The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 32

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076

USA > Ohio > Hardin County > The history of Hardin county, Ohio > Part 32

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While the first crop was growing the pioneer has busied himself with the building of his cabin, which must answer as a shelter from the storms of the coming winter, a protection from the ravages of wild animals, and, possibly, a place of refuge from the red man.

PIONEER CABIN.

If a pioneer was completely isolated from his fellow-men, his position was certainly a hard one ; for without assistance he could construct only a poor habitation. In such cases the cabin was generally made of light logs or poles, and was laid up roughly, only to answer the temporary purpose of shelter, until other settlers had come into the vicinity, by whose help a more solid structure could be built. Usually a number of men came into the country together, and located within such distance of each other as enabled them to perform many friendly and neighborly offices. Assistance was always readily given one pioneer by all the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several miles. The commonly followed plan of erecting a log cabin was through a union of labor. The site of the cabin home was generally selected with reference to a good water supply, often by a never- failing spring of pure water, or if such could not be found, it was not un-

common to first dig a well. When the cabin was to be built the few neigh- bors gathered at the site, and first cut down, within as close proximity as possible, a number of trees, as nearly of a size as could be found, but rang-" ing from a foot to twenty inches in diameter. Logs were chopped from these and rolled to a common center. This work, and that of preparing the foundation, would consume the greater part of the day, in most cases, and the entire labor would most commonly occupy two or three days-some- times four. The logs were raised to their places with handspikes and "skid poles," and men standing at the corners with axes notched them as fast as they were laid in position. Soon the cabin would be built several logs high, and the work would become more difficult. The gables were formed by beveling the logs, and making them shorter and shorter, as each additional one was laid in place. These logs in the gables were held in place by poles, which extended across the cabin from end to end, and which served also as rafters upon which to lay the rived " clapboard" roof. The so-called " clap- boards " were five or six feet in length, and were split from oak or ash logs, and made as smooth and flat as possible. They were laid side by side, and other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to effectually keep out

Johne Saylor

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the rain. Upon these, logs were laid to hold them in place, and the logs were held by blocks of wood placed between them.

The chimney was an important part of the structure, and taxed the builders, with their poor tools, to their utmost. In rare cases it was made of stone, but most commonly of logs and sticks laid up in the manner sim- ilar to those which formed the cabin. It was, in nearly all cases, built out- side of the cabin, and at its base a huge opening was cut through the wall to answer as a fire-place. The sticks in the chimney were held in place, and protected from fire, by mortar, formed by kneading and working clay and straw. Flat stones were procured for back and jambs of the fire-place. An opening was chopped or sawed in the logs on one side of the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of hewed timber, three or four inches thick, were fas- tened on each side, by wooden pins, to the ends of the logs, and the door (if there was any) was fastened to one of these by wooden hinges. The door itself was a clumsy piece of wood-work. It was made of boards, rived from an oak log, and held together by heavy cross-pieces. There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised by a string which passed through a gimlet-hole, and hung upon the outside. From this mode of construction arose the old and well-known hospitable saying, " You will find the latch-string always out." It was only pulled in at night, and the door was thus fastened. Very many of the cabins of the pioneers had no doors of the kind here de- scribed, and the entrance was only protected by a blanket, or skin of some wild beast, suspended above it. The window was a small opening, often devoid of anything resembling a sash, and very seldom having glass. Greased paper was sometimes used in lieu of the latter, but more commonly some old garment constituted a curtain, which was the only protection from sun, rain, or snow.

The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons- pieces of timber split from trees, about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth with the broad-axe. They were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing but the earthen floor. Sometimes the cabins had cellars, which were simply small excavations in the ground, for the storage of a few articles of food, or, perhaps, cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily gained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was sometimes a loft, used for various pur- poses, among others as the " guest chamber " of the house. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of a sapling, put together, like everything else in the house, without nails.

FURNITURE, FOOD AND MEDICINE.

