USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 10
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tribution of population and wealth. The pioneers of Huron county made their way hither from their former eastern homes by the tedious process of horse and ox teams, and some even on foot, occupying weeks in their journeys. They were the manufacturers of almost everything they used, including their farming implements and the fabrics with which they were clothed. Their food, also, as well as their raiment, was the exclusive production of their own farms. There were no importations of goods. The modes of pioneer life and their isola- tion from society did not require imported goods. The early settlers were pioneers and America is the only country which produced pioneers. Other countries were settled by people moving enmasse from one place to another, but here they came singly, each man for himself. In European countries tribes would move in a body and overrun, absorb or extinguish the original inhabi- tants of a country, dispossess them and occupy their territory. But in America we had the gradual approach of civilization and the gradual recession of bar- barism.
When civilization crossed the crest of the Alleghenies, Ohio was looked upon as the garden of the west, and soon various settlements were made in the territory now known as the Buckeye state. Casuists claim that the deer was made for the thicket, that the thicket was made for the deer, and that both were made for the hunter ; and in further correlations state that the soil was not only intended for those who would cultivate it, but that if the valley produces corn and the hillside grapes, that people suited to the cultivation of such products take possession of such localities on the theory of the eternal fitness of things.
It is different now with persons who remove to the far west, from what it was with the early settlers in Ashland county. Transportation facilities make a trip to the west a quick and easy matter, and stocks of clothing, farming im- plements, merchandise and provisions of all kinds can be shipped from the east to the west by railroads, making rapid transits instead of the ox-team trips of the long ago. The privations of Huron county pioneer life were serious situ- ations, compared with those of the early settlers of the west today.
No country settled at and prior to the date of the portion which now forms the state of Ohio, ever had but one race of pioneers-the men who penetrated the wilderness, endured all the hardships incident to its subjugation, and trans- mitted to their successors the comforts and conveniences of a high civilization. When this class of men pass off a given spot, they disappear for all time; the country which was first redeemed by them will know them nor their like no more forever.
We confess to a feeling of veneration for the characters of those men who penetrated the wilderness and inaugurated civilization and its train of blessings in a region where savages and wild beasts had maintained undisputed empire. The scenes through which they passed are suggestive of rich fields for the genius of the poet and painter, and fields that it is hoped may be hereafter occupied.
In days of yore friends and neighbors could meet together to enjoy them- selves, and with hearty good will enter into the spirit of social amusements. The old and young could then spend evening after evening around the fire- sides with pleasure and profit. There was a geniality of manners then, and a corresponding depth of soul, to which modern society is unaccustomed.
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A few years ago, one who had witnessed all the stages of our material development-the gradual redemption from our wilderness condition to our recent full estate of national prosperity-and having himself, by years of in- dustry and economy, gathered about him all the comforts and luxuries of modern life, had an irrepressible longing to be among the men and scenes of by-gone days. He would again become a pioneer in a new country. He sighed par- ticularly for that unbounded hospitality which dissolves-
"As wealth accumulates and men decay."
He could not, of course, hope to realize those halcyon days except in a new country. He therefore again, old as he was, resolved to sacrifice the comforts and luxuries of his Huron county home-the results of the toil of his own hands-and seek a new one in the west. With this view, he traveled over Iowa, Minnesota, etc. There he found the wilderness, true enough, but he could not find the men. The old race was not there. He discovered an utter ab- sence of all the types and shadows of the pioneer times with which he had been familiar in his early manhood. Instead of the matron and maiden decked in home-made tow-cloth and linsey-woolsey, he found hoops, silks, satins, and an exuberance of vanity and pretension. In place of the large-hearted human- ity of the days of yore, he found selfishness, and a race for accumulation even more intensified than had developed itself in the modern times among our- selves. Far beyond the rising tide of population, he found the locomotive and its "train" of vice and social demoralization. Our friend returned home, well persuaded that no condition of society now exists upon the face of the globe that affords a parallel to the times for which he sighed and with which he was once familiar.
