USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
floor of boards on the upper joists which supported the ceiling. On this was laid a course of brick, which was covered with a layer of sand or clay, six or eight inches sleep. The wood-work of the doors and windows was covered with sheet-iron. The floors were first laid with brick.
In the year 1836 an addition of twenty-three feet was built to the office on the west of the court-house, and the whole building raised to two stories in height. The work was done by Thomas M. Thomas, and cost $1.500. In the year 1837 a similar addition was made to the build- ing on the cast of the court-house by Jacob H. Elerick, at a cost of $1,820. Thus each building, as it stands at present, is sixty-three feet long by twenty feet wide, and two stories high, divided into suitable apartments on cach floor. The whole cost of these offices, thus far, amounted to the sum of 85,806. Some additional sums were, nec- essarily, afterwards expended in fitting up the rooms for the better accommodation of the offices. In the year 1877 an addition was erected to the west building for the use of the treasurer and county commissioners. The foundations are of the best quarry stone, and the build- ing is two stories high, of briek. It is about twenty feet square.
In 1858 the commissioners caused complete fire-proof apartments to be constructed in the interior of the build- ings, one for each-the auditor, treasurer, recorder, and Probate Court.
The rooms on the first floor of the east building are assigned to the clerk of the court for his office. The roomis on the second floor, over the clerk's office, are oc- eupied by the Probate Court. The east room, on the lower floor of the west building, is the county treasurer's office. The west room is the recorder's office; and the auditor's and conunissioners' offices are on the upper floor of the building.
In the Sinner of the year 1817 the public square was inclosed with an open board fence made of mulberry posts and poplar plank. The materials were furnished atul the fence put up by Daniel Keyte for $1.25 per panel of ten feet.
In 1828 the commissioners of the county had the public square inclosed with a fence of iron railing, ex- cept a small portion on the east and west adjoining the streets, which is left outside the inclosure. The foundation is a wall built of limestone, sunk two feet below the sur- face of the ground. Above the surface there is a wall built of large, well-dressed and out linestone, brought from the quarries near Dayter, having a coping of the same material, on which is placed the fence, a neat and strong iron railing, with gates at the proper position-, appropriately ornamented. The whole kagth of the in- closare is one thousand and seventysono feet. Daniel Skinver, of Hvad!ton, executed and put up the iron work; Mr. Doyle, of Dayton, put up the stone founda- tion. The work was begun in the Summer of 1838, but !
was not completed until June, 1839. The cost was $7,293.84. The square has been graded and planted with ornamental trees, presenting a beautiful prospect, not surpassed by any in the State of Ohio.
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS.
THE pioneers of the West threequarters of a century ago, and more, were of a hardier and more self-reliant class than those who followed. They lived largely by the hunt ; consequently, they were expert in the use of fire- arms. They began life anew in a dense wilderness filled with gigantic trees, and, therefore, were skilled in band- ling an ax. Ronds and bridges there were none, so that a close observation of the bark of trees, the stars, the breaking of twigs and bushes, and the position of trees and natural objeets, was necessary to enable them to hell their way from one honse to another. They were com- pelled to be pupils of Izaak Walton in his gentle craft ; for fish add much to the pleasures of the table. They must be vigilant and brave; for danger from Indians and wild beasts had not yet gone. And they must be good farmers; for all their efforts were only preparatory to the clearing up of the soil. They made shoes, tummed their own leather, constructed their own housebohl im- plements, and were obliged to teach their children, un- aided by pedagogue or prescher. They were a strong. hardy race.
Those who came West were rarely destitute of a little money, and if there were exceptions to this rule it Was among young men with strong arms and invincible deter- miination. Removal to their new location was most gen- erally from concerted action in neighborhoods Occa- sionally entire villages felt the impulse, and moved bodily. Some Churches were organi ed in the East, elected their deacons and other officers, took up their line of march for the West, and the congregation drove their teams by day, halted at night, invariably offering prayers at bed-time and at meals, and resumed their march the next day. stopping on Sunday for a long season of religious worship. Such was the onse with some of those who first went to the Western Reserve, and, to a modified extent, this will hold good for the congregation of believers whose do- .cendants now worship at Paddy's Run. Land was not infrequently boaght in the East; but most generally the actual settler saw the ground before purchasing.
