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Pages 11 through 20
With a cord or two of blazing hickory wood in the fireplace, these houses were fairly comfortable, but the objection to that kind of heat was that it was too much on one side; the face would scorch while the back was freezing.
There was a loft to the house, reached by a ladder on the outside of the house or in one corner of the room. It was an airy place for a person to sleep at night, for the numerous cracks let in plenty of fresh air as well as snow.
In some houses the roof extended down over the eaves far enough to form a porch or "Stoop."
A passable bedstead could be made by inserting one end each of a side and end pole into holes bored into the logs at the proper distance from the corner of the room, the other ends of the poles being supported by a forked stick for a log. The other side and end would be fastened to these and strips of basswood bark wound around the poles to support the tick. Probably the most of the settlers of this town brought their beds with them and were not reduced to this primitive method.
The first settlers of the town could not bring very many articles of furniture and dishes. The table furniture consisted largely of a few pewter plates, dishes and spoons, but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. Gourds and hard shelled squashes made serviceable dippers and other dishes, logs hewed smooth on the top with a broad-ax, with four legs inserted in auger holes. For seats, benches and three-legged stools, for more than that number of legs could not touch the floor at once. Wooden pins in the walls supported shelves upon which were arranged the housewife’s store of pewter and wooden dishes.
Poles overhead supported circles of dried pumpkins, strings of dried apples, ropes of onions, etc., at a time when these were raised.
The axe, broad-axe, frow and auger were about the only tools required for building a house, and no nails were required. The houses often had but a single room, unless the settler was a man of means and could afford the luxury of a double house, which was the same as two houses joined together end to end with a covered passage way between them. A more pretentious house was built of hewed logs, with sawed clapboards for the gable ends and glass windows. Many houses had two large doors opposite each other, so that the back logs could be hauled in by a horse.
The barns were necessarily made of logs, and the old log house was frequently turned into a barn when a new house was built.
Those settlers who were not fortunate enough to get a location near a spring of water were obliged to dig wells. Instead of the handy pump of these days, the pioneer used a "well sweep," which consisted of an upright post with a fork at the top, placed at the side of the well. In this crotch was fastened a pole by means of a pin, with the small end up, and to the end of this a rope or smaller pole was fastened and the bucket suspended from it. The large end of the sweep was weighted so that it would balance a bucket of water.
The new settler found his land covered with a dense growth of huge trees and thick underbrush, unlike the rocky hills of New England or New York. He frequently had but little experience in chopping trees and found it slow work to chop the large trees and pile the brush, ready for burning. They planned their work with much skill and felled the trees so as to bring the bodies of several together, then piled the brush on top of them. After the brush was burned the trunks could be hauled around a little so as to bring them parallel and form a log heap with little labor. Others who were not so particular with their work would commence at one side of the place which was to be cleared and cut the trees partly off, in such a manner that they would fall toward the center of the strip cut over. When the other end of the strip was reached a tree was cut off, until all the trees on the strip chopped over would be down in a huge winrow. (One man, who probably belonged to the "Tall Story Club," said that he used to chop a whole week without felling a tree until the last thing on Saturday night, when he fell a tree which set all the rest going, like a row of dominoes, and his week’s work was done.)
The chopping was generally done in the winter and after harvest was the time for "burning the fallow." Fire was applied to the brush and the dry leaves and branches made a roaring bonfire in a few minutes. Such fires could be seen in all directions and the air was full of smoke. After the fire had burned out, the operation of "logging" began. Sometimes the large logs were cut by "niggering off." A small log was laid across the large one at a point where it was to be cut in two, and set on fire at the point of intersection. As the small log was consumed it was shoved along so as to keep a fire at the one point, and in time the largest trunks were divided. (We believe that that used to be considered a kind of lazy man’s method.)
Oxen hauled the logs and they were rolled together and piled high by the strong arms of the pioneers. The crevices were filled with smaller chunks, until the heap was as compact as it could be made. The firebrand was applied and in a short time the great heap would be nearly consumed. It was necessary at this time to use handspikes and poles and roll the unconsumed portions of large logs together so as to keep the fire going. After a while there would be nothing but "brands" or small pieces left. Then began the operation of "branding", which was rolling these brands together, or if the fire had gone out, hauling them to another heap. Sometimes the settler called his neighbors together to his "logging bee". One man was chosen for a boss and he planned the heaps and divided the men into gangs who had certain work to perform. One set of men would take care of the logs as they were brought to the heaps and rolled them together, or used skids and levers when the heap was higher than one tier of logs. The oxen were broken to know what was wanted and as soon as they were hitched to a log would start for the heap without waiting for word of command. The driver had to look out for himself for they would hardly wait for the chain to be unhooked before they were off. (As a bit of humor, it is reported that one man said that his oxen were so true to pull that they never gave up, and more than once, when they were hitched to a log which was too heavy for them, he had been obliged to go to the barn and get a cold chisel to cut the chain, to get them free.)
