USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 2
USA > Ohio > Logan County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
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The four foundation logs having all been properly notched and saddled and in their places, and upon the usual tests being found square; the next thing to be done was to cut in the sills the slots, or gains to receive the sleepers, which if on the ground and pre- pared as already intimated by being scotched straight on upper sides, vere cut to right lengths and fitted at the ends, so as to rest solidly upon said slots, and put in their places; though this was frequently done after the building was raised.
All things prepared for the superstructure, the, leader still at his post, with a shrill emphatic voice selects a log, and his forces bear it to the corner- men asalready intimated, resting one end of the handspikes on the top log already placed, rolling it upon the two saddled logs; it was then fitted and prepared in proper manner and placed plumb on the wall by the practiced eye, aided by the pendulous axe held loosely at tip of helve, between the thumb and forefingers of the experts. This routine being continned, until the building was too high to reach and rest the handspikes as hereto- fore described upon the wall ; then, the skids resting on the ground at the but-ends would be reared ap to the corners on the front side and one end of the building, nearest the collection of the hauled-in timber : the logy one by one selected as aforesaid, would be carried as before to the foot of the appropriate skids. and placed on them, and rolled up as far as the men could conveniently reach ; and being stanchioned and held, the necessary number of forks were placed under each end of the log inside of the skids, with lower ends held firmly down to the ground, were by the order of the leader manned at the cross-handles already described at each end of the log, which was at a given word of said leader, slid up the skids by the uniform motive power thus applied, to the top, where, by the leverage of handspikes in the hands of the corner- men, it would be thrown on top of the already saddled legs, and by them rolled to the back wall; then the next log in like manner would be shoved up and received by the corner-men for the wall upon which the skids rested : these being fitted as Indicated, the two logs intended as transverse would in like manner be placed on the ends of the last two logs, all being done with exact uniformity and celerity, and with dispatch and neatness fitted to their respec- tive places in the wall. And if the contemplated rabin was intended to be more than one story, at the proper height from the top of
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the sleepers for lower floor, slots would be prepared for the joists, and if they were on the ground would be fitted in liko manner with the sleepers. Then the building would in the south o already described be carried up to the square; when upon the two ends of the building would be raised the cave-begreis, projecting some twenty inches beyond the wall, and would be notched down and saddled back far enough to receive the timbers hereafter describedg when the twoends in front of the building were botched at the upper tips in the form of the large capital V to rest the upper ends of the skids; then the butting pole for the back side of the cabin would be shoved up to the front corner-men, and roliod to the back cave and notched down upon the saddles projecting some fif- teen inches, beyond the outside plumb of the wall; then the first rib would be sent up to corner-men in same manner, and rolled back to proper distance inside of said butting pole, and notched down, so as to give the pitch of icof from center of butting pole to top surface of said rib; then the front rib and butting pole would in like manner be sent up and placed in same order as those jm the rear, then the first two gable logs would be placed in notches out into the ribs and chamfered at the ends to suit the pitch of the roof. The other ribs and gable logs being placed, so as to preserve the intended pitch of the roof, the upper and central one being called the ridge pole is in like manner notched down in such posi- tion, as that a straight edge would from the centers of the butting poles upward, touch the upper surfaces of all the ribs and ridge polo respectively at the indicated angles, Thus the cabin is ready for the clay boards, which are laid down upon the ribs with the lower ends resting against the hutting poles, with small spaces between, which are top-covered in like manner, so as to break joints, and the eave courses on each side being so laid down; knees out of the hearts of clapbcard bolts, of proper lengths are prepared at cacha end, resting endwise against the butting poles to hold up the weight poles, which are placed upon the two eave courses of clapboards as nearly over the ribs respectively as possible ; and in like manner another course of clapboards is on each side laid down abutting the weight-poles, and being kneed as described, another weight-pole is put in its place to hold down the boards, and so on until the whole cabin is roofed and weighed down as per programme.