The furniture of the log cabin was as simple and primitive as the struct- ure itself. A forked stick set in the floor and supporting two poles, the other ends of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin, formed a bedstead. A common form' of table was a slit slab, supported by four rustic legs, set in auger holes. Three legged stools were made in a similar simple manner. Pegs, driven into auger holes in the logs of the wall, supported shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the family not in use. A few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of deer horns, formed a rack where hung the rifle and powder-horn, which no cabin was without. These, and perhaps a few other simple articles, brought from the " old home," formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer cabin. The

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utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later day fine houses. It was by no means uncommon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used upon the table. Knives and forks were few ; crockery very scarce, and tin-ware not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and most wholesome kind. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels, wild turkeys and the many varieties of smaller game. Plain corn bread, baked in a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a board in front of the great open fire-place, answered the purpose of all kinds of pastry. The corn was, among the earlier pioneers, pounded or grated, there being no mills for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones at a considerable distance away. The wild fruits, in their season, were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. Sometimes especial effort was made to prepare a delicacy, as, for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies, by pounding wheat for the flour to make the crust, and used crab apples for fruit. In the lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles that made up the pioneer's materia medica, the herb medicines and spices-catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gathered in its season ; and there were also stores of nuts, and strings of dried pumpkin, with bags of berries and fruit.

HABITS AND LABOR.

The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in conform- ance to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the herculean labor day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off the brush and debris, pre- paring the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals, which they brought with them, or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were engaged in the heavy labor of the field and forest, or following the deer, or seeking other game, their helpmeets were busied with their household duties-providing for the day and for the winter coming on, cook- ing, making clothes, spinning and weaving. They were fitted, by nature and experience, to be the consorts of the brave men who first came into the Western wilderness. They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation, and loneliness. Their industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work then, like man's, was performed under disadvantages, which have been removed in later years. She had not only the common house hold duties to perform, but many others. She not only made the clothing but the fabric for it. That old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, with which woman's name has been associated in all history, and of which the modern world know nothing, except through the stories of those who are grandmothers now-that old occupation of spinning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance as we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up thoughts of the graces and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation that is gone -- that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, was the chief industry of the pioneer women. Every cabin sounded with the softly whirring wheel and the rythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon : "She seeketh wool and flax, and work-

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eth willingly with her hands ; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."

CLOTHING AND BOOKS.

Almost every article of clothing, all of the cloth in use in the old log cabins, was the product of the patient woman-weaver's toil. She spun the flax and wove the cloth for shirts. pantaloons, frocks, sheets and blankets. The linen and the wool, the " linsey-woolsey." woven by the housewife, formed all of the material for the clothing of both men and women, except- such articles as were made of skins. The men commonly wore the hunting shirt, a kind of loose frock reaching half way down the figure, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more upon the chest. This generally had a cape, which was often fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a dif- ferent color from that which composed the garment. The bosom of the hunting shirt answered as a pouch, in which could be carried the various articles that the hunter or woodsman would need. It was always worn belted, and made out of coarse linen, of linsey or of dressed deer skin, ac- cording to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of deer skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather, while the feet were most usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made, though they needed frequent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers, were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women were clothed in linsey petti- coats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buckskin gloves or mittens when any protection was required for the hands. All of the wearing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being serviceable and comforta- ble, and all was of home manufacture. Other articles and finer ones, were sometimes worn, but they had been brought from former homes, and were usually the relics handed down from parents to children. Jewelry was not common, but occasionally some ornament was displayed.

In the cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were usually a few books, such as the Bible and hymn-book, Pilgrim's Progress, Baxter's Saints' Rest, prayer-book, Harney's Meditations, Æsop's Fables, Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. The long winter evenings were spent in poring over a few well-thumbed volumes by the light of the great log fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, etc.

EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ETC.

Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in common use, and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every settler had his barrel stored away. It was the universal drink at merry-makings, bees, house-warmings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log cabin. It was the good old-fashioned whisky-"clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil "-that the few octogenarians and nonogenarians of to-day recall to memory with an unctuous gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from the Monongahela district, and was floated down the Ohio, and thence boated up the Scioto, or hauled in wagons across the coun- try. A few years later, stills began to make their appearance, and an article

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of peach brandy and corn whisky manufactured; the latter was not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater quantities.