EARLY SCHOOLS.
For several years after the first settlement, but little attention was paid to educational matters. The teachers were illiterate, and the school-houses were of the rudest style of architecture. The following description of one will illus- trate. It was situated on a knoll about four rods from a fine spring of water in the midst of a dense forest. It was constructed of round logs twelve and sixteen feet long, one story high, with a log across the north end placed about four or five feet high from the floor, and about the same distance from the wall. upen which, and against the end wall, was erected a large stick chimney, plastered with mortar, joined to a stone back wall cemented with the same material.
The roof was made of clapboards that were held in their places by weight poles, which in turn were held by a small log, notched into the ends of the top end logs, and called a butting pole. Not a nail was used. Greased paper was used in place of glass for windows. The ground floor was composed of huge puncheons, faced and jointed by some pioneer with his broadaxe, and laid upon large logs placed in as sleepers. The seats were made from small trees, cut into logs of the proper length and split in two, the bark taken off. and the other side hewn and made smooth; two-inch holes were then bored into the ends and
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middle, into which sticks were placed for legs. Holes were bored into the walls on the west side, and the south end, and large wooden supporters placed therein, upon which were laid boards to write upon; then, to complete the structure, the door was made by cutting a hole in the southeast corner of the house, five and one-half by three and one-half feet in dimensions ; the same was cased with timber, split, hewn and shaved, and fastened with wooden pins.
A scholar thus described his teacher's personal appearance: "He wore linsey- woolsey pants and home-made linen vest, red flannel warmus, cowhide shoes, the sole and upper leather both of his own tanning. together with overshoes made from sheepskin with the wool on."
As to his pupils, they came from every direction for two miles each way. Some of them six feet in height, all dressed in homespun from head to foot. The young women were also clad in homespun. The books corresponded with other surroundings. A majority of these youngsters went to work with a will, and soon acquired the rudiments of an education, and matured into excellent men and women.
There were always three or four classes in spelling, and this exercise was the last before school was dismissed in the evening. Their old books were conned over year after year until they were worn out and the children grew up to manhood and womanhood. and never knew, and perhaps do not know to this day, what was in the back part of them. That was the kind of a start many a great man had. These schools cannot be despised when it is remem- bered that the greatest and best of the nation, including such men as Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, and Stephen A. Douglas, were among the boys who attended them.
There was always much competition in the spelling classes as to who should get the "head mark." In the later schools it was the custom that the best speller might stand at the head until he missed, when the one who spelled the word cor- rectly should take his place, and he then stood next to the head; but they did things differently in the earlier schools ; the head of the class once gained and held until the last spelling at night, the head mark was received and the lucky scholar then took his place at the foot of the class, to again work his way gradu- ally to the head. These classes sometimes contained thirty or forty scholars. and it was something of an undertaking to get from the foot to the head. Spell- ing-schools were the beauty and glory of school-days. The scholars were al- ways coaxing the teacher to appoint a night for a spelling school, which he usually did for about two nights in a week.
THE PIONEER PREACHERS OF THE FIRELANDS.
A tribute of praise should be given the pioneer preachers of the Firelands. The Methodist ministers were the first on the Firelands of which we find any record. As early as 1811 the Rev. William Gurley preached in Huron county. It has been written that great was the joy when they heard that a preacher had arrived. At that time there was no minister of the gospel within at least forty miles. No sermon had then been heard in our county, and the news soon spread for many miles around.
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A log school house, so recently built, was filled at the hour for worship. It was "Indian summer." The manner in which the audience were dressed was striking enough. The men were mostly dressed in tow shirts, linsey coats or hunting shirts and buckskin pantaloons, and moccasins instead of shoes were extensively worn. Here and there might be seen a vest of spotted fawn-skin made with the fur out, caps made of the skins of the raccoon and muskrat were worn instead of hats. These articles of dress were all of domestic manufacture, and mostly clumsy and uncouth in appearance. The costume of the ladies was almost entirely of home manufacture, except that of those who had recently arrived from the cast. A few Indians, attracted by curiosity, were present ; they were in their hunting costumes with rifle, tomahawk and knife.
