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CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES - 227 CHAPTER IV EARLY SETTLEMENT EARLY CONDITIONS-EARLY HARDSHIPS AND PRIVATIONS-PIONEER SKILLED AN INDIAN-A JOURNEY IN 1819. EARLY CONDITIONS IN HARRISON COUNTY The following is an extract from a series of articles written for the Cincinnati paper known in 1843 as the American Pioneer, by John S. Williams, who in the spring of 1800, with his mother, sister and brother, emigrated from Beaufort, North Carolina, to what was then a part of Jefferson county, in the Northwest Territory. Among his experiences he gives these: Salt was $5.00 a bushel, and so we used none in our corn bread, which we soon liked as well without it. What meat we had at first was fresh, but little of that; for had we been hunters, we had no time to practice it. We had no candles, and cared little for them, except for summer use. In Carolina we had the real fat light-wood, not merely pine knots, but the fat straight pine. This from the brilliancy of our parlor of winter evenings, might be supposed to put not only candles, lamps, camphine, Greenough's chemical oil, but even gas itself to blush. In the west we had not this, but my business was to ramble the woods every evening for seasoned sticks, or the bark of the shelly hickory, for light. 'Tis true that our light was not so good as even candles, but we got along without fretting, for we depended more upon the goodness of our eyes than we did upon the brilliancy of the light. One of my employments on the winter evenings, after we raised flax, was the spinning of rope yarn from the coarsest swingling tow, to make bed-cords for sale. "Swinging tow" is a corruption of "singling tow" as swingle-tree is known as "single-tree." The manner of spinning rope-yard was by means of a drum which turned on a horizontal shaft driven into a hole in one of the cabin logs near the fire. The yarn was hitched to a nail on one side of the circumference next to me. By taking an oblique direction and keeping up a regular jerking, or pulling of the thread, the drum was kept in constant motion, and thus the twisting and pulling went on regularly, until the length was taken up. Then by winding the yarn first on my forearm and from that on the drum, I was ready to spin another thread. The present-day reader might inquire what we did with the finer kinds of tow. The next finer rope-yarn was filling for trousers and aprons; next finer, warp for the same and filling for shirts and frocks ; next finer, of tow thread, warp for sheets and frocks, unless some of the higher grades of society would use flax thread. Linen shirts, especially seven hundred, was counted the very top of the pot, and he who wore an eight hundred shirt was counted a dandy. He 228 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES was not called a dandy, for the word was unknown as well as the refined animal which bears that name. Pioneers found it to their advantage to wear tow linen and eat skim-milk and sell their flax, linen and butter. Frocks were a short kind of a shirt worn over the trousers. We saved our shirts by pulling them off in warm weather and by wearing nothing in the daytime but our hats, made of straw, our frocks and our trousers. It will thus be perceived that these things took place before the days of suspenders when everyone's Trousers lacked about two inches of reaching up to where the waist coat reached down. Suspenders soon became a part of the clothing and were a real improvement in dress. The girls had forms without bustles and rosy cheeks without paint. Those who are thin, lean and colorless from becoming slaves to idleness or fashion, are, to some extent, excusable for endeavoring to be artificially what the pioneer girls were naturally ; who had they needed lacing, might have used tow strings and if bran Were used for bustles might have curtailed their suppers. * * * Not only about the farm but also to meeting, the younger part of the families, and even men, went barefooted in summertime. The young women carried their shoes and stockings, if they had them, in their hands until they got in sight of the meeting-house, where they would sit on a log and were shod for meeting and at the same place after services they were seated and unshod themselves for a walk home, some one, two or more miles. Whether shoes, stockings, or even bonnets, were to be had or not, meeting must be attended. Turnips, walnuts and hickory-nuts supplied the place of fruit till peaches were raised. In five or six years, millions of peaches rotted on the ground. Previous to our raising apples, we sometimes went to Martin's Ferry, on the Ohio, to pick peaches for the owner, who had them distilled. We got a bushel of apples for each day's work in picking peaches. These were kept for particular eating, as if they had contained seeds of gold. The extreme scarcity made them seem valuable and stand next to the short biscuit that were so valued in times gone by. EARLY HARDSHIPS AND PRIVATIONS A biographical account published in 1891, of Robert Cochran, a native of Dauphin County (Harrisburg) Pennsylvania, horn in 1771, gives much