As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied ; social gathering became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log- rollings, harvestings and husking-bees for the men; and the apple- butter making and the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occa- sions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle-shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun as a means, often, of obtaining a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhibited considerable skill. A wedding was the event of most importance in the sparsely settled new country. The young people had every inducement to marry, and generally did so as soon as able to pro- vide for themselves. When a marriage was to be celebrated, all the neigh- borhood turned out. It was customary to have the ceremony performed before dinner, and, in order to be on time, the groom and his attendants usually started from his father's home in the morning for that of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in single file along the narrow trail. Arriv- ing at the cabin of the bride's parents, the ceremony would be performed, and after that, dinner served. This would be a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed during the meal. After it was over, the dancing began, and was usually kept up till the next morning, though the newly-made husband and wife were, as a general thing, put to bed in the most approved fashion, and with considerable formality, in the middle of the evening's hilarity. The tall young men, when they went on to the floor to dance, had to take their places with care between the logs that supported the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping their heads. The figures of the dances were three and four hand reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by "jigging it off," or what is sometimes called a " cut out jig." The " settle- ment " of a young couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.

During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most primitive kind, but the soil, that had long held in reserve the accumulated richness of centuries, produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor. The soil was warmer then than now, and the season earlier. The prairie fields were often, by the 1st of March, as green as fields of grain now are by the 1st of April. The wheat was pastured in the spring to keep it from growing up so early and so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often from thirty-five to forty, or more, bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears were to be had by the 4th of July in some seasons.

MILLS, TEAMSTERS, AND STORE GOODS.

When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater. Next to the grater came the hominy-block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It

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consisted simply of a block of wood-a section of a tree, perhaps-with a hole burned or dug into it a foot deep, in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat for the bashful young backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; some- times a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for and made one of the best of hominy blocks. These blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet these mills were often so far apart that, in stormy weather or for want of transportation, the pio- neer was compelled to resort to his hominy-block, or go without bread. In winter, the mills were frozen up nearly all the time, and when a thaw came and the ice broke, if the mill was not swept away entirely by the floods, it was so thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn, that some of them were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground, if they were so fortunate as to possess an ox, a horse or mule, for the purpose of transportation, they were happy. It was not unusual to go ten or twelve miles to mill, through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be benighted on the journey and chased by wolves. As a majority of the pioneers settled in the vicinity of some stream, mills soon made their appearance in every settlement. These mills, however, were very primitive affairs-mere " corn crackers" -- but they were a big improvement on the hominy-block. They merely ground the corn; the pioneer must do his own bolting. The meal was sifted through a wire sieve by hand, and the finest used for bread. A road cut through the forest to the mill, and a wagon for hauling the grist, were great advantages. The latter, especially, was often a seven days' wonder to the children of the settlement, and the happy owner of one often did for years the milling of a whole neighborhood. About once a month, this good neighbor, who was in exceptionally good circumstances because able to own a wagon, would go around through the settlement, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days in the operation, and . never think of charging for his time and trouble. Among the mills fre- quented prior to the erection of any in Hardin County, was Moots' Mill, on Mad River, about eight miles southeast of Bellefontaine; Moore's Mill, on Stoney Creek, in Logan County, and Cherokee Mills, located in the same county, about twenty-five miles from Kenton. There was a small mill located near the site of Marseilles, Wyandot County, that was often frequented by the settlers who lived in the eastern part of Hardin. The first water grist mill erected in this county was built by John Houser, in 1832. It was a rude structure of round logs, contained one run of buhrs, and stood on the site of the old Gary Mill, on the Scioto River, about a mile and a half southeast of Kenton. In the course of time, other small mills made their appearance in different portions of the county, which, though rude, supplied the pioneers with corn meal and flour.

