USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 38
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In 1840 we had two big men in the town,-Judge William Jack, who was sent to Congress, and who built and lived in the house on Pickering Street now owned and occupied by Joseph Darr, Esq., and General Levi G. Clover, who lived on Main Street, in a house that was burned down, which stood on the lot now owned by Mrs. Clarissa Clements, and is the place of business of Misses McLain and Fetzer. Clover was a big man physically, a big man in the militia, a big man in politics, and a big man in business. Like most big men in those days, he owned and ran a whiskey-still. This distillery was located on or near the property of Fred. Starr, in what is now Litchtown. I used to loaf occasionally in this distillery, and I have seen some of our old citizens take a pint tin cup and dip it full of whiskey from out of Clover's copper kettles, and then drink this whole pint of whiskey down apparently at one gulp. I might pause to say right here, that in drinking whiskey, racing, square pulling, swearing, and fighting the old settler was " right in it." The wrestling- and fighting-ground then for the men and boys was the ground now occupied by the Jenks machine-shop, and the highway to and from these grounds was down the alley between Ed. Snyder's blacksmith- shop and C. A. Carrier's store (1898). I have had business on that ground with some boys myself.
In the woods in and around Brookville in 1840 there were many sweet- singing birds and beautiful wild-flowers. I remember the laurel. We used to adorn our mantels and parlor fireplaces with these every spring. I re- member the honeysuckle, the wild rose, the crab-apple tree, the thorn, and others. The aroma from many of these flowers was delightful. House- plants were unknown. The garden flowers of that day were the pink (" a flower most rare"), the lilac, the hollyhock, the sunflower, and the rose. Each garden had a little bed of " sweet-williams" and " johnny-jump ups."
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The garden rose was a beautiful, sweet flower then, and it is a beautiful, sweet flower to-day, and it ever will be sweet and beautiful. My mother used to sing to me this hymn of Isaac Watts as a lullaby :
" How fair is the rose, what a beautiful flower ! In summer so fragrant and gay ; But its leaves are beginning to fade in an hour ; And they wither and die in a day.
" Yet the rose has one powerful virtue to boast Above all the flowers of the field : When its leaves are all dead and its fine colors lost, Still how sweet a perfume it will yield.
" So frail are the youth and the beauty of men, Though they look gay and bloom like the rose, Yet all our fond care to preserve them is vain, Time kills them as fast as he goes.
" Then I'll not be proud of my youth or my beauty, Since both will soon wither and fade,
But gain a good name by performing my duty ; This will scent like the rose when I'm dead."
The rose is said to have been the first cultivated flower.
In 1840 there was no church building in the town. Our Presbyterian preacher in the town was the Rev. David Polk, a cousin to President Polk. The token was then given out on Saturday to all those who were adjudged worthy to sit at the Lord's table. These tokens were taken up on the follow- ing Sunday while seated at the table. Friday was " fast" or preparation day. We were not allowed to eat anything, or very little, until the sun went down. I can only remember that I used to get hungry and long for night to come. Rev. Polk preached half of his time in Corsica, the other half in Brookville. His salary was four hundred dollars per year,-two hundred dollars from Brookville and two hundred dollars from Corsica. He lived on the pike in the hollow beyond and west of Roseville. He preached in the court-house until the Presbyterians completed the first church building in the town, in 1843. It stood where the church now stands, and was then outside of the borough limits. The building was erected through the efforts of a lawyer then residing in Brookville, named C. A. Alexander. The ground for the church building was one acre ; cost, fifty dollars; and the deed was obtained in 1848. The building was 40 by 60, and built by Phillip Schroeder for eleven hundred dollars. The ruling elders of the church then were Thomas Lucas. John Matson, Sr., Elijah Clark, John Lattimer, Joseph Mccullough, and John Wilson.
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Other preachers came to town occasionally in 1840, and held their services in the court-house. One jolly, aged Welshman was called Father Thomas. He was a Baptist, a dear old man, and a great singer. I always went to his church to hear him sing. I can sing some of his songs yet. I will repeat a stanza from one of his favorites :
"Oh, then I shall be ever free, Happy in eternity, Eternity, eternity, Happy in eternity."
