USA > Ohio > Belmont County > Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 5
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GATHERING THE PIONEER'S CROPS.
The crops cultivated by these early set- tlers were gathered with infinite toil and dan- ger; from the opening of spring until the ad- vent of winter, the pioneer farmer was forced to abandon his cabin home and seek protec- tion for his family in the shelter of the block house or the fort.
When the rigors of winter locked field and forest in its icy embrace, he was exempt from the depredations of his savage foes, but just at the time when his constant presence upon the farm was of the utmost need, when the spring was opening and the time of seeding was at hand, the implacable savages started on the war path and began their work of pil- lage and destruction, hence it was necessary for the farmers to go out upon their farms to work in companies, one party doing guard duty with their muskets in hand, while the other party cultivated the growing crops; thus they alternately worked and stood guard until the shades of night forced them to
again seek the shelter of the block-house of the fort. Not unfrequently, while thus in- voluntarily absent from their cabins, the sav- ages would make a raid during the night, pillaging the home, driving off the stock, and burning their scanty store of grain. Amid dangers and discouragements like these the intrepid farmers of a century ago, aided by their heroic wives and children, "made the wilderness to blossom," and pushed the fron- tier a little nearer the setting sun cach pass- ing year. The necessary labors of these pio- neer farmers were performed amid dangers and difficulties little understood or appre- ciated by their descendants of the present generation. The disheartening losses they sustained by the wolves and bears, destroy- ing their flocks and herds, were oftentimes aggravated and augmented by the total de- struction of their crops of corn by the multi- tudinous squirrels and raccoons, and thus it was that many families, after a hazardous and laborious spring and summer, would enter upon the long and dreary winter but illy pro- vided with the necessaries of life.
TIIE PIONEER'S DRESS.
Referring to the pioneer's dress, Doddridge says: "On the frontiers, and particularly among those who were in the habit of hunt- ing, and going on scouts and campaigns, the dress of the men was partly Indian and partly that of civilization. The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half-way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted.
"The cape was large and sometimes hand- somely fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself.
"The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cake, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which was always tied behind, answered
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several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens and sometimes the bullet bag occupied the front pocket. To the right side was sus- pended the tomahawk; to the left the scalp- ing knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins.
"These last were very cold and uncomfort- able in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of draw- ers, or breeches and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deerskin. They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher.
"Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles and lower part of the leg, by tliongs of deerskin, so that no dust, gravel or snow could get within the mocca- sin. The moccasins in ordinary use cost but a few hours' labor to make. This was done by an instrument denominated a moccasin awl, which was made of the back spring of an old clasp knife. This awl with its buck- horn handle was an appendage of every shot pouch, strapped together with a roll of buck- skin, for mending the moccasin. This was the labor of almost every evening. They were sewed togetlier, and patched with deer- skin, thongs, or whangs as they were com- monly called. In cold weather the mocca- sins were well stuffed with deer's hair, or dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm, but in wet weather it was usually said that wearing them was 'a decent way of go- ing barefooted,' and such was the fact, owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made.
"Owing to this defective covering for the feet, more than to any other circumstance, the greater number of our hunters and war-
riors were afflicted with rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all appre- hensive in cold or wet weather, and therefore always slept with their feet to the fire, to prevent or cure it as well as they could.
"This practice unquestionably prevented many of them from becoming confirmed crip- ples in early life. In the latter years of the Indian war, our young men became more en- amored of the Indian dress throughout, with the exception of the match coat. The young warrior instead of being abashed by his nudity was proud of his Indian-like dress. In some few instances I have seen them go into places of public worship in this dress.
"Their appearance, however, did not add much to the devotion of the occasion. The linsey petticoat and bed gown, which were the universal dress of our women in early times, would make a strange figure in our day.
"A small homemade handkerchief in point of elegance would illy supply the place of the profusion of ruffles with which the necks of our ladies are now ornamented. They went barefooted in warm weather, and in cold, their feet were covered with moccasins, coarse shoes, or shoepacks, which would make but a sorry figure beside the elegant morocco slippers, which at present ornament the feet of their daughters and granddaugh- ters.
"The coats and bed gowns of the women, as well as the hunting skirts of the men, were hung in full display, on wooden pegs round the walls of their cabins. They announced to the stranger, as well as neighbor, the wealth or poverty of the family in the ar- ticles of clothing."
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DISEASES AND REMEDIES OF THE PIONEERS.
