History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 41

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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ney place; and while the corner men were building up the attic and putting on the roof, the carpenters and masons of the day were putting down the pun- cheons, 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 is placed -only one being needed. A hole is bored in the puncheon floor for the purpose of setting this post (which is usually a stick with a crotch or fork in the upper end) in; or if any auger is not at hand, a hole is cut in the puncheon floor and the fork sharpened and driven into the ground beneath; rails are laid from this fork to the wall, and usually

season than shelter; but when the first frost came, a sure indication 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 building. 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

THE HOME OF A PIONEER.

nice, straight hickory poles form the bottom, upon which straw or leaves are placed and the blanket put on. This makes a comfortable spring bed and is 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 were secured. Often the pioneer did not erect a cabin at all until a crop was secured- 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 until time could be had for erecting a permanent one. The saving of the crop was of more importance during the summer

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 have 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 as a gen. eral store-room for the household goods, and often for the corn crop and the contents of the truck patch.

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 drag- ged into the wilderness, 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 improvised, and there was no

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cabinet-maker to make it, and no lumber to make it of. Our floor was laid with broad chestnut puncheons, well and smoothe- ly 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 bookcases. 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 according 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, as who should say- 'that woman's daughter will make you a good wife, my boy.'

"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 fattened for next year's pork. Here was a currency -a denom- ination of greenbacks which neither required the pen of the Chancellor of the Exchecquer to make it legal tender, nor the judgment 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."

At a little later time, say from 1820 to 1840, the pioneers were living a little easier. Their farms were partially cleared, many of them were living in hewed log houses and many in frame and even brick houses. Most of them had barns and in- numerable out-houses. They generally had cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and poultry, and were living in comparative comfort. Their neighbors were near and always dear. Their schools and churches had improved somewhat, yet even at this late day there were hundreds of log school-houses and churches.

About three months in a year was all the school- ing a farmer's boy could get. He was sadly needed at home from the age of five years, to do all sorts of chores and work on the farm. He was wanted to drive the cows to water and to pasture; to feed the pigs and chickens and gather the eggs. His duties in the summer were multifarious; the men were at work in the field harvesting, and generally worked from early morning until late at night, and the boys were depended on to "do the chores;" hence it was impossible to spare them to attend school in summer. There was no school in spring and fall. In winter they were given three months' schooling-a very poor article of schooling, too, generally. Their books were generally anything they happened to have about the house, and even as late as 1850, there was no system in the pur- chase of school books. Mr. Smucker says his first reading books at school were Patrick Gass' Journal of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the mouth of the Columbia river in 1804-5-6; and Weem's Life of Washington. Parents of children bought what- ever book pleased their fancy, or whatever the children desired them to purchase. A geography was a geography, and a grammar a grammar, re- gardless of who was the author. This great con- fusion in school books made trouble for the teacher, but that was of small moment. 'He was hired and paid to teach whatever branches, out of whatever books the parents thought was best. The branches generally taught in the early schools, however, were reading, writing, spelling and arith- metic, and, later, geography and grammar. Boys attending school but three months in a year made but little progress. They began at the beginning of their books every winter, and went as far as they could in three months; then forgot it all dur- ing the nine months out of school, commencing again the next winter just where they commenced the previous one. In this way they went over and over the same lessons every year under different teachers (for many of the teachers only taught one term in a place), often getting no further in arith- metic than "vulgar fractions" or the "rule of three," and in their old Webster's spelling books the first class probably got as far as "antiscorbu- tic" and may be through; while the second class would get as far as "cessation," and the third class