In this connection it may be stated, that those forces that were
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detailed to prepare m itorial in the early part of the day, would long before the cabin was raised and covered have finished their several allotments of labor, and report themselves ready for further servico, and would again be subdivided and their respective duties under the direction of the leader allotted ; some to cutting out the open- ings, such as doors, windows, and fire-places, and jambing them up with the material prepared for that purpose ; others to laying down the floor as already described; others to building up the chimney, back and side jambs for outside fire-place; others to preparing "cat and clay" with which to top out the chimney and put in stone back wall and fire- place jambs; others to making door or doors as the case might be, out of long elap-boards prepared for such purpose, and hanging them with wooden hinges and fixing wooden latches; others to scol tin, lown slightly with a broad-axe inside walls ; others to ch kin. an I danbing the cabin and filling up the hearth even with the floor inl flagging it with flat stones, if such ma- terial was on hand-, and putting cross sticks in windows upon which greased paper would be pisted as a substitute for glass. And indeed it may betil the whole would be completed, so thata gen- meral 'i wring is it was called -in the shape of a country da . orother in moment amusements-would be the prelude to the Family occup they the same night after the completion.
This characteristic kindness was mutual-all felt it, all manifest- ed it toward each other. All intercourse was social; no one felt that he had a right to do nineer over his poor neighbor, but the disposition was to aid and encourage.
These settlers, as soon as they had furnishel themselves and families with shelters and provided for their wants, directed their attention to the moral and religious culture of the community, and schools and churches were organized and sustained, and from year to year the facilities of the people were gradually improved, and their condition began to assume prosperity and happiness.
But before this amelioration, notwithstanding all tried to assist each other as far as means to do so permitte.l; yet there were some distressing hardships endured. One family by the name of Knight was reduced almost to starvation, and had to subsist upon such resources as a wilderness afforded. Mr. Knight had to labor without nourishment enough to give him strength. He was one of those who had no kind of team, and had to carry his rails on
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his shoulder out of his clearing to his fence-row, and was actually so reduced for want of food, as to have to stop and rest with his rail one end on the ground, several times before reaching the fence-row. Another family had no other subsistence than that afforded from the milk of a cow, and such wild game and esculent roots as they could procure, and this same cow was kept in gear for hauling, plowing, &c., as their only team; these privations lasted from early spring into the summer of 1807, when their toils were blessed with the products of the soil in the shape of early potatoes, green corn, &c. These are given as samples for many more such cases.
In this connection it may be well to anticipate the question that may be asked : "Could not these extremities have been obviated by the wild game that always abounded in a new country ?" 1% is easier to ask than answer questions, but there were good reasons why a sufficient supply could not always be had. Many of these persons had neither guns nor ammunition with which to hunt; and most of them were not skilled in the use of fire-arms. They had emigrated from old settlements, and those who had the means at hand had to practice; and as an incident the writer of these sketches will state that his father, on his way from New Jersey, when at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, purchased a new rifie, a kind of fire-arms he had never used, but during his first winter in his new home, when there would come a fall of snow he would take his riffe and practice hunting, and succeeded in killing a turkey or a rabbit now and then, but from that nervousness and anxiety called buck-fever, could not for a long time succeed in killing a deer. But one morning after a fall of light snow he tied a white handker- chief over his head and dressed in light-colored clothing, assim- ilating as near as possible to the color of the snow, put out, gun in hand into the forest immediately back of his cabin, and was not gone more than ten minutes until the family were saluted with the shrill crack of his rifle, and looking in the direction of the re- port he was seen running at full speed toward the cabin, with his gun held horizontally in both hands, in a perfect fever of excite- ment, out of breath, and entirely speechless, thrusting the cock of his gun almost in the faces of his family, to let them know he had killed a deer ; he had to be even reminded that he must stick it, which he had forgotten under the frenzy of his buck-fever; he
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went immediately back and stuck a fine fat doe which had dropped dead from hisshot, after which he was more deliberate and cool, and became a tolerably good hunter both in the chase and at deer-licks, which abounded at that time in that part of the State.