In writing of the diseases that afflicted the early settlers the same author says: "For many years there was no person who bore even the name of a doctor. The diseases of children were mostly ascribed to worms for the expulsion of which a solution of common
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. CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,
salt was given. The dose was always large. 1 well remember having been compelled to take half a tablespoonful when quite small. To the best of my recollection it answered the purpose. Scrapings of pewter spoons was another remedy. This dose was also large and commonly given in sugar. Green copperas was a third remedy for this disease. The dose of this was larger than we would venture to give at this time. For burns a poultice of Indian meal was a common rem- edy. A poultice of scraped potatoes was also a favorite remedy with some people. Roasted turnips made into a poultice was often used by others.
"The croup, or what was then called the 'bold hives,' was a common disease among the children, many of whom died of it. For the cure of this, the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given in large doses. Wall ink was also a favorite remedy with many of the old ladies. For fevers, sweating was the general remedy. This was generally per- formed by means of a strong decoction of Virginia snakeroot. The dose was also large. If a purge was used, it was about half a pint of a strong decoction of white walnut bark. This when intended for a purge was pealed downwards; if for a vomit, it was pealed upwards. For the bite of a rattle or copperhead snake a great variety of specifics were used." Doddridge says when a small boy he saw a man, bitten by a rattlesnake, brought into the fort on a man's back.
"One of the company dragged the snake after him by a forked stick fastened in its head. The body of the snake was cut into pieces, which were split open in succession and laid on the wound to draw out the poison. When this was over, a fire was kindled in the fort yard and the whole of the serpent burned to ashes. After this process was over, a large quantity of chestnut leaves was collected and boiled in a pot. The whole of the wounded man's leg and part of his thigli were placed in a piece of chestnut bark fresh from the tree and the decoction poured on the leg so as to run down into the
pot again. After continuing this process for some time a quantity of boiled leaves were bound to the leg. This was repeated several times a day. Whether owing to the treatment or not, the man got well.
"Cupping, sucking the wound and making deep incisions which were filled with salt and gunpowder were among the remedies for snake bites. The cure of the fever occa- sioned by this animal poison must be effected with reference to those general indications which are regarded in the cure of other fevers of equal force. The truth is that the bite of a rattle or copperhead snake in a fleshy or ten- derous part, where the blood vessels are neither numerous or large, soon healed un- der any kind of treatment. But when the fangs of a serpent, which are hollow, eject the poison into a blood vessel of any considerable size, a malignant and incurable fever was the immediate consequence, and the patient often expired in the first paroxysm. Horses were frequently killed by them, as they were commonly bitten somewhere about the nose, in which the blood vessels are numerous and large. Cattle were less frequently killed be- cause their noses are of a gristly texture. Hogs when in tolerable order were never hurt by them, owing to the thick layer of fat between the skin and blood vessels.
"The hog took immediate revenge by in- stantly tearing to pieces and devouring the serpent which bit it. The itch, which was a very common disease in early times, was commonly cured by an ointment made of brimstone and hog's lard. Gunshot and other wounds were treated with slippery elm bark, flaxseed and other such poultices. Many lost their lives from wounds which would now be considered trifling and easily cured. For the relief of rheumatism, the oil of rattlesnakes, geese, wolves, bears, ground- hogs and pole cats was applied to swelled joints and bathed in before the fire. Coughis and pulmonary consumption were treated with a variety of syrups; the principal in- gredient was commonly spikenard. These certainly gave but little relief. Charms and
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BELMONT COUNTY INFIRMARY.
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incantations were in use for the cure of many diseases. The erysipelas or St. Anthony's fire was circumscribed by the blood of a black cat. Hence there was scarcely a black cat to be seen whose ears and tail had not been frequently cropped for a contribution of blood. The pleurisy was the only disease which was in any considerable degree under- stood by our people. A pain in the side called for the use of the lancet if there was any to be had, but owing to its sparing use the patient was apt to be left with a spitting of blood, which sometimes ended in consump- tion. Remittent and intermittent fevers were treated with warm drinks for the pur- pose of sweating.
"The patients were denied the use of cold water and fresh air. By reason of which many of them died.
BUSINESS METHODS.
"They had no stores of any kind," says Doddridge, "no salt, iron nor iron works, nor had they money to make purchases where those articles could be obtained. Peltry and furs were their only resources before they began to raise cattle and horses for sale in the Atlantic States.
"Every family collected what peltry and fur they could obtain through the year for the purpose of sending them over the moun- tains for barter.
"In the fall of the year, after seeding time, every family formed an association with their neighbors for starting a little caravan. A master driver was selected from among them, who was to be assisted by one or more young men and sometimes a boy or two. The horses were fitted out with pack saddles to the hinder part of which was fastened a pair of hobbles made of hickory withes; a bell and collar ornamented his neck. The bags provided for the conveyance of the salt were filled with feed for the horses; on the jour- ney a part of this feed was left at convenient stages on the way down to support the re- turn of the caravan; large wallets well filled
with bread, jerk, boiled ham, and cheese, furnished provisions for the driver.