The projectors of the land companies did not spare Howvery adjectives when describing the good quality of the tracts they had to sell One of the first companies was the Scioto. It was represented in Europe by Joel Barlow, the poet, who spoke of its merits as a post shoald sing when describing an Acendia. In his circular,
30
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS.
liberally distributed in Paris, he chants the praises of the country bordering on the Ohio:
" A climate wholesome and delightful. frost even in Winter almost entirely unknown, and a river called, by way of eminence, the Beautiful, and abounding in excel- lent fish of vast size; noble forests, consisting of trees that spontaneously produce sugar (the sugar-maple), and a plant that yields readly-made candles ( Myrica cerifera) : venison in plenty, the pursuit of which is uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or tigers. A couple of swine would multiply themselves a hundred-fold in two or three years without taking auy care of them. No taxes to pay; no military services to be performed."
. Similar stories were published and told about the lands in the Miami Valley, although, as Judge Symmes and his associates were not poets, there was not so much exagge- ration. Much of the land hereabout was takey up in New Jersey and in New York and Philadelphia, largely by persons who never intended coming out to Ohio, and who bought simply because it seemed likely to become a profitable speculation. The very first who came had most generally heen in the armics of St. Clair or Wayne. The settlement of Hamilton was nearly entirely from this source. Bat the great covered wagons began moving out here with the first roads, and before that cattle and horses were driven slowly and laboriously over the mountains and down to the promised land. Pittsburg became the center of an ontfitting industry similar to that which St. Joe occupied for so long a time on the plains. Here the emigrant met those who had been over the route and knew its dangers and pitfalls; here the land-jobbers congregated, and here were dealers with all the imple- ments, gear, and articles of clothing likely to be needed in the war against the forces of nature. . We have now con- quered, but three generations have died since the contest began.
Pittsburg swarmed with life. So also did one or two of the towns lower down the river. where boats could be bought and the passougers committed to the s'ow-moving stream. The boat was very plain and simple. It was large enough to contain six or cight tons of load; but that was all. Floating down the river wenld now be pleasant enough : but then there were stretches of twenty or thirty miles without a single house. The crack of a rifle might at any moment he heand, striking down the head of a family or wounding some woman or child, and causing dismay and sorrow to those who survived. By night and by day the river bank must be watched. The boat must be pushed away from sand-bars, and steered so as to avoid contact with sungs.
To those who were going to the settlements north of Cinciand it was most usual to stop there, sell the boat. and proceed everland. To come to Hamilton was often two or three days' journey in unfavorable weather. The land having been bought, either from the United States or tion. Symme's company, the next step to be taken
was to clear it. He was happy who could get some other adventurer to join him for the first few days, until he 'had made a beginning in the forest. To fell the trees was a colossal undertaking. Many of them were three or four feet in diameter, and some nich execeded thesc figures. The spot for the cabin was usually picked out from its configuity to a spring. Here, then, a space of thirty feet square having been selected, the axes rang merrily out, and one after another the monarchs of the forest fell. They were trimmed of their branches, the underbrush cleared away, and the first log, having been partially squared, was laid upon the ground in the place where the cabin was to be. Notches were cut near the ends, and in these notches other logs were laid, Que at a time, until the builling had reached high enough for a. roof, which was at first only boughs and bark. Doors were cut in, openings for windows left, and the house was ready for its first occupancy. Daniel Doty, of Middle- town, lived out -doors for more than two weeks, cooking aud sleeping in the open air while his cabin was going up. This was just over the border in Warren County, and the denseness of the woods was the reason why he finally aban- doned that neighborhood, and came to reside on the banks of the Miami. Tle was tired of the warfare against nature, and when he heard that there was a beautiful natural prai- rie at the side of this river, he left his improvements. on which he had spent eight or nine months, and became a dweller in what is now Batler Coupry.
