USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Ransom > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 7
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Newton > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 7
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The stream that ran by was spanned by a newer bridge, and the ding-donging of a saw- mill that had been built on its bank could be heard in the distance. Horses had taken the place of the oxen that had for many years con- stituted the pioneer's only team. The land- scape has greatly changed.
THE PIONEER'S WAYS AND MEANS OF LIVING
Over a century has passed since the first set- tlement was made in this region, and changing
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
circumstances have brought with them such changes in many of the customs of the people that one of the present generation can form only an imperfect conception of what some of those customs were, and the hardships endured by the pioneers.
The rude implements and appliances that were in use when the country was new were in- ventions which grew out of the necessities of the times, and were adapted to the circumstances in which people found themselves. Time wore on, and those circumstances gave place to others. Inventions followed these changes; but in many cases, as in those of the cast iron plow, the grain-cradle and the horse-rake, the inventors only lived to see their improved implements scoffed at and derided a few years later. Thus have people always done, and thus they will to a greater or less extent continue to do.
The first settlers in this region came when the primitive forest was growing not only here, but in the country through which they had passed for many miles. The first roads, which were simply widened Indian trails, were then barely passable. Of course they could bring with them only those articles of household fur- niture or those agricultural implements that were indispensable.
THE PIONEER'S LOG CABIN
The first work of the pioneer was to prepare a house, or dwelling place for his family. There were no mills for the manufacture of lumber, and the first houses were necessarily built of logs, fastened by notching at the corners, and the cracks filled up with mud. 'They were usu- ally from fifteen to eighteen feet square, and about seven feet in height, or high enough to just clear the head of a tall man. Often no floor was at first laid. A fire place was prepared at one end by erecting a back of stones, laid in mud instead of mortar, and a hole was left in the bark or slab roof for the escape of the smoke. A chimney of sticks plastered with mud was afterward erected in this opening. A space of width suitable for a door was cut on one side, and this was closed first by hanging up a blan- ket, and afterward by a door made with split plank and hung on wooden hinges. This door was fastened by a wooden latch that could be raised from the outside by a string, which was passed through a hole above it. When the latch string was "pulled in" the door was ef- fectually fastened. The expression used of a hospitable man-"his latch string is always out"-had its origin from this primitive method of fastening a log house door. A hole was usually cut in each side of this house to let in light, and when glazed sash could not be pro- cured, greased paper was used to keep out the blasts and snows of autumn and winter.
THE PIONEER'S FURNITURE
Holes were bored at the proper height in the logs at one corner of the room, and into these the ends of poles were fitted, the opposite ends where they crossed being supported by a crotch, or a block of the proper height. Across these poles others were laid, and these were covered by a thick mattress of hemlock or other boughs, over which blankets were spread. Thus were pioneer bedsteads constructed; and on such a bed many a pioneer couple reposed as sweetly as though "sunk in beds of down." In the absence of chairs rude seats were made with an ax and auger by boring holes in "puncheons" or planks split from basswood logs and hewn smooth on one side. Tables were often made in the same way, and after a time a floor was constructed of these "puncheons," with a bare space in lieu of a hearth about the fire place. A few necessary pieces of crockery, or sometimes wooden trenchers, were kept on rude shelves till, after a few years, lumber could be procured of which to make a cupboard.
A dinner pot, a dish kettle, a frying pan and a bake kettle constituted the entire stock of iron ware. The bake kettle-a utensil that is now never seen-was a shallow vessel with legs some six inches in length, so that it could be set over coals on the hearth. It had a cover with the edges turned up so that coals could be heaped on it. This was used at first for all the baking of many a pioneer family. The fire-place had instead of the iron crane with which it was afterward furnished, a transverse pole, called a lug pole, laid across two others so that it could be moved backwards and forwards at a sufficient height to prevent burning. On this at first hooks cut from beech saplings, or limbs, were fastened by withes (flexible twigs), but after blacksmiths' shops were established these were replaced by "trammels" or hooks so constructed that their length could be adjusted.
