USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 16
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
for the drag or the triangular harrow. I have looked like a negro many a time while working at this logging. Then money was scarce, labor plenty and cheap, and amusements few, hence grubbing, chopping, and logging " frolics" were frequent and popular. For each frolic one or more two-gallon jugs of whiskey were indispensable. A jolly good time was had, as well as a good dinner and supper, and every one in the neighborhood expected an invitation.
As there was a fence law then, the ground had to be fenced, accord- ing to this law, " horse high, bull-strong, and hog-tight." The effort made by the pioneer to obey this law was in four ways,-viz. : First, by slashing trees and placing brush upon the trees ; second, by using the logs from the clearing for the purpose of a fence ; third, by a post- and rail-fence, built straight, and the end of each rail sharpened and fastened in a mortised post ; fourth, by the common rail- or worm-fence. These rails were made of ash, hickory, chesnut, linn, and pine. The usual price for making rails per hundred was fifty cents with board. I have made them by contract at that price myself.
" I seem to see the low rail-fence, That worming onward mile on mile, Was redolent with pungent scents Of sassafras and camomile. Within a fence-rail tall and bare,
The saucy bluebird nested there ; 'Twas there the largest berries grew, As every barefoot urchin knew ! And swiftly, shyly creeping through The tangled vine and the bramble dense,
The mingled sunshine and the dew, The Bob-White perched atop the fence ; And, flinging toil and care away, He piped and lilted all the day."
In 1799, when Joseph Hutchison lived here, wheat sold in this sec- tion of the State for two dollars and fifty cents per bushel, flour for eighteen dollars per barrel, corn two dollars, oats one dollar and fifty cents, and potatoes one dollar and fifty cents per bushel.
The early axes were called pole-axes. They were rude, clumsy, and heavy, with a single bit. About 1815 an improved Yankee single-bit axe was introduced, but it, too; was heavy and clumsy. In about 1825 the present double-bitted axe came to be occasionally used.
I have never seen the wooden plough, but I have seen them with the iron shoe point and coulter. These were still in use in the late twenties. I have driven an ox-team to the drag or triangular harrow. This was the principal implement used in seeding ground, both before and after the introduction of the shovel-plough in 1843.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" The greatest improvement ever made on ploughs, in this or any other country, was made by Charles Newbold, of Burlington, New Jersey, and patented in 1797. The mould-board, share, landside, and point were all cast together in one solid piece. The plough was all cast iron except the beam and handles. The importance of this invention was so great that it attracted the attention of plough-makers and scientific men all over the country. Thomas Jefferson (afterwards President of the United States) wrote a treatise on ploughs, with a particular reference to the Newbold plough. He described the requisite form of the mould-board, according to scientific principles, and calculated the proper form and cur- vature of the mould-board to lessen the friction and lighten the draught.
" The Newbold plough would have been nearly perfect had it not been for one serious defect. When the point, for instance, was worn out, which would soon be accomplished, the plough was ruined and had to be thrown aside. This defect, however, was happily remedied by Jethro Wood, who was the first to cast the plough in sections, so that the parts most exposed to wear could be replaced from the same pattern, by which means the cast-iron plough became a complete success. His plough was patented in 1819, twenty-two years after Newbold's patent. It is a won- der that so long a time should have elapsed before any one thought of this improvement. These two men did more for the farmers in relation to ploughs than any others before their time or since."
In harvest-time the grain was first reaped with a sickle; then came the cradle. In my boyhood all the lying grain thrown down by storms was still reaped with a sickle. I carry the evidence of this on my fingers. Grain was usually thrashed by a flail, though some tramped it out with horses. By the flail ten bushels of wheat or twenty bushels of oats was a good day's work. Men who travelled around thrashing on shares with the flail charged every tenth bushel, including board. The tramping was done by horses and by farmers who had good or extra barn floors. The sheaves were laid in a circle, a man stood in the middle of the circle to turn up and over the straw as needed, and then, with a boy to ride one horse and lead another, the " tramping" in this circuit commenced. This was hard work for the boy ; it made him tired and sore where he sat down. To prevent dizziness, the travel on the circuit was frequently re- versed. One man, a boy, and two horses could tramp out in this way in a day about fifteen bushels of wheat or thirty-five bushels of oats. Grain was cleaned by means of two hand-riddles, one coarse and one fine. These riddles had no iron or steel about them, the bottom of each being made of wooden splints woven in. The riddles were two and one-half feet in diameter and the rings about four inches wide. Three men were required to clean the grain,-one to shake the riddle, while two others, one at each end of a tow sheet, doubled, swayed the sheet to and fro in front of the man shaking the riddle. These three men in this way could
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
clean about ten or fifteen bushels of wheat in a day. This process was practised in the twenties. Windmills came into use about 1825. For many years there were extremely few wagons and but poor roads on which to use them. The early vehicles were the prongs of a tree, a sled made of saplings, called a " pung," and ox-carts. In fact, about all the work was done with oxen, and in driving his cattle the old settler would halloo with all his might and swear profusely. This profanity and hal- looing was thought to be necessary. The pioneer sled was made with heavy single runners, the " bob"-sled being a later innovation.