The cabin windows were made by sawing out about three feet of one of the logs, and fastening in a few up- right pieces. For lights they put in paper, and greased it with bear's-oil and hog-fit, pasting it on the upright pieces. There was then very little glis made in the country, the only place in the West boing in Pittsburg, which is still the center of the glass industry; and the high cost of transportation and the lack of money put it out of the power of the settlers to purchase this trans- parent material.
Housekeeping presented many serious discourage- ments. That civilization which is a multiplication of wants, our forefathers, happily, bad not attained to. Rather they adhered to Goldsmith's dictum, " Man wants but little here below." It is surprising how few are the things which are really islispen-able. In the forest, without roads, with scarcely even a path, it was difficult to get any thing from macket, and it was still more diffi- cult to take it thither; for the latter was likely to be the heavier commodity. It did not pay to transport Indian corn, oats, or wheat; and a farmer can scarcely raise any thing more valuable than these. He consumed all he grew; or, if he did not, he. threw the remainder away. Flax was made into of the at his own house ; se was wood changed from the lack of a sheep to a regularly sove! tobrie. This was, of course, when sheep would I hope : wolves and bears often nade it impossible. The gun often smolenwated the fruits of the soil. Deer and nic-
40
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
coons, foxes and wolves, opossums and squirrels abounded. The man of the house left home before daybreak, and before noon often returned with a huge load of venison or wild turkeys. The stranger who came by was wel- come. He represented the outside world to them. He was theater and church, school and fair, all in one. They heard nothing of what was going ou except as he echoed it.
Sometimes the pioneer began even more nnpreten- tiously. With au ax he started out to fell enough sap- lings to build a rude hut, seven feet by four, and five feet high. It was open in front, where a place was left for a fire. A frying-par and a jack-knife would complete the equipment. Couts lingered the whole day. A piece of pork would be put in the pan and fried, and, with a piece of bread, borrowed, like its oleaginous neighbor, from a farmer of the vicinity, the woodchopper made his hearty meals. Coffee and ten were not introduced at the beginning of the State settlement; indeed, the latter was not in much use until 1830. One of these pioneers has left us an account of his struggles to get a frock for the baby :
"I built a log-house twenty feet square -- quite aristo- cratie in those days-and moved into it. I was fortunate enough to possess a jack-knife. With that I made a wooden knife and two wooden forks, which answered ad- mirably for us to eat with. A bedstead was wanied. I took two round poles for the posts, inserted a pole in them for a side-rail; two other poles were inserted for the end pieces, the ends of which were put in the logs of the house ; some puncheons were then split and laid from the side-rail to the crevice between the logs of the house, which formed a substantial bed-cord, on which we laid our straw-bed-the only bed we had-on which we slept as soundly and woke as happy as Albert and Victoria.
" In process of time a yard and a half of calico were wanted. I started on foot through the woods ten miles to procure it ; but, alas! when I arrived I found that, in the absence of both money and credit, the calico was not to be obtained. The dilenna was a serious one, and how to escape I could not devise; but I had no sooner informed my wife of iny failure than she suggested that I bad a pair of this pantaloons which I could very well spare, that would make quite a decent frock. The pauts were eut up, the frock made, and in due time the child was dressed."
the floors were of slabs of wood, rough-hewn by the ax. Excepting for Indians, there was no need of bar or bolt. There were no thieves and no dishonest people. Credits were long, and pay was taken in almost every thing to be found in the country. Potash, hides and furs, eattle, tobacco, and, later, wheat and oats, were inerebantable ar- tieles, and often answered instead of money itself. But the prices, as we should judge them now, were ruinously low. We give elsewhere, in the article on the National Ar- mory, and in some of our local histories, the cost of .com- modities as they were forty and sixty years ago. The currency was as varied as the articles for which they were given. There were notes of banks on half a dozen different States in various stages of depreciation; the United States currency of dollars, dimes, and cents ; cur- rency from New Spain, Cuba, and other Spanish Ameri- can countries ; British silver, and French five-frane pieces. Each of these floated at some conventional price. and it required careful study to know the value of each kind. The calling of money-broker was, until the late war, one of the most lucrative in the United States.