A few mornings after the above occurrence his brother Johnson Patrick, who afterwards lived in Logan County, borrowed the gun and was gone but a little while until he came across two cubs and killed them both, but found himself in an almost inextricablo dilemma ; for as soon as he was about to bring away his game, the old dam made her appearance, and he not having been a skillful hunter, had not reloaded, and had no opportunity to do it; but with the aid of a good dog that happened to be on the spot mado good his escape with the trophies of his luck, and this incident made him a wiser man, and better hunter afterward. These frag- ments are intended as specimens; many such might be enumerated but would only vary in the personages and not in character. As I have undertaken to give the reasons why an abundant supply to relieve suffering could not be had, I will as another reason stato the fact that the din of improvement in so many places at one time, added to the discharge of fire-arms to a considerable extent, with other causes, frightened all wild animals and made them extremely wild ; aud even caused them to retire to more undisturbed places in the forests. I will here intimate a mnode of capturing wild turkeys, which was very successfully practiced without the use of powder and lead. It consisted in building of common fence rails a square pen, say three feet high covered with fence rails on top, with interstices between of some four inches, making an opening on on side at the bottom of the pen large enough for a turkey to pass through it, then throw into the pen shelled corn or other cereals, trail said seed outside some distance, and very frequently a whole flock would begin on the outside trail and clean it up to the pen, and one at a time follow the leading turkey through the opening until the whole flock, large or small, would be crowded inside, and when once in they became bewildered, and had neither sense nor instinct to go out as as they went in, but only attempted to escape by flying up, and were knocked back by the fence rail covering ; and would either be secured in the trap until needed for use, or taken out and put into another pen and fed; and leave the trap for.
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a new haul. The writer of this has practiced upon this same prin- ciple, and caught as many as a dozen at one time, but that mode would not last long In the same neighborhood, for it would seem that the poor silly creatures would learn caution and instinctively avoid the traps.
While upon this subject, it might be appropriate to notice other modes of capturing game which were devised, such as snares, dead falls, &c .; even wolves were ensnared in this way when properly set and baited. For want of steel or iron traps the resort was sim- ply to select a suitably sized tough, elastic under growth sapling, cutting off the top and tying to the upper end a small strong cord, so adjusted as to presentan open slipping noose, then bending down the sapling near to the ground and fastening it to such fixtures as would upon slight contact spring suddenly, being careful to so ad- just the noose that the animal must reach through it to obtain the bait already attached to the springing fixtures, These prelimin- aries having all been so arranged, the unsuspecting victim would approach, thrusting its head through the fatal noose, seizing the bait, which won't spring the hole suddenly and draw the noose tight, le ding it up in a dangling attitude, until larsened by the owner of the snare. And the dead fall was either a heavy slab of timber, or 1 small square pen built of poles and covered over with such material as would weigh itdown after it had been sprung; the latter mode was the most humane, as it inflicted no torture upon the captured game : to this class may be added the common quail trap, which was built ofsmall light split sticks, fastened at the corners with small twins and drawn in, so as to form what might for want of a better term be called a square cone at the top ; this weighted down with a stone on top completed the trap. All these were set upon what was familiarly known as a figure four trigger, baited to suit the kind of game desired.
Before dismissing these fragmentary ruses to decoy wild game, it would not be amiss to notice the practice of watching deer-licks. Then, were here and there certain brackish springs, to which deer in the summer and fall seasons of evening's would resort, and were denominated deer-licks. And the hunter who would avail him- self of this opportunity, would prepare himself in the branches of come suitable standing tree near by, a kind of booth, or screen of green limbs with their foliage; and in which he would fix a
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seat, and at about six o'clock P. M., would seat himself, gun in hand, prepared with a small piece of spunk into which he would with steel and flint strike a spark of fire, which would make smoke without a blaze to keep off the guats, &c., which were very nu- merous and annoying. He would sit (here without daring to make the least rustle or other nois , for fear of frightening the expected visitors; he would some times gro away disappointed, but frequent- ly they would come and one at least would remain as a trophy to the happy huntsman; but this mi. de (fl unting was an thematized by professional hunters, ferihe roson that it was calculated to drive away the deer from their winter haunts, and because neither the hide nor the venison was so goo les when killed in proper seasons. Speaking of deer hides, they were highly prized at that day for the reason that when prope ly dressed in the Indian mode, they became very useful material for clothing, such as pants and hunt- ing shirts, and were of co nmon use among the male population.
