USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Nanticoke > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 22
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Ashley > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 22
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Sugar Notch > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
*This is the Yankee word for the German " Pelznickel."
245
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
colored just as nicely by the Yankee boys as by the Dutch. This intercourse and these games grew more and more until the Pennsylvania Dutch began to sell out and move off west too, then the end of these innocent games soon came-but that did not take place till between 1850 and 1860.
It seems as if some little explanation ought to be given of the terms New York Dutch, New Jersey Dutch and Pennsylvania Dutch. The "New York Dutch," with whom the Yankees in Con- necticut were acquainted from their first colonization of Connecti- cut, were descendants of immigrants from Holland and were called Dutch by themselves; New Jersey was settled by Hollanders also. The "Pennsylvania Dutch" were the descendants of immigrants from Germany. This was the difference between them, but in Pennsylvania they all alike spoke a kind of corrupt German. They all called themselves Dutch, but with them the word seems to have been a corruption of the German word "Deutsch." They were, many of them, a mixture of Holland and German ancestry.
That the inhabitants were not very numerous or rich is shown by the list of taxables of 1796, the oldest list now to be found in the Commissioners' office. There are only eighty-six names on it, and one may note that they are not all Yankee names, showing that quite a large number of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Dutch had thus early come into the township, and they continued to come for thirty or forty years, and not at all to the injury of the town- ship, unless it was in the school system. They did not care much. for schools. They are now " old settlers," or their descendants are -such of them as are left.
LIST OF TAXABLES IN 1796.
Adams, David Adams, Abraham
Crisman; Frederick Carey, Nathan Caldwell, William
Alden, John
Abbott, Nathan
Delano, Elisha
Dilley, Richard
Dilley, Richard, Jr.
Brush, Jonas Blackman, Elisha, Jr. Burrett, Stephen Burrett, Gideon Burrett, Joel Brink, Thomas Bennett, Rufus Bennett, Ishmael
Edgerton, Edward Espy, George Ensign, Samuel
Flanders, Jacob
Fisher, Jacob Garrison, Cornelius
246
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
Gray, Andrew Hannis, John
Pell, Josiah Pell, Josiah, Jr.
Hopkins, Benjamin
Pott, Benjamin
Hendershot, John
Philips, John
Hoover, Henry
Roberts, Jeremiah
Holdmer, Jacob Hyde, William Hyde, Willis
Robinson, David
Hibbard, Ebenezer
Rathbone, James A.
Hibbard, Calvin
Rouch, George
Hurlbut, John
Stewart, James
Hurlbut, Naphtali
Stewart, George
Hurlbut, Christopher
Stewart, David
Inman, Edward
Stewart, Dorcas
Inman, Richard
Stewart, Josiah
Inman, John
Stewart, William
Inman, Elijah, Jr.
Spencer, Edward
Jacobs, John
Simons, Daniel
Jacobs, John, Jr.
Steel, Peter
Kellogg, Jonathan
Steel, David
Line, Conrad
Sorber, Abraham
Line, Conrad, Jr.
Saum, Christian
Lesley, James
Smiley, Archibald
Lutzey, John
Spencer, John
Lockerly, John
Treadway, John
Line, Adrian
Warden, Nathaniel
Marr, Michael
Wade, Abner Winter, Ira
Martin, Thomas
Moore, Samuel
Waller, Ashbel
Miller, John S.
Preslon, Darius
Wie, Arthur Van (Van Wie?) Young, William
Some of the persons named on this list may have been non-resi- dents, but as it stands there were 86 taxable persons, including one woman, 58 horses in the township, III oxen, and 152 cows.
From this it would appear that the population was about 473 or 5 16, allowing 5 7/2, or 6 persons to each taxable person. This being nearly the proportions they bore to each other for about forty years afterwards, it may be considered very nearly correct for 1796.
About two-thirds of the farmers used oxen for farming purposes yet, and some of them had two yokes, and many of them had a horse also. The most of them had two cows each.
It should also be remembered that the list includes all the per- sons and property from the Susquehanna to the Lehigh, about 20
1
Ryan, John®
Robinson, John
247
.
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
miles-15 miles beyond the afterward certified township of Han- over. About half of that "District" south of certified Hanover, was cut off in 1839, and the other half in 1853. Up to these dates whatever persons and property there were in the "district" were as- sessed as in Hanover. The United States Census for 1800 placed them in Hanover.