"At night after feeding, the horses were put in pasture or turned into the woods, were hobbled and the bells were opened.
"The barter for salt and iron was made first at Baltimore, Frederick, Hagerstown, Oldtown and Fort Cumberland in succes- sion became the place of exchange. Each horse carried two bushels of alum salt, weigh- ing 84 pounds to the bushel. The common price of a bushel of alum salt was a good cow and calf; and until weights were introduced the salt was measured into the half bushel by hand as lightly as possible. No one was permitted to walk heavily over the floor while the operation of measuring was going on. The following anecdote will serve to show how little the sons of the forest knew of the etiquette of the Atlantic cities. Among the hands employed to drive a caravan from here was one who never had seen any society but that of a woodsman. At one of their lodg- ing places in the mountain the landlord and his hired man in the course of the night stole two of the bells belonging to the drove. The drove had not gone far in the morning be- fore the bells were missed and a detachment went back to recover the stolen bells. The men were accused of the theft, but denied the charge.
"The torture of sweating, according to the custom of that time, that of suspension by the arms pinioned behind their backs, brought a confession.
"The bells were procured and hung around the necks of the thieves. In this condition they were driven on foot, before the detach- ment, until they overtook the drove, which by this time had gone nine miles. A halt was called and a jury selected to try the cul- prits. They were condemned to receive a certain number of lashes on the bare back, from the hand of each drover. The man who was the owner of the bells, when it came his turn to use the hickory, said to the thief, 'You infernal scoundrel, I'll work your jacket nineteen to the dozen. Only think what a
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rascally figure I should make in the streets of Baltimore without a bell on my horse.'
"The man was in earnest, having seen no horses used without bells, he thought they were requisite in every situation."
LAW AND MORALITY.
Before the establishment of a civil govern- ment, disorderly characters by common con- sent were punished by the whipping post and stocks.
Although there was no legal compulsion to the performance of military duty, every man on attaining majority was expected to do his full share of public service. Such was the situation of our people along the frontier of our settlements. Doddridge says that they had no civil, military or ecclesiastical laws, at least none that were enforced, and yet they were a law unto themselves. The turpitude of vice and the majesty of moral virtue were then as apparent as they are now, and they were then regarded with the same sentiments of aversion or respect which they inspire at the present time. Industry in working and hunting, bravery in war, candor, honesty, hospitality, and steadiness of deportment, received their full reward of public confi- dence. The punishments which they in- flicted upon offenders by the imperial court of public opinion were well adapted for the reformation of the culprit or his expulsion from the community.
The punishment for idleness, lying, dis- honesty, and ill fame was generally that of "hating the offender out." This mode of chastisement was a public expression in vari- ous ways, of indignation against such as transgressed the moral maxims of the com- inunity to which they belonged.
This commonly resulted either in the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was directed. . At house raisings, log rollings, harvest parties, every- one was expected to do his duty faithfully.
A person who did not perform his share of labor on these occasions was designated
by the opprobrious epithet of "Lawrence." A man who without a reasonable cause did not perform military duty was hated as a coward. A man failing to go on a scout or campaign when it came his turn met with an expression of indignation, and epithets of dishonor were heaped upon him without mercy. Debts which make such an uproar in civilized life were but little known by our forefathers at the settlement of this country. They had no money of any kind; everything purchased was paid for in produce or labor. If a contract was not punctually fulfilled, the credit of the delinquent was at an end. Any petty theft was punished with all the infamy that could be heaped on the offender. If a theft was detected in any of the frontier settlements, a summary code of punishment was always resorted to; their maxim was a thief must be whipped.
If the theft was of some value, a kind of jury of the neighborhood after hearing the testimony would condemn the culprit to Moses' law, that is, "forty stripes save one." If the theft was of some small article, the offender was doomed to carry on his back the stripes of the flag of the Union, which then consisted of 13, and the stripes were sure to be well laid on. This punishment was fol- lowed by a sentence of exile; if he did not de- camp in so many days the stripes were doubled. If a woman was given to tattling or slandering she was by common consent given the right to say whatever she pleased without being believed.
Her tongue was then said to be harmless. If one man called another a liar he was con- sidered as having given a challenge to fight. which the person who received it must ac- cept or be deemed a coward, and the charge was generally answered on the spot with a blow. If the injured person was unable to fight he might get a friend to do it for hini. The same thing took place on a charge of cowardice or any other dishonorable action.
The mode of single combats in those days was dangerous in the extreme; although no weapons were used, fists, teeth and feet were
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employed at will; but above all the detestable practice of gouging, by which eyes were sometimes put out, rendered this mode of fighting frightful indeed.