Dear old soul, he is in eternity, and I have no doubt is happy singing his favorite songs there.
A Methodist preacher named Elijah Coleman came here occasionally. Methodist head-quarters were at David Henry's and at Cyrus Butler's. The first Methodist prayer-meeting held in town was at Cyrus Butler's. It was held in the little yellow house occupied for years by Mrs. Rachel Dixon, and torn down by C. C. Benscoter, Esq., in 1887, in order to erect his present dwelling. In 1840 men and women were not permitted to sit on the same seat in church, or on the same side of the house.
The physicians in the town in 1840 were Dr. George Darling, father of the late Paul Darling, and Dr. Gara Bishop, father of Mrs. Edmund English. Dr. Bishop was also a Presbyterian preacher.
In 1840 Jefferson County contained a population of seven thousand two hundred and fifty-three people, and embraced nearly all of Forest and Elk Counties. Ridgway was then in the northeast corner of our county, and Punxsutawney was a village of about fifteen or twenty dwellings.
The politics of the county was divided into Whig and Democrat. The leading Whigs in Brookville, as I recollect them, were Thomas Lucas, Esq., James Corbet, father of Colonel Corbet, Benjamin McCreight, father of Mrs. Dr. Hunt. Thomas M. Barr, and Samuel H. Lucas. The leading Demo- crats were Hon. William Jack, General L. G. Clover, Judge Joseph Hen- derson. John Smith, Daniel Smith, Jesse G. Clark, father of Judge Clark, D. B. Jenks, John Dougherty, Richard Arthurs, and Thomas Hastings. Poli- tics ran so high that year that cach party had its own Fourth of July cele- bration. The Whigs celebrated at Port Barnett. Nicholas McQuiston, the miller who died at Langville a few years ago, had one of his legs broken at this celebration by the explosion of a log which he had filled with powder. The Democrats celebrated in Brookville, in front of the Franklin Hotel, now the Central. I was big enough to have a full run and clear view of this table and celebration. The table was covered with small roasted pigs, roasted turkeys, venison, pies, gingerbread, " pound-cake," etc. I was not allowed to participate in the feast. although my father in his lifetime had been a Democrat. Boys and girls were then taught modesty, patience, and man-
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ners by parents. Children were taught and compelled to respect age and to defer to the wishes of father and mother. Now the father and mother must defer to the wishes of children. There was more home and less public train- ing of children, and, as a result, children had more modesty and patience and less impudence. In 1840 children slept in "trundle-beds," and were required by their mothers to repeat every night before going to sleep this - little prayer :
" Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
This home training was a constant building up of individual character, and I believe a much more effectual way for good than the present public way of building character collectively.
In 1840 our Congressman was Judge Jack, of Brookville, and our member of the Legislature was Hon. James L. Gillis, of Ridgway Township. The county officers were: Prothonotary, General Levi G. Clover; Sheriff, Jolin Smith; Treasurer, Jesse G. Clark; Commissioners, Daniel Coder, Irwin Robinson, and Benjamin McCreight. The county was Democratic by one hundred and twenty-five majority.
The postmaster in Brookville was John Dougherty, and Joseph Hen- derson was deputy United States marshal for Jefferson County. He took the census of 1840 for our county.
Of the above-named politicians and officials, Judge Henderson is the only one now living (1895). Every day yet the judge can be found at his place of business, pleasant, cheerful, and intelligent,-a fine old gentleman. In his many political contests I always admired, defended, and supported him. One thing I begin to notice, "he is not as young as he used to be."
" Oh, tell me the tales I delighted to hear, Long, long ago, long, long ago; Oh, sing me the old songs so full of cheer, Long, long ago, long, long ago."