I will here break the thread of these fragmentary sketches by remarking that I have attempted to show that the early pioneers of the State were noble mind d, generous hearted, and social men; full of the milk of human kindness, ready at all times, to aid the needy, relieve the distressed, and hold back nothing that would promote the happiness of their follows. Indeed we never had bet -. ter communities of men and women, than were constituted out of the first settlers of Ohio. They were always ready to do good deeds, but added to these noble qu'ilities they had the muscular power to perform. It may be said, "There were Giants in those days."
I have lived too long to make rash statements of facts, but I am about to make one, that I feel almost afraid to make, fearing it may seem to srail my veracity. Hereitis : I knew a man of that day by the name of Collins, who between sun rise and sun set, with only ris axe and wooden wedges split one thousand rails of full size, the cuts having been logged off. It was chestnut timber, and he being a large boned alethic axe-man, would wield his pon- derous axe with such certainty as to check the cut, so as to drive in a small wedge, then following it with a tough glut, would so burst it open as to sever it with a few well directed blows of his axe, then quarter it in like manner, and then his axe alone was sufficient to shell the quarters into rails.
As these fragmentary and desultory scraps of the early times in Ohio are intended to perpetuate facts and incidents, connected with the lives of those who have "Gone to that bourne whence no traveler returns," it may be well to hand them down to the
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generations to come, that they may compare notes, and realize the contrast. And in that view of the subject, it may not be amiss to bring up in review some of the annoyances to which the people were exposed. Wolves were very numerous and ravenous and consequently it was with difficulty that sheep could be introduced, and indeed other domestic animals had to be kept in safe quarters, near the family residences, in order to save them. It was no un- common thing in the night season to be saluted with the dismal bowl of these nocturnal prowlers, in close proximity to the cabin homes of the settlers; and which if not scared away, would make a raid before morning upon the sheep fold or other stock within their reach. The most effectual way of riddance, was to keep on hands a good supply of outer, jaggy flakes of the shell-bark hickory, and make a sally at them with blazing torches, which would be sure to make a sudden retreating stampede. Blazing fire-brands from the hearth had the same effect; the sight of fire seemed to strike them with terror; indeed it was necessary at some seasons of the year for persons who were out at night to carry a torch or lantern for self preservation, as attacks upon per- sons were sometimes made. In some instances persons were not secure even in daylight, and, as one proof of it, I will bring up an instance. The Hon. Samuel Huntington, one of the first Governors of this State, lived in the Western Reserve. He had occasion about the year 1807 or 1808, to travel on horse- back from Cleveland to Warren, which was then almost an entire wilderness, on a very rainy day in theearly part of winter ; and was suddenly, without notice, beset by a large pack of hungry wolves. They pitched at both horse and rider; the horse was completely fright- ened into timid docility, and could not be urged to move; nothing was left for the Governor to do but to fight it out, with the only weapon he had, a folded umbrella, with which he punched them off, but was nearly being captured when fortunately it flew open, and the sudden change in its aspect frightened the ferocious ani- mais, so that they fled, and he was miraculously relieved from a terrible dilemma. The probability is that it was the horse they desired to capture in this case, but persons were not safe if they were ravenously hungry.