AMUSEMENTS AND GAMES.
The pioneers were not without diversions, though they were such as might be expected among a people who owing to their circum- stances, as well as education, set a higher value on physical than on mental endow- ments, and on skill in hunting, and bravery in war, than on any polite accomplishments or fine arts. Doddridge says: "Amusements are in many instances either imitations of the business of life, or some of its particular ob- jects of pursuit. Many of the sports of the early settlers of this country were imitative of the exercises and strategems of hunting and war. Boys were taught the use of the bow and arrow at an early age, so they ac- quired considerable adroitness in the use of them so as to kill birds or squirrels. Dancing and horse-racing were regarded as a prepara- tion for the personal deportment, in public and military life. Qne important pastime of our boys was that of imitating the noise of every bird and beast in the woods. This faculty was not merely a pastime, but a very necessary part of education, on account of its utility in hunting. The imitations of the gobbling and other sounds of wild turkeys often brought those keen-eyed, and ever watchful, tenants of the forest within the reach of the rifle. The bleating of the fawn brought its dam to her death in the same way. Throwing the tomahawk was another boyish sport, in which many acquired great skill. A little experience enabled the boy to measure the distance with his eye, when walking through the woods, and strike a tree with his tomahawk in any way he chose. The athletic sports of running, jumping and wrestling were the pastimes of boys in com- mon with the men.
"A well grown boy, at the age of 12 or 13, was furnished with a small rifle and shot
pouch. Shooting at marks was a common diversion among the men when their stock of ammunition would allow it.
"Singing and dancing was another, but not very common, amusement among our first settlers. Their dances, to be sure, were of the simplest form.
"Three and four-handed reels and jigs, Cotillions and minuets were unknown. In singing, their tunes were rude enough, to be sure. Robin Hood furnished a number of our songs, the balance were mostly tragical. The last were denominated 'love songs about murder.' Cards, dice, and other games of chance were unknown. These are among the gifts of civilization."
THE MECHANIC ARTS.
The same author says: "Our readers will ask where were the mills for grinding grain, the tanners for making leather, where were the smith shops for making and repairing farming utensils? Who were the carpenters. tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers and weavers? The answer is those manufactur- ers did not exist, nor had they any profes- sional tradesmen.
"Every family were under the necessity of doing everything for themselves. The hominy block and hand mill were in use in most of our houses.
"The first was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excava tion burned in one end, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bottom threw the corn up to the sides toward the top, from whence it continually fell down into the center. In consequence of this movement, the whole mass of the grain was subjected to the strokes of the pestle. In the fall of the year when the Indian corn was soft the block and pestle did very well for making meal, but were rather slow when the corn became hard The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding grain into meal. This was a pole of some springy wood 30 feet long or
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,
more, the butt end was placed under the side of a house or a large stump; this pole was supported by two forks placed about one- third of its length from the butt end so as to elevate the smaller end about 15 feet from the ground.
"To this was attached by a large mortice a piece of sapling about five or six inches in diameter and eight or ten feet long. The lower end of this was shaped so as to answer for a pestle. A pin of wood was put through it at a proper height so that two persons could work at the sweep at once. This simple machine very much lessened the labor and it was kept going almost constantly from morning to night by our neiglibors for sev- eral weeks. Our first water mills were of the description denominated tub mills. It consists of a perpendicular shaft to the lower end of which an horizontal wheel of about five feet in diameter was attached. These mills were built with but very little expense. Instead of bolting cloths, sifters were in gen- eral use. These were made of deerskins in a state of parchment, stretched over a hoop and perforated with a hot wire. Our clothing was all of domestic manufacture. We had no other resource for clothing and this in- deed was a poor one. The crops of flax often failed and the sheep were destroyed by wolves. Linsey, which is made of flax and wool, the former the chain and the latter the filling, was the warmest and most substan- tial cloth we could make.
"Almost every house contained a loom and almost every woman was a weaver Every family tanned their own leather. The tan vat was a large trough sunk to the upper edge in the ground. A quantity of bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing the land. This, after drying, was brought in, and on wet days was shaved and pounded on a block of wood. Ashes were used in place of lime for taking off the hair Bear's oil, hog's lard and tallow answered the place of fish oil. The leather to be sure was coarse but good. The blacking for the leather was made of soot and hog's lard.
Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes could make shoe packs. These like moccasins were made of a single piece of leather, with the exception of a tongue piece on top of the foot. To the shoe pack a sole was sometimes added. The women did the tailor work. They could all cut out and make hunting shirts, leggins and drawers. There was almost in every neighborhood someone whose natural ingenuity enabled him to do many things for himself and his neighbors, far above what could have been reasonably expected with the few tools which they brought with them into the country.
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