History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 47

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 47

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The hunting shirt was generally made of lin- sey, sometimes of coarse linen or deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. A pair of drawers, or breeches, and leggins were the dress for the thighs, a pair of moccasins answered for the feet. These were made of dressed deer skin, and were mostly of a single piece, with a gathering seam on the top of the foot and another from the bottom of the heel,

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without gathers, as high or a little higher than the ankle joint. 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 thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel or snow could get within the moccasins. In cold weather the moccasins were stuffed with deer's hair or dry leaves to keep the feet warm, but in wet weather it was usually said that wearing them was "a decent way of going barefooted ;" and such was the fact, owing to the spongy text- ure 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 the hunters and warriors were often afflicted with rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all apprehensive in cokdl and 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, had a very salutary effect, and prevented many of them from becoming confirmed cripples in early life.

In the latter years of the Indian war the young men became more enamored of the Indian dress. The drawers were laid aside and the leggins made longer, so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. The Indian breech-cloth was adopted. This was a piece of linen or cloth nearly a yard long and eight or nine inches broad; it passed under the belt before and behind, leaving the end for flaps hanging before and behind over the belt. The flaps were sometimes ornamented with some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the belt were also secured the strings to which the leggins were attached when this belt, as was often the case, passed over the hunting shirt, the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips were naked.

use by having a large bundle of flax wrapped around its forked stick, a thread reaching to the spindle, and a little gourd filled with water hang- ing conveniently at the bottom ot the flax-stick, and whenever the good pioneer mother had a lit- tle spare time from cooking for a dozen work hands, caring for a dozen children, milking a dozen cows, and taking care of the milk and but- ter, besides doing all the housework and keeping everything clean and neat as a pin, she would sit down to this wheel and with foot on the treadle, and nimble fingers, pile thread upon thread on the spindle, to be reeled off on a wooden reel that counted every yard with a snap, and then it was ready for the great loom that occupied the loft. This loom was a wonder-it would be a wonder to-day, with its great beams, larger than any beams they put in the houses of to-day-its treadles, its shuttles, etc. Day after day could be heard. the pounding of that loom, the treadles went up and down, the shuttles flew swiftly from one hand to another through the labyrinth of warp, and yard after yard of cloth rolled upon the great roller. And then this cloth was to be cut into little and big clothes and made up with the needle; and, remember, this and a great deal more than any one can think of was to be gone through with every year. Wool went through about the same operation, only it was spun on the large wheel, colored with butternut bark and other things, but woven on the loom and made up for winter clothing.

Judge William Johnson, in an address at a pioneer meeting, says regarding this matter of clothing :

But innovations were soon made. My father had brought out a huge trunk full of coarse broadeloth, and this tempted the young men to have coats to be married in. They would bargain with my father for the cloth and trimmings, and with my mother for making the coat, and pay both bills by grubbing, making rails or elearing land. It may seem odd at this day that a woman of small stature, besides doing her own house- work, should make 200 rails a day with her needle and shears, and find time for reading and mental culture every day. I never think of my mother's tailoring skill, without being reminded of one instance. A young man had purchased the cloth for his wedding coat, and, as a measure of economy, employed one Nancy Clark to make

Sometimes, in winter, a waistcoat of the skin of a panther, wildcat or spotted fawn was worn. In summer, when it could be had, linen was made up into wearing apparel. The flux was grown in the summer, scutched in the fall, and during the long winter evenings was heard the buzz of the little flax-wheel, which had a place in every cabin. Even those who are not pioneers can remember this flax-wheel, for it was in use as late as 1850, or later. It stood in a corner, generally ready for | it up. Nancy was an expert on hunting-shirts,

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buckskin breeches and " sich," but had never cut a coat, so my mother cut out the coat. Nancy made it up, but on the eve of the wedding, when tried on, instead of allowing his arms to hang gracefully by his side, as became a bride-groom, it turned him into a spread eagle with arms ex- tended upward. The wedding day was at hand, and, in his perplexity, he brought the coat to my mother to diagnose its disorder, and, if possible, administer the proper remedies. She found there was nothing more serious than that Nancy had sewed the right sleeve in the left side, and the left sleeve in the right, and put them upside down. As luxury and extravagance in dress increased, an old tailor, with shears, goose and sleeve-board, began to "whip the cat" around the neighbor- hood, and my mother's occupation except in her own family, was gone. The custom of whipping the cat, both for tailors and shoemakers, was in vogue many years after, and, like the school- master boarding around, had this advantage, that if they received poor pay for their work, they were fed and lodged while they were about it.