The first word we have of a mill in Hanover is in a conveyance June 16, 1776, of James Coffrin to John Comer of lot No. I, second division, and again July 6, 1777, the same James Cochran (Coffrin) to John Comer for the same mill and fifty acres in 1775. Again Sept. 23, 1776, when the "great roads" were surveyed, the River Road began on the Hanover and Newport line "near Mr. Coffrin's Mills." This fixes a mill there in 1775. It is understood, how- ever, that a grist-mill was built there very soon after, if not the same year that the mill was built on Mill Creek in Wilkes-Barre- 1773. It is also understood that a saw-mill and forge were built near Coffrin's Mill about the same time, but they were probably on the Newport Creek and beyond the Hanover line. Iron was manu- factured at that forge-Bloomery Forge, as it was called-until about the time the canal was dug, 1830, after which iron could be brought and sold cheaper than it could be made here.
Elisha Delano built a saw-mill in 1789 and a grist-mill at what was afterwards known as Behee's Mill. A set of carding machines were built in this mill in 1826 or 1827, by Jacob Plumb and his son Charles. The wool of the country for many miles round was brought here to be carded into rolls for spinning. Up to that time all wool was carded by hand.
There was a grist-mill and saw-mill in 1793 on the Nanticoke Creek, up the creek, south above the Dundee shaft. How long it had been built previous to 1793 is not known. This was probably the grist-mill and saw-mill of Petatiah Fitch, assessed to him in 1799. This mill was on the land, now the Dundee, formerly Jonathan Robins'. The mills were nearly a mile from the river, on lots 15 and 16, and were all in ruins previous to 1840, when Hol- land built his railroad from his mines at the mountain to the river or canal and Hanover basin. A few rods down the same creek towards the river from this mill was a clover-mill. This was an old mill in 1840, but though not mentioned in the assessment in
248
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
1799, must have been built somewhere near that time. There is no mill there now, and has not been for more than thirty years.
Another mill of these old times-in ruins before 1840-stood near where Petty's Mill now stands. on Solomon's Creek below Ashley. One of the stones-a very small one it is-still lies near the site of the old mill, and has been exposed to the weather and the eyes of the passer-by for more than forty years. This mill is still remembered by old persons, and was known by the name of Morgan's Mill. .
Nathan Wade had a saw-mill at "Scrabble town," now Ashley, in these early times, assessed in 1799, and probably much earlier. There were only two saw-mills when this assessment was made, namely, Wade's and Delano's, and two grist-mills-Delano's and Fitch's; there were but 86 houses, and 56 of these were built of logs. The school-houses were all of logs.
Roads were cut through the forests to Easton, to Stroudsburg, to Northumberland and Sunbury, and in various directions, and communication became possible by wagons. Loads of valuable produce, some wheat, but mostly furs-"peltries"-were hauled by horses and wagons to the nearest and most desirable markets, some, however, as far as Philadelphia before being unloaded, and loads of goods brought back with them. The business grew, and in a few years turnpikes were chartered and built and opened up for long distances through the otherwise unbroken wilderness and trackless forests. The Easton and Wilkes-Barre turnpike was completed about 1807. From that time the merchants of the entire valley re- ceived all their goods either by "Durham boats" on the river, or by wagons on the turnpike. Turnpiking was soon overdone, but if no better means had been found for the purposes of communication and commerce, these turnpike roads would have been maintained and improved, but canals came, however, and turnpikes soon fell into disuse and decay and were mostly abandoned about thirty years ago in this part of the country. The canals will probably suffer the same fate in a few years, and railroads will take their place, and probably occupy their beds and banks as several have already: The first railroad in Hanover was completed in 1843. It is the Lehigh and Susquehanna, and runs from Wilkes-Barre to White Haven, crossing the mountain at Ashley by inclined
249
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
planes. The first locomotive was used on it in 1848 below the planes. The North Branch from Nanticoke to Waverly in New York, and the Lehigh from Mauch Chunk to White Haven are examples of abandoned canals.
Now there is room for all kinds of speculation as to what kind of improvement shall take the place and destroy the railroad business, by furnishing a better means of conveyance and trans- portation-more speedy and more safe. Of course, the world can- not stand still, improvements will be constantly produced and con- stant change must take place. Railroads were not thought of A. D. 1800, if even the word "railroad" had ever been spoken, or passed the lips of man. What a world of discovery and invention has been brought forth since A. D. 1800?
