USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. I > Part 8
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than the home manufactured garments, and Luther Damon, James Elam, James Faught and Emanuel Shoard were kept busy turning out furniture for the new homes. At first every pioneer made his own furniture, but with the prosperous times and the elearing of the soil the men became too busy to make cupboards and tables and chairs, so furni- ture was purchased at the little cabinet shops, as they were called. Tanning was also an important industry as the farmers in the fall would kill a calf or cow, and have the hide tanned for boots and shoes for the family. The leather was then taken to the shoemaker who turned out substantial foot gear at which the present generation would scoff, but which served admirably to protect the feet from cold and wet. The "fine" shoes of that day were quite expensive, and often seven to ten dollars were charged for a particularly stylish pair of boots. Children's shoes were always tipped with copper to make them wear longer, and the small boys had to have red tops to their boots to gratify their longing to be in style. The veteran shoemaker of Kenton, J. C. Miller, has the very bench on which he made shoes for the older residents of the county. William Ferguson had a tannery along the Seioto at an early day, and there were also several other places where hides were tanned. As early as 1846 woolen cloth was manufactured in Kenton, but the venture was never very successful, and in time fell into decay.
Making brick was another industry that several enterprising men engaged in. Benjamin Shawver burnt the bricks for the courthouse and many of the older buildings about the town. The courthouse was destroyed by fire, but many of the old residences still remain to testify to the skill of Mr. Shawver, the old Wagner residence east of town being a good example of this, as it is in a fine state of preservation, Jacob Pine also had a brick yard. Frame and brick houses began to take the place of cabins, and there was a steady demand both for materials with which to construct the houses, and for furniture to put into them.
Of course, with the increased activity in farm and commercial life hotels had to come, and many were the little taverns scattered all over Hardin county. At first the latch string of the cabins was always out, and people were glad to entertain without charging such pioneers as came to or through the county, but in time they came too fast, and the places to accommodate man and beast were located within convenient distance of each other. Along the old Sandusky road Portius Wheeler and Harvey Buckminster kept tavern, the former at the fine old mansion still standing on the north bank of the Scioto near the Shawnee Ford, and the latter first at -Grassy Point and later in Buek township. In
those days, liquor selling and drinking were common, and a license of three dollars extra had to be paid each year for the privilege of selling liquor. Two dollars per year was the ordinary rate. Judge Wheeler first took out a heense without liquor, but later drinks were dispensed in the old bar room under a new landlord. In Kenton, William Furney
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and a Mr. Williams kept taverns, where liquors were sold, and west of town in Roundhead township, Joseph Bowdle had a public house. Thomas Livingston catered to the wants of strangers in Roundhead, and the genial Captain Boslow in Patterson. In McDonald township, Thomas Campbell had a tavern at his home and for a time Dr. Stanley conducted a hotel under the name of "The Hunter's Retreat" near Patterson. In Liberty township were several places where movers and pioneers might obtain meals and a night's lodging, and no one was ever refused shelter anywhere, though there were regularly licensed places where travelers aimed to stop when night overtook them. The Kelly home in Goshen, the Van Fleet place and the Dudley cabin in Dudley, the Hueston Home in Blanchard, and dozens of other pioneer cabins welcomed strangers cordially and lodged them without a penny for years and even in the very early settlement at Ft. MeArthur Judge McCloud and his wife had a stopping place for people going up and down the Hull Road. When anything was charged in private homes, a rare happening, the prices were very low. Even in taverns the meals ranged from six and one-fourth cents to a shilling, with lodging correspondingly low. Feed for horses also cost very little, and while the sleeping ac- commodations were often poor, there is no record that the food was ever scanty or poorly cooked. Great haunches of venison were roasted in the fire place, wild turkeys cooked in the same manner, hams boiled in the big kettles suspended from the cranes, squirrel and quail were almost too common to be noticed and corn pone and bread were supplied in abundance. The landladies made jellies and jams of the wild fruits, such as blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, and the apple trees early set by the pioneers, which were obtained from the eccentric Johnny Appleseed, had begun to furnish the material for apple butter and all sorts of "spreads." The beds were fitted out with home-spun linen bed ticks stuffed with husks or straw, and the bedding consisted of tanned skins and home made blankets. There was no demand in those days for a suite of rooms with private bath, as a dozen men slept in one room, often, and all washed from the family wash basin in the kitchen, or in the back yard if the weather permitted. The finishing touches to the toilet were put on before a six by eight mirror, whose wavy surface showed more heads than the impatient boarder, hungry for the savory breakfast on the rude table, had time to comb.