The logs were blackened by the previous fire and the men soon became as black as negroes, and if a man was not black enough to suit the fancy of the rest of the company, he would be held while charcoal was applied to his face in liberal quantities.
The work of logging was laborious and the men needed no tonic to increase their appetites. The "boiled dinner" of potatoes and pork was heartily enjoyed.
In some cases where the land was not immediately needed for tilling, the trees were girdled and left to die. Such tracts afforded better pasture than the woods. The fire left the ground bare except for the stumps and heaps of ashes where the log heaps were burned. The ashes were carefully gathered and sold to go to the asheries where potash was made from them, or the settler made lye from them and boiled it down to "black salts" and sold it in that form. The sale of ashes or black salts was often about the only source of money for the pioneer, as it was paid for in cash; and the pioneer was thus enabled to obtain the cash necessary for paying his taxes. The great "ash wagons" were as common as the "egg wagons" were in more recent days.
Some of the ash wagons used to carry a few articles of dry goods or other goods for barter. It is not so very many years ago that the ash wagon of Jim Lees, of Henrietta Hill, was to be seen traveling through the country.
After a piece of timber had been chopped over, a dense growth of "fireweeds" sprang up and grew to the height of six or eight feet. The seeds of these weeds were covered with fibres like fine cotton and would blow like thistle down. There was an irritating substance about the seeds which caused sore eyes in those who worked in the slashings.
In the fall a crop of wheat was sown. The seed was covered by a clumsy "A drag" made of three poles with nine heavy teeth. This implement was drawn by a yoke of oxen or team of horses and went bounding over the stumps and roots, endangering the limbs of the driver if he did not keep his distance. Much of the wheat would be uncovered and great flocks of wild pigeons and wild turkeys would feast on it. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, large crops were the rule. The wheat was cut with a sickle or cradle, raked by hand, threshed with a fail and winnowed by hand. A winnow was made like a basket, only shallow, perhaps three feet in diameter, with a handle at each side. The mingled chaff and grain was put into this and was tossed into the air, the chaff being blown away and the grain caught again. By repeating this several times the grain was left quite clean. A windy day was necessary for the best success at the work. Not all the pioneers owned winnows, but would spread a sheet or blanket on the ground, pour some grain and chaff upon it, then with a shovel, toss the grain into the air for the wind to blow the chaff away.
After the country was cleared more and larger quantities of wheat were raised, the fail was too slow for threshing and machines driven by horses were invented to do the work. The first ones used in the Firelands were made at Monroeville in 1834. Fanning mills came into use before this time. Wheat raising grew to be a great industry in this part of the state and Milan was the principal market. The grain was hauled for fifty, sixty or more miles, and no town near had a larger trade or brighter prospects than Milan, until the advent of the railroads changed the scene.
Frequently the first crop of corn would be planted by striking an axe into the ground, cutting through roots, dropping the seed into the opening and covering it with the foot. The ground was so full of roots that no other effort was made to till the crop beyond chopping out the fireweeds and other weeds and sprouts from the tree roots. The native fertility of this virgin soil was such that a good crop was assured, even by this rude method of cultivation. Pumpkins, squashes and melons grew luxuriantly in the new soil and were a welcome addition to the bill of fare of the pioneer and his growing children.
The pioneer had to content with many difficulties in the way of wild animals. Bears and wolves were eager to taste of his sheep, hogs and calves. The sheep had to be penned up every night to keep them out of the reach of the wolves, which were their special enemies. The wolves were shy and hard to shoot, but could often be caught in "wolf pens." These were built of rails or poles laid up so as to slope inward at the top and so high that a wolf could not jump over, but could easily clamber up from the outside, but could not escape when inside. A sheep or two was put inside for bait. After a wolf was inside he would not touch a sheep unless he knew he could get out again, and the sheep was left unharmed except for the fright. The great grey wolves were arrant cowards in the daylight and when alone, but were dangerous to meet when roaming the forest in packs of twenty or thirty. More than one belated traveler has been obliged to rely on his speed for safety or has been obliged to climb a convenient tree and remain until daylight drove them to their lair in some dense swamp, or help came otherwise. Dr. McMillan, of Clarksfield, was once chased by wolves when riding through the great swamp west of Townsend. To check the pursuit, he threw off his saddle bags and the wolves stopped to investigate the package of asafetida which was in the bags, seeming to like the smell as a cat does catnip. The doctor arrived home in safety. Some days later a man brought back the bags, somewhat gnawed. Captain Husted, who kept a store, charged the doctor for a pint of whiskey "for saddle bags found," which showed the reward given to the finder.