In 1840 we boys amused ourselves in the winter months by catching rabbits in box-traps,-the woods were full of them,-skating on Geer's pond. a small lake then located where Allgeier's brewery now stands (this lake was destroyed by the building of Mabon's mill-race), skating on Barr's (How Litch's) dam, and coasting down the town or graveyard hill. In the summer and fall months the amusements were alley-ball behind the court-house, town- ball, over-ball, sock-ball, fishing in the streams and in Geer's pond, riding floats of slabs on the creek, swimming in the " deep hole," and gathering blackberries, crab-apples, wild plums, and black and yellow haws. But the amusement of all amusements, the one that was enjoyed every day in the
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year by the boys, was the cutting of fire-wood. The wood for heating and cooking was generally hauled in " drags" to the front door of each house on Main Street, and there cut on the " pile" by the boys of each house. The gathering of hazel-nuts, butternuts, hickory-nuts, and chestnuts was an agree- able and profitable recreation. My boy associates of those days-where are they? "Some sleep on battle fields and some beneath the sea." I can only recall the following, who are now living in Brookville ( 1898) : David Eason, W. C. Evans, Dr. C. M. Matson, Thomas E. Espy, Thomas P. McCrea, Daniel Burns, Clover Smith, W. C. Smith, and W. R. Ramsey. I under- stand John Craig, Frederick and Lewis Dunham, Elijah and Lorenzo Lowell,
Brookville kitchen, 1840
and Alexander Barr live in the State of Iowa, Richard Espy in Kentucky, and John L. and Anson Warren in Wisconsin.
In 1840 every housewife in Brookville cooked over a fireplace, in which a crane was fastened so as to swing in, out, off, on, and over the fire. Every fireplace had a wooden poker, a pair of tongs to handle burning wood, and a shovel to remove the ashes. The fuel used was wood,-pine, maple, oak, birch, and hickory. To every fire there had to be a " back log," and the smaller or front pieces were supported on "andirons" or common stones. Matches were not in use, hence fires were covered at night so as to preserve some live coals for the morning fire. Rich people had a little pair of bellows to blow these live coals into a blaze, but poor people had to do the best they
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could with their mouths. After having nearly smoked my eyes out trying to blow coals into life, I have had to give it up and go to a neighbor to borrow a shovel of fire. Some old settlers used " spunk," a flint, and a barlow knife to start a fire in an emergency like this. Spunk-punk or touchwood-was obtained from the inside of a hollow white maple-tree. When matches were first brought around great fear was entertained that they might burn every- body out of house and home. My mother secured a tin box with a safe lid in which to keep hers. For some reason they were called locofoco matches.
The crane in the fireplace had a set of rods with hooks on each end, and they were graduated in length so as to hang the kettle at the proper height from the fire. In addition to the kettles we had the long-handled frying-pan, the handle of which had to be supported by some one's hand, or else on a box or a chair. Then there was the three-legged, short-handled spider. It could support itself. And I must not forget the griddle for buck- wheat cakes. It had to be suspended by a rod on the crane. Then there was the old bake-kettle, or oven, with legs and a closely-fitted cover. In this was baked the "pone" for the family. I can say truthfully that pone was not used more than thirty days in the month.
This was a hard way to cook. Women would nearly break their backs lifting these heavy kettles on and off, burn their faces, smoke their eyes, singe their hair, blister their hands, and "scorch" their clothes.
Our spoons were pewter and iron; knives and forks were iron with bone handles. The chinaware was about as it is now.
The every-day bonnet of women then was the "sun-bonnet" for sum- mer, and a quilted "hood" for winter. The dress bonnet was made of paper or leghorn, and was in shape something like our coal-scuttles.
In 1840 nearly every wife in Brookville milked a cow and churned butter. The cows were milked at the front door on Main Street. These cows were ornery, ill-looking, ill-fed, straw-stealing, and blue-milk giving creatures. The water with which to wash clothes and do the scrubbing was caught in barrels or tubs from the house-roof. Scrubbing the floors of a house had to be attended to regularly once a week. This scrubbing had to be done with powdered sand and a home-made "split broom." Every wife had to make her own soap, bake her own bread, sew and dye all the clothes for the family, spin the wool for and knit the mittens and socks, make the coverlets, quilt the quilts, see that the children's shoes for Sunday were greased with tallow every Saturday night, nurse the sick, give " sheep saffron" for the measles, and do all the cooking. All this too without " protection, tariff, rebate, or combine." About every family had a cow, dog, cat, pig, geese, and chickens. The town gave these domestic animals the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Of course, under these sanitary conditions, the town was alive with fleas, and every house was full of bedbugs. Bats were numerous, and the "public opinion" then was that the bats brought the
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bedbugs. This may be given as an illustration of the correctness of public opinion. However, we were contented and happy, and used to sing,-
" Home, home, sweet, sweet home, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
In 1840 there were doubtless many fine horses in Jefferson County yet it seemed to me nearly every horse had stringhalt, ring-bone, spavin, high- step, or poll-evil. Horses with poll-evil were numerous then, but the disease has apparently disappeared. It was an abscess on the horse's head, behind the ears, and was doubtless caused by cruelty to the animal. If a horse did not please his master in his work he would be knocked down with a hand- spike, a rail, or the loaded butt end of a blacksnake whip. Poor food and these blows undoubtedly caused this horrible disease. Sick horses were treated in a barbarous manner, not being allowed to lie down, but were whipped, run, and held upon their feet. I have seen horses held up with handspikes, rails, etc. The usual remedies were bleeding and drenching with filthy compounds. " Bots" was the almost unfailing disease.