It has always seemed to the writer that a history of any country or of any period in a country's history that does not give the value of their productions in the place where they are produced and the manner of producing them, together with the wages of the work- men, leaves out the most important and useful pieces of information that could possibly be given, and he does not intend to fall into that mistake, if it is a mistake, any farther than he can help. With this view of the matter there is introduced here the following :- *
WAGES PREVIOUS TO 1800.
Weaving woolen, linen, or tow cloth per yard . $ 08g
8d .=
Tanning a sheep-skin
35.
40
Tanning a dog-skin .
3
=
40
One day's work holding plow
3
= 40
One day's work mowing ..
5
66
One day's work cradling
7
6
1.00
One day's work making rails .
3
9
50
One day's work breaking flax
2
6
33 73
One day's work chopping
2
6
33 13
One day yoke of oxen and plow
2
6
3313
One day horse plowing corn
2
2623
One day oxen and cart hauling stone
2
6
33 1/3
Making pair shoes, .
3-9d and 4
6
50, 60
To the use of loom one year
15
$2.00
Making pair of moccasins
2
2633
Making pair overalls (leather)
4
6
=
60
One almanac .
9 .
=
IO
*The writer has made the reductions from Pennsylvania currency to United States money. This list might have been much farther extended. It is culled from an account book of the period.
16*
250
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
1799.
ASSESSMENT OF HANOVER.
NAMES.
Land
Improved.
Unimproved.
Horses.
Oxen.
CowB.
Lng HonBes.
Frame
Houses.
Log Barns.
Frame
Barns.
Value
Land.
Total Value.
Adams, David
I
2
3
·
·
.
.
$ 146
Adams, Abraham
200
2
2
I
300
354
Arnold, Abram
1/2
2
2
I
.
45
1 39
Brush, Jonas .
350
2
4
4
I
I
I
1100
1 300
Burritt, Stephen
79
I
2
I
I
1000
IO86
Burritt, Gideon
75
2
I
400
463
Bradley, Abraham
350
I
·
4
2
I
1600
1690
Bennett, Rufus
300
I
4
3
I
I
750
900
Blackman, Elisha .
125
I
2
I
I
400
498
Butler, Lord2
400
1000
1000
Bennett, Ishmael 3
100
2
2
I
300
369
Campbell, James
250
100
4
.
3
I
I
1500
1827
Carey, Benjamin
150
I
2
3
2
I
I 200
1 306
Carey, Nathan
197
450
I
2
3
I
I
(225) 900
1255
Carey, Comfort .
225
.
·
I
I
500
500
Crissey, Franklin 4
150
Clark, Robert
12
Crisman, Frederick
450
2
2
3
I
* 1 1
I
1500
1750
Caldwell, William
I 20
2
2
6
I
I
I
1500
1705
Cook, Nathaniel
I
I
2
20
60
Cobart, Anthony
3
3
15
Covel, Matthew 2
220
IIO
IIO
Contreman, Leroy
IO
Dilley, Richard .
170
I
2
2
1000
1064
Dilley, Adam
50
2
2
I
250
319
Dilley, Richard, Jr
IO
60
I
3
I
TI
500
720
Davis, William .
14
Dunsha, William
13
Espy, George
190
I
2
2
I
I
800
969
Edgerton, Edward
50
.
.
.
2
I
I
125
167
Fisher, Jacob 5
50
2
I
I
·
150
293
Fitch, Petatiah 6
60
260
2
2
2
·
2
I
I
350
423
Hoffman, Michael
50
·
I
300
300
Hubbell, Hezekiah
I
·
.
14
.
I
.
. .
100
Burritt, Joel
560
I
.
·
.
·
.
·
.
I
.
.
·
.
.
I
.
.
.
·
150
256
Dilley, Jonathan
150
Delano, Elisha
IO
I
I
I
.
·
·
·
·
·
I
700|
989
Garrison, Cornelius
200
2
·
2
300
420
Burritt, Stephen, Jr1
.
$ .
·
.
·
.
·
·
I
I
I
.
.
of
25I
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
NAMES.
Land
Improved
Unimproved.
Horses.
Oxen.
Cows.
Log Houses.