of general interest and reliable history of this county more than a century ago. Snatches of this sketch contain material as follows : Shortly after 1803 he emigrated to Ohio and bought eighty acres of land in what is now Harrison County, paving $200 for the same. Here he built himself a cabin of poles, daubed inside and out with mud, having a stick chimney, puncheon floor, clapboard roof and clapboard door. Here in winter seasons he was joined by John Maholm, an old friend from Pennsylvania, and together they lived in Mr. Maholm's cabin, eating supper and breakfast in company and each working his own "clearing" during the day. CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES- 229 During the autumn and winter of 1804-05, Mr. Cochran secured the services of a man to do his cooking, hired a millwright and several axmen and erected a two story grist-mill, worked by horse-power. No iron was used in its construction, save some strengthening bands around the trundle head and spindle ; wheels and parts were all made of wood and all handmade, as saw mills were then unknown in this county. Unwieldy as it was, the mill was kept constantly going, day and night, Sunday excepted. The mill-stones were brought down the Ohio to Steubenville and hauled across the country, the trip covering four full days. It was a common sight to see men occupying the time, while waiting for their turn for grinding, in throwing the tomahawk at marks attached to trees. As time, passed on this mill was superseded by water mills, but in dry seasons, when water failed, the neighbors were obliged to take turns in going .to Cochran's horse- mill. It was the first mill erected west of that of Daniel Welch, at Beech Spring. The land on which Mr. Cochran settled lies about a half mile north of Cadiz and for many years was occupied by his descendants. The early pioneers came to Harrison County from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, but chiefly from Pennsylvania—Washington County. The journeys from east of the Allegheny Mountains were sometimes long and full of danger. The paths across the mountains were rough and difficult. Pack-horses were at first the only means of transportation ; on some the pioneers packed the stores and rude agricultural implements and on others the furniture, bedding and cooking utensils and again, on others, their wives and children. Horses which carried small children were each equipped with a packsaddle and two large creels made of hickory withes in the fashion of a crate, one over each other, in which were stowed clothes and bedding. In the center of each would sometimes be tucked a child or two, the top being well secured by lacing, so as to keep the youngsters in their places. The roads were frequently barely passable, sometimes lying along the brink of precipices, frequently overflown in places by swollen streams, all of which had to be forded ; horses slipping, falling and carried away, both women and children were often in great danger. The creels would sometimes break and send the children rolling over the ground in great confusion. It was no uncommon thing for mother and child to be separated from each other for hours, whilst on the journey to their new homes in a wild forest, amidst beasts, and exposed to attacks by the Indians. When the pioneer reached his destination, he usually put up a brush shelter until he could build a cabin. The latter was made of rough logs, without nail, board or window pane. He then turned his attention to clearing a small plot of ground on which to raise such food as was needed for the support of his family. The food question was the all-important one with the settlers. Their hard labor resulted in giving them keen appetities and much account was taken of the feasts, merry-making parties and public gatherings. The quality of the food was not so much regarded as the quantity. Times were when the providential appearance of a deer averted starvation and the fortunate catching of a fish, or the 230 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES. trapping of game, eked out a scanty subsistence. Journeys of many miles were made for a few pounds of flour or meal. The cabins contained little or no furniture ; beds with no mattresses, springs, or even bed-cords, the couches being spread over the floor and sleeping apartments separated by hanging blankets. About the fire-place were found hooks and trammel, the bake-pan and the kettle. Sometimes chairs were represented by sections of a tree of the required height. Upon the shelves were spoons of pewter, blue- edged plates, cups and saucers, and the old fashioned black teapot ; and later perhaps, one corner of the room was occupied by a tall clock, while in another corner stood an old-fashioned high post, corded bedstead, covered with an "Irish chain" quilt—a marvel of patchwork, ingenuity and laborious sewing. OTHER PIONEERS Between 1800 and 1807 came the following settlers : John Craig, John Taggart, John Jamison, John McFadden, John Kernahan, John Huff, John Maholm, John Wallace, John Lyons, Rev. John Rea, Daniel Welch, William Moore, James Black, Samuel Dunlap, James Arnold, Joseph and Samuel