This room, thus furnished, served all the pur- poses of kitchen, drawing-room, sitting-room, parlor and bed-room; and not unfrequently workshop also, for temporary benches were erected, and sleds, ox yokes, and many other farming utensils were made and repaired there during stormy days or evenings. The light for such evening work was furnished by the blazing fire of pine knots which had been gathered and stored away for the purpose, or sometimes by a "slut," which was made by placing a rag for a wick in a dish of "coon's oil," or the fat of some other wild animal.
THE PIONEER'S CLOTHING
Here also, as time went on, were heard the raking of the hand cards and the whir of the spinning wheel; for in those days the cloth for
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
both the summer and winter clothing of the family was homemade, and all the technicali- ties of the process from picking the wool to "taking out the piece," were as familiar to every member of the family as any household word.
At first, before the establishment of cloth dressing mills, the dyeing or coloring, even of all the woolen cloth, was done by the pioneer wives; and after clothieries made their appear- ance everything except "fulled cloth" was color- ed at home. The properties and the proper method for compounding for different colors of Nicaraugua or Nic. wood, logwood, fustic, in- digo, madder, copperas, alum, vitriol, etc., as well as all the various indigenous barks and plants were known to every housewife. The old dye tub, which is still remembered by the older inhabitants had its place at the side of every hearth, where it was frequently used as a seat for children in cases of emergency, or when the increase of the family was more rapid than that of chairs. Peter Parley (Mr. Goodrich) called it "the institution of the dye tub, which, when the night had waned and the family had retired, frequently became the anxious seat of the lover, who was permitted to carry on his courtship, the object of his addresses sitting de- murely in the opposite corner."
The flax brake, swingling knife and board, and hatchel are never seen now, and one of the present generation would be utterly unable to guess their uses were they shown to him. Then the pulling and rotting and all the details of dressing flax were known to every child; and the process of spinning the flax and tow, weav- ing and bleaching the different qualities of cloth, and making the thread for all the family sewing, was a part of the education of every girl. Wild nettles were at first used instead of the flax that was afterwards cultivated. The process of rotting, dressing, etc., was the same as in the case of the flax. Then cotton cloth was not manufactured in this country, and it was prac- tically beyond the reach of most farmers. Woolen goods, other than those of domestic manufacture, were seldom seen. A "broad- cloth coat" was an evidence either of unpardon- able vanity or of unusual prosperity. Even the skins of animals were thus utilized for cloth- ing. Fawn skin vests, doeskin coats and buck- skin breeches were not uncommon.
HOW THE PIONEERS PREPARED THEIR FOOD.
It is hardly necessary to speak of the ordinary food of the first settlers, such as hasty puddings, johnny cake, or corn pones, the meal for which was ground in a pioneer mill or a wooden mor- tar; or of the dainties, such as shortcakes, mixed with the lye of cob ashes and baked in ashes on the hearth, that were set before company. The
simple and substantial diet of the people then was adopted because circumstances would per- mit no other. They were too poor to pamper their children with sweetmeats, or to stimulate them with tea and coffee; and the incidental re- sult was a degree of robust health such as the children in later times do not acquire.
It must not be inferred that all the settlers in this region were subjected to severe priva- tions. The kind of fare spoken of was not looked upon as hard, for it was the best the country then afforded. There were instances where people were compelled to resort to wild roots or greens for a dinner, but these were per- haps as rare as are cases of extreme destitution now. The condition of the country was such that these habits and methods of living were necessary, and they were not regarded as hard- ships.
