History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 39

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 39

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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 ends 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 at- tached 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.

Sometimes, in winter, a waistcoat of the skin of a panther, wild cat or spotted fawn was worn. In summer, when it could be had, linen was made up into waring apparel. The flax was grown in the summer, scutched in the fall, and during the long

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

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 use by hav- ing a large bundle of flax wrapped around its forked stick, a thread reaching to the spindle, and a little gourd filled with water hanging conveniently at the bottom of the flax-stick, and whenever the good pioneer mother had a little spare time from cook- ing for a dozen work-hands, caring for a dozen children, milking a dozen cows, and taking care of the milk and butter, besides doing all the house- work 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 occu- pied 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 lit- tle 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 cloth- ing.

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 broadcloth, and this tempted the young men to have coats to be married in. They would bar- gain 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 clearing land. It may seem odd at this day that a woman of small stature, besides doing her own house- work, should make two hundred 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 re- minded of one instance. A young man had purchased the cloth for his wedding coat, and, as a measure of economy, em-

ployed one Nancy Clark to make it up. Nancy was an expert on hunting-shirts, 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 allow- ing his arms to hang gracefully by his side as became a bride- groom, it turned him into a spread eagle with arms extended 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 in- creased, an old tailor, with shears, goose, and sleeve-board began to "whip the cat" around the neighborhood, 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 schoolmaster 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 woollen goods wore out, my father bought six sheep to com- mence 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 frolics" 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 connected by a cord to prevent recoil. On these the six young men seated themselves with boots and stockings off, and pants rolled up above the knee. Just think of making love in that shape! The cloth was placed in the centre, 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 pouring 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 out on the garden fence to dry. When this was done the cabin floor was again cleared and the supper spread, after which, with

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their numbers increased somewhat, perhaps, they danced the happy hours of the night away until midnight, to the music of a violin and the com- mands of some amateur cotillon 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 apparel, such as the new country afforded, had to be provided. Besides, the little girls sprang up into womanhood with the rapidity of che native butterweed, and they must be made both decent and attractive, and what is more, they were willing to aid in making themselves 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 clothing for the men, and warp for the linsey-woolsey, and even every-day dresses for the women, but for Sundays, when everybody went to "meeting," the girls, especially, wanted some- thing 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 carefully woven in cross-barred figures, tastefully diversified, 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 eyes 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 the brightness and beauty of a fawn's. Possibly those white kid slip- pers 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 consider-

able 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 bare- foot 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 copperas and was white, checked or striped, and when bleach- ed 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. Linsey-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-stuffs in early times were in reach of all-butternut or walnut hulls cöl- ored brown; oak bark with copperas dyed black; hickory bark or the blossoms of the golden rod made yellow; madder, red; and indigo, blue; green was obtained by first coloring yellow, and then dip- ping 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 result. The little tub of blue dye, with close-fitting cover, stood in the warm corner in every well regulated household, and it made a very convenient seat, and the cover was always worn smooth. Many a lad in- clined 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 flannel, 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

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

while. About this time a better quality of men's wearing apparel appeared in the same wonderful color of London brown; and, to young men coming of age, who had been indentured boys, the beautiful "freedom suit" was valued higher than the horse, saddle and bridle.

It is just barely possibly there is a lady in to- day's society, who, with five pounds of colored hemp on the back of her head and thirty-five yards of silk velvet in her train, would be uncharitable 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 pioneers 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 remembered 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 foun- dation 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 whiskey were expected. The place of assembling was generally in some clearing, near some "tavern," the land- lady of which had the reputation of being a good cook. There was plenty of drumming, fifing and noise, and somebody was always found who could readily perform the duties of president of the meet- ing; somebody who could read the toasts, and somebody who had been under Harrison or Van Rensselaer as orderly sergeant, to act as marshal. Plenty of men were ready to read that wonderful document, the "Declaration," for among the set- tlers were not only many excellent scholars and gentlemen, but here and there could be found a veritable graduate of Yale college. When no min- ister was present to act as caplain, a good pious man was called to that post. If the meeting did not end with a grand ring fight, the people who

came with the expectation of seeing such an exhi- bition went home disappointed.