The writer of this on one occasion bad good cause to believe that he escaped providentially from being devoured. The circumstan- ces, as wearly as now recollected, were about these : The first
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school in the neighborhood had been opened, and he being then about eleven years old was sent to it, and not being willing to lose time had to use eveningsto attend to other matters. The only pair of shoes he had needed half-soling, and it was arranged that after school was dismissed he should go to Wm. Cunningham's, the shoe- maker, on a public road, about one mile north from the school house, and his father's residence being abont a half mile east from the school-house, on a public road, making his whole distance from home by the road about one and one-half miles. To describe with- out a diagram, it may be stated that a short distance on the way home from the residence of Mr. Cunningham, a small by-path for pedestrians took off from the north road and led to his father's cabin on the east road, and shortened the distance so that it was only a little over a mile by the path to his home. He remained until near 10 o'clock; it was a bright moonlight night, with a little fall of snow on the ground; his shoes being mended, he prepared to start home, when the family of Mr. Cuningham advised him to take the road for safety ; but when he came to where the path took off he failed to take the advice, and at a rapid pace, plunged into the dense forest, and when about two-thirds of the way home be- gan to flatter himself that all would be well, and that in a short time the family welcome would greet him. when suddenly he re- alized the fact that he was in the midst of danger; he heard the brush cracking some distance in the rear, and his rash folly in at- tempting to go the short route in the night season without some mode of defense was apparent ; but boy as he was he knew his only chance of escape was in a foot race, and being swift of foot for his age, he put forth his energies, still keeping ahead of his pursu- ers, although they were nearing him; but he sped on and soon reached his father's clearing and bounded over the fence, when the glare of a bright light from the cabin and a faithful house-dog met his enraptured vision, and he was safe. It was supposed that they had sniffed the new, fresh sole leather which caused the pur-uit.
CHAMPAIGN AND
CHAPTER III.
LOG CABIN CONTINUED.
In this connection might be named one other pest to the new settlements. Yellow rattle snakes largely abounded to the great annoyance and peril of the people. The country in many portions was underlaid with a strata of shelly rocks, which upon abrupt ac- clivities of the surface and at heads of springs would crop out, and these cropping points afforded these pestiferous reptiles commodi- ous caverns or dens, in which, in some localities, vast numbers would collect for winter quarters, and in the early spring would leave the caverns to bask in the spring sunshine in the vicinity of their head-quarters, and snake hunts were common in some neigh- borhoods. I remember to have heard of a raid being made upon some of those dens a short distance west of Warren, which resulted in the destruction of immense numbers counted by the hundreds in one day. But as I do not design to tell a long snake story, I will give a few facts, which may seem at this day to partake of the Munchausen type. My father built his cabin near a very fine spring, which headed in a depression bounded on three sides by an oval regular rock bench, some four or five feet higher than the surface of the spring; his cabin had not been furnished when he moved into it in the early Spring, and was not fully chinked; necessity compelled the occupancy of it in that condition, intending soon to finish it, and in the mean time to furnish it temporarily in the most primitive mode of that day; his bedsteads were in this style-one crotch or post of proper height, fastened upright, to rest the ends of transverse straight suitably sized pole- upon, inserting the other ends into the interstices between the loss of the cabin, putting in other cross sticks, upon which to rest elapboards, to hold up the bed and bedding. Upon these rustic bedsteads, with appropriate couches, the family enjoyed that sweet repose which they needed after their daily toils; all went on charmingly, until one morning my mother, in making up the bed in which she and my father had slept, in drawing off the feather bed in order to shake up the straw-
.
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tick, discovered to her consternation and terror a large rattlesnake gliding away between the logs, which was supposed to have en- sconced itself between the two ticks the day before ; and during the night had remained so quietly still as not to have disturbed its bed fellows. I rememberanother incident that occurred afterward in the same locality. My now only sister Mrs. Jonas Cummings of Illinois was an infant, beginning to sit alone, and my mother having some work to do in the house yard, to pacify the child placed it upon the grass plot with play things to amuse it. While at- tending to her domesti- duties she observed that the child mani- fested most ecstatic glee, and looking in that direction, she was horrified upon seeing the child about to clutch a huge yellow rattle snake. She ran and jerked away the child, and her excitement emboldened her to hunt a club with which she suddenly dispatched his snakeship.
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