The agriculture of the day was rude. Fruit grew with a luxuriance and certainty which it does not now equal; but the quality of the apples, pears, and plums first planted was poor. The trees were sheltered by the surrounding forests, and the insects which are now the bane of the fruit-producer had not yet made their appear- ance. The smaller fruits-the strawberry, raspberry, and currani-were uncultivated ; but the melon in its differ- eut varieties was abundant. The trees were deprived of life by being girdled. and then afterwards cut down ; but often they stood for many years, weakening and falling, a most deplorable sight. After the trees were felled the stumps were burned out and pulled out; the ground was fertilized with the ashes and mold, and the crops that were obtained were in great abundance. There was no rotation of erops, no underdraining, scarcely any surface draining, and no maunring, except the small portion de- rived from the stable. When one field was worn out. another was got ready. There were few sheep, but hogs were numerous. They were of the genuine racer breed. and earned their own living. Chickens and turkeys were numerous, and the holiday meal always included one of these. Pork was the great staple. It had an ad- vantage over the other prodnets of the farm. The hog could be driven from home to the market, and corn could in no way be more easily moved than in this con- centrated form. Hot biscuits were the delight of the farmer, and cold bread was very rarely eaton. The maple-tree furnished an abundant yiell of molasses and sugar, and there was no lack of fruit to be put up in hotely preserves.
The house, after being first erected, needed many re- pairs and alterations to fit it for the residence of a family. It was always left with great inter-tices between the logs, which needed to be filled up with mind or clay or with pieces of wood. As the means of the family increased and saw mills were built, the rude structure was often enveloped with a frame covering ; bat underneath all was Farmers worked their places with mmuch less labor than at present. They rarely hired any help, except at harvest, and the pioneer, with his wife and cinidren. unchanged. The house ocenpied by General Harrisou until his death, situated at North Bend, was an instance. Generally the chimney was built up on the outside, and I toiled on year after year with little assistance. There
-
-
4.1
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS.
was usually a cow or two, and the duty of milking and making butter devolved upon the wife. So dil that of making cloth, and the garments out of the cloth. The husband made the shoes, except at the time when some wandering shoemaker sought shelter and a few days' work. A clock was too expensive a thing to have ;. rude dials answered every purpose on bright days, and on dark days they guessed as to the hour. The crockery was homely yellow ware, and was often eked out by pewter and wooden dishes. Fine queensware and china were not to be seen. The ovens were huge and capacious, and iu them could be baked whole turkeys or sheep. So also were the fire-places of those houses which were constructed after the people became a little forehanded. Here and there may now be seen an ancient dwelling in which the Dutch oven is a prominent part.
It was a difficult thing. even after a family had some money, to get luxuries. Public sentiment frowned upon them as effeminate, and the shopkeepers did not have odd and curious articles on hand. The chairs and tables were at the beginning made by the stout hands of the farmer himself; the beds were built in the house, and thongs of deer or eoarse ropes were extended across from side to side, to give the requisite elasticity. Over this was a tick, filled with oat-straw, and the high structure was surmounted by a feather-bed, loved by all who were brought up to know its soft embraces, and contemned by this latter-day generation, who have been taught that it is hygienically bad, and makes man, women and child too comfortable. The last of all were the sheets of linen, woven at home, and a counterpane, carefully joined to- gether from twoscore different patterns of cloth-a true housewife's delight. If there was a cradle, it was made at home. Perhaps it might be half a barrel eut length- wise, and furnished with rockers ; sometimes it was a log hollowed out; but generally it was made by some handy man in the neighborhood. The floor was rough, as it must needs be when slabs or puncheons are used to iny it. There was no danger of dying fror suffocation, as there was a huge fire-place aud chimney to make a draft, and innumerable chinks and crevices in the walls and Hoors to admit the free air of heaven; and there were no needless pieces of furniture for the housekeeper to dust and keep in order. What would she have said could she have seen the present craze for pottery and furniture ?
