USA > Tennessee > DeKalb County > History of De Kalb county, Tennessee > Part 4
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The writer has heard his mother describe the corn- shuckings and the shanty songs sung while the men were at work. A banquet would follow the husking of the big piles of maize about midnight. Though the corn-shucking meant work for the negroes, they en- joyed any occasion where they were free to indulge in antics and humor. Whisky and brandy were plentiful on these occasions. The report of a "husking bee" held in the northern corn belt some years ago showed that a champion shucked ten and a half bushels in an
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
hour. Something like that was probably turned out at the corn-shuckings mentioned.
Superstition prevailed, and, indeed, it still prevails to some extent. The writer does not claim freedom from it and admits that he will not willingly pass under a ladder, pare his nails on Sunday, tell a dream on Friday morning before breakfast, nor step over an- other's feet! The inculcation of superstitious notions has been laid to the slaves ; but our ancestors were as much to blame, if any blame can be said to attach, since the wisest minds now give credence to the occult.
The social visit, as it was of old, might well be classed with amusements. There was still a genuine hospital- ity existing, and for neighbors, though not related, to pay each other a visit Saturday afternoon and remain until Sunday afternoon was no uncommon thing. This was called "going abroad"; by the children, "goin' on a broad." Perhaps Saturday night was the most interesting part of the visit. Around the great wood fire in winter or upon the porch in summer the gossip of the neighborhood would be discussed, then would follow stories of adventure and the supernat- ural, relieved with humorous anecdotes. Greatly en- joyed, too, was the evening call, when neighbors would merely "drop in" and sit till bedtime.
Reverting to the society of the foreparents, it should be stated that looking on wine when it was red and corn whisky when it was white was almost univer- sal. In 1840 there were 1,274 distilleries in the State. The best citizens made, sold, and drank intoxicants. There was scarcely a gathering where men did not
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
drink-musters, races, elections, and weddings. The bibulous frequently disturbed camp meetings. Chil- dren were "treated" on Christmas morning. Of course there were temperance advocates. When Bird S. Rhea and H. A. Overall were candidates to represent the county in 1853, the former was defeated, it is thought, because of his temperance principles.
DeKalb County had its share of the 1,274 "stills." Perhaps the first was put up about 1801 by Jesse Allen on Eagle Creek. The writer's maternal grandfather, Abraham Overall, was a distiller, and from his old account book we get an idea of the cheapness of ar- dent spirits and realize how the best people kept a supply. Among his customers were Thomas Richard- son, Moses Allen, Dr. Flowers, Dr. Jefferson Sneed, William Goggin, Josiah Fuson, Samson Braswell, John Allen, Josiah Hale, Matthew Sellars, Samuel Barger, William Pistole, Joseph Hays, James Stark, Hiram Morris, Joseph Turney, Daniel Ford, Francis Turner, Isaac Turney, Jacob Adams, Henry Powell, Goolsberry Blades, 'Bias Wilson, and Peter Clark. Polly Stanly and Polly Huchens purchased largely, perhaps to sell. The latter on July 17, 1841, was charged $3 for six gallons. Under the same date is this entry: "Three gallons whisky in evening of the election, $1.50." Here are the purchases of one farmer for about seven months of 1844. The buyer's name is withheld, although on the book : April 12, one gallon of brandy, .621/2 ; April 17, one gallon of whisky (or- der), .371/2; April 27, one gallon of whisky, .371/2; May I, one gallon of whisky, .371/2 ; May 9, one gal-
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
lon of whisky, .371/2; May 23, one gallon of whisky, .371/2 ; May 29, one gallon of whisky, .371/2; June 18, one gallon of whisky, .371/2; June 27, one gallon of whisky, .37.1/2; July 12, one gallon of whisky, .371/2; July 17, one gallon of whisky, 371/2; August 24, one gallon of whisky, .371/2; November 6, one gallon of brandy, .40.
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CHAPTER V.
FARMING AND MERCHANDISING.
THREE early land offices had been opened in Ten- nessee at different times. That for Middle Tennessee was opened in 1783. A military reservation was laid off to satisfy bounties promised the Revolutionary sol- diers of North Carolina. Thousands of acres were taken up. As no method of selecting land was used (the holder of a warrant could explore and locate any- where and in any shape), the best was taken up, and poor tracts were left in every section. The North Carolina demands for her old soldiers were allowed even after Tennessee became a State. Each private was given 640 acres; each noncommissioned officer, 1,000; each captain, 3,840; each colonel, 7,200; and so on. Gen. Nathaniel Green was granted 25,000 acres.