"HAYING IN THE OLDEN TIME.
" Haying in the old days was a much more formidable yearly under- taking than it is to modern farmers. Before the era of labor-saving haying implements farmers began the work of haying early in the day and season, and toiled hard until both were far spent. Human muscle was strained to exert a force equal to the then unused horse-power. On large farms many ' hands' were required. Haying was an event of im- portance in the farmer's year. It made great demands upon his time, strength, and pocket book. His best helpers were engaged long in ad- vance, sometimes a whole season. Ability to handle a scythe well enti- tled a man to respect while haying lasted. Experts took as much pains with a scythe as with a razor. Boys of to-day have never seen such a sight as a dozen stalwart men mowing a dozen-acre field.
" On the first day of haying, almost before the sun was up, the men would be at the field ready to begin. The question to be settled at the very outset was as to which man should cut the 'double.' This was the first swath to be cut down and back through the centre of the field.
" The boys brought up the rear in the line of mowers. Their scythes were hung well 'in,' to cut a narrow swath. They were told to stand up straight when mowing, point in, keep the heel of the scythe down, and point out evenly, so as not to leave 'hog-troughs' on the meadow when the hay was raked up. Impatient of these admonitions, they thought they could mow pretty well, and looked ambitiously forward to a time when they might cut the 'double.'"
DRESS OF MEN.
Moccasin shoes, buckskin breeches, blue broadcloth coats and brass buttons, fawn-skin vests, roundabouts, and woollen warmuses, leather or woollen gallowses, coon- or seal-skin caps in winter with chip or oat-straw hats for summer. Every neighborhood had then usually one itinerant shoemaker and tailor, who periodically visited cabins and made up shoes or clothes as required. All material had to be furnished, and these itin- erant mechanics worked for fifty cents a day and board. Corduroy pants and corduroy overalls were common.
II
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
The warmuses, breeches, and hunting-shirts of the men, the linsey petticoats, dresses, and bed-gowns of the women, were all hung in some corner of the cabin on wooden pegs. To some extent this was a display of pioneer wealth.
DRESS OF WOMEN.
Home made woollen cloth, tow, linen, linsey-woolsey, etc. I have seen " barefoot girls with cheek of tan" walk three or four miles to church, when, on nearing the church, they would step into the woods to put on a pair of shoes they carried with them. I could name some of these who are living to-day. A woman who could buy eight or ten yards of calico for a dress at a dollar a yard put on queenly airs. Every married woman of any refinement then wore day-caps and night-caps. The bonnets were beaver, gimp, leghorn, and sun-bonnets. For shoes, women usually went barefoot in the summer, and in the winter covered their feet with moccasins, calf-skin shoes, buffalo overshoes, and shoe-packs.
Linen and tow cloth were made from flax. The seed was sown in the early spring and ripened about August. It was harvested by "pulling." This was generally done by a " pulling frolic" of young people pulling it out by the root. It was then tied in little sheaves and permitted to dry, hauled in, and thrashed for the seed. Then the straw was watered and rotted by laying it on the ground out of doors. Then the straw was again dried and " broken in the flax-break," after which it was again tied up in little bundles and then scutched with a wooden knife. This scutch- ing was a frolic job too, and a dirty one. Then it was hackled. This hackling process separated the linen part from the tow. The rest of the process consisted of spinning, weaving, and dyeing. Linen cloth sold for about twenty-four cents a yard, tow cloth for about twenty cents a yard.
In the State Constitutional Convention of 1837 to amend the con- stitution I find the occupation of the members elected to that body to be as follows,-viz. : Farmers, 51 ; iron-masters, 3 ; manufacturer, I ; me- chanics, 2 ; house-carpenters, 2; brick-maker, I; paper-maker, I ; printers, 2; potter, I; judge, I; attorneys, 41 ; doctors, 12; editor, I ; merchants, 9 ; surveyors, 4; clerks, 4; total membership, 136. From this it will be seen that farmers received proper recognition in the earlier elections.
THE PIONEER HOMES OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
" This is the land our fathers loved, The homestead which they toiled to win. This is the ground whereon they moved, And here are the graves they slumber in."