But the material for winter clothing was hard to get. As the woolen goods wore out, my father bought six sheep to commence with, and within the first week the wolves chased the old dog under the cabin floor, and killed two of them within a few yards of the cabin door. On account of the scarcity of wool, many a night I sat up until midnight, with a pair of hand-cards, mixing wool with rabbit's fur, and carding them together, while my mother spun and knit them into mittens and stockings for her children to wear to school.

" Kicking frolies " were in vogue in those early times. This was after wool was more plenty, and it was carded, spun and wove into cloth. Half a dozen young men, and an equal number of young women (for the "fun of the thing" it was always necessary to preserve a balance of this kind), were invited to the kicking frolic. The cabin floor was cleared for action and half a dozen chairs, or stools, placed in a circle in the centre and con- nected by a cord to prevent recoil. On these the six young men seated themselves with boots and stocking off, and pants rolled up above the knee. Just think of making love in that shape! The cloth was placed in the center, wet with soap suds, and then the kicking commenced by measured steps, driving the bundle of cloth round and round, the elderly lady with gourd in hand pour- ing on more soap suds, and every now and then, with spectacles on nose and yard-stick in hand, measuring the goods until they were shrunk to the desired width, and then calling the lads to a

dead halt. Then, while the lads put on hose and boots, the lasses, with sleeves rolled up above the elbow, rung out the cloth and put it on the garden fence to dry. When this was done, the cabin floor was again cleared and the supper spread, after which, with their numbers increased some- what, perhaps, they danced the happy hours of the night away until midnight, to the music of a violin and the commands of some amateur cotil- lion caller, and were ready to attend another such frolic the following night.

The costume of the woman deserves a passing notice. The pioneers proper, of course, brought with them something to wear like that in use where they came from; but this could not last always, and new apparal, such as the new coun- try afforded, had to be provided. Besides, the little girls sprang up into womanhood with the rapidity of the native butterweed, and they must be niade both decent and attractive, and what is more, they were willing to aid in making them- selves so. The flax patch, therefore, became a thing of as prime necessity as the truck patch. On the side next to the woods the flax grew tall, slender and delicate, and was carefully pulled by the girls, and kept by itself, to make finery of. The stronger growth did well enough for cloth- ing for the men, and warp for the linsey-wolsey, and everyday dresses for the women, but for Sundays, when everbody went to " meeting," the girls, especially, wanted something nice, just as they do to-day. This fine flax, therefore, was carefully pulled,'carefully rotted, carefully broken, carefully scutched, carefully hackled, carefully spun, carefully dyed in divers colors, and care- fully woven in cross-barred figures, tastefully di- versified, straining a point to get turkey-red enough to put a single thread between the duller colors, to mark their outline like the circle around a dove's eye. Of such goods the rustic beauty made her Sunday gown, and then with her vandyke of snow-white homespun linen, her snow-white home-knit stockings, and possibly white kid'slippers, she was a sight for sore cyes and often for sore hearts. No paint or arsenic was needed, for active exercise in the open air, under a sun-bonnet, or a broad-brimmed hat, made by her mother out of rye straw, gave her cheek an honest, healthful glow, and to her eyes

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

the brightness and the beauty of the fawn's. Possibly those white kid slippers have caused a nod of skepticism. This is the way it was done: Her brother, or lover, shot six fine squirrels ; she tanned the skins herself in a sugar-trough, and had them done up, at a considerable expense and trouble, to wear on Sundays and state occasions. Possibly it may be wondered how the slippers would look after walking five or ten miles through the mud to church, as was frequently done. There were ways of doing these things that were only whispered among the girls, but have leaked out- and the same process was indulged in more or less by young men, who were fortunate enough to own a pair of fine boots-and that was to wear the every- day shoes or boots, or go barefoot to within a few rods of the "meeting-house," and then step into the woods and take the wraps from the precious shoes and put them on.