Many warrants were located on DeKalb County lands. Not all the soldiers or their heirs desired to locate here, though some came. So numerous claims were bought up by speculators, Linn Cocke being one of the best known.
Early crops were hemp, cotton, and tobacco in more than one portion of the county. Neither cotton nor hemp is now grown here. Wheat to-day is one of the main crops, but the pioneers grew so little of it that wheat bread was with a host only a Sunday morning luxury. Wheat had to be cut with hand sickles and threshed with a flail or tramped out by horses and
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
oxen, and making it into flour was not easily done. The grain was ground between rough millstones and the product bolted by hand. Before the turnpike was built, corn, which has always been the American pioneer's stand-by, could not be carried to distant mar- kets with profit, and this may be one reason why there were so many distilleries in the early years. Cotton and hemp were used largely in making clothing for the slaves, for there were many in the county. John K. Bain, whose father, Peter Bain, settled near the mouth of Sink Creek in 1812, says: "The productions of that section were corn, wheat, oats, and rye. Reap- ing was done with hand sickles. Plows used were bull tongues. Iron cost twenty-five cents a pound. The range was good. Hogs got fat on beech mast, dry cattle lived on the range all winter, and there was no thoroughbred stock." Dr. Foster writes : "Corn about 1845 sold for $I a barrel, or ten cents the bushel if you went to the country after it. I remember when the best horses sold for $40; then the price went up some, and as fine a horse as I ever saw in the county was bought by John F. Moore at Liberty for $100. Haul- ing was done mostly with oxen, many men driving two yokes. As fine apples grew in the Basin as anywhere."
An account book of 1844, once belonging to Col. Abraham Overall, gives an insight to farm products and prices of that period; they were probably about the same throughout the county. Hemp retailed on the farm at about five cents the pound ; tobacco, four cents ; flour, $1.50 per one hundred pounds ; apples and sweet potatoes, twenty-five cents the bushel.
4
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
Freight by wagon from Nashville to Liberty was sixty cents per one hundred pounds.
If the foreparents did not generally have pure-bred stock, they had good crosses, judging by the great herds of hogs driven south yearly. The Copperbot- tom horse was popular, as was the Morgan. Doubtless the Narragansett was known, since for years pacing was an appreciated gait. William B. Stokes, T. W. Fitts, and others made a specialty of fine horses in ante-bellum days. It might be interesting to dwell on such breeds of poultry as the old dominique and shanghai, once prized but now differentiated into brah- mas and cochins. Likewise vegetables like peach- blow and London lady potatoes and the small varie- ties of tomatoes or "love apples," as they were then called.
The grandparents lived well. Vegetables were care- fully stored for winter use. Smokehouse and larder were full. Maple sirup and New Orleans molasses were used, as sorghum was not introduced into Amer- ica until 1853. Loaf sugar was a delicacy, though there was a cheap quality of brown sugar.
The earliest merchants of the county doubtless car- ried small stocks. One reason was that merchandise was hauled long distances. Another was that every village had its hatter, tailor, shoemaker, and saddler. Handmade things were the rule. Much cloth was manufactured at home (housewives vying with each other in weaving) and made up at home or by the tailor. Isaac Whaley once gave this pointer to the writer : "Our people generally wore homespun clothes
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
-the women cotton dresses striped with indigo and turkey red, though some had silk. The men's clothing was usually made by tailors, our first tailor at Liberty being Bill Cochran; the second, Joe Perryman. The best of our early hatters was Mathias West, who made considerable money. Wool and fur hats were made. Mr. West could make as fine a 'stovepipe' as you will see. The price was $7 or $8, and when the fur was worn off the hat was brought back and made as good as new. The wealthiest people, like Francis Turner, Ned Robinson, and Abraham Overall, had fine broad- cloth suits made by the tailors." The old people have always claimed that merchandise was frequently brought from New Orleans, necessitating high prices with the middlemen, for the trip by keel boat required five months. Even the Liberty merchants may have got some of their wares by water, for this item is found in Dr. Wright's daybook: "John Conger, credit for raising flatboat and keeping her till next boating season in Caney Fork, $20."
By 1830, however, stocks of goods were no doubt enlarged, and Alexandria may have made the innova- tion. Dr. Foster writes that "the people of that town were always more dressy than in other parts of the county"; while the writer remembers the remark fre- quently made by Squire Len F. Woodside just after the War between the States: "Yes, sir, the Petersons don't send to Paris, but to Alexandria, for the latest fashions with which to illustrate their magazine."