Early in the history of the county the agitation for better roads began. The first piece of plank road was built near the present Teeters farm, and consisted of long stringers of oak to which were nailed planks of elm and other wood. It must have been hailed with delight when completed in 1849, for it furnished a secure road after the bogs and mire of that part of the county. There were also plank roads on two sides of the public square in Kenton at an early day, and a company was organized to build a plank road from Kenton to Dunkirk but it came to
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nothing. The first real gravel pike in the county was built before 1850 and was a small stretch of the Dunkirk Pike, which the progressive citizens north of town built by subscription. Corduroy roads, those make-shifts which jolted the life almost out of the traveler, were eom- mon, and until recently the remains of them were still plowed up in new fields.
The commerce of the county at that time was of the most primitive variety. Except the few pikes mentioned the roads were horrible in winter, and it was late in sunnner before they became smooth. The first railroad was unheard of, but still trade was brisk. The stage line from sandusky to Cincinnati was utilized by all sorts of people from politieal speakers to new settlers bound for this or more western counties, and heavy Pennsylvania wagons lumbered over the newly opened roads bringing supplies of salt, sugar, clothing, flour, clocks, books, machinery of a rude sort and other supplies to the pioneers. The fur buyers still gathered up the valuable pelis every winter, and often in winter the settlers made a little extra money by going off for loads of goods to distant towns for those who wanted to order, and a number of the early residents established regular routes through the county, whereby goods might be brought into the back woods cabins. Thomas Wilson for years teamed up and down the Detroit Road, now the Range Line Pike west of town, and other sturdy teamsters went back and forth through other parts of the county. When fall came the curious custom of driving turkeys and chickens to market was carried on, and of course cattle, sheep and pigs were all driven from place to place. Old set- tlers say it was a most wonderful sight to see a large floek of turkeys in charge of a number of men and boys taken to market, and even the driving of animals was attended by many difficulties sinee there were no fences, and unruly animals could easily wander off into the forest. It was a tedious process and the animals were fagged out often upon getting them to their destination, but it was the only way to realize anything on them, as they were not needed for meat, with plenty of game in the country, and the pioneers had to have money from some source for taxes and necessary expenses that could not be met with "barter."
Long before Hardin county was thought of, an important meet- ing had been held by a little group of men at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern of Boston, Massachusetts that had a far reaching effeet upon a number of states lying in what was then known as the Far West. In that little group was the scholarly Dr. Manasseh Cutler, who was chosen to represent the company organized in the tavern in March, 1876, before Congress in buying a tract of land to be developed by the Ohio Company. Dr. Cutler was instrumental in framing the famous ordinance known as the Act of 1787, which laid the foundation for the public school system of Ohio and other states ineluded in the
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act, by setting apart one section of land in each township to provide a school fund. It also provided for free schools for all children, and was so comprehensive in its scope that to this very day it is in effect, and the public schools of these states are in the front rank in the educational world. We are very apt to teach the children of the present that all the men of the colonial days were patriotic and willing to lay down their lives for their country, as well as to live for her, but there were tricky politicians about as shrewd then as now, and grafters as numerous in proportion to the population as at present, so it required no small a- mount of patience and skill in getting Congress to do anything. The Revolutionary patriots were justly claiming they were ill treated in the matter of pay for their services, and they were anxious to lay hold on part of the new country, and scheming land companies were formning to induce ignorant people in the East and in Europe to buy propetry in the wilderness; but in the midst of all these things the foundation for Ohio's school system was wisely laid, and free education forever assured to her children.
