HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY - 241

CHAPTER V.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

PIONEER DAYS AND TRIALS-HABITATIONS OF THE FIRST SETTLERS-FURNITURE, FOOD AND MEDICINE-HABITS, LABOR AND DRESS-EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS-BEES AND WEDDINGS-THE HOMINY BLOCK AND PIONEER MILLS-PRICES OF STORE GOODS AND PRODUCE-ITEMS FROM AN OLD CASH BOOK-MODE OF LIVING-CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS-PERIOD OF THE WAR OF 1812-PRICES AFTER THE WAR-FIRST CROPS RAISED 1N THE COUNTY- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS OF THE PIONEERS, AND SUBSEQUENT IMPROVEMENTS MADE 1N THEM-PIONEER FARMING-CHEESE AND BUTTER STATISTICS-FIRST STOCK BROUGHT 1NTO THE COUNTY-STOCK STATISTICS SINCE 1840-STATISTICS OF WHEAT, CORN, OATS AND HAY-TOTAL VALUATION OF PROPERTY BY DECADES-PORTAGE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-PORTAGE COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

THE first settlers who built their cabins in the unbroken forest of Portage County came not to enjoy a life of lotus-eating and ease. They could, doubtless, admire the pristine beauty of the scenes that unveiled before them, the vernal green of the forest, and the loveliness of all the works of nature; they could look forward with happy anticipation to the lives they were to lead in the midst of all this beauty, and to the rich reward that would be theirs from the cultivation of the mellow, fertile soil; but they had first to work. The dangers they were exposed to, were serious ones. The Indians could not fully be trusted, and the many stories of their depredations in the earlier Eastern settlements made the pioneers of Ohio apprehensive of trouble. The larger wild beasts were a cause of much dread, and the smaller ones a source of great annoyance. Added to this was the liability to sickness which always exists in a new country: In the midst of all the loveliness of the surroundings, there was a sense of loneliness that could not be dispelled, and this was a far greater trial to the men and women who first dwelt in the Western country than is generally imagined. The deep-seated, constantly recurring feeling of isolation made many stout hearts turn back to the older settlements and the abodes of comfort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned in their early homes to take up a new life in the wilderness.

The pioneers making the tedious journey from the East and South by the rude trails, arrived 'at their places of destination with but very little with which to begin the battle of life. They had brave hearts and strong arms, however, and they were possessed of invincible determination. Frequently they came on without their families to make a beginning, and this having been accomplished, would return to their old homes for their wives and children. The first thing done, after a temporary shelter from the rain had been provided, was to prepare a little spot of ground for