PIONEER FARMING
The agriculture of those times, if agricul- ture it may be termed, was such as is never seen now. Very few at the present day have witnessed the process of preparing the virgin soil for the first crop. The timber was often girdled in advance, so that when felled, as it often was, in what were termed windrows, much of it would burn as it lay, being partially or wholly dried, by kindling the fire at the wind- ward end of these rows. After the first burn some of the remaining fragments were "nigger- ed" into pieces that could be easily moved, and the whole was drawn together with oxen and "logged up" for the final burning. Many in the neighborhood usually joined in this work, and the "logging bees," or "logging frolics," were at the same time occasions when work was done and social intercourse enjoyed. When the burning was completed and the ashes collected, the ground was sometimes made ready for the seed by harrowing with a three-cornered har- row, which was often hewed from a crotched tree, with either large wooden pins set at inter- vals, or very large and strong iron teeth. Such a harrow was drawn over the ground among the stumps to fit the soil for its first crop when the roots were not sufficiently decayed to permit the use of a plow, In using this primitive harrow in these clearings the driver found it necessary to keep always at a respectful distance, for it often bounded from side to side in a manner not compatible with safety at close quarters. - In cases where plowing could be done the old bull plow was used. This was an uncouth imple- ment, with wrought iron share and a wooden moldboard, such as is now scarcely ever seen, even among relics of the past. In rare cases a wooden plow, hewn out of a crotched tree, was used,
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
THEIR CROPS YIELDED ABUNDANTLY
The wheat sown or corn planted in ground prepared in this rude way often gave good re- turns, such was the fertility of the soil before it was exhausted by repeated cropping. When the crop was grown and ripened, it was cut with sickles, a handful at a time. Sickles may oc- casionally be seen at the present day ; but there are few who ever saw them used. For harvest- ing grain among the stumps of the first clear- ings the sickle was best adapted of all instru- ments, and no other was known ; but when these stumps had decayed, and the grain cradle had been introduced, many looked upon it as a per- nicious invention, claiming that by the use of which more than sufficient grain would be wasted to pay for the labor of harvesting, and some insisted that more could be harvested in the same time with the sickle-so strongly are people attached to old customs.
The grain was first threshed with the flail on the ground, and partially separated from the cnaff by pouring it from a height in the wind and afterwards dextrously manipulating it in a "corn fan," a description of which would be quite difficult. For many years after barns were erected on all farms the flail and the feet of horses were the only threshing machines, but fanning-mills superseded the old corn fan.
Hay was cut with the old fashioned scythe, which has changed but very little, and the hand rake only, was used to gather it. Among the stumps and stones in early times these were the most available tools, but their use continued long after improved implements were available, and after such implements had been invented.
In those days the conveyance most in use was the ox-cart. It was made available for almost everything, from hauling manure to going to meeting or to balls and weddings. Its use was thus universal because it was, like the other tools spoken of, adapted to existing conditions. The rough and stumpy roads almost forbade the use of four-wheeled conveyances.
It seems hardly necessary to call attention to the wagons, plows, harrows, threshing machines, harvesters, mowers, wheel rakes, etc. of the present day, and contrast them with the awk- ward and uncouth implements of former times ; but if this is done the adaptation of these to their existing circumstances should be remem- bered, and the additional fact should be borne in mind that the improved tools of the present day would not then have been available.
HOW BUSINESS WAS CONDUCTED
During some years after the first settlement of this region trade was carried on in a manner quite different from the way in which it is now conducted. Now all produce has a cash market
and a cash value; and all the necessaries or su- perfluities that are purchased are reckoned ac- cording to the same standard. Then there was not sufficient money in the country to be made the medium of exchange, and trade was carried on almost wholly by what was termed barter. By reason of this nearly exclusive exchange trade, mercantile establishments were quite un- like those of the present time. Then every store was a commercial microcosm. In it was kept everything that the inhabitants required. As one who lived in those times says: "Every mer- chant kept dry goods, groceries, crockery, glass- ware, hardware, dye stuffs, iron, nails, paints, oil, window glass, school books, stationery, rum, brandy, gin, whiskey, drugs and medicines, end- ing with a string of etceteras, or every other arti- cle usually kept in a country store. Things were sometimes curiously grouped; as, for ex- ample, silks and irons, laces and fish, pins and crowbars, pork and tea, molasses and tar, cotton yarn and log chains, wheel heads and hoes, cards and pitchforks, scythes and fur hats." In exchange for these the pioneer merchants re- ceived almost every article of country produce. Coarse grain was converted into spirits at his distillery, or that of some one in the vicinity, for distilleries sprung up early. Pork was "packed," and other kinds of produce were re- ceived for goods and sent by teams over the turnpike to Easton, and thus to Philadelphia, where they were exchanged for the goods that were brought back by the same route; and so the barter trade was kept up. Some heavy articles, such as iron, salt, etc., were brought up by boats on the river. Expensive methods of transportation necessarily rendered the price of goods high and that of produce low, and this condition of things continued till better facili -. ties for transportation cheapened merchandise and increased the price of produce.