Before the school funds were available in Hardin county, subscrip- tion schools were taught by anyone in whom the neighbors reposed enough confidence to hire for the work, the wages varying from three to five dollars per term for each child, sometimes paid in money but more often in skins and produce. All this time the Ohio Legislature was threshing over the mismanagement of the school lands and enact- ing certain school laws, but the pioneers had no time to pay attention to what the law makers were doing. even if there had been any means of communication other than by straggling backwoodsmen between them and the representatives. They were too busy providing food and clothing for their families and clearing the lands, to pay attention to the General Assembly; so they just established their own little system that worked admirably until better times came. The Three R's were taught and little else, one old gentleman often telling how he went as a youth to try for a teacher's certificate and was asked several questions in geography which he could not answer. He also laughingly confessed that he was asked how much twelve and one half pounds of butter would bring at a shilling a pound, and could not solve it, but he got the certificate and taught the school anyway. About 1830 Hardin county received her share of the school funds appropriated by the state for the common schools, but it was not until some years later that anything like regularity and system in the examination and hiring of teachers prevailed.
In 1825 the office of school director had been established, and the common pleas court of each county directed to appoint three school examiners. This was in vogue some time, but almost every section saw added legislation on the school question. Up to 1831 women were not eligible as school teachers, and even after that date the patrons of
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the district had to sign a statement that they wanted a woman teacher before she could be legally hired. At present almost the entire teaching force of the county is composed of competent lady teachers, though many young men use teaching as a stepping stone to more lucrative employment. Although there was a law enacted later that provided for separate schools for colored children, black and white have always attended the public schools of Hardin county together.
With the coming of the saw mills, writing desks made their appear- ance in the log school houses, and the benches had backs. Also there were blackboards of rough lumber painted black, on which the children wrote their problems with chalk, a step in advance of the slate. And with the payment of regular wages came the custom of "boarding around," which saved the teacher the expense of a board bill and also gave him or her a series of varying adventures. Some of the pioneer homes were refined, clean and hospitable, while others were untidy and uninviting, but the teacher had to make the rounds of good and bad during the term. Edward Eggleston's story of the indignant old lady who thought the school ma'am stuck up, because she objected when a sheet was taken off the bed to piece out the table cloth when there was company, though it had only been slept on a few times, could be duplicated by some of the pioneer teachers of Hardin county were they alive to tell tales today. As the population rapidly increased, it was nothing for a teacher to have sixty or seventy scholars, and a man always had to be employed in winter to keep order, a necessary thing when the big boys went to school until they were twenty-one and the girls kept up their studies until they were married. In spite of mischief, and downright meanness, and courting, and a few other difficulties in ruling over such a turbulent kingdom, many of the school- masters of those days really enjoyed the work and turned out good scholars. Some of the present substantial school houses of each town- ship stand on the old sites, but in many cases the log buildings were situated in the middle of a woods or field, and when the roads were constructed had to be abandoned.