Many stories are told of races with wolves, and some of them have a ludicrous side. One man relates a tale of being pursued by a pack of wolves and climbing a tree for safety, and sitting on a limb all night, hugging the trunk, while being kept awake by their howling. At break of day when they had left him, he put down his feet preparatory for the descent of the tree, and was thoroughly disgusted when he discovered that in his fright he had not progressed upward in climbing but had remained all night perched on a projection of a root a couple of feet from the ground.
There used to be a bounty of several dollars on each wolf scalp and many a pioneer felt rich when he was lucky enough to kill a wolf and get the bounty to help pay his taxes. The last wolf killed in this county was 1844 or 45, in a swamp in Hartland.
Bears were not so plentiful, but would make a raid on the hog pen even in daylight. Some of the hunters caught bears in traps of various kinds. One was shaped like a rat trap, but very much larger, with a piece of a log chain to hold it.
(Some of these are to be seen in the Firelands Museum.)
Deer were plenty and were a convenient source of food and raiment for the pioneers. Fresh venison was worth four cents a pound, salt venison eight cents and venison hams twenty five cents each. Deer skins were worth two dollars and a half each.
Owls were numerous and their hooting would frighten a greenhorn. This parody is quite appropriate for the times:
"Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber,
Wolves and panthers guard thy bed;
Bats and screech owls without number
Flit and scream around thy head!"
Cows were allowed to run in the woods and found plenty to eat in the summer in the way of coarse marsh grass, young shoots of trees, leeks, etc. Sometimes the scanty supply of hay or corn stalks provided for winter use would be exhausted before spring and the cattle would be obliged to browse the twigs of trees and bushes, which would be cut for the purpose. To assist in finding the cows in the woods, bells were hung on their necks. These were made by a local blacksmith and gave forth tones far from musical, although farreaching, and each one would have some peculiarity of tone which distinguished it to the ear of the boy or girl who was sent to bring the cows home for the night.
Hogs were frequently turned out in the woods in the fall to fatten upon the acorns and other kinds of "mast." They became quite wild and could be secured only by shooting. Many a quarrel and lawsuit between neighbors has been caused by two men laying claim to the same hog.
Cattle, horses, hogs and sheep often strayed away and it was hard to track them through the dense woods. Township records contain many notices of strays being taken up and advertised. If no owner appeared the strays were sold and the finder received pay for his trouble and the balance went into the township treasury. For the purpose of identifying stock each man in the township had the privilege of having his mark or brand recorded in the township record, so as to prevent two men claiming the same mark. The marks were made by cutting the ears of stock in various ingenious ways, such as "holes," "swallow forks," or "crops," "half pennies," "slopes," "Spades," etc. (These marks were sometimes recorded in the county records, as may be seen in the recorder’s office in Elyria. This method of identifying stock was used in New England two or three centuries ago, and the pioneers brought the custom with them. A similar custom was carried to the western plains where immense droves of cattle are raised, but the stock was branded by burning a brand on the flank with a hot iron.)
In the early times the settlers suffered much from the loss of cows and oxen by the "bloody murrain." It was a grievous loss when an ox laid down and died.
Th earliest settlers on the Firelands were obliged to subsist almost entirely upon wild meat until a crop of vegetables could be grown. If the settler came early enough to get a little patch of ground cleared in time to plant, he could have some the first season. The meat diet was a good one and did not satsify hunger. Wild leeks came up in early spring in the woods and were eagerly eaten by the pioneers, for they made a small change in the diet of corn bread and meat, but the breath of the eaters! It "smelled to heaven." How delicious was the taste of the first new potatoes! What a jubilee the children had when they were permitted to pull roasting ears. Still more so when the corn was hard enough to be grated and made into johnny cake. The family then became heathly and vigorous and contented with the situation, poor as it might be. They suffered much inconvenience from the absence of mills to grind their wheat and corn. They used to go long distances to Cold Creek or Richland county. Wakeman pioneers could go to Clarksfield where a mill had been built in 1818. When the corn was not fully ripe it could be shaved off with a plane, but when ripe and hard it must be ground or pounded in some way. Some men had hand mills, but more of them used the mortar and pestle. The mortar was a hard wood stump with a cavity at the top made by boring holes and burning, then scraping the surface smooth. The pestle was a log of wood, perhaps with an iron wedge driven into the lower end, suspended from the limb of a tree, or a spring pole or an arrangement like a well sweep. Others were made of a section of a log, but portable, so as to be used in the house, with a smaller pestle. One such is to be seen in the Firelands Museum.
