USA > New York > Wyoming County > Warsaw > History of the town of Warsaw, New York, from its first settlement to the present time; with numerous family sketches and biographical notes > Part 4
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The settlers also for years felt seriously the want of a phy- sician, and were obliged sometimes to send for one to Attica, and even to Genesco. Mrs. Joseph Palmer was for several years accoucheuse for the town. In the course of her practice, a rather singular case occurred. She was called to the house of Sterling Stearns, who has been mentioned as having settled in the extreme south-east part of the town. The visit was to be made in the night; and it was necessary to be accompa- nied by two of the neighboring women. They traveled the whole distance (about four miles) on foot, most of the way by an obscure path through the woods, piloted by Mr. Stearns with a torch. After a stay of two days, finding the visit pre- mature, they prepared to return. Mr. Stearns proposed to take them home on his ox-sled, then the principal vehicle, in summer as well as winter. But, fearing to leave his wife alone in the woods, and wishing to avoid subjecting the women to another journey, he concluded that she should accompany them, and remain at the center, until circun- stances should favor her return. A churn, with cream just put in to be churned, was taken on board, it being thought inexpedient to wait for the 'performance of the operation. This labor, however, was saved; for, by the jostling of the sled over the rough road, the churn was suddenly thrown overboard, and emptied of its contents! The passengers, however, reached their destination in safety. Mrs. Stearns remained about three weeks; Mrs. Palmer having herself, in the meantime, given birth to a child, and recovered in season to render her professional services to her friend. The difficulty in obtaining medical assistance was chiefly re-
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moved by the advent of Dr. Chauncey L. Sheldon, in 1808.
The transaction of public business was also attended with great inconvenience. Both county and town business was done at Batavia, at least thirty miles from the south border of the town, which then included Gainesville. Traveling was difficult, and had to be done on horseback or on foot; and few had horses. As the town-meetings were held in Batavia, many failed to participate in the election of town- officers. But attendance at courts was unavoidable; and to the poorer class of men, burdensome. Amos Keeney and Peter W. Harris were the first jurors called to Batavia from Warsaw. They were gone five days, nearly two of which must have been spent in going and returning. They tried three causes, got seventy-five cents fees, and paid two dollars cach for board. As regards town business, material relief was found in due time by a division of the town of Batavia. In 1808, the town of Warsaw was formed. It comprised No. 10, (now Middlebury,) No. 9, ( Warsaw,) and No. 8, ( Gaines- ville.) The first town-meeting was held in the spring of that year. The carly records of the town for many years being lost, a full list of the officers can not be given. It is known, however, that the first Supervisor was Elizur Webster; Samnel Mc Whorter, the first Town Clerk; the first Assessors, Richard Bristol, of No. 8, Gideon T. Jenkins, No. 9, and Ebenezer Wilson, Jr., No. 10; the first Overseers of Poor, Jotham Curtis, No. 10, and Solomon Morris, Sen., No. 9. Of these seven men, after a period of sixty years, one-Mr. Bristol, of Gainesville, at the age of eighty-seven years-is still living.
HOUSEHOLD LABOR .- COOKING.
The manner of cooking in those days would alike surprise and amuse persons who have grown up since cooking stoves came into use. Kettles were hung over the fire. A strong pole or stick, called lug-pole, was raised above the fire, the ends being fastended to the sides of the chimney, inside, so high as not to be likely to ignite from heat or sparks. The
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kettles were suspended on trammels, which were pieces of iron rods with hooks at the ends. The uppermost one extended from the pole nearly down to the fire, and one or more short ones were added to bring the kettles to their proper height above the fire. For the want of iron, wooden hooks were sometimes used. Being directly above the the kettles, and in a perpendicular position, they seldom took fire.
The long handled frying pan was for a time in nse. It was held over the fire by hand; or, to save time, the handle was sometimes laid on the back of a chair, the pan resting on the fire, while the cook was "setting the table." The pan was also used for baking short cakes. It was placed in nearly a perpendicular position before the fire, with coals under or behind it to bake the under side. A more convenient article was the cast iron, short handled spider, which was set on coals on the hearth. Its legs were of such length and so adjusted, that, when used for baking cakes or biscuit, being turned up towards the fire to the proper slope, handle upwards, it would keep its position. But a still better article for bread baking, which came into general use, was the cast iron, flat bottomed bake-pan, or bake-kettle, with legs and a closely fitted cover. Standing upon coals on the hearth, with coals on the cover, bread and biscuit were nicely baked. Bread for large families was usually baked in outdoor ovens built of brick or fire- proof stone. Turkeys and spare ribs were roasted before the fire, suspended by a string or small cord; a dish or pan being placed underneath to catch the drippings.
