it was termed. This was the method : A considerable number of trees were cut partly off ; then one very large and favorably situ-

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

ated was selected, which in falling would strike others, and these again others, until scores, and perhaps hundreds, would come crashing down at the same time. Still it required much physical energy and strength to accomplish that amount of labor in so short a time. Piling was also very heavy work, and occasioned a lively competition. Two persons generally worked together, and it was regarded as disreputable for one to permit his end of the log to fall behind that of his fellow-laborer.

Hunting and fishing were the principal amusements of the settlers, and in this profit was chiefly considered. In the fall bears were quite troublesome in the cornfields, and were destroyed in various ways - sometimes by being caught in log traps, or by being shot with guns set for the purpose, and some- times by direct hunting. Their flesh in the autumn or early part of the winter was considered very good. In the winter deer were taken in considerable numbers. Other wild game was hunted : some for tlesh, some for fur, and others to prevent depredations on the growing erops or domestic animals. At this period liquors were in common use, although seldom drunk immoderately except on extraordinary occasions. When friends met at the store or at their own house, "a treat " was expected, and the storekeeper would have been regarded as niggardly who did not offer his customer a dram if he had made a considerable purchase. On all public occasions and social feasts liquors were provided, generally at the expense of the managers. Laborers, especially if the toil was uncommonly severe, expected their allowance of grog ; even the house- wife on washing day did not hesitate to take a " drop sweetened." It was always kept on hand for visitors, and however scanty and coarse might be the food offered, if the bowl of toddy or mug of flip was forthcoming the claims of hospitality were satisfactorily complied with. A bowl of toddy consisted of a half-pint of rum mixed with sugar and water, and was regarded a drink for four persons. A mug of flip was composed of the same materials but drunk warm. Town officers were supplied with liquor at the expense of the town, and frequently furnished it for persons calling at the town office on business. Sometimes the whole company present would be invited to drink. At the " vendue " of two vagrants in 1784, in Wolfeborough, twenty-one bowls of toddy were drunk at the expense of the town. At the sale of the pews of the Wolfeborough meeting-house in 1791, liquors were provided by the selectmen. Notwithstanding the general use of intoxicating drinks at this period, drunken- ness was not very common.

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co. Number of Pages: 1124

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124