Sometimes the corn was converted into samp or hominy, which made a very palatable dish. Wheat was sometimes boiled whole. The most primitive way of preparing food was to take some corn meal, mix it with water to make a batter, spread it on a chip and set it before the fire to bake.
In addition to corn bread, venison, turkey, squirrel, raccoon, bear and hog meat was eaten. (An old man told the writer that when he was a boy, his father had learned of a certain poor family away off in the woods in Clarksfield who were destitute, so he sent the boy with a bag of corn meal on horseback, to deliver to them. When he reached them, the mother, with tears of thankfulness in her eyes, said that for two weeks they had had nothing to eat but one possum and wild leeks.)
The ravenous appetites of growing children, tired wood choppers and hunters supplied the sauce to make this rude meal a feast. When milk could be obtained, a dish of mush and milk made a healthful and nutritious diet. Sugar could be obtained from the maple trees. Salt was scarce and high and a dollar and a quarter a peck has been paid for it. "Store tea" was too expensive for the pioneer, so he used blackberry leaves, sassafras or spice bush bark, or parched corn. The writer’s aunt taught school in Clarksfield one winter, and told of going to a Christmas dinner, where a wild turkey, stuffed with buckwheat pancakes, was roasted before the fire, with wild honey, sauce made from wild crab apples or plums and tea made from blackberry leaves. She never saw any food made from wheat during the whole winter, only corn and buckwheat.
Seth Jennings, of Milan, said that in 1819 a grand Thanksgiving dinner consisted of roasted turkey, venison, pork and other meats, baked Indian pudding, pumpkin and first rate mince pies. The latter were made without wine, cider, sugar or molasses, apples or beef. For sweetening pumpkins were boiled down to a syrup, for apples, cranberries and pumpkins were used for beef, venison.
When the clothing brought here by the pioneer was used up, it had to be renewed in some way. After the land had been cleared long enough a crop of flax was raised and garments were made of flax and wool. The flax was rotted, broken, swingled, hetcheled, spun, woven and made into garments by the settler’s own family, perhaps, although not every woman had a loom or could weave, but she need not go out of the neighborhood to get her weaving done. The garments made from this homespun linen, or tow, were durable but not fine. The long fibres obtained by hetcheling – combing in a hetchell – was linen, and could be spun into finer yarn. When woven with wool it was called "linsey woolsey." It could be colored with butternut bark, poke root or similar natural dyes, and woven in checks or stripes according to the fancy of the weaver. This was made into shirts, dresses, bed clothing, etc. The short fibres which were combed out by the hetchel made tow which was spun into coarse yarn for coats, vest, pants and coarse cloth, and twisted into cords and ropes for domestic use. (The writer remembers one of his great uncles who used to carry a bunch of tow in his pocket, and when he wanted a string, he would quickly twist one from the tow, and a strong one it was.)
The very earliest settlers used deer skin for pants and coat. It was well suited for rough usage but had a fashion of stretching marvelously when wet. If the wearer sat before the fire and allowed the pantaloons to dry upon him he had no easy task to get out of them at bedtime, for they were hard and stiff when dried after being soaked. They would shrink back to their former size or smaller. When the pants were wet by snow in winter and dried it required a good degree of resolution to crawl out from the bed in some loft where the floor was covered with an inch or so of snow and stick one’s legs into a pair of these garments, which were like stovepipes, and it also required no little skill to get into them or bend after they were once on.
The tannery was an institution which followed not far behind the first settlers. Sometimes the tanner followed the trade of cobbler as well. The shoemaker used to take his kit of tools with him from one house to anther, wherever his services were required, and make up and mend the supply of shoes for the winter. This was called "whippin’ the cat." Boots and shoes were made to order over home made lasts. The material was plain cowhide or calfskin. Buckskin moccasins and "shoe packs" were worn to some extent.
The flood of light from the fireplace in the winter evenings made the room light enough for most purposes, but tallow candles were generally used to read by. Sometimes a crude kind of lamp was used. It was an iron dish with a spike which was driven into a log to hold it. Lard or bear’s grease was the oil and a piece of rag, the wick. It gave light, but sent off plenty of smoke. A still more crude lamp was made by scooping out a turnip, or using any kind of dish, with a rag for a wick. This was known as a "slut." Friction matches were unknown. Fire was obtained from coals on the hearth or by means of tinder boxes. These were small iron boxes filled with some tinder, made by burning a piece of linen rag to charcoal, or punk, found in rotting timber in woods. A piece of steel was struck across the sharp edge of a piece of flint and the spark fell upon the tinder or punk. This held the fire and a shaving or a sulphur match (made by dipping bits of wood into melted sulphur) was kindled. Clocks and watches were too expensive for universal use. On clear days the housewife could tell the time of day by a mark on the floor, called the "noon mark," where the shadow of the door post reached at noon.