The cattle were home stock, big-horned, heavy-bellied, and long-legged. They could jump over almost anything, and could outrun the " devil and his imps." They were poorly fed, received little care, and had little or no stabling. In the spring it was common for cows to be on the "lift." The common trouble with cattle was " hollow horn," " wolf in the tail," and loss of " cud." These were little else than the results of starvation. I have wit- nessed consultations over a sick cow, when one man would declare positively she had hollow horn, and another declare just as positively it was wolf in the tail. After a spirited dispute they would compromise by agreeing to bore her horn and split her tail. If they had called it hollow belly and wolf in the stomach they would have been nearer the truth. A better remedy would have been a bucket of warm slop, a good stable, and plenty of hay. The remedy for " hollow horn" was to bore a gimlet hole in the horn near the head and then saturate a cloth with spirits of turpentine and wrap it around the horn. The cure for wolf in the tail was to split the tail near the end with a knife, and fill the cut with salt and pepper. The cure for "lifts" was to call the neighbors, lift the cow to her feet, and prop her up so she could not lie down again. The cures for loss of " cud" were numerous and filthy. A " sure cure," and common, too, was to roll human excrement in dough and force it down the animal's throat. The same remedy was used for " founder." If the critter recovered, the remedy was the right one; if it died, the reason was the remedy had been used too late. Of course, these conditions were all imaginary. They were only diseases resulting from exposure and want of nourishing food. A wild onion called " ramp," and a shrub called " trip- wood," grew in the woods and were early in their appearance each spring. These, of which the cattle ate freely, were often their only dependence for
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food. All domestic animals then had to have ear-marks on them, or be branded. Condensed milk was invented in 1849.
The hog of that time was a racer, and could outrun the average horse. His snort when startled was something terrible. He was of the "razor- back" variety, long-bodied, long-legged, and long-snouted. By means of his snout he could plough through everything. Of course he was starved in the winter, like all the other animals, and his condition resulting from his starvation was considered a disease and called "black teeth." The remedy for this disease was to knock out the teeth with a hammer and a spike.
Ignorance was the cause of this cruelty to animals. To the readers of this volume the things mentioned are astonishing. But I have only hinted at the barbarities then inflicted on these domestic animals, which had no rights which man was bound to respect. Not until 1866 was any effort made in this country to protect dumb animals from the cruelty of man. In that year Henry Berg organized the American society in New York, and to-day the movement is felt throughout a great portion of the world. In 1890 there were five hundred and forty-seven societies in existence for the prevention of cruelty to animals, two hundred and twenty-three of them in the United States. "The economic necessity for the existence of societies having for their object the better care and protection of animals becomes manifest when it is considered that our industries, our commerce, and the supply of our necessities and comforts depend upon the animal world. In the United States alone it is estimated that there are 14,000,000 horses, valued at $979,- 000,000. There are also 2,330,000 mules, 16,000,000 milk cows, 36,800,000 oxen and other cattle, 44,000,000 sheep, and 50,000,000 swine. The total domestic animals in 1890 were estimated at 165,000,000, valued at over $2,400,000,000." To-day every good citizen gives these humane societies or their agents his support, and almost every one is against the man or men who in any way abuse dumb beasts. It is not a matter of mere sentiment.