The home of the pioneer in Jefferson County was a log cabin, one story high, chinked and daubed, having a fireplace in one end, with a chimney built of sticks and mud, and in one corner always stood a big
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
wooden poker to turn back-logs or punch the fire. These cabins were usually small, but some were perhaps twenty by thirty feet, with a hole cut in two logs for a single window,-oiled paper being used for glass.
Pioneer cabin.
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For Brussels carpet they had puncheon floors, and a clapboard roof held down by weight poles to protect them from the storm. Wooden pegs were driven in the logs for the wardrobe, the rifle, and the powder-horn. Wooden benches and stools were a luxury upon which to rest or sit while feasting on mush and milk, buckwheat cakes, hog and hominy.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Hospitality in this log cabin was simple, hearty, and unbounded. Whiskey was pure, cheap, and plenty, and was lavished bountifully on each and all social occasions. Every settler had his jug or barrel. It was the drink of drinks at all merry·makings, grubbings, loggings, chop- pings, house-warmings, and weddings. A drink of whiskey was always proffered to the visitor or traveller who chanced to call or spend a night in these log cabins.
Puncheon boards or planks were made from a log of straight grain and clear of knots, and of the proper length, which was split into parts
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MIME
Cabin barn.
and the face of each part smoothed with a broadaxe. The split parts had to be all started at the same time, with wedges at the end of the log, each wedge being struck alternately with a maul until all the parts were separated.
The furniture for the table of the pioneer log cabins consisted of pewter dishes, plates, and spoons, or wooden bowls, plates, and noggins. If noggins were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes answered for drinking-cups.
The iron pots, knives and forks, along with the salt and iron, were
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
brought to the wilderness on pack-horses over Meade's trail or over the Milesburg and Le Bœuf State road.
Some of these log cabins near Brookville were still occupied in the forties. I have been in many of them in my childhood. In proof of the smallness of the early cabin I reproduce the testimony on oath of Thomas Lucas, Esq., in the following celebrated ejectment case,-viz. :
" EJECTMENT.
" In the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County. Ejectment for sixteen hundred acres of land in Pine Creek township. Elijah Heath vs. Joshua Knap, et al.
" 16th September, 1841, a jury was called per minets. The plaintiff after having opened his case in support of the issue, gave in evidence as follows :
" Thomas Lucas .- Masons have in the surveys about twelve acres of land, a cabin house, and stable thereon. They live near the line of the town tract, the town tract takes in the apple-trees ; think they claim on some improvement. Some of this improvement I think is thirty-five years old,-this was the Mason claim. The first improvement was made in 1802 ; I call it the Pickering survey, only an interference. Jacob Mason has been living off and on since 1802,-two small cabin houses on the interference, one fifteen or sixteen feet square, the other very small, twelve or fifteen feet,-a log stable."
At this time and before it many of these cabins were lighted by means of a half window,-viz., one window-sash, containing from four to six panes of seven by nine glass. Up to and even at this date (1841) the usual light at night in these cabins was the old iron lamp, something like the miner wears in his hat, or else a dish containing refuse grease, with a rag in it. Each smoked and gave a dismal light, yet women cooked, spun, and sewed and men read the few books they had as best they could. The aroma from this refuse grease was simply horrible. The cabin was daily swept with a split broom made of hickory. The hinges and latches of these cabins were made of wood. The latch on the door was raised from without by means of a buckskin string. At night, as a means of safety, the string was " pulled in," and this locked the door. As a further mark of refinement each cabin was generally guarded by from two to six worthless dogs.
Of pests in and around the old cabin, the house-fly, the bed-bug, and the louse were the most common on the inside ; the gnat, the wood-tick, and the horse-fly on the outside. It was a constant fight for life with man, cattle, and horses against the gnat, the tick, and the horse-fly, and if it had not been for the protection of what were called " gnat-fires," life could not have been sustained, or at least it would have been unen- durable. The only thing to dispel these outside pests was to clear land
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
and let in the sunshine. As an all-around pest in the cabin and out, day and night, there was the flea.
PIONEER FOOD-WHAT THE PIONEER COULD HAVE, OR DID HAVE, TO EAT.
Buckwheat cakes, mush, and souens, corn-mush and milk, rye-mush and bread, hominy, potatoes, turnips, wild onions or wramps, wild meats, wild birds, fish, and wild fruits.
In the early cooking everything was boiled and baked ; this was healthy. There was no "rare fad," with its injurious results. The common dishes served were wheat- and rye bread, wheat- and rye-mush, corn-pone, cakes, and mush, sweet and buttermilk boiled and thickened, doughnuts, and baked pot-pies. Soda was made by burning corn cobs.