The pioneer preacher's church was the log cabin or the log school house. His pulpit a rude table. His horse and saddle bags were his inseparable com- panions. In the early conferences it was customary for the bishop to admonish the preachers to "be kind to their beast," and truly these itinerant horses shared with their riders in the arduous toil and struggle connected with planting the gospel. The pioneer preacher's library was a portable library, consisting of a Bible, hymn book, discipline and a few other books, carried in the saddle bags and read on horseback, or by the weird flicker of the pine knot or tallow-candle in the cabin of the pioneer.
Among the preachers of an early day who visited the Firelands were William Gurley, True Pattie, James McIntyre, Harry O. Sheldon and Russel Bigelow. These pioneer preachers have been described as follows:
William Runnels, who always rode the best looking horse on the circuit. and of which animal there was no better judge, was a most interesting and pleasing speaker.
Elder Russel Bigelow, his oratory was of divine inspiration and under his unequaled and soul stirring appeals I have seen people leave their seats and get as near the pulpit as possible, apparently unaware of changing their places. "Such vast impressions did his sermons make, he always kept his flock awake."
Rev. L. B. Gurley was eloquent and his sermons full of pathos, most con- vincing and often moving to tears.
Rev. Harry O. Sheldon was sublime in his eloquence, of noble bearing, with a voice musical and penetrating, was the type of a missionary.
Rev. William Disbrow, a profound orator and thinker, scholarly and polished, warm of heart and in every way attractive.
In 1817 the Ohio conference of Methodists sent the Rev. Alfred Brunson to the Huron circuit. He thus describes his journey there :
"I was living in Fowler, Trumbull county, Ohio; it was the first week in January, 1818, that I started for my new (Huron) circuit.
"I was clad in homespun, the produce of my wife's industry. My horse and equipage were of the humblest kind. The journey was mostly through a dense forest. I traveled thirty miles before I could find a road leading westward along the lake shore. Where Elyria now stands there was no bridge and I crossed the river on the ice. My circuit extended from Black river along the Ridge road by where Norwalk now stands, then to the little town of New Haven, and thence by a zigzag course to Sandusky bay and Venice and Portland, now San-
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dusky city, thence through Perkins, east along the lake shore to the place of beginning. I soon formed a four weeks' circuit of twenty-four appointments with two hundred miles of travel."
The pioneer preacher, with a broad brimmed white hat and round breasted coat, well posed in his easy saddle, was easily recognized as he drew near the log cabin, or the "meeting house," where the congregation was usually in wait- ing. With saddle-bags on his arm, he pressed through amid the devout wor- shipers, who would strike up some favorite hymn, making "melody in their hearts, and melody with their voices." Kneeling and offering a silent prayer, the preacher would first unlace his well bespattered leggings, then draw from the saddle-bags his bible and hymn-book.
PIONEER STORIES.
The pioneer stories we heard in our youth are enshrined in our hearts and we recall them with pleasure and sorrow alike.
Many incidents might be enumerated to show that the paths of the pioneers were not strewn with roses, and many of the comforts which they enjoyed later in life were obtained by persevering exertions, industry, and economy on their part and the people of today can form but an imperfect idea of the privations and hardships endured by the pioneers of Ohio.
In the early pioneer time a neighbor at the distance of ten miles was con- sidered near enough for all social purposes.
The first work of the newcomer was to select a location, then to cut poles or logs suitable to build a cabin for his family. The dimensions of the structure were according to the size of the family.