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probably not through "baker," certainly not be- yond "amity." 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 remembered 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 spell- ing 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 correctly 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 re- ceived 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 con- tained thirty or forty scholars, and it was some- thing of an undertaking to get from the foot to the head. Spelling-schools were the beauty and glory of school-days. The scholars were always coaxing the teacher to appoint a night for a spelling-school, and were usually gratified one or two nights in a month or oftener. A night was chosen when the moon shone, and the sleighing was good, and then the entire neighborhood and perhaps the adjoin- ing neighborhood would turn out to the spelling- school; whole families came on the great two-horse sled, including the old lady and gentleman, all the children, little and big; even the baby and the dogs came. Schools in adjoining districts sent their best spellers to try and carry off the honors. The old log school-house was crowded, and the great box stove, cast at the Mary Ann furnace, and which stood in the center of the room on a box of bricks, was red hot, and kept so during the entire evening. Two good spellers were designated by the teacher to choose sides, and everybody was

chosen in one class or the other; then the spelling began, the words being given out by the teacher, first to one class then to the other, beginning at the head. A tally sheet was carefully kept to see who missed the most words. After recess the "spelling down" was indulged in; the two classes stood up, and whenever a word was missed the speller sat down, and the one who stood up after all had been spelled down, was the hero or heroine of the hour, and always chosen first in future con- tests. The result was that the participants usually became correct orthographers.

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 manifested 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, bar; feet, and dirty faces,

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 youngster up to bed.

. Invited shortly, to partake

Of venison, milk and Johnny cake, 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 domicile was rife

With specimens of Hoosier life.

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HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

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.'"

CHAPTER XXVII.

PIONEER SOCIETY.

CALL FOR A MEETING AT THE COURT HOUSE-ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY-CONSTITUTION -- FIRST ELECTION OF OFFICERS-MEETINGS -- PIONEER PAPERS-MEMBERSHIP, ETC.

"And while in life's late afternoon, Where cool and long the shadows grow,

I walk to meet the night that soon Shall shape and shadow overflow."

-Whittier.

THE following notice appeared in the papers of Newark, of April 20, 1867.

"The undersigned citizens of Licking county are impressed with the importance of preserving accurate and full descriptions of the antiquities and ancient works of our county, many of which have already been partially or wholly obliterated; and they also deem it equally important to collect and preserve all the leading facts and incidents connected with the early settlement of the different sections of Licking county, by neighborhoods and townships. This work, if done at all, must be done largely by the present generation. If not done, soon important facts in our history will be lost and we will have only the unreliable vagueness of uncertain tradition instead of authenticated truthful history.

"We, therefore, with a view to the accomplishment of these purposes, calljupon all our fellow-citizens, of concurrent opinions, to meet with us at the court house on Wednesday evening, May Ist, at eight o'clock, then and there to consider and discuss the important matter herein presented.

William Stanberry, Adam Seymour, J. N. Wilson,

Albert Sherwood,

John McMullen,

John Johnson

Isaac Smucker,

James Pittsford,

William Spencer,

James R. Stanberry,

Enoch Wilson,

William Veach

Daniel Forry,

John Cunningham,

Joel M. Dennis,

Erasmus White, Henry Smith.

T. J. Anderson, NEWARK, April 20, 1867.

" Pursuant to the foregoing call a meeting of the pioneers was held at the court house, May 1, 1867. Hon. William Stanberry presided, and Isaac Smucker was appointed secre- tary. On motion, Dr. J. N. Wilson, Colonel William Spencer, and T. J. Anderson, were appointed a committee to prepare a constitution and by-laws for a pioneer, historical and antiquarian

society, which the meeting had decided to organize. Said com- mittee, after deliberation, presented a constitution which was adopted by the meeting, and the following officers were elected pursuant to its provisions :

"President, Hon. William Stanberry; vice-presidents, Dr. J. N. Wilson, Thomas J. Anderson, Daniel Forry ; recording secre- tary, Isaac Smucker; corresponding secretary, Colonel William Spencer ; Treasurer, Enoch Wilson.

"The foregoing, as far as they are living, have remained in office during the entire thirteen years of the existence of the society. Rev. P. N. O'Bannon was elected in place of Hon. William Stanberry, deceased, but he also died lately; Captain M. M. Munson has been serving as vice-president since the de- cease of Dr. Wilson, and Hon. C. B. Griffin has been corre- sponding secretary since the death of Colonel Spencer.

"The society met again May 13, 1867, when many persons were appointed to write papers on subjects connected with our early history.