Some of the inconveniences of cooking in open fire-places, will be readily imagined. Women's hair was singed, their hands were blistered, and their dresses scorched. The hoop skirts of the present time would have been an intolerable in- cumbrance. It would have been necessary to doff them, at least in cooking time. But framed houses, with jamb fire- places, measurably relieved our mothers and grand-mothers. In one of the jambs was hung an iron crane, which could be drawn forward from over the fire when kettles were to be
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HISTORY OF WARSAW.
put on or taken off. And connected with the fire-place was a brick oven. But the invention of cook-stoves commenced a new era in the mode of cooking; and none, the most averse to innovation, have indicated a desire to return to the " old way," which will hereafter be known only in history.
MANUFACTURING.
Long after the country had passed its pioneer state, the farmer's house continued to be a linen and woolen factory. Where there was more spinning to be done than the wife could do in addition to her house-work, and in which the daughters were too young to help, spinsters were employed to come into families to spin flax and tow in the winter and early spring, and wool in the summer. The regular price paid these itinerant spinsters was a shilling a day; a run and a half of warp, or two runs of filling, being counted a day's work. This would not go far towards clothing the farmers' daughters in 1868. Not every house had a loom, however. But there were always some who did weaving for those who could not do it for themselves.
Much dyeing, too, was done in the family. "Dye-woods and dye-stuffs " formed an important part of a country mer- chant's stock. Barrels of chipped Nicaragua, logwood and other woods, and kegs of madder, alum, copperas, vitriol, in- digo, etc., constituted a large part of the teamsters' loading from the canal. Many, scarcely past middle age, remember well the old dye-tub standing in the chimney-corner, covered with a board, and used also as a seat for children when chairs were wanted for visitors, or when new supplies of furniture failed to keep pace with the increase of the family. Mr. Goodrich, (Peter Parley,) in describing carly life in his native town, in Connecticut, speaks of this "institution of the dye- tub " as having, "when the night had waned, and the family had retired, frequently become the anxious seat of the lover, who was permitted to carry on his courtship, the object of his addresses sitting demurely in the opposite corner." We have
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no authority for saying that it was ever used in this town on such occasions. This household dyeing did not embrace the flannel which was designed for fulled cloth.
Nearly all the cloth worn was " home made." Rarely, indeed, did a farmer or his son wear a coat made of any other. If, occasionally, a young man appeared in a dress of " boughten " cloth, he was an object of envy to his rustic associates; or he was suspected of having got it for a " stand up suit." Few except merchants, lawyers, doctors, and some village mechanics, were seen in cloth that had not passed the hands of the town cloth-dresser. Consequently, merchants kept very small stocks of broad-cloth. Those of the finer qualities were often bought in small pieces, containing a cer- tain number of patterns-one, two, or three-to avoid losses on remnants.
There were also itinerant tailoresses who came into families to make up the men's and boys' winter clothing. The cutting was mostly done by the village tailor, if there was a village near. "Bad fits," which were not uncommon, were of course charged to the cutter. Hence the practice of tailors, when inserting in their bills or advertisements the announcement, "Cutting done on short notice, and warranted to fit," to ap- pend the very prudent proviso, "if properly made up." These seamstresses charged two shillings a day for their work. This was thought by some employers rather exorbitant, as the common price of help at housework was but six shillings a week-"York currency," the reader will of course under- stand. Although the word pounds, in expressing money values, had given place to dollars, fractional parts of a dollar were yet expressed by shillings and pence. Many merchants and their clerks still keep up the practice, as if they had but half learned the decimal system of reckoning.