Along about 1840 the winters were very severe and long, much more so than now. Regularly every fall, commencing in November,-
" Soft as the eider down, Light as the spider gown, Came the beautiful snow, till Over the meadow lots, Over our garden plots, Over the ponds and the lakes, Lay only beautiful flakes.
Then with this snowing, Puffing and blowing, Old Boreas came bellowing by,
Till over the by-ways, And over the highways, The snow-drifts were ever so high."
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The snow was several feet deep every winter. It came early and re- mained till late.
I have made frequent reference in these chapters to the old court-house. As I find there is some confusion in regard to its size, and as I find our county history contains this error: "The court-house, a one-story brick building, was finished in 1832," I deem it of sufficient importance to correct these errors, and to state that the court-house was a two-story building, with a one-story wing on the west extending along Main Street. This wing was divided into two rooms, the first for the prothonotary's office and the other for the commissioners' office. The main building was two-storied, with an attic and belfry. The second story was divided into four good- sized rooms, called jury-rooms. The southwest room was used by the Metho- dists for a long time for their Thursday evening prayer-meeting. Alexander Fullerton was the janitor. The Union Sunday-school was held here for years also. The northwest room was used as an armory by the Brookville Rifles,-a volunteer company. The other two were used as jury-rooms. I have played in every room of the old building, and know every foot of it. The building cost three thousand dollars. The contractors were John Lucas and Robert P. Barr. It was torn down in 1866 to make room for the present fine structure. Our alley-ball games were all played for years behind the old court-house.
Our first jail was a stone structure, built of common stone, in 1831. It was two stories high, was situated on the northeast corner of the public lot, near Joseph Darr's residence, and fronting on Pickering Street. Daniel Elgin was the contractor. The building was divided into eight rooms, two down-stairs and two up-stairs for the jail proper, and two down-stairs and two up-stairs for the sheriff's residence and office. The sheriff occupied the north part. The early church services in this building were held in the jail part, up-stairs. This old jail has a history, not the most pleasant to contemplate or write about. It was used to imprison run-away slaves, and to lodge them over night, by slave captors. Imprisoning men for no other crime than desiring to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! There was a branch of the underground railroad for the escape of slaves running through Brookville at that time. As many as twenty-five of those unfor- tunate creatures have passed through Brookville in one day. Judge Heath, then living in our town,-a great Methodist and an abolitionist,-had to pay a fine of two thousand dollars for aiding two slaves to escape from this old stone jail; a big sum of money to pay for performing a Christian, humane act. was it not? In this stone jail men were imprisoned for debt, and kept in it until the last penny was paid. I have seen some of the best men of that day in our county imprisoned in this old jail for debt or bail money. I have seen Thomas Hall, than whom I knew no better man, no better Christian, an elder in the Presbyterian church, incarcerated in the old stone jail for
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bail money. He had bailed a relative for the sum of fifty dollars, and his relative let him suffer. Honest, big-hearted, generous, Christian Thomas Hall! Thank God that the day for such inhumanities as those stated above is gone forever. This old jail was rented after the new one was erected, and used as a butcher-shop until it was torn down to make room for the present court-house. The butcher always blew a horn when he had fresh meat to sell.
In these days of fine carriages and Brookville wagons it might be well to describe the wagon of 1840. It was called the Pennsylvania wagon, was wide-tracked, and had wooden axles with iron skeins on the spindles. The tongue was stiff, and reached about three feet ahead of the horses. The horses were hitched to these wagons by iron trace- and long tongue-chains. In rough roads I used to think every time the tongue would strike a horse on the leg it would break it. Old team horses undertsood this and would spread out to avoid these leg-blows. The wheels were kept in place by means of an iron strap and linch-pin. Every wagon carried its own tar on the coupling- pole under the hind axle. The carriage of that day was called a dearborn wagon. I am unable to describe these, although I used to see them. The making of tar was one of the industries then. It retailed at twenty and twenty-five cents a gallon, and brought from three to four dollars a barrel at Pittsburg. These old wagons would screech fearfully if they were not kept properly lubricated with this tar.
Big political conventions were held in those days, and a great custom was to have a young lady dressed in white to represent each of the different States, and have all these ladies in one wagon, which would be drawn by four or six horses, or sometimes by twenty yoke of oxen.
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