"This meeting was followed by another held in the O'Bannon grove, on the Fourth of July, when papers were read by Revs. C. Springer, and P. N. O'Bannon, and by the secretary.

"The next meetings were held August 27, and October 14, 1867. A number of historical papers were read at each of those meetings, which were held in Newark, and many names added to the list of members.

"Our next meeting was held in Granville, on New Year's day, 1868, where also a number of papers were read, the prin- cipal one being by Captain Munson, giving a history of Gran- ville town and township. The meetings that succeeded this during 1868, were held April 7th, May 20th, July 4th, and October 15th. Historical papers were read at all of them.

"The meetings of 1869 were held on the seventh of April (when the history of our Welsh settlements was read), on the nineteenth of Mav, and on the fourth of July.

"There were but two meetings held in 1870-the first, May 18th, and the last, July 4th, which was the great pioneer camp meeting at Pataskala, where were present about three thousand persons. Pioneer papers were read at both the foregoing meet- ings.

"Two meetings were held in 1871 -- the first, May 15th, at Alexandria, and the other, July 4th, at Utica. Pioneer papers

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were read at both meetings. The local history of the county having been so nearly completed by this time, it was found to be unnecessary to hold more than one meeting a year, which has been annually held on the fourth of July, since 1871, at all of which historical papers have been read. Down to the pres- ent time there have been written and published one hundred and fifteen pioneer papers and local historical sketches; also ten pamphlets, which combined, embrace all the incidents, facts and events connected with the local history, both early and late, that were deemed worth recording. They cover the entire historic period of the Licking valley, from 1751, when Chris- topher Gist and his associate, Montour, passed through it, as explorers, to the present day, not omitting descriptions of the elaborate works of the Mound Builders, and the Indian villages that existed here previous and subsequent to the settlement on the Bowling Green, of the Hughes and Ratliff colony, in 1798.

"Of the foregoing papers, one hundred and fifteen in number, Judge Scott, Judge Brumback, Rev. W. Bower, Mrs. Stadden, Rev. Mrs. Springer, Rev. S. P. Hildreth, D. D. Woods, Jacob Winter, William Knowles, Jacob F. Con- ine, Governor Greiner, Dr. J. H. Coulter, Captain E. Z. Clark, Colonel John Noble, Rev. Israel Thrap, Captain M. M. Mun- son, J. G. Brooke, Major Pratt, John White and M. L. Wilson, each prepared one; Captain Joseph M. Scott and Revel Everett, each wrote two; Rev. H. M. Hervey, Dr. J. N. Wilson and B. C. Woodward, each prepared three; Rev. T. W. Howe, General Rufus Putnam and A. B. Clark, each furnished four; William Wing and C. B. Griffin, each wrote five; Rev. C. Springer, our lately deceased chaplain, prepared and read seven, and the remainder were written by the secretary, Hon. Isaac Smucker. Of the pamphlets, Rev. H. M. Hervey furnished No. one; Jacob Winter wrote No. four; Samuel Park prepared Nos. five and six; Captain Joseph M. Scott is the author of No. eight; and Hon. Isaac Smucker is responsible for Nos. two, three, seven, nine and ten.

"The Licking County Pioneer, Historical and Antiquarian society has two hundred and eleven names on its list of members proper, of which eighty-one have deceased, leaving a member- ship of one hundred and thirty. The Antiquarian members have numbered forty-seven, of whom nine have died, leaving thirty-eight as the present number. The number of corres- ponding members on the list is one hundred and seventy-one, of whom twelve are dead, leaving the number, at present, one hundred and fifty-nine. The list of honorary members con- sists of ninety persons, of whom only seventy-eight are living.

"A recapitulation of memberships shows the following re- sult at present:

Pioneer members proper 130

Antiquarian members. 38

Corresponding members. 159

Honorary members 68

Whole number of members now 395

"The library of the society consists of more than five hun- dred bound volumes and pamphlets, many of them valuable. It also possesses a large variety of relics and curiosities and numerous ancient manuscripts and coins; and the collection of Indian and Mound Builders' ornaments and implements is by no means inconsiderable. Mention might also be made of the numerous specimens of Continental and Confederate paper money and other issues of paper, intended to circulate as money. owned by the society. The society has been, and continues to be from month to month, reasonably successful in accomplishing the object and purposes for which it was organized thirteen years ago.