For the first score of years after the treaty of Green- ville the hunting of wild animals formed an essential portion of the pioneer's livelihood. It is true that most meu did not neglect tilling the soil on this account; but uutil the wild animals had been nearly exterminated his stock and crops were not of much account. Squirrel- warmed in vast numbers, and to them a corn-fi. il was a particular attraction. Bears had the same weakness. It was a common plan for farmers to go on a Summer's aighe to a corn-fiehl, and there wait for the quadruped
to approach. If the fieldl were fenced, the beast would find some place to climb over the rails. When at the top, he would carefully look in every direction for an enemy. After a time, secing none, he would drop off the fence inside the field. He can not climb down, and so must fall. Having picked himself up, and waited, por- baps, ten minutes to see if he was observed, he would proceed to the hills of corn, pull down the stalk, strip the ears of the husk, and begin cating the succulent grains with the greatest relish. It was wonderful what devastation one bear would make in a com-field in one night. If the plans of the hunter had been well carried out, he would fire from his ambush as soon as the bear was near enough, and enough meat would be obtained to last his family until the carcass could be no longer kept. The skin was worth a round sum, either to sell or to keep. The fat, tried out, made a pomade or ointment, and the dogs had a feast on the poorer parts of the. animal. These latter were an important part of every household. From one to six were to be found near each farmstead. and, if of "low degree" and not well trained, they would make the night vocal by their barking. They were useful, however. They aided the farmer to discover any depredator on his fieldle. whether man or beast: they helped him in his encounters with savage animals, and they formed excellent playmates for his children. In all new countries man prizes the companionship of dogs. In hunting wolves and foxes they were essential, and were the same with raccoons and opossums. The latter were largely hanted at night, and formed excellent roasts for the family. The furs and skins of animals formed the inost compact and vahable of all commodities that the frontiersman had to do with. Offered at the shopkeepers', they brought cash, and in dealings of one man with another they passed more readily current than any other property. A premium was paid on the heads of wolves by the commissioners of Butler County for a number of years, and this stimulated the energies of the hunter. Many expedients were used to euspare these animals. Large traps were made and baited, the mechanism being such that the attempt to take the bait would result in the fall of the gate, thus securely imprisoning the beast. Other hunters would take the ovary of the female wolf' at a particular time of the year, rub it upon their trots, and then walk across the paths where the animals were sure to come. They immediately left whatever they were doing, and followed. This plan, while very successful, was attended with great danger, as the wolves Lecante infuriated when they saw the deception that had been practiced upon them, and not infrequently attacked the backwoodsman. Often have hunters been obliged to climb trees to secure their safety. But so effectna! were the attempts to exterminate wolves that fow have been scon by any one now living, and there is probably no one resident in the county who has killed one within its limits. It is impossible to give a description of a sehoo! that
42
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
.
shall entirely correspond to that which existed among our forefathers. It was entirely sustained by subscrip- tion, the wealthier men paying a little more than the poorer ones. The schoolmaster was a man of considera- tion. He ranked next in the community after the doctor, the lawyer, and the minister, and although his learning might not have been great, it was greater than that of the persons in whose society be found himself. Often he was some man who had traveled far afield, and knew more of the world than his auditors. He generally wrote a good hand, was familiar with the easier parts of arith- metic, had a little knowledge of geography, English, American and Roman history, and could read passably. He only gave instruction in reading, writing, and arith- metic, and if he taught these well he satisfied his patrons. The houses were generally of logs, with a capacious fire- place, and the benches and desks were of plain plank or slabs, the flat side uppermost. There was no uni- formity of books. Each pupil brought what he had, and all were in turn used by the teacher. One thing is un- deniable : the pupils carried from the schools more that they remembered, considering the extent of the curricu- ulum, than is now done in similar places. There was more concentration, and there was no study of a dozen different branches, all of necessity imperfectly acquired.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.