After the house was completed, the next thing in order was to clear off a tract of ground for a corn and potato patch. They usually plowed new ground with a shovel-plow, on account of the roots, and the harness for the horses was often made of leather-wood. Corn was ground on a hand mill or pounded in a mortar or hominy block. It was then sieved and the meal or finer portion was used for bread and the coarser for hominy. Their meat was venison, bear and wild turkey, as it was difficult to raise hogs or sheep on account of the wolves and bear, which made pork and mutton scarce. Wolf scalps were worth from four dollars to six dollars a piece, which rendered wolf hunting a paying business.
The pioneers were a generous, warmhearted and benevolent people. Al- though they did not want to see the game driven away by a too rapid settlement of the country, yet when a new settler came, they extended him a cordial wel- come. There was social equality then-distinction in society came later.
People went miles to assist in house and barn raisings and in log-rollings, while the men were doing this work the women were doing quilting or sew- ing. Bountiful meals were served at these gatherings, chicken-pot-pie being the principal part of the bill of fare. These pot-pies were usually cooked in big iron kettles out of doors. After the day's work was done, the evening was passed in social amusement-dancing being quite popular. If they had no fiddler, mu- sic was furnished by some one singing or whistling "dancing tunes."
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Weddings were the great occasions of those days and brought old and young together, the festivities lasting two days. The wedding ceremony took place at the home of the bride and the second day was the "infair" at the home of the groom.
Although there were many dangers and great privations in pioneer life, there was happiness, also. In later years, the early settlers often referred to that period as "happy days of primitive simplicity."
The pioneers would take hickory bark torches and go a mile or more to call upon a neighbor and enjoy a winter evening in cracking nuts and telling stories, ending with refreshments being served in the form of a hot supper. Cooking utensils were few, and a pot or kettle often had to be used for several purposes in the preparation of a meal.
An anecdote will illustrate how prolific the pioneers were in expedients. Neighbors, who lived about two miles apart, with a creek between them, had ar- ranged for a visit on a certain day. When the visiting party got to the stream they saw that the freshet had washed away the foot-log and as they stood in perplexity, wondering how to cross, the neighbors whom they were going to visit, came with his yoke of oxen and mounting the "near" ox, forded the stream and the woman, Europa-like, sprang upon the back of the "off" ox and was soon landed in safety upon the other bank of the creek. Another trip and the man was also taken across. Upon their return in the evening the stream was again forded in like manner.
Johnny Appleseed was present upon one occasion when an itinerant preacher was holding forth to an audience at the public square in Mansfield. Johnny was lying upon some boards near the outskirt of the crowd, when the preacher, who was speaking against the sin of fashion, exclaimed, "Where is the bare- footed Christian traveling to heaven?" Taking the question in a literal sense, Johnny responded, "here he is," and raised his bare feet in the air.
Johnny Appleseed's death was in harmony with his unostentatious and blame- less life. It is often remarked how beautiful is the Christian's life; yea, but far more beautiful is the Christian's death! Those who were with Johnny at his last moments, stated that as the end drew near "the fashion of his countenance was altered :" that a smile wreathed his thin lips as they moved in prayer, and that a halo seemed to crown him with the glory of a saint as he passed "from death unto life," from the life here to the life there.
In olden time the rich and the poor dressed much alike, the men generally wore hunting shirts and buckskin pants ; the women wore dresses made of linen and flannel goods, spun and woven by their own hands.
The school houses were in keeping with the cabins and the times and the peda- gogues who instructed the youths in the mysteries of the three R's-"readin,' 'ritin' an' 'rithmetic," as the London Alderman put it, was called "master." The scholar whose "ciphering" included the "rule of three" was considered well advanced.
There were "puncheon" bench seats and wooden pins were put in the logs at the side of the room, and upon these a board was placed for writing desks and the preparatory course in writing was to make "pot-hooks" and "hangers." There were no classes, except in spelling, as there was no uniformity in the books used.
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Y. M. C. A., CHICAGO, OHIO
45714B
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They pronounced syllables then and when they had learned to read, could read anything.