Linen for Sunday clothes was made of copper- as and was white, checked or striped, and when bleached was very pretty and soft. For very choice wear it was all flax ; for every day or second best, the warp was flax and the filling tow. Lin- sey-woolsey, or linsey, was wool and cotton, very much the same as water-proof or repellant is now, only that it was harsh and not finished. Dye- sfuffs in early times were in reach of all-butter- nut or walnut hulls colored brown; oak bark with copperas dyed black; hickory bark or the blossoms of the goldenrod made yellow ; madder, red ; and indigo, blue ; green was obtained by first coloring yellow, and then dipping into blue dye. Stocking yarn was dyed black, brown or blue ; and, for very choice stockings, strips of corn husks were lapped tightly in two or three places around a skein of yarn, and dyed blue. When the husks were removed, whitish spots were found, and the rare "clouded" yarn was the re- sult. The little tub of blue dye, with its close- fitting cover, stood in the warm corner in every well regulated household, and it made a very con- venient seat, and the cover was always worn smooth. Many a lad inclined to matrimony has sneaked slyly along and seated himself on the dye-tub as soon as the old folks retired. When carding machines came and lessened the labor of the toiling women, one of the first indications of anything as fine as "store clothes" was the soft,

pressed flannel, grand enough for any uncommon occasion, called " London brown." The folds lay in it, and it shone to eyes accustomed to look upon nothing finer than home-made barred flan- nel, like lustrous satin. It smelt of the shop, however; the odor of dye-stuff and grease and gummy machinery clung to it for a long while About this time a better quality of men's wear- ing apparel appeared in the same wonderful color of London brown ; and, to young men com- ing of age, who had been indentured boys, the beautiful " freedom suit " was valued higher than the horse, saddle and bridle.

It is just barely possible there is a lady in to- day's society, who, with five pound of colored hemp on the back of her head and thirty-five yards of silk velvet in her train, would be unchar- itable enough to laugh at these pioneer mothers and daughters; if so, those whose opinions are worth anything fully understand that there was more work and worth, more value to the world and the community in which she lived, in the little finger of one of these pioneers than in the whole body, train, hair and all, of the aforesaid "lady." By the testimony of all history, luxury tends to degeneracy. If the clothes of the pion- eers were poor, they made up in brain and heart. The tables are turned-the vacuum of brain and heart is filled with fine clothes. Let it be remen- bered that the solidity and value of this beautiful structure called society, lies in the foundation- in the pioneer fathers and mothers, and it is only because of this solid foundation that the structure is able to stand at all.

The great days among the pioneers were the Fourth of July and those upon which the militia assembled for muster. ' These were the holidays, when the people ceased from labor and turned out en masse, and when plenty of fun and whisky were expected. The place of assembling was generally in some clearing near some "tavern," the landlady of which had the reputation of be- ing a good cook. There was plenty of drum- ming, fifing and noise, and somebody was always found who could readily perform the duties of president of the meeting; somebody who could read the toasts, and somebody who had been un- der Harrison or Van Rensselaer as orderly ser- geant, to act as marshal. Plenty of men were

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ready to read that wonderful document, the " Declaration," for among the settlers were not only many excellent scholars and gentlemen, but here and there could be found a veritable graduate of Yale college. When no minister was present to act as chaplain, a good pious man was called to that post. If the meeting did not end with a grand ring fight, the people went home disap- pointed.