SCHOOLS
The New England states early took the lead in America in the establishment of an educational system. When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, they provided a church and school as soon as possible. The colonial authorities of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts, made and enforced laws so as to secure, practically, universal elementary education. The law of Connecticut required that every town in which there were seventy or more householders should provide at least eleven months of school each year, for the teaching of reading and writing. When there were not sufficient funds to maintain such school, from public funds, the deficit should be made up, one half by the inhabitants (in general) of the town and the other half by the parents. Another law required that parents should teach their children, or cause them to be taught, the English tongue well: to know the laws against capital offenders, and the catechism, with a penalty for failure. The Selectmen were to have a vigilant eye over families, and stubborn or unruly children were to bound out.
The western pioneers coming from the New England states, naturally brought with them the ideas of education and schools, under which they had grown up, so we see that they established schools as soon as possible after getting settled in the woods.
Under the law of 1805, the township trustees were vested with the powers and duties of a board of education. It was not until the adoption of the new constitution of Ohio in 1851, and the law passed March 13, 1853, that an elective Board of education was provided for. Under the law of 1818 the trustees were required to give notice of an election in March, for the inhabitants to vote for or against organizing the township into school districts. If the vote was favorable, the trustees were required to lay off the township into districts to contain not fewer than twelve nor more than forty inhabitants. On the first Monday of May, each year, the householders, ten or more, should proceed to elect of said householders as a committee (notice they were not called Directors) for said district, and a collector, who should be treasurer, and a clerk. They had power to erect a school house, and could levy a tax for the expense of such erection, and for making up any deficiency which might occur by the schooling of children whose parents or guardians were unable to pay for the same. This committee was required to employ teachers and cause the expense to be assessed on parents, & c, in proportion to scholars sent, but could remit from those unable to pay. No child was to be deprived of the chance of procuring an education, by reason of poverty of the parents, a principle holding good to this day.
As soon as enough settlers had gotten their houses built so that their children were near enough together to attend a school, arrangements were made and a teacher procured. At first the school might be kept in a private house, or as the case in Wakeman, an abandoned log house. Perhaps the teacher would be a young lady, daughter of one of the pioneers.
After a time a log school house would be built. The seats were puncheons or slabs from some sawmill, with the flat side up and pegs inserted in auger holes for legs. The desks were made of whitewood boards fastened to arms driven into holes bored in to the wall. The pupil could rest his back by facing the room and leaning back against the edge of the desk. The seats were undoubtedly of the same height, and the little ones had to let their feet hang down. (The writer attended a school in New York state in 1866, in which the desks were arranged the same as described above, and well remembers that when we were writing or figuring on our slates, that we all faced the wall, and the teacher had a view of our backs but when we wished to face the teacher we turned around and leaned against the edge of the desk. Possibly the school houses in Connecticut were arranged in the same way, and the Wakeman pioneers brought along the same ideas. In the New York school there was a fine spring of water a few rods from the building and the pupils had to furnish their own tin cups to drink from, and got their drink fresh from the spring. Possibly some of the Wakeman schools had a similar water supply).
At first there were no restrictions as to educational qualifications of the teachers, but in 1829 a law was passed, authorizing the Courts of Common Pleas to appoint school examiners, who were to examine teachers and issue certificates to teach. No certificates were to be granted to a teacher unless he, (not she), be qualified to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. It was provided that whenever the inhabitants of any school district should be desirous of employing a female teacher for instructing children in spelling, reading and writing only (of course they were not competent to teach arithmetic!) and the directors thereof should signify in writing to the County School Examiners, to which such prospective teacher should apply for examination, it should be lawful for such examiners to give such teacher a special certificate, upon her being found qualified, &c. In 1834, the branches were still the "three R’s," "Reading, ‘righting, and ‘rithmetic.’’ The county board was required to appoint one examiner in each township to examine female teachers only. In 1849 the law provided that when three or more householders made known in writing their desire to have English grammar and geography taught in their school, the directors were to provide for it, and teachers were to be examined in these two additional branches, although some examiners included grammar and geography in their certificates as early as 1838, as shown by a certificate issued in that year.
End of Pages 11 through 20
Transcribed by Lowell Dunlap