But Dr. Wright's daybook indicates that his stock was full enough for a village store. It also indicates
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
that his patrons bought on time; moreover, there is not an item charged at five cents. Joshua Bratten is charged twenty-five cents for half a pound of pow- der ; Col. Abe Overall, $2 for eight pounds of coffee and 12 cents a pound for sugar; Hariette C. Roul- stone, 43 cents for two yards of "apron checks"; Thomas Cameron, 75 cents for three yards of domes- tic; David L. Ray, $1.50 for three yards of calico; Leonard Lamberson, 621/2 cents for a fourth of a pound of tea; John R. Dougherty, 621/2 cents for a pound of raisins; E. Wright, 12 cents for two dozen eggs ; John M. Leake, $1 for a bandanna handker- chief ; Irving Gray (hatter), $2.50 for six yards of calico ; Jacob Overall, 12 cents for two gimlets ; Little- berry Vick, $5.75 for twenty-three yards of home- spun; Louis Y. Davis, 25 cents for two pounds of "homemade" (maple) sugar ; Col. Abe Overall, $7.50 for a mill saw (probably the straight sort) ; Elizabeth Overall, $2.25 for a cotton umbrella, "to be paid for in brown jeans"; Liberty Lodge, No. 77, "to cash to pay postage, 61/2 cents"; William Blair, two reap hooks, $1.50; Asia Cooper, one dozen button molds, 61/2 cents, and one paper of tacks, 181/2 cents; W. B. Stokes, four pounds of nails, 50 cents ; W. G. Stokes, one drab hat, $8.50, one cravat stiffening, 121/2 cents, and one vial oil of cinnamon, 25 cents ; Bartimeus Pack, one hymn book, 75 cents; Richard Arnold, one fur hat, $6. Calico was worth 50 cents the yard ; nutmegs, 61/4 cents each. A lady is charged 871/2 cents for three and a half yards of domestic and 60 cents for a pair of cotton hose. T. W. Duncan buys a dozen gun
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
flints for 61/2 cents, and John Canler a paper of ink powder for 183/4 cents. James B. Pistole is charged $8 for "one Tom and Jerry hat"; William C. Garrison, $3 "for Webster's speeches"; William B. Stokes, 621/2 cents for "one piano song"; L. H. Bethel, 371/2 cents to pay postage; Thomas E. Bratten, 75 cents for a gallon of molasses. There is a charge of $1.20 for four pounds of loaf sugar. Loaf sugar was in coni- cal packages and came ready wrapped in dark-blue paper. Somewhat pathetic is this charge of eighty- two years ago, "Two boys' balls, 61/2 cents," for one cannot help wondering what came of the boy or boys. A farmer is credited $2 for twenty-four and a half pounds of butter and another $2.1612 for six and a half pounds of wool.
The leghorn hat was fashionable then and later. Was it also called a "poke" bonnet? A writer in the Liberty Herald in 1892 stated that the "leghorn bon- nets were a foot and a half long, more or less, with- out any artificials, simply a plain ribbon drawn across the top and tied under the chin."
The Dunstable bonnet was much in vogue. One is charged in the following bill to Miss Elizabeth O. Hall: "One Dunstable bonnet and trimmings, $6; six yards blk. silk, $6; seven yards calico, $3.50; pair side combs, 121/2 cents; one best fancy handkerchief, $2 ; twelve strands beads, 871/2 cents ; one black bobbi- net veil, $2.50 ; one black bandanna handkerchief, $1 ; two and a half yards bobbinet lace, $1.5612."
Among the products of the farm in 1832-33 were cheese and flax seed. David Griffith's account was
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
credited with 621/2 cents for one and a quarter pounds flax seed ; and at the time Jordan Sellars was charged $9 for "one fine fur hat," he was credited with 85 cents for eight and a half pounds of cheese.
Since Isaac Whaley's reference to the clothing worn by the foreparents has been introduced in this chap- ter, it will be only a second digression to quote the words of an old DeKalb Countian who wrote from Missouri to the Liberty Herald April 6, 1892, of before-the-war days:
For Sunday many of the well-to-do men wore a blue or black broadcloth coat which cost from four to ten dollars a yard. They were usually cut with a frock or "claw-hammer" tail and rolling collar. The black and white satin vest, double- breasted, was worn by the fashionable. Pants were made very loose and had wide or narrow flaps before, invariably. A black silk cravat, doubled crosswise, was worn around a collar of uncertain dimensions. The dress described was worn by the fashionable, such as Eli Vick, Jasper Ruyle, Pete Adams, Len Walker, Joseph Clarke, Peter Clark, and others on Sunday. Later Dr. Horace Sneed, Dr. J. S. Harrison, the Hayes boys, the Turners, and the Turneys were the leaders in fashion. Many women sometimes wore silk dresses-not gaudy-colored, but plain black silk. A calico dress was seldom seen. Nearly all dresses were made with two widths of cloth and a gore on each side. Hoop skirts were as rare among women as drawers among men. All young women wore their dresses fastened behind. No such institution as a corset was thought of. The hair was usually parted in the middle, a strip bent around each ear, and wound up with a large horn comb at the back of the head.