Boots and shoes also were made in many families. Farm- ers got the hides of their slaughtered cattle tanned "on shares;" or, if their share were judged insufficient to shoe a whole family, the dressing was otherwise paid for. Then there was 4
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HISTORY OF WARSAW.
in the neighborhood a circulating shoemaker, who made his annual autumnal circuit with his " kit." The children had a ' happy time during his sojourn, which lasted one, two, or more weeks, according to the number of feet to be shod. The boys who had doffed their old shoes when the winter snows had scarcely disappeared, to enjoy the luxury of going barefoot, were now no less joyful in the anticipation of new ones to pro- tect their feet from the frosts, or perchance the early snows which had kept them for " thirty days " in close confinement. Such was the demand for the labor of the men of this trade at this season of the year, that their own families were often sadly neglected ; thus verifying one part of the old adage, "Shoemakers' wives and blacksmiths' horses go barefoot."
A revolution in household labor has been effected since the days of our mothers and grandmothers. The substitution of cotton for flax, and of the various kinds of labor-saving machinery for hand cards and spinning-wheels and looms, has vastly lightened the labor of women. One of the results of these improvements is the opportunity they afford for mental and intellectual culture. That the mass of American women duly improve these opportunities for increasing their usefulness, will hardly be affirmed.
WILD ANIMALS.
The early settlers of Warsaw were much annoyed by bears and wolves. Animals being permitted to run at large to feed in the woods, many, especially swine, were destroyed by bears. And great care was necessary to protect sheep from the ravages of wolves. Although we have no accounts of persons having become victims to beasts of prey, alarms were frequent, and life was sometimes endangered. And for years the sleep of the inhabitants was disturbed by the howlings of wolves. To rid the country of these pests, bounties were carly offered for their destruction.
The first Board of Supervisors elected in Genesee county met at Batavia in October, 1803. Among their recorded proceedings is the following :
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"The Board, after considering the necessity and utility of destroying wolves, passed a vote to allow a bounty of five dollars a piece for the scalp and cars of each wolf taken and killed in the county aforesaid since its organization."
At an adjourned meeting in November, specified sums were ordered to be raised in the several towns for wolves taken and killed therein, as follows: Northampton, $100 ; Southampton, $300 for wolves killed and other contingent charges ; Leicester, $600 for wolves and other contingent charges ; Batavia, $700 for the same. The number of wolves on which bounties were paid that year was fifty-six; and the bounties, at $5 a head, amounted to $280.
In 1804, the Board "Resolved, That certificates given to Indians for wolf scalps, shall be certified in the presence of a white person of suitable age, who shall also attest the same." The same number of scalps was again paid for the next year.
A uniform price of $5 a head appears to have been paid down to 1813; and the average number killed yearly to that time was about 45. In 1814, $10 a head was paid for 36 wolves, and $5 a head for 3 whelps. Notwithstanding a vote had been taken to reduce the bounty to $5, there was paid for 7 wolves the enormous price of $45 a head ; for 20, $5 a head ; for 13, $10 a head ; and for 19 whelps, $20 a head! In 1816, 69 wolves were paid for, most of them at $40 cach, and 31 whelps, $15 each. In 1817, 26 whelps, at $15, and but 13 wolves, at $40 each. In 1818, 9 wolves at $40, and 17 whelps at $15 each. In 1819, 7 wolves at $40, and 28 whelps at $15 each. In 1820, 8 wolves at $40, and 33 whelps at $15 each. In 1821, 6 wolves at $10 each, and 1 whelp, $2. No bounties appear to have been paid after that year. It has been said that wolves were taken in Pennsylvania, and brought into this county and killed ; their scalps carried to Batavia, and the bounty drawn. This may have heen a rea- son for discontinuing the bounties. The whole number of wolves and whelps paid for, was 793, and of panthers, S. The amount paid for them was $6,782.
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HISTORY OF WARSAW.
Many years later, these animals had not wholly disap- peared. Occasional wolf-hunts occurred as late as about the year 1830, in some of the adjacent towns. About that time, men of this town were called out to one near Hall's Corners in Orangeville, about three miles west of Warsaw village.
We subjoin a wolf story not entirely devoid of interest. At an early day, Deacon Manger had several sheep killed, either by wolves, or by a certain suspicious dog in the neigh- borhood. The next evening two large traps were set a short distance from his barn-yard, and the carcass of one of the dead sheep laid near them. Late in the night the place was visited, and the dog was found fast in one of the traps; and the person who went to see, thought the other trap was still there. The dog was suffered to remain in "durance vile " until daylight, when the other trap, with a heavy clog at- tached, was found missing. Its track was followed across the field, where the thief, a large wolf, was arrested by a brush fence, in which, in endeavoring to cross it, he had become entangled. Of course both dog and wolf were promptly dis- patched. Wolf's scalps bringing at that time $40 a piece, the loss of sheep was more than compensated. A singular cir- cumstance connected with this affair is vouched for. On going out to look at the traps, a sheep was seen standing in or near the barn-yard on a large stump, upon which, in its fright, it is supposed to have leaped for safety.