The scholars, old and young, went bare-footed in warm weather and so did the teacher. The school-master carried a long hickory rod as an insignia of his po- sition and with which he often enforced his authority, for the pioneer did not be- lieve in spoiling the child by sparing the rod.
While the old-time schools may be looked back to as inferior to those of to- day, yet they were the schools in which our Calhouns, our Clays and our Websters were educated.
Times change and we change with them, but the fount of childhood is per- ennially fresh and there are little sunburnt, rosy-cheeked boys and girls who now fill our better appointed school rooms, as the children of the past did in their day and generation.
Religious services were frequently held at the homes of the settlers, even after houses for public worship had been erected. In the summer time the "threshing floor" of barns were often used as "meeting houses" for Sunday preaching. Camp meetings were also features of that period.
In narrating deeds of valor of the pioneers, it is well to state again that the women not only shared the dangers of those troublous times, but often displayed heroism and deeds of daring equal to those of the bravest of the brave. One in- stance is all I now have space to cite-that of Elizabeth Zane, sister of Colonel Zane.
At the siege of Wheeling in 1782 the supply of ammunition became almost ex- hausted, and it became necessary to renew it from Col. Zane's quarters, forty rods distant. Miss Zane volunteered to accomplish the hazardous feat. She was from Philadelphia, was highly educated and had only a few weeks' experience in border life and warfare. She was young and active, with courage to brave the danger and fortitude to sustain her through it.
Brave soldiers stepped forward and insisted that they be sent on the errand, declaring the lady should not undertake such a dangerous exploit. But Miss Zane disdained to weigh the hazard of her own life against that of others and claimed that a woman would not be missed in the defense of the fort, but that every man was needed. The grandeur of her heroism and the eloquence of her appeal to be permitted to serve her country at the last won her case, and as the gate was thrown open, she bounded forth with the buoyancy of hope and in the confidence of suc- cess. An account of the adventure says that the Indians startled in amazement and exclaimed "A squaw! a squaw!" but made no attempt to interrupt or harm her.
Arriving safely at her brother's fortress, she made her errand known, and, get- ting all the ammunition she should carry, started upon her return trip. But the Indians were no longer passive. They fired volley after volley at her and the bul- lets riddled her clothing, but her person was unharmed. She reached the fort in safety and by her intrepidity and daring the army was saved.
Miss Zane's brother was the founder of Zanesville. The town was laid out in 1799 and was first called Westbourn, a name which it continued to bear until a postoffice was established under the name of Zanesville and the village then took that name.
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HUNTING IN THE EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Hunting occupied a large portion of the time of the pioneers. Nearly all were good hunters, and not a few lived almost entirely for many years on the results of the chase. The woods supplied them with the greater amount of their subsistence, and often the whole of it; it was no uncommon thing for families to live several months without a mouthful of bread of any kind. It frequently happened that the family went without breakfast until it could be obtained from the woods.
The fall and early part of winter was the season for hunting deer, and the whole of the winter, including part of the spring, for bears and fur-bearing animals. It was a customary saying that fur was good during every month, in the name of which the letter r occurred.
As soon as the leaves were pretty well down, and the weather became rainy, accompanied with light snow, the pioneer hunter, who had probably worked pretty faithfully on his clearing during the summer, began to feel uneasy about his cabin home; he longed to be off hunting in the great woods. His cabin was too warm; his feather-bed too soft ; his mind was wholly occupied with the camp and the chase. Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill and calculation ; on the contrary, the hunter, before setting out in the morn- ing, was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to find his game; whether on the bottoms, on the hillsides, or hilltops. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places, and the leeward sides of the hills ; in rainy weather, when there was not much wind, they kept in the open woods, on high ground. In the early morning, if pleasant, they were abroad, feeding in edges of the prairie or swamp; at noon they were hiding in the thickets. In every situation, it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to leeward of the game ; this he often ascertained by placing his finger in his mouth, holding it there until it became warm, then hold- ing it above his head, and the side that first cooled indicated the direction of the wind.
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