The people did much trading by exchanging one commodity for another. The amount of money in circulation must have been negligible. For instance,
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
this note was made by Colonel Overall, who was not poor, but owned perhaps twenty-five hundred acres of land, a score of slaves, a mill, cotton gin, and distillery : "The amount of money that I have spent since the 26th of August, 1844: September 10, $1; September 18, 50 cents ; September 20, 50 cents ; October 1, $1 ; October 20, $2; October 25, 45 cents ; November 9, 50 cents ; December 6, $5."
Life was "slow" compared with this age that goes the pace that kills, but it had its advantages. One worth $10,000 or $12,000 was in easy circumstances. With his slaves, abundant crops, and loaded tables, he made a social impression that is not now made with thrice that amount. He had time to read ; he indulged in hospitality; and, free from business cares, behind his grave demeanor lurked a trace of humor tragically absent from the countenances of the nervous men of the present.
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CHAPTER VI.
RELATING TO EDUCATION.
WE owe a debt of gratitude to the old field tutors who for poor pay labored in the cause of mental and moral attainment when we had no adequate public school law. Of course there were many instances in the county where parents were able to send their chil- dren to schools where the advantages were greater. James Givan, speaking for the Clear Fork country, has said: "The settlers from Virginia-they were called the upper ten by their neighbors-in some in- stances sent their children back to the Old Dominion for schooling or to well-established boarding schools." But the old field teacher was the main reliance of the masses.
Dr. T. W. Wood, who was reared in Cannon County and who is past threescore and ten, says: "I have heard my father speak of having studied Dillworth's speller and Johnson's dictionary. I used Webster's speller (which has never been surpassed), Kirkham's grammar, McGuffey's reader, Smiley's arithmetic, Walker's dictionary, Davies's algebra, and Mitchell's geography and arithmetic." Dr. Wood adds : "It was nothing uncommon for free schools to last only six weeks or two months. Teachers were paid from $20 to $30 per month, frequently holding forth in log cabins with dirt floors and wooden benches without backs. The writing desk consisted of a broad plank attached to the wall. More attention was paid to penmanship, reading, spelling, and arithmetic than
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
to-day. The true basis of education is more neglected now than then." John K. Bain wrote in his eighty- seventh year : "From 1836 to 1842, or later, there were no free schools in my section-all subscription. The teacher took his seat and made each scholar stand be- side him to say his lesson. He kept a long switch, fully four feet, sticking up over the door. There were no classes. The books used were Webster's speller, Smiley's arithmetic, McGuffey's readers, and geogra- phy. One of my teachers was Glasgow Harper, who finally became a Methodist preacher and moved down near Liberty or on Smith's Fork." Dr. J. B. Foster gave this information in 1914: "The schoolbooks sixty and seventy years ago were Webster's speller (my copy, however, was yellow, not blue, and I recall hav- ing written on the inside 'bird foster'), McGuffey's readers, Smith's grammar at Liberty and Kirkham's at Smithville, Smiley's and Pike's arithmetics, and Olney's geography. There were others for advanced pupils. At all old field schools two pupils would choose spellers and have a 'spelling battle' on Friday afternoons. When a pupil wanted to 'go out' in some instances he (to keep tab) had to carry a crooked stick, and on his return he hung it back on a nail in the wall. The presence of the stick meant 'all are in; now you can go out.' It was a sort of passport. Blackboards were not then in use. Big and little were whipped when the teacher thought they needed chas- tisement. The pupil who reached the schoolhouse first 'said' his lesson first; 'recite' was not used. At the writing hour the girls practiced first and then the
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
boys. Goose quill pens were common. Vials took the place of inkstands. In each was a piece of cotton, holding the absorbed ink in case the bottle was turned over, and when not in use the bottles were suspended on nails by strings. The larger pupils were allowed to sit outside and 'cipher,' study grammar, and the like. Boys and girls did not play together, and young teach- ers were partial to boys who had pretty sisters."