In 1808, Benjamin Parker, residing on East Ilill, came near losing his life by bears. Between the Transit and Perry Center, there was an almost continuous forest. Returning from Elisha Smith's, near Sucker Brook, in Perry, he met, on the long causeway, (still remembered by some old inhabi- tants,) seven bears, three old ones and four young ones. He took up a large club, his only weapon of defense, and struck one of them with such force as to break the club. Having no other hope of saving his life, he retreated, and climbed a small tree standing near the road. He hallooed for some time for help; and although more than a mile distant, he was heard
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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.
by Smith, who, with his gun, axe, and dog, came to his relief, the bears standing around the tree. The dog chased the four cubs and two of the old bears up a tree, or trees. It being nearly dark, fires were kindled at the foot of the trees, and kept up during the night, to prevent the escape of the bears. In the morning, the two old bears were shot, and the four young ones were taken alive. How they were finally disposed of, we are not informed. It does not appear from the records of Genesee county that bounties were offered for bear scalps. Such bounties as were some years paid on wolves, would have been ample compensation to the party defending. for the fears and perils of this bear-fight.
REMARKABLE INCIDENT.
A most extraordinary event occurred in Middlebury, in 1817, within a few miles of this town. We have read ac- counts of it in different papers and books; and although differing slightly, they agree in every important particular. We copy from a work entitled, "Memorials of the Descend- ants of William Shattuck," &c., loaned to us for this purpose by Mr. Edward C. Shattuck, of this village, a relative of the person referred to in the following:
Artemias Shattuck was cutting forest trees, and one fell upon a high stump and became entangled with other trees. In endeavoring to cut, disengage, and bring it to the ground, it suddenly fell; and the trunk upon which he stood split, and his foot was caught in the cleft. As it fell over the stump, he was raised several feet from the ground, and suspended with his head downwards, and in such a position that he could not touch the ground, nor get upon the top of the trunk of the tree for support. His axe in the meantime had fallen, and was not within his reach; he was thus without means to extri- cate himself. In this condition he cried for help, but cried in vain, until his voice failed him, and he could cry no longer. He soon began to suffer extreme pain, not only in his foot, which remained clenched in the cleft of the tree, but also
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from headache and general exhaustion, caused by his unnatu- ral position and the great exertion he had put forth to make himself heard and to obtain relief. He was in the woods, three-fourths of a mile from any human being, and the weather was extremely cold. What was he to do? Unless he could be immediately extricated, death seemed inevitable. There appeared no alternative. Summoning all his fortitude, he resolved upon an act which, if he should succeed in per- forming, there would be a feeble hope, and but a feeble one, of saving his life. He might perish if he did it; he must, if he did it not. He took from his pocket an old Barlow knife, and first cut off the leg of his boot and stocking, and with a piece of quality which he had in his vest pocket, he bound up his ankle as tightly as possible, to stop the current of blood. Then, with his knife, he unjointed his ankle, and left his foot, cut and separated from his leg, in the cleft ot the tree! By the trunk of the tree he reached the ground, and crawled to his dinner-basket, and bound up the stump with a napkin. He cut a stick, and hobbled or crawled upon his hands and knees through the snow towards home. When he had ar- rived within a few rods of his house he was discovered by his family; and, exhausted and fainting, was brought to his room and resuscitated. A surgeon was obtained from Bata- via, a distance of fifteen or eighteen miles, by whom his limb was again amputated; and in due time he recovered. Three of his brothers, Josiah, Gilbert, and Giles, were with him during his illness. He afterwards turned his attention to study; emigrated to North Carolina in 1819; joined the Bap- tist church in 1820, and commenced preaching in 1821.