"It is a matter worthy of congratulation that the commis- sioners have regarded the society as so much of a county or- ganization as to dedicate to its use an admirable room on the lower floor of the court house. For that act of thoughtful con- sideration and kindness they have entitled themselves to the grateful regard of all the members of the society. It is certainly no small accommodation to be furnished with a room having ample facilities for the display and safe-keeping of the library and collections, and of dimensions adequate to the demands of all business meetings it mayfbe found necessary to hold. The considerate kindness of the commissioners puts the society in a position to appeal to the public with confidence for generous additons, from time to time, to the library and numismatic de- partments, as well as to the cabinet of fossils, relics, curiosities, geological specimens, petrifactions, and ancient manuscripts."

Mr. P. N. O'Bannon, for many years president of the society, died September 13, 1880, aged nearly seventy-four years. Mr. Isaac Smucker has been the secretary of the society since its organi- zation. To his indefatigable labors is the accuracy of the society's reports due. In fact, no man in Ohio has done so much for the history of his own county and its preservation.

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JOHNNY APPLESEED).

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

JOHNNY APPLESEED.

"Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all." -- Whittier.

HISTORY of Ohio and especially of Licking A

county, would be incomplete without some account of this very eccentric individual, known as Johnny Appleseed, from the fact that he was the pioneer nursery man of Ohio.

Johnny Appleseed deserves a place in history among the heroes and martyrs, for he was both in his peculiar calling. His whole life was devoted to what he considered the public good, without re- gard to personal feeling, or hope of pecuniary re- ward. Not once in a century is such a life of self-sacrifice for the good of others known. There has been but one Johnny Appleseed; it is hardly possible there will ever be another.

He was born, according to one or two authori- ties, in Massachusetts, about the year 1775; was first heard of in Ohio about the year 1801, and was known to have traversed Licking county soon thereafter, The date of his birth is shrouded in uncertainty. Mr. C. S. Coffinberry writes the following regarding this matter: "He was born in the State of Massachusetts, but at what period the writer never knew. As early as 1780, he was seen in the autumn, for two or three successive years, along the banks of the Potomac river, in eastern Virginia." If this be true, he must have been born some years before 1775. Why he left his native State and devoted his life to the planting of apple-seeds in the west, is known only to himself. He may have been insane; he was generally so considered to a certain degree. He was certainly eccentric, as many people are who are not considered insane; it is hard to trace eccentricity to the point where insanity begins. He was certainly smart enough to keep his own coun-

sel. Without doubt his was a very affectionate nature; every act of his life reveals this most prominent characteristic. From this fact alone writers have reasoned, and with good ground, that he was crossed in love in his native State, and thus they account for his eccentricity. This is only supposition, however, as he was very reticent on the subject of his early life. He was conscien- tious in every act and thought, and a man of deep religious convictions. He was a rigid Swedenbor- gian, and maintained the doctrine that spiritual in- tercourse could be held with departed spirits; in- deed, was in frequent intercourse himself with two of these spirits of the female gender, who consoled him with the news that they were to be his wives in the future state, should he keep himself from all entangling alliances in this. So kind and sim- ple was his heart that he was equally welcome with the Indians or pioneers, and even the wild animals of the woods seemed to have an understanding with .Johnny and never molested him. He has been variously described, but all agree that he was rather below the medium height, wiry, quick in action and conversation, nervous and restless in his motions; eyes dark and sparkling; hair and beard generally long, but occasionally cut short; dress scanty, and generally ragged and patched; generally barefooted and bareheaded, occasionally, however, wearing some old shoes, sandals or moc- casins in very cold weather, and an old hat some one had cast off. It is said he was seen sometimes with a tin pan on his head, that served the double purpose of hat and mush-pot, at other times with a cap made by himself of paste-board, with a very broad visor to protect his eyes from the sun.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 41

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826