Corporal punishment was indeed in vogue. Often it was severe, even for some years after the close of the War between the States. Sometimes as effective a punishment as could be administered was to make a mischievous lad sit beside a girl. Thus exposed to gaze, he was the pink victim of snickering playmates. Doubtless that course would not embarrass young America to-day.
Geographies being scarce, once a day, usually late in the afternoon, the entire school stood against the walls and "sang geography," the teacher leading. Nations or States with the capitals and the names and height of mountains were the main things learned in this way. The chanting would run somewhat thus : "Ar-kan-sas, Ar-kan-sas-Little Rock, Little Rock;" or, "Copenhagen, Copenhagen-Denmark, Denmark."
School hours were from sunrise to sunset, with a "recess" in both forenoon and afternoon, and "play- time" took up an hour in the middle of the day. The lunch brought by children to be eaten during recess was called "recess," not "snack" or lunch. The games played were town ball, bull pen, Ant'ny-over, marbles, knucks, and fox chase. The favorite relaxation of the
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
girls was jumping the rope. From time out of mind the shouting of "school butter" by a passer-by was resented by the pupils and maybe the teacher. Chief Justice John Marshall was now and then, he tells us, chased for uttering the challenge and could not ex- plain why it caused resentment or how it originated. Recently through the Nashville Banner a Tennessee lady has said that "school butter" is a corruption of the taunt, "the school's better"-that is, the school's superior. If caught, the challenger was ducked in the nearest stream or mudhole and punished for his temerity.
The writer was a pupil of these first schools. Often, when among new friends in his experiences in the daily journalism of various cities, he has forgotten them and thought of his boyhood playmates. His af- fection for the latter was on one occasion expressed in the following lines, which, if not of historical inter- est, may yet appeal to survivors of the old times :
The time for cakes and ale is gone for us of grizzled hair- But that can't make our hearts forget how old school days shone fair.
Outside the house-the waving woods where rose the brown bees' hum,
And the wild roses that appeared dead lovers' vows in bloom; Within-the boys in homespun suits, the teacher's mighty frowns,
And girls, though plainly dressed, as plump as those in silken gowns.
And Zekle Moore and Abner Smith, Sue Brown and Mary Strong !
Your plain, old-fashioned names are fit to grace the sweetest song.
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HISTORY OF DEKALB
COUNTY
Where are you, tow-head boys who felt each day the birchen rod,
And knew how well to place the pin and aim the paper wad? Where are the girls on whom back there we cast admiring eyes-
Whose smiles brought back to earth once more some hints of Paradise?
Old time has been as rough with them no doubt as with us blades,
And some are fat-and-forty dames and some perhaps old maids ! .
But there was one of pleasant mien I think of oft and long And wish she knew a thought of her throbs through this little song.
In all probability the earliest school in DeKalb County was taught at Liberty. Among the early teachers there were a Mr. Chambers and William Gay. Their names recur more persistently to the older people than others of the ante-bellum years. The lat- ter married a daughter of the merchant, Seth Whaley, and is described by Dr. Foster as having "two or three fingers missing from one hand and parting his hair in the middle." Mr. and Mrs. Gay removed to Mis- souri. Mrs. Rachel Payne, as will be seen elsewhere, says that Mr. Chambers was the first to keep school in the first specially erected schoolhouse, the long one- story frame building which stood from about 1843 to some time during the war, when it was torn down by order of Col. William B. Stokes and the lumber used for making cabins for the officers of his regiment about the stockade, northwest of the Methodist church.
Richard Carroll, a lame pedagogue, came from Smith County with Frederick Jones, tailor and tavern
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
keeper. John Collins, who also may have taught at Alexandria, was for a while in charge of a school at Liberty. Writes Dr. Foster : "Collins and C. G. O. Smith were teachers who occasionally imbibed-kept intoxicants hid out." Among other ante-bellum teach- ers were Professor Crane, who married Miss Amanda Seay and who, being Northern-born, returned to In- diana during the secession excitement, C. W. L. Hale, W. D. G. Carnes, and Roland Foster. This writer started out during Mr. Foster's time to lay the founda- tion of an education, being very small, tow-headed, and bare of feet. Reaching the door with his brother Horace that summer morning, he espied Billy Gothard sitting astride one stove and George Smith astride the other. They were being punished thus for some mis- chief. This startled him, and he shot under the house, where he remained long enough to devour his "recess," and then took to his heels in the direction of home.
Dr. Foster refers further to teachers at Liberty prior to 1851, naming Joseph Perryman, A. M. Jones, Robert Yeargin, and Mr. Woodward. The last named remained only a short while.
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