To the foregoing we find appended in the margin of the book, the following note:
Some account of this event, unassociated with any name, was published in the " Presbyterian," a newspaper of Phila- delphia, in the winter of 1850-51, under the title of "A curious fact." The fact was stated to be, that when Mr. Shattuck "became conscious, he said: 'Go immediately to
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the woods and cut out my foot, for it is suffering most excru- ciating pain.' They did so, and brought the foot to the house. IIe then said it was cold, and wished it put into warm water. This request was also granted. It was not, however, done in the room in which he lay; yet as soon as his foot touched the water, he exclaimed: 'It burns me; the water is too hot.' And upon examination it was found to be so. The water was made cooler, and he was satisfied." We have great doubts (the writer adds,) as to the authenticity of this state- ment, or of the correctness of its philosophy. We have read considerably in medical literature, and have conversed with many scientific surgeons on the subject; and have yet to learn a well-authenticated case in which an application to an amputated limb has sensibly affected the living individual from whom it was taken.
Since the above was written, we have received ample confirmation of this statement. Being informed that Mrs. Perthena Shattuck, wife of the late Josiah Shattuck, brother of Artemas, was residing in Wethersfield with her son-in-law, V. D. Eastman, Esq., we addressed her, through him, inquir- ing into the truth of this incredible statement. The answer places it beyond doubt. Mrs. Shattuck, residing near the home of Artemas, saw him the next morning. She heard him, and others who were present when the foot was sent for and brought in, often speak of the pain from the coldness of the foot, and from the heat of the water. The next day, Dr. John Cotes, of Batavia, was called, and amputated the leg. Dr. Seaver, still residing in Middlebury, was present at the operation, and heard these statements from those who were eye and ear witnesses to the facts. Hence, though " philoso- phy " and " medical science " may fail to confirm them, they are as well authenticated as the casualty itself.
There have been held in this town several meetings of old settlers, the proceedings of which are elsewhere recorded. At these meetings were related a number of interesting inci- dents of pioneer lite, to which the reader is referred. [See " Old Folks' Gatherings."]
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HISTORY OF WARSAW.
ENJOYMENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
Narratives of the incidents and adventures of pioneer life generally present only the dark side of the picture. To those who subdued the wilderness, their toils and privations were not a series of unmitigated sufferings. They had their joys as well as their sorrows. The addition of each new acre to their "clearings," brought with it fresh enjoyment, and cheered them on in the pursuit of their ultimate object, an indepen- dent and a happy home. They were happy also in their fra- ternal feelings; or, as one of them once expressed it, "the feeling of brotherhood-the disposition to help one another;" or, in the language of another, "Society was rude and nneulti- vated; vet the people were very friendly to each other; quite as nich so as relatives are at the present day." We can hardly endure the thought of exchanging the vast variety of our splendid and comfortable vehicles for the rude ones of our fathers, which served the various purposes of visiting, and of going to mill and to "meeting"-(churches they had not;) yet who doubts that William Bristol and family, of No. S, had "a good time" when they made a visit to Judge Webster's, a distance of seven miles, on an ox-sled drawn by oxen ? Our mothers were satisfied when clad in homespun of their own make; and we well remember the "glad surprise" when fathers, on their return from market, presented their faithful help-mates a six yards calico dress pattern for Sunday wear. And we presume the wearer was in quite as devotional a frame of mind, and enjoyed Sabbath exercises quite as well, as she who now flaunts her gorgeously trimmed silk of fifteen yards, with the addition of a few more for the indispensable trail.
The people were happy in their families. The boys, having labored hard during the day, sought rest at an early hour. Parents had the satisfaction of seeing their sons acquiring habits of industry and frugality-a sure prognostic of success
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in life. The "higher civilization" had not yet introduced those popular institutions now to be seen
" In every country village, where Ten chimney smokes perfume the air "-
the saloon and billiard room, in which so many youth now receive their principal training. Fewer parents spent sleep- less nights in anxious thought about their " prodigal sons," or had their slumbers suddenly broken by the noisy entrance of these sons on returning from their midnight revels. They saw no clouds rising to dim the prospect of a happy future to their children. Never were wives and mothers more cheerful than when, like the virtuous woman described by Solomon, they " they laid their hands to the spindle, and their hands held the distaff;" or when, with their knitting work or sewing, and baby too, they went-unbidden, as the custom was-to spend an afternoon with their "neighbor women," by whom they were received with a hearty, unceremonious welcome. The " latch- string was out" at all times; and even the formality of knock- ing was, by the more intimate neighbors, dispensed with.
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