Frame
Houses.
Log Barns.
Frame
Barns.
Value
Lands.
.Total Value.
Hollenback, Matthias2
428
220. .
.
I
.
·
I
I
I 200
1252
Hoover, Henry
74
Hyde, Willis .
55
I
2
I
I
400
450
Hyde, William
155
600
674
Hurlbut, Naphtali .
243
2
2
I
I
I
1 800
1904
Inman, Edward
420
2
2
5
I
2
2
2000
2180
Inman, Richard .
200|
500
4
2
5
I
I
I
2300
3070
Inman, Elijah
60
2
2
I
.
30
178.
Jacobs, John .
25
I
2
I
.
.
.
·
100
200
Jacobs, Samuel 7, 3
200
Jameson, Samuel4
400
I
2
I
I
.I
I
1 500
1702
Jameson, Alexander8
260
I200
I200
Kellogg, Jonathan
31
Il
I
500
612
Line, Conrad
50
3
2
I
I
I
700
$54
Line, Peter9
100
Line, John 9
100
Line, Adrian .
81
Lockerly, John
400
2
2
1500
1605
Moore, Thomas
37
I
4
3
§ I
I
700
930
Moore, Thomas, Jr.9
100
Moore, Robert
14
Moore, Michael 1 0
I
I
I
50
87
Perry, Benjamin 8
150
·
2
3
2
I
1700
1826
Pell, Josiah, Jr.
3
I
I
150
164
Preston, Darius
I
I
2
I
I
200
262
Ryan, William5
25
I
I
40
152
Robbard, William
69
Rosecrants, Jacob
260
2
4
I
I
IIOO
1250
Ruggles, Alfred?
63
Robinson, David9
100
Robinson, John .
50
2
2
I
150
226
Stewart, James .
550
250
2
2
3
2
I
2500
3096
Stewart, George
IO3
I20
I
I 200
1273
Stewart, David .
2
.
2
I
I
200
276
Scott, Micah11
1/2
20
45
Schoonover, John.
334
21
2
I
.
.
80
164
.
2
2
.
.
.
·
2
3
.
. .
.
·
.
.
.
.
.
.
160
160
Pell, Josiah
420
I
60
75
Rosewell, Thomas
50
I
.
2
2
I
.
·
·
.
.
·
·
I
.
.
·
3
·
$2000 $ 2110
Hibbard, Calvin
100
I
2
I
150
194
Jacobs, John, Jr
I
·
.
.
I
I
·
·
.
.
·
I
.
.
·
of
-
2
·
I
252
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
NAMES.
Land
Improved.
Unimproved.
Horses.
Oxen.
Cows.
Log Houses.
Frame
Houses.
Log Barns.
Frame
Barns.
Value
Land.
Total Value.
Spencer, Jeremiah 1 2
50
. .
·
.
.
.
.
$ 150 $ 150
Spencer, Edward
150
150
2
2
3
I
I
1500
1716
Steel, David9
140
Steele, Joseph 1 3, 3
200
Steele, Peter (Deeton?)
5
2
2
I
I
360
554
Saum, Christian
50
2
2
I
I
250
324
Saum, John 9
100
Stewart, Josiah .
5 20
2
2
I
I
I
2500
2625
Stewart, Dorcas
350
I
I
I
I
·
I 200
I 264
Shaver, John K.
26
Sliker, John
400
3
3
I
I
1600
1760
Springer, Richard
15
Treadway, John
50
I
3
I
.
700
831
Vandermark, Jeremiah
5
2
3
I
200
318
Very, Axter
50
2
I
I
I
300
435
Wright, James
I
I
.
·
. .
58
Waller, Ashoel .
54
I
2
3
I
I
400
550
Weakley, Lemuel7
50
I
I
150
228
Wright, Joseph .
210
2
2
4
I
I
1500
2370
Wade, Nathan
60
I
I
* * I
600
664
Wade, Abner
7
I
I
75
89
Wade, Joseph 9
100
Winter, Ira
300
2
2
I
1100
1170
Wiggins, Silas
200
2
I
I
300
353
Weeks, Luther9
145
Weeks, Philip9
2
4
3
Stewart, William 14
870
.
500
500
Howard, - _12
50
150
150
Hendershot, John
2
3
·
84 96 164 54 26 8 29
. .
$69051
40
·
2
.