Gradually since that time has trade changed till it has reached a cash basis, and along with this change has come another important one- the "division of business." Now dry goods, groceries, hardware, books, drugs, liquors, etc.,- are separate branches of business, and produce dealing is separated from all of them.
PIONEER FACTORIES
A no less marked contrast is to be seen in the manufactures of those articles and the pres- ent. Then almost every article and utensil that was used was either home made or manufac- tured at the shops which sprung up to supply the wants of the early settlers. Then, as has been stated, the cloth in which every one was clad was of domestic manufacture. The spinning wheel and the loom were portions of the furni- ture of almost every house, and clothieries, or wool-carding or cloth-dressing establishments,
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
were as common as grist-mills. Almost every hamlet had its tailor's shop, where the knight of the shears cut the clothing for the people in the vicinity, and, to avoid the responsibility of misfits, warranted "to fit if properly made up." This clothing was made up by tailoresses, or, as the tailors sometimes termed them "she tail- ors." The trade of a tailoress was reckoned a very good one; for she received for her skilled labor two shillings (as currency was then talk- ed) per day ; while the price of housework help was only four shillings per week.
Shoemaker shops were abundant also, though there were traveling shoemakers who "whipped the cat," as going from house to house with their "kits" was termed. After the establish- ment of tanneries the people were in the habit of having the hides of their slaughtered animals tanned on shares, and the leather thus obtained was worked up by these circulating disciples of St. Crispin.
The ubiquitous tailor shop has disappeared, and only here and there is to be seen a solitary cobbler's sign. Every village has its shoe and clothing stores.
Very early it was a portion of the blacksmith business to make the nails that were required where wooden pins could not be used. Now an old fashioned wrought nail is a curious relic of the past; and even the rivets, bolts and horse- shoe nails that were formerly made upon every anvil, are now made by machinery, and furn- ished more cheaply and better than they can be hammered out by the village blacksmith.
So of almost everything. Where carpenters formerly took lumber "in the rough" and did all the work of building a house, now houses
are almost "ready made," for little is required but to put together the parts that are made by machinery.
The wheelbarrows, carts and wagons, and even the cradles and coffins, that were formerly made in the shops that sprang up when the country was first settled are now made by ma- chinery, and sold at rates far lower than those at which handmade work can be afforded, and the old hand manufactories have gone to decay or degenerated into simple repair shops.
WILD ANIMALS
In early times wild animals, especially bears and wolves, and to some extent panthers, were sources of great annoyance. It is not known that any person ever became a victim to the rapacity of these animals, but instances are re- corded of terrible frights. Many swine that were permitted to roam and feed in the woods were killed by bears, and great care was neces- sary to protect sheep against wolves. For years the slumbers of people were interrupted and night was made hideous by the howling of the latter.
It is recorded that during twelve years fol- lowing 1808 the aggregate bounty paid for the scalps of panthers in Luzerne county was $1,822, and during the same time $2,872 for those of wolves. Of course during the years that preceeded that time these animals were more abundant. The howl of the wolf and the screech of the panther are not now heard in this region. Occasionally a bear is captured in the mountains, but the time is not far distant when bruin will no more be seen here.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FRONTIER FORTS
(See Page 7 For Map, Showing Location of Forts, Indian Villages, Etc.)
This is part of an article written by Sheldon Reynolds, M. A., a short time before his death, February 8, 1895. He was president of the Wyom- ing Historical and Geological Society of Wilkes- Barre. Mr. Reynolds died after a long illness, dur- ing which this article was written. How well the work was done the article speaks for itself, and no one could know from its perusal that the hand which wrote it could at the last scarce clasp a pen, and that the calm and judicial tone which pervades the account of the early trials and hardships of our forefathers was the expression of one whose life was fast ebbing away and who felt himself urged by the most pressing necessity to complete a work which he knew too well to delay at all would be to leave unended. Mr. Reynold's ancestors came from Litchfield, Conn., and were among the first settlers in the Wyoming Valley.