McFadden, Samuel Gilmore, James Finney, Thomas and Robert Vincent, Robert Braden, James Wilkin, Samuel and George Kernahan, Thomas Dickerson, Joseph Holmes, James Hanna, Joseph, William and Eleazer Huff, Baldwin Parsons, James Haverfield, Robert Cochran, Samuel Maholm, Hugh Teas, Joseph Clark, Morris West, Jacob Sheplar, Martin Snider, Samuel Osborn, Samuel Smith, and possibly others besides those in Cadiz and on Short Creek. On Stillwater Creek came Thomas Taylor, John Ross, Thomas Hitchcock, Arthur and Thomas Barrett, Robert and Thomas Maxwell, Absalom Kent, John Pugh, Michael Waxier, William McClary, Joseph, Joel and William Johnson, George Layport, William Ingels, Thomas Wilson. On Wheeling Creek came: John McConnell, George Brown, John Love, William and Robert McCullough, Brokow and others. KILLED AN INDIAN Robert Maxwell, William and Joseph Huff and Michael Maxler were great hunters and the three former had served as Indian spies and had many perilous adventures with the Indians. On one occasion, after peace, an Indian boasted in the presence of William Huff and others, that he had scalped so many whites. Towards evening the Indian left for his wigwam, but never reached it, being shortly after found killed. Some inquiry was made as to probable cause of his death, when Huff observed that he had seen him the last time sitting on a log smoking his pipe ; that he was looking at him and reflecting what he had said about scalping the white people, when suddenly his pipe fell from his mouth and he, Huff, turned away and had not again seen him until found dead. CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES- 231 A JOURNEY 1N 1819—A CENTURY AGO In January, 1897, the Chicago Record published the following extracts from the diary of Dr. Richard Lee Mason, who emigrated from Maryland to Illinois before 1820. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the diary (left by the doctor and now in the hands of his children and of great value), read as follows: October 15, 1819--Left Pittsburgh at seven o'clock. Traveled over a poor and hilly country for thirty-six miles. Passed a few travelers bound to Ohio. * * * Crossed the Ohio River after night at Steubenville. Stopped at Jenkinson's, an intelligent, gentlemanly, hospitable man. Visited the market. Beef, good, six and a quarter cents a pound. October 16—* * * Rainy day, fatigued by broken country, determined to spend this day at Steubenville, a busy little village on the bank of the Ohio. Purchased a plain Jersey wagon and harness for sixty dollars. October 18—Myself and friend proceeded on our journey. We arrived at Siers' (Sears') a distance of thirty miles at dusk, much relieved by the change from our horses to the wagon. The roads were muddy, the weather drizzly and the country hilly Buildings indifferent. The land was fertile and black. Trees uncommonly tall. Passed the little village of Cadiz. In this country, a store, a smith shop and two or three cabins make a town. Passed ten or fifteen. travelers. Great contrast between the quality of the land from Chambersburg to Pittsburgh and that which we have already traveled over from Steubenville in Ohio. October 19-Left Sears' at six o'clock a. m. The morning fair and cold. Roads extremely rough. Country fertile but hilly. Log cabins, ugly women and ,tall timber. Passed a little flourishing village called Freeport, settled by foreigners, Yankee Quakers and mechanics. Remarkable, with two taverns in the village, there was nothing fit to drink, not even good water. The corn fields in the woods, among dead trees, and the corn very fine. We arrived at Adair's a distance of twenty-seven miles at six o'clock p. m. Passed some peddlers and a few travelers. Value of land from Steubenville to Adair's, two to thirty dollars per acre. Lots in Freeport, eighteen months old, from thirty to one hundred dollars. October 20—Left Adair's at six o'clock a. m. The country extremely hilly and not quite so fertile, Independent people in log cabins. They make their own clothes, sugar and salt, and paint their own signs. They picture a lion like a dove, a cat like a terrapin and General Washington like a bird's nest. Salt wells and sugar orchards are common in this country. Steep hills, frightful precipices, little or no water, and even the scarcity of new whiskey! Ragged and ignorant children and but little appearance of industry. Met a number of travelers, inclining to the east and overtook a larger number than usual, bound to the land of promise. The evening being rainy, the roads soon became muddy. We arrived at Silver's Travelers Rest at six o'clock. Distance twenty-nine miles. Passed a little village called Cambridge." 232 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES, If good Doctor Mason (remarked Charles A. Hanna in his "Historical Collection)" could return to Harrison County now and ride again over the road between Steubenville and Cambridge, doubtless he would not find the trees so tall and certainly the women not ugly; but it is to be feared that the happy days of old will never return again to Harrison County, when it can be said of it, that water there is scarcer than new whiskey. |