I
·
.
.
.
2
2
2
.
.
.
·
·
.
·
·
2
.
180
Welker, Meshack .
ʻ
(1) Single man, $50. (2) Wilkes-Barre, non-resident. (3) Freeman. (4) Physician. (5) Carpenter. (6) Grist-mill. (7) Blacksmith. (8) Non-resident. (9) Single man. (10) Captain. (11) Cooper. (12) Connecticut, non-resident. (13) Joiner. (14) Dauphin County, non-resident.
(*) Frame still house. (t) Log grist-mill, log saw-mill. (#) Stone. (¿) Store. (|) Store, still and ferry. , (T) A. Lee, owner. ( ** ) Saw-mill.
2
·
.
.
.
·
.
·
2
·
·
71
Werding, Nathaniel .
II6
·
66
of
253
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
Total number of taxables resident and non-resident . . IIO
non-resident 8
Total number of taxables living in the township 102
There were two grist-mills, two saw-mills, two distilleries, ten single men, three blacksmiths, two physicians, one cooper, two carpenters, two stores.
The valuations for taxing purposes were in United States cur- rency.
The assessment list for the year 1800 could not be found in the Commissioners' office. That of 1799 was the nearest we could get to it. It was desirable to have an assessment roll and the census roll of the same year, but it could not be found.
1800. By the United States census of 1800 the population of of Hanover township numbered six hundred and thirteen, averag- ing 7.66 to each house. There were no double houses in those days. This census was taken very much like the preceding one. The names of heads of families only were written, then followed figures giving the number in each family of free white males and females of certain ages and free colored and slaves, the totals being as follows:
Under 10. 10 to 16 .- to 26 .- to 45. over 45.
Free white males . . 112 43 53 48 49 . 305
Free white females . IIO
47 53
All others free . 55 34 . 299 8 Slaves I
Total . . 613
There was no attempt made to give any other information by census officers than just that given above. In the next census a slight attempt was made to get other information besides the num- ber of inhabitants. We, as a people, were learning something all the time.
By this time the children of those who were slain in the battle and massacre of 1778, and as children and orphans had been bound out to farmers and tradesmen in Connecticut to learn trades and how to support themselves, had all become of age and returned to claim their inheritance, if they ever came back at all, and many certainly had. Saw-mills and grist-mills had been built though
-
254
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
the people were still uncertain what the State of Pennsylvania in- tended to do with regard to their titles to the land they occupied. In 1799, 1800 and 1802 acts of the legislature and supplements were passed which satisfied them and settled and insured their titles to them. "Commissioners" were appointed and came with surveyors and with authority from the State government and ran the lines of the land held by the occupants and claimants under Connecticut claims, and gave them certificates describing the land, under which patents were taken out from the land office for the land described ..
There is considerable evidence that some of the officers of the State government meditated treachery still towards these people under these acts, but the commissioners sent here to carry these acts into execution distinctly refused in writing to be parties to what they said looked like "fraud;" they would not, they said, under any human consideration, "be the instruments of such a fraud."*
It has been shown elsewhere that they had to pay the State for the land, just the same as if they had no claim of any kind to it. It does not seem as if it was a very great boon to be permitted to buy the land. The State always, in other cases, desired to have settlers buy their lands. Land is given away now by the United States to any one that will settle upon it. The price these settlers had to pay is mentioned on another page.
Up to 1789, the date of the first act of Congress establishing the post-office, the mails were carried about as follows :- The carry- ing of the mails during colonial times was provided for by the British government in 1692. When the Revolutionary war broke out the carrying of the mails devolved upon the federal govern- ment. There was a weekly mail between Wilkes-Barre and Easton, after the county of Luzerne was organized in 1786, and sometimes during the winter, when the sleighing was good, passengers were carried by the mail carrier. A mail was sent around by the Wilkes-Barre postmaster once a week during the year 1797, to, or rather through, Hanover, Nanticoke, Newport, and Nescopeck to Berwick, and around back home again by way of Huntington and Plymouth. The Wilkes-Barre post-office being
*Brief of a title in the seventeen townships. Hoyt, p. 133.
11
255
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
the only one in the county up to this time, the postmaster directed the mail carrier to leave the mail matter for a certain neighborhood at certain private houses on the way, which he named. The price of each piece was marked on it and the mail carrier collected the postage. This was about the way it was done up to the passage of the following first postal act-and long afterwards.