Last, but not least, the religious life of the county began to look up, and the "circuit rider" saw some of his dreams come true. Al- though the term "circuit rider" belongs to the Methodist church in early history and fiction, it really should include every man who made his way through the forest on foot or horseback to preach the Gospel. While the Methodists had more pioneer organizations in this county than any other denomination, a great many others were early in the field, and have congregations today that are the lineal descendants of those early services in the cabins. Hewed log buildings were put up for churches and numerous flourishing congregations worshipped in various parts of the county. If a church of their faith was not near, Christians of all denominations united in services with the pioneer
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congregation, and the influence of the Gospel and church life was felt everywhere. The Methodists had such men as Revs. Kinnear, Enos Holmes, Hagerman, Joseph Wykes, Thomas Simms, Thomas H. Wilson and others, who braved the diseases and hardships of the circuit rider to bring the message of Salvation, while the other denominations were represented by men none the less active and pious. At Huntersville the Presbyterian Church was represented by a congregation in charge of Thomas B. Clark and at Roundhead the United Presbyterians were gathered under the leadership of Joseph MeHatton at an early date. The Disciples of Christ had James Marshall Candler to establish churches in Hardin and other counties, and Samuel Tingle and Elder Lyons also did effective work in various parts of the county for this denomination. Catholic missionaries bearing their little altars on their backs came from the older missions in the more settled parts of the country to the homes of their members in the woods of Hardin county, and often held services in the Toner and MeGuigan eabins and others of their faithful followers from time to time. The German Reformed and German Lutheran, the United Brethren and Baptist denominations were also represented here and there, Elder Dudley establishing a Baptist church in Dudley township quite early. In Kenton a number of churches were carly established, perhaps the most beloved of all ministers being the saintly Father Waddle of the United Presbyterian Church, as he was familiarly called. So high in the esteem of the community did he stand that the citizens erected a monument in Grove cemetery for him when his useful life came to a close. To call the roll of the heroes of the Gospel who did so much for Hardin county in those days would be too much of a task, as many of them are forgotten because they early lost their lives or moved away; but their work en- dures. The zeal and courage that prompted them to give up their pleasures and hope of earthly gain, often even life itself, are still manifested in the lives of Hardin county men and women, a goodly number of whom have gone forth as pioneers in our own and distant lands to carry the story of the cross. No doubt the early settlers battling with all the privations and perils of life in this county thought prosperity came slowly, but it came to stay and in commercial, civic, educational and religious life, the work of the pioneers still shows. So they did not live and work in vain.
CHAPTER VI. SOCIAL LIFE OF PIONEERS
SPELLING SCHOOLS-SINGING SCHOOLS-QUILTING BEES-LOG ROL- LINGS-WEDDINGS-WEDDING RECEPTIONS-QUARTERLY MEETINGS.
Lest the younger generation should think the Hardin county pioneers had one unending round of hard work, struggle with disease, limited fare, isolation and general discomfort, it may be well to de- seribe some of their social gatherings; for from the very first they were not without joys in the midst of hardships. To be sure their parties were not the full-dress affairs of the present day with a hired orchestra, though sometimes a collection was taken to pay the fiddler, and elab- orate refreshments and elegant costumes were the order, but they had good times, those sturdy young men and pretty girls, as the grand- fathers and grandmothers will tell you even today. The old cabins and school houses were the scenes of much merriment for spelling schools, quiltings, dances, weddings, infares, carpet rag sewings and singing schools were numerous, and out in the woods the log rollings, cabin raisings and husking bees furnished opportunities to get the whole neighborhood together for work and fun.
Especially did spelling schools and singing schools flourish in those early days, and the schoolmaster and the singing teacher were honored members of every community. The spelling school ealled together the giants from schools miles away, and in the small room, lighted with tallow candles and heated by the fire-place, men, women and children held their breath as the ranks of spellers were cut down by the fire of hard words. Usually the spelling school opened up in a tame way by the teacher "pronouneing out" simple words, so that no one might be disgraced by going down on the first round. Two leaders were chosen to select spellers, and of course the best ones were taken first, leaving the poorer ones at the foot of the two long rows. The very best speller on each side was chosen as trapper, to watch the errors of his opponents, and several trustworthy persons with slates kept tally to see which side did the best. The ladies exchanged bits of neigh- borhood gossip, and the young men and women who did not spell
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openly made love, while the fathers talked politics until the teacher had to rap smartly for order occasionally. But when the spellers began sitting down in quiek suecession, polities, gossip and love-making were all forgotten in watehing the contest. Mothers and fathers hoped their children might win, and everyone was interested in seeing his own school come off vietorious. Once in a long time a prize was offered, but usually the only reward needed was the mighty shout that went up from the friends of the champion at the close of the mateh.