Buckwheat souens was a great pioneer dish. It was made in this wise : Mix your buckwheat flour and water in the morning ; add to this enough yeast to make the batter light; then let it stand until evening, or until the batter is real sour. Now stir this batter into boiling water and boil until it is thoroughly cooked, like corn mush. Eat hot or cold with milk or cream.
MEATS.
Hogs, bears, elks, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and woodchucks.
The saddles or hams of the deer were salted by the pioneer, then smoked and dried. This was a great luxury, and could be kept all the year through.
The late Dr. Clarke wrote, " Wild game, such as elks, deer, bears, turkeys, and partridges, were numerous, and for many years constituted an important part of the animal food of the early settlers in this wilder- ness. Wolves and panthers came in for a share of this game, until they, too, became game for the hunters by the public and legal offer of boun- ties to be paid for their scalps, or rather for their ears, for a perfect pair of ears was required to secure the bounty. All these have become nearly extinct. The sturdy elk no longer roves over the hills or sips 'salty sweetness' from the licks. The peculiar voice of the stately strutting wild turkey is heard no more. The howl of the wolf and the panther's cry no longer alarm the traveller as he winds his way over the hills or through the valleys, and the flocks are now permitted to rest in peace. Even the wild deer is now seldom seen, and a nice venison steak rarely gives its delicious aroma among the shining plate of modern well-set tables."
FISH.
Pike, bass, catfish, suckers, sunfish, horn-chubs, mountain trout, and eels.
The old settler shot, seined, hooked with a line, and gigged his fish. Gigging was done at night by means of a light made from burning fagots
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
of pitch-pine. It usually required three to do this gigging, whether " wading" or in a canoe,-one to carry the light ahead, one to gig, and one to care for the fish.
BIRDS.
Pheasants were plentiful, and enlivened the forests with their drum- ming. The waters and woods were full of wild ducks, geese, pigeons, and turkeys.
The most remarkable bird in America was the wild turkey. It is the original turkey, and is the stock from which the tame turkeys sprung. In the wild state it was to be found in the wooded lands east of the Rocky Mountains. In pioneer times it was called gobbler or Bubly Jock by the whites, and Oo-coo-coo by the Indians. Our pioneer hunters could mimic or imitate the gobbling of a turkey, and this decep- tive ruse was greatly practised to excite the curiosity and bring the bird within shooting distance. The last wild turkey in our county was killed in the seventies near the town of False Creek.
To obtain a turkey roast when needed, the pioneer sometimes built in the woods a pen of round logs and covered it with brush. Whole flocks of turkeys were sometimes caught in these pens, built in this wise :
" First, a narrow ditch, about six feet long and two feet deep, was dug. Over this trench the pen was built, leaving a few feet of the chan- nel outside of the enclosure. The end of the part of the trench enclosed was usually about the middle of the pen. Over the ditch, near the wall of the pen, boards were laid. The pen was made tight enough to hold a turkey and covered with poles. Then corn was scattered about on the inside, and the ditch outside baited with the same grain. Sometimes straw was also scattered about in the pen. Then the trap was ready for its victims. The turkeys came to the pen, began to pick up the corn, and followed the trench within. When they had eaten enough, the birds tried to get out by walking around the pen, looking up all the time. They would cross the ditch on the boards, and never think of going to the opening in the ground at the centre of the pen. When the hunter found his game he had only to crawl into the pen through the trench and kill the birds."
In the fall turkeys became very fat, and gobblers were sometimes captured for Christmas in this way weighing over twenty pounds.
FRUITS.
Apples, crab-apples, wild, red, and yellow plums, blackberries, huckleberries, elderberries, wild strawberries, choke-cherries, and wild gooseberries.
SWEETS.
Domestic and wild honey, maple-sugar, maple-molasses, and corn-cob molasses. Bee-trees were numerous, and would frequently yield from
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
eight to twelve gallons of excellent honey. These trees had to be cut in the night by the light of pitch-pine fagots.
DRINK.
Metheglin, a drink made from honey; whiskey, small beer, rye coffee, buttermilk, and fern, sassafras, sage, and mint teas.
To fully illustrate the pioneer days I quote from the "History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania,"-viz. :
" The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in con- formance to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the herculean labor, day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sun- shine about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off the brush and débris, preparing 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, cooking, 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 household 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 knows nothing, except through the stories of those who are great-grandmothers now,-that old occupation of spinning and 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 genera- tion that is gone,-that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving was the chief industry of the pioneer woman. Every cabin sounded with the softly whirring wheel and the rhythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon : 'She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.'
" 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
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
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 ravelled piece of cloth of a different 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, or linsey, or of dressed deer-skin, according 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 petticoats, 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 comfortable, 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 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, and the long winter even- ings were spent in poring over these well-thumbed volumes by the light of the great log-fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, or some similar occupation.
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