Our postal laws were, up to 1792 :-
Act of Sept. 22, 1789 (the first Congress under the Constitu- tion), establishes the post-office until the end of the next Congress. This act was continued by acts of 1790 and 1791. No rates fixed. Old rates continued, whatever they were.
Act of 1792 established from June 1, 1792, rates on domestic letters as follows :- '
One-quarter ounce any distance up to 30 miles .
6 cents.
from 30 to 60 miles
60
to 100 "
¥
¥
¥
.
¥
" 100 to 150 “ 1212 "
¥
¥
“ 250
to to
350 “
350 to
450 “
. 22
¥
over 450
IO . 25 8
150 to 200 " . 15 250 “ . 17 20
¥
" 200
Multiples of these weights were followed by a corresponding increase of rates. All postage was paid by the recipient of the matter. A letter from Ohio cost a half day's work-twenty-five cents.
This was the first law fixing the rates of mail service in the United States. It is probable that it is very nearly like the old English rates, though the writer has never learned what those rates were.
.
CHAPTER XIII.
1800 TO 1820.
FTER the year 1800 log-houses were still built, but they were of a much better kind generally. They were fre- quently built on sloping ground with a basement of stone and a one and a half story hewed log building on top, with a porch or stoop in front over the basement, made by continuing the rafters and roof down over and beyond the front six or eight feet, with posts reaching from the ground to the roof of the porch. There was a floor in this porch above the basement at the second story. It was also boarded up all round at the second story two or three feet in height from its floor, and the main front door of the. house led out upon this floor. Sometimes the ground was so arranged as to furnish a walk directly on to the end of this upper porch, but when that could not be conveniently done, a stairway was built under the porch in front of the basement to go up. Part of this basement was generally used for a kitchen. Houses of this pattern were also built of frame work above the basement. There are five of these last kind now standing-1884-and used as resi- dences. Many of the log-houses of this second period were built one and a half stories high, with a porch like the last described only without a basement. There are four of this kind still standing and in use in 1884.
These log-houses, now, were built of hewed logs nicely fitted together at the corners, as before described for log-houses, and the ends of the logs sawed off square, close to the corners. They were well chinked with stone and the chinking plastered with yellow clay. Some of them were lathed and plastered inside with lime and sand, and sided up on the outside with good white pine siding, and in such cases were good, warm, comfortable houses. But there were not many of this kind. . The house was built near a spring, if
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possible, so as to save digging a well, and also to have soft water, and if possible to have a "spring-house" also. That was a building of small size, generally of stone-through which the spring water ran-for keeping the milk and butter in. Such a spring was very useful in such a situation, in butter making and keeping the milk pure. Cheese was made as well as butter.
These farm-houses had very large fire-places, probably eight feet wide and four feet deep, with mantel-pieces over them, leaving an opening about five feet high. In the better class of these houses there was a swinging iron crane hung, reaching nearly across the fire-place, to hang the pot-hooks on. In those houses not quite so pretentious, instead of a crane there was a strong pole or piece of wood three or four inches in diameter fastened across the chimney from side to side, some distance above the mantel-piece to which a chain in some cases was hung, reaching down nearly to the fire, to hook the pot-hook to; in others, in place of the chain was an article of iron called a "trammel" with a hook at the bottom, ar- ranged so as to be raised or lowered. The old fashioned three pronged spit was raised and lowered in the same manner. On the pole in the chimney hams were frequently hung to smoke. Out- side the chimney, overhead, across the beams or joists, small poles were hung horizontally, upon which strings of cut apples were hung in the fall to dry, and, after the butchering was done, and the sausages were made, the sausage was hung there to dry. . Green corn was boiled on the ear and hung there to dry before the time for drying apples, In fact there was not much of the year that these poles were not occupied for some very useful purpose. In these chimneys wood only was burned in the early days, and the back-log would be five to six feet long-the small wood on the andirons four feet long. The andirons frequently had brass knobs on the handle, and they were nearly always kept polished up bright, as, if they were not, the girls in that house would find it difficult to get a good husband. This was noticed by the young men as a pretty good sign. The spit was to be hung in front of the fire over a dripping-pan, whereon could be roasted and basted turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, spare-ribs and other fresh meats, and this was a real roast.
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