Singing schools were more deeorous affairs, as an admission was charged or some sort of salary given the teacher often. so those who . went were there to learn. With the tuning fork the leader stood on the little platform and the pupils gave attention to his instruction. These men had regular circuits going from school-house to school- house, and the singing was so good that many of the older people will have nothing to do with the music of the present. J. H. Mustard of Liberty township. and S. H. Cook of Pleasant, together with many others, went the rounds of the county. instructing young men and women in the art of singing, and once in awhile these veterans prove to admiring audiences that they are still good singers.
Quiltings, rag sewings and other needlework affairs are always spoken of as feminine affairs, but in those days the men always had a share in the fun. The ladies met in the afternoon or all day to work, and at five in the evening the husbands, brothers and sweethearts put in their appearanee. The tables were spread with everything known to the cooks of those days, and it was considered a disgrace not to have every square ineh of table linen covered with a dish of some sort. Often the dessert consisting of six or seven kinds of pie, and the same number of eakes, had to be displayed on a side table, and jams, jellies, preserves, pickles and butters were so numerous that many of them were never passed at all. The supper was served in the best dishes the cabins afforded on linen woven by the mistress of the house. and it was considered quite the thing to have a dozen or more waiters who passed and repassed as many of the viands as they could reaeh, and urged the guests to take more, though their plates were heaped to overflowing. After the supper eame the dance, and in spite of the enormous quantities of food disposed of, everything was brisk until long after midnight. The puncheon floors and rafters, that had to be carefully watched by tall young men, might discourage the young people of the present, but our ancestors were made of sterner stuff, and, to the tunes of Old Dan Tueker, or Money Musk, or Pop Goes the Weasel, danced away the hours sometimes until daylight peeped in at the eabin windows.
And in like manner the log rollings and eabin raisings called the ladies together to help cook the dinner, and applaud the efforts of the men. The whiskey jug was always in evidence on these occasions,
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and even little children were allowed to partake of its contents. With a tax of three dollars per year on liquor selling, and very little public sentiment against drinking, every family was supplied with whiskey which was used both as a beverage and a medicine. It is argued that in those days there was not as much drunkenness as now, but, accord- ing to the statements of some of the remaining pioneers, the guests at the log rollings often went home in a be-addled condition, and the few total abstainers in each community were shocked at the drinking that prevailed.
Weddings were numerons as the country settled up rapidly, and the festivities were prolonged over two or three days in most instances. The blushing bride received such homely gifts as rolls of rag carpet, home-spun blankets, quilts, home-made bedding and sometimes a cher- ished bit of china from the store of an older lady who had brought it with her from her old home. By great good Inek it was possible sometimes to send for wedding finery or gifts to some older town, though the jolting wagons on the corduroy roads made the transportation of fragile articles out of the question. Iron kettles, pigs, calves and horses also figured among the wedding gifts. The bride's "setting out" was made by her own hands, and consisted of home-spun towels, bedding and table linen, the good old fashion of setting a girl to work when but a child and saving her handiwork against her wedding day being in vogue then.
The wedding was followed by a wonderful dinner in charge of a dozen or more neighbor ladies, and that by a dance. The belling came a little later when the night air resounded with the elatter of tin pans, the firing of rifles and the wild shouts of the little boys who eould not be trusted with guns. Cider, cake and food had to be set out to pacify the serenading party, and the bride and groom always had to come to the door before the noise ceased. The next day eame the infare, or reception at the home of the groom, to which all the guests went on horseback and partook of another dinner and helped along with another dance. Mr. W. A. Kelly says that a young man who rented his father's farm gathered up all his young friends and went to Upper Sandusky, his old home, to get married and bring home his bride shortly after Kenton began to be a village of some size. The rest went on horseback, but Mr. Kelly borrowed a little open buggy from David Goodin, for whom he was then clerking, and they all set out in pairs early in the morning of the day before the one set for the wedding. Next day the marriage was solemnized, the feast disposed of and the dance kept up till morning. Next day they all started for the infare in the groom's home in Goshen township, arriving in time for a supper and another all night dance. With morning came a heavy rain, so they danced all day and at four in the afternoon the Upper Sandusky guests set out for home. They only went as far as Marseilles before
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