The latter ingredient, however, was principally wagoned from the older settlements or the towns upon Lake Erie. Rev. T. H. Wilson, who died at Fremont, Ohio, March 26. 1883, and whose interment took place at Kenton, was one of those pioneer teamsters upon whom the early settlers of Hardin County depended for much of their breadstuffs. He was en- gaged in the business for about five years after his settlement in this coun- ty. Another of the early teamsters was Hiram Furney, son of William Furney, the pioneer tavern-keeper of Kenton; while " Uncle Harvey" Buck- mister, who now resides in Kenton, at the age of eighty-three years, was one of the pioneer stage-drivers upon the Cincinnati & Sandusky stage line,

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his route being from Bellefontaine to Upper Sandusky, over what is known as the old State road. The hardships incident to such a life cannot easily be realized in this age of gravel pikes and railroads; but the self-reliance, energy and perseverance of these men were equal to the obstacles to be overcome, and never paled before their arduous task. They knew that provisions must be obtained at a distance, until forests could be transformed into tillable fields, and, although often under the necessity of prying out their wagons from the deep mud-holes, swimming streams and spending the night in the lonely forest, yet they saw their duty, and they did it. Few of these pioneer teamsters had had the advantages of an early schooling, but a keen knowledge of human nature, and a broad experience of pioneer life, largely compensated for a limited education.

Only the commonest goods were brought into the country, and they sold at enormous prices, being wagoned from Sandusky City or Detroit, and often as far east as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore. There was no market, for several years, beyond the wants of the settlers, which was sufficient to swallow up all the surplus products of the farmer; but when such an outlet was wanted, it was found at Sandusky, Detroit or other set- tlements upon the lake. The first exports of produce from Hardin County were carried to Sandusky City, whence the wagons returned with such goods as were needed in a pioneer settlement. Flour brought from $6 to $10 per barrel, and was a poor article at that; salt from $5 to $8 per bar- rel; calico from 40 to 75 cents per yard; satinets, $2 to $3 per yard; teas, $1.50 to $2.50 per pound; brown sugar, 25 to 30 cents per pound; coffee was cheap, in comparison with other goods; butter was sold as low as 25 cents per pound, while corn was $1 per bushel. As to wheat, there was scarcely a price known for some years; the inhabitants [mostly depended upon buying flour by the barrel, on account of the scarcity of mills. All kinds of trade was carried on by barter. Money was so scarce that even those who had their farms paid for were in the habit of laying up six- pences and shillings for many months to meet their taxes when due.

Long journeys upon foot were often made by the pioneers, to obtain the necessities of life or some article, then a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an independence, however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of plenty which should reward them for the toils of their earliest years, and a rest from the struggle amidst the benefits gained by it. With- out an iron will and indomitable resolution, they could never have accom- plished what they did. Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded.

In the course of time, the fear of the Indians, which had filled many a mother's heart, proved to be groundless. There was a greater feeling of security than ever before, and a new impetus was given to immigration. The country rapidly filled up with settlers, and the era of peace and pros- perity was fairly begun. Progress was slowly, surely made; the log houses became more numerous in the clearings; the forest shrank away before the woodman's ax; frame houses began to appear. The pioneers, assured of safety, laid better plans for the future, resorted to new industries, enlarged their possessions and improved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in from the older settlements on the south and east. Every settler had his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep and hogs. More commodious structures

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took the place of the old ones; the large, double log cabin of hewed logs took the place of the smaller hut; log and frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops. Then society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared, and the advancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the Western woods. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and the way made in the wilderness for the army that was vo come.

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CHAPTER VI.

HARDIN COUNTY ERECTED AND ATTACHED TO LOGAN-ORGANIZATION OF HAR- DIN COUNTY-COL. JOHN HARDIN-ELECTIONS AND ELECTORS OF 1833-34-PUBLIC BUILDINGS-PIONEER JAIL-FIRST COURT HOUSE-PRESENT COURT HOUSE AND JAIL-COUNTY IN- FIRMARY.

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The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 32

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1076

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076