Nothing can be found showing that these several fortifications were ever subject to attack in any warfare with the Indians; though they undoubtedly fall within the sense of the desig- nation "forts erected as a defense against the Indians, etc." In the years 1772 and 1773 a general feeling of alarm and apprehension per- vaded the Wyoming settlement. The people lived in forts; they went about their daily work with arms in their hands, they strictly enforced the law in respect to military duty, and required guard mount in each township. This condition of affairs was probably owing to two causes : The isolated and exposed position of the settle-
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
ment made it liable to attack and at the same time deprived it of the hope of assistance from any quarter. The warlike Six Nations were their neighbors on the north, and, although they professed to be friendly, the knowledge of their treacherous character and the recollection of the massacre in 1763, the act of Indians claiming to be friendly, were still fresh in the minds of the settlers. Secondly, the likelihood of a renewal of the hostilities with the Proprie- tary government was nowise remote. The with- drawal of their men from the disputed ter- ritory since August, 1771, held out no assurance of future inactivity. The settlers were liable to attacks from either source without warning, and they made the best disposition of the means at hand for their protection.
At a meeting of the settlers in November, 1772, it was ordered that every man who holds a settling right shall provide himself with a good firelock and ammunition according to the laws of Connecticut, "by the first Monday of December next, and then to appear complete in arms, at ye fort, in Wilkes-Barre, at twelve o'clock on said day for drilling as ye law di- rects." It was further provided that each town- ship shall elect a muster officer and inspector and they shall choose two sergeants and a clerk. The inhabitants shall meet every fourteen days armed and equipped, and in case of alarms or appearance of an enemy, they shall stand for defense of the town without further orders. In October, 1772, it was ordered "that every man of the settlers shall do their duty both for guard- ing and scouting, or lose their settling right." The requirement of keeping guard night and day in the fortified places applied to all the townships, under the penalty, in case of failure or neglect, of losing their settling rights. It was in force in 1772 and 1773, and probably longer. At this time a stockade was built in Plymouth (the location not known), a block- house in Hanover, and the fort in Kingston, known as Forty Fort was put in a state of re- pair. In addition to these nearly every dwell- ing was loop-holed and made a place of defense. A community so well prepared and alert prob- ably escaped an open attack by the Indians - solely by reason of their readiness to repel it.
FORT DURKEE
In April, 1769, soon after their arrival in the disputed territory, the Connecticut people set about the building of a fort for their better pro- tection. They chose a site now within the limits of the city of Wilkes-Barre, on the river bank between the present streets, South and Ross. Here they built of hewn logs a strong block- house surrounded by a rampart (an elevation or mound of earth) and intrenchment. It was
protected on two sides by natural barriers; having on one side the Susquehanna river, and on the other, the southwest side, a morass with a brook flowing through it and emptying into the river near by the fort at a place called Fish's Eddy. The size of the enclosure is not known, but it was probably of one-half an acre in ex- tent, as any place of shelter in time of danger of less space would be of little use. The fort was looked upon as a strong military defense, both from its manner of construction and the natural advantages of its position. Near to it were built also twenty or more log-houses, each provided with loop-holes through which to de- liver the fire in case of sudden attack. It was named Fort Durkee in honor of Capt. John Durkee, one of the leaders of the Yankee forces, and who had seen service in the late war with France, and afterwards, as a colonel of the Con- necticut line on the continental establishment, served with merit throughout the Revolutionary War. While this fort was erected as a defense against the Indians, and doubtless served that purpose, there is no evidence that it ever sus- tained an attack from that quarter. It was, however, one of the strong-holds that played a very important part in the contest with the Pro- prietary government over the disputed jurisdic- tion and title to the Wyoming lands, known as the first Pennamite war, beginning in 1769 and continuing two years. Shortly after this period the name of the fort disappears from the rec- ords. Whether it was dismantled or suffered to fall into decay is not known. Miner's History of Wyoming, page 265, makes a last reference to it in these words: "The whole army (General Sullivan's) was encamped on the river flats be- low Wilkes-Barre, a portion of them occupying old Fort Durkee." (This was June 23, 1779.)
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