The houses, or huts, in which these pioneers lived have been often described; their form and proportions, and general appearance have been re- peatedly impressed upon the mind of the student 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 bottom. These buildings stood many a year after the orig- inal inhabitants moved into better quarters. 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 occupied, to some extent, in some portions of the county as dwellings. A specimen of one of these appears in the upper right hand corner of the accompanying cut.

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 connected 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, scythes, broken clevis-pins, links of chains, broken horse-shoes, etc., all welded to- gether 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 collected 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 erection 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 "liz- zard" and a log-chain would "snake" them in; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and frow would make the clapboards; two more, with axes, cross-

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

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cut saw and broad-axe would hew out the punch- eons and flatten the upper side of the sleepers and joists. Four skilful axemen would carry up the corners, and the remainder with skids and forks or hand-spikes would roll up the logs. As soon as the joists were laid on, the cross-cut saw was brought from the woods, and two men went to work cutting out the door and chimney place; and while the

were secured. Often the pioneers did not erect a cabin at all until a crop was secured-living, mean- while, 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 until time could be had for erecting a permanent one. The saving of the crop was of more importance during the summer season than

THE HOME OF A PIONEER.

corner men were building up the attic and putting on the roof, the carpenters and masons of the day were putting down the puncheons, laying the hearth and building the chimney 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 usu- ally 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 puncheon floor and the fork sharpened and driven into the ground beneath; rails were laid from this fork to the wall, and usually nice, straight hickory 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 clean. Often the chinking and daubing of the walls, putting in windows and hanging the door were left until fall or some leisure time after the corn crop and the contents of the truck patch

shelter; but when the first frost came, a sure indi- cation of approaching winter, active preparations were 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 build- ing. Every crack was chincked and daubed with ordinary clay mixed with water, and when com- pleted, 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 or 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 mem- bers of the family, and as a general store-room for the household goods, and often for the corn crop

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and contents of the truck patch when better ac- commodations were lacking.

Regarding the furniture 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 wilderness, but these were sporadic and not common. I can best describe it by what I saw in my father's house. First of all a table had to be improvised, 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 at 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 exchange, 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 ward- robes; 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 bed-stead, 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 sup- planted 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 salary, the workman's wages, the shoemaker's account, 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 ex- change it for four shoats, and in each sack thrust one shoat tail foremost and another head foremost, tie up the mouths of the sacks, mount them on horseback, rip a hole in the seam of the sack for each snout to stick out, and bring them home to be fat- tened for next year's pork. Here was a currency-a denomina- tion of greenbacks which neither required the pen of the chan- cellor of the exchecquer to make it legal tender, nor the judg- ment of the chief justice to declare it constitutional. 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 graphic- ally 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 everywhere:

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, He 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-trough. 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,

With mush and milk, tin-cups and spoons,

White heads, bare feet, and dirty faces,

Seemed much inclined to keep their places.

But inadam 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, Where venison hams in plenty hung;

Two rifles were placed above the door,

Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor- In short, the domicil was rife

With specimens of Hoosier life. The host, who centered his affections On game, and range and quarter sections, Discoursed his weary guest for hours,

Till Somnus' ever potent powers, Of sublunary cares bereft 'em.

No matter how the story ended- The application I intended Is from the famous Scottish poet, Who seemed to feel as well as know it, That "buirdly chiels and clever hizzies Are bred in sic a way as this is."

The early land laws of western Pennsylvania and Virginia allowed to each settler four hundred acres of land, and no more, as a "settlement right;" and as the first settlers of this and the adjoining counties were largely from those States, they were, of course, governed largely by the habits, customs and laws of those States in the absence of any of these on this side of the river; therefore many of the first settlers seemed to regard this amount of

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

the surface of the earth as allotted by Divine Prov- idence for one family, and believed that any at- tempt to get more would be sinful. Most of them, therefore, contented themselves with that amount -although they might have evaded the law, which allowed but one settlement right to any one indi- vidual, by taking out title papers in other than their own names, to be afterward transferred to them as if by purchase. Some few indeed, pursued this course, but it was generally held in detestation.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 39

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096