The houses or huts, in which these pioneers lived have been often described; their form and proportions, and general appearance have been repeatedly impressed upon the mind of the stu- dent of history. They were built of round logs with the bark on, and side chimneys of mud and sticks, puncheon floors, clapboard roof, with and without a loft or second floor, and all put together without a nail or particle of iron from top to bot- tom. These buildings stood many a year after the original inhabitants moved into better quar- ters. They served for stables, sheep-pens, hay- houses, pig-pens, smith-shops, hen-houses, loom- shops, school-houses, etc. Some of them are yet standing in this county, and occuped, to some extent, in some portions of the county as dwell- ings. A specimen of one of these appears in the upper right hand corner of the accompanying eut.

A second grade of log cabin, built later, was quite an improvement on the first, being made of hewn logs, with sawed lumber for door and window frames and floors. Glass also took the place of paper windows of the old cabin; nails were also sparingly used in these better cabins. It was sometimes built near the old one and con- nected with it by a covered porch, as shown in the cut. When nails were first used, for a few years a pound of them was exchanged for a bushel of wheat. They were a precious article, and were made by hand on a blacksmith's anvil, out of odds and ends of old worn-out sickles, seythes, broken elevis-pins, links of chains, broken horseshoes, etc., all welded together to eke out the nail-rods from which they were forged. The first cabins were often erected, ready for occupation, in a single day. In an emergency, the pioneers col- leeted together, often going eight or ten miles to a cabin-raising, and, in the great woods where not a tree had been felled or a stone turned, begin

with dawn the crection of a cabin. Three or four wise builders would set the corner-stones, lay with the square and level the first round of logs ; two men with axes would cut the trees and logs; one with his team of oxen, a " lizzard " and a log- chain would " snake " them in; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and frow, would make the elapboards; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and broad-axe would hew out the puncheons and flatten the upper side of the sleepers and joists. Four skillful axemen would carry up the cor- ners, and the remainder, with skids and forks or handspikes, would roll up the logs. As soon as the joists were laid on, the cross-cut saw was brought from the woods, and the two men went to work cutting out the door and chimney place : and while the corner men were building up the attie and putting on the roof, the carpenters and masons of the day were putting down the punch- eons, laying the hearth and building the chim- ney high enough to keep out the beasts, wild or tame. In one corner, at a distance of six feet from one wall and four from the other, the bed- post was placed-only one being needed. A hole was bored in the puncheon floor for the purpose of setting this post in, which was usually a stick with a crotch or fork in the upper end ; or, if an augur is not at hand, a hole is cut in the punch- eon floor, and the fork sharpened and driven into the ground beneath; rails were laid from this fork to the wall, and, usually, nice, straight, hick- ory poles formed the bottom, upon which straw or leaves were placed and the blanket put on. This made a comfortable spring bed, and was easily changed and kept elean. Often the chink- ing and daubing of the walls, putting in windows and hanging the door were left until fall or some leisure time after the corn erop and the contents of the truek patch were secured. Often the pio- neers did not creet a cabin at all until a crop was scoured-living, meanwhile, in their covered wagons, and cooking beside a log in the open air, or erecting a " pole cabin," or " brush cabin." mere temporary affairs, to shelter the family un- til time could be had for erecting a permanent one. The saving of the crop was of more import- ance during the summer season than shelter; but when the first frost came, a sure indication of approaching winter, active preparations were

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made for the permanent cabin, and the work was pushed forward until a snug cabin stood in the midst of the forest, with a clearing around it, made principally by cutting down the trees for the builling. Every crack was chinked and daubed with ordinary clay mixed with water, and when completed, and a fire of hickory logs in the great fire-place, no amount of cold could seriously disturb the inmates. The heavy door was hung on wooden hinges, and all that was necessary to lock it at night was to pull the latch- string inside, and the strong wooden latch held it fast against wild animals and storms. Thieves there were none, and even had there been, there was nothing in the hut of a settler to tempt their cupidity. Many of these cabins had no loft or .second floor, but when this was added it was used as a sleeping room for the younger members of the family, and a general store-room for the household goods, and often for the corn crop and contents of the truck patch.

Regarding the future of these cabins, Judge Johnson says:

The furniture of the backwoods matched the architecture well. There were a few quaint specimens of cabinet work dragged into the wil derness, but these were sporadic and not com- mon. I can best describe it by what I saw in my father's house. First of all a table had to be im- provised, and there was no cabinet-maker to make it, and no lumber to make it of. Our floor was laid with broad chestnut puncheons, well and smoothly hewn, for the obsolete art of hewing timber was then in its prime. Father took one of these puncheons, two feet and a half broad, putting two narrow ones in its place, bored four large augur holes and put in four legs, or round poles with the bark on. On this hospitable board many a wholesome meal was spread, and many an honest man, and many a wayworn stranger, ate his fill and was grateful.

On great occasions, when an extension table was needed, the door was lifted off'its hinges and added to the puncheon. What we sat upon first I cannot conjecture; but I remember well when my father loaded his horses down with wheat and corn and crossed the country a distance of eight or ten miles, and brought home, in ex- change, a set of oak splint-bottomed chairs, some of which are intact to this day. Huge band- boxes, made of blue ash bark, supplied the place of bureaus and wardrobes; and a large tea chest cut in two, and hung by strings in the corners, with the hollow sides outward, constituted the book-cases. A respectable old bedstead, still in the

family, was lugged across from Red Stone. An old turner and wheelwright added a trundle-bed, and the rest were hewn and whittled out accord- ing to the fashion of the times, to serve their day and be supplanted by others as the civilization of the country advanced.

But the grand flourish of furniture was the dresser. Here were spread out in grand display pewter dishes, pewter plates, pewter basins and pewter spoons, scoured as bright as silver.

Money was scarce, but our fathers learned to live without it. All was barter. The preacher's stipend, the lawyer's fee, the schoolmaster's sal- ary, the workman's wåges, the shoemakers ac- count, the tailor's bill, were all paid in barter.

I have seen my father, when he had a surplus of grain and a deficit of pigs, fill two sacks of corn, and on the backs of two horses carry it to a distant part of the neighborhood and exchange it for four shoats, and in each sack thrust one shoat tail foremost and another head foremost, tie up the mouths of the sack, mount them on horse- back, rip a hole in the seam of the sack for each snout to stick out, and bring them home to be fattened for next year's pork. Here was a cur- rency -a denomination of greenbacks which neither required the pen of the chancelor of the exchequer to make it legal tender, nor the judg- ment of the chief justice to declare it constitu- tional. The law of necessity governs in every case, and wise men may fret every hair off their heads without changing the results.

The following poem, originally published in the Cincinnati Chronicle in 1833, portrays so graphically life in a log cabin that it is eminently worthy of preservation. Although written by a " Hoosier," and intended to portray Hoosier life, it applies equally well to log cabin life every- where :

Suppose, in riding through the West, A stranger found a " Hoosier's nest," In other words a buckeye cabin Just big enough to hold Queen Mab in ; Its situation low but airy, Was on the borders of a prairie. And fearing he might be benighted, Ile hailed the house and then alighted. The " Hoosier" met him at the door, Their salutations soon were o'er : He took the stranger's horse aside And to a sturdy sapling tied, Then having stripped the saddle off, He fed him in a sugar-trongh. The stranger stooped to enter in, The entrance closing with a pin, And manifests a strong desire To seat himself by the log-heap fire, Where half a dozen Hoosieroons,

J.DM Kisson Du

FARM RESIDENCE OF SAUL MILLER, KEENE TOWNSHIP.

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With mush and milk, tin-cups and spoons, White heads, bare feet, and dirty fares, Seemed much inclined to keep their places, But madam anxious to display Her rough and undisputed sway, Her offspring to the ladder led And cuffed the youngsters up to bed, Invited shortly, to partake Of venison, milk and johnnycake, The stranger made a hearty meal, And glances round the room would steal. One side was lined with divers garments, The other spread with skins of ' varments ;' Dried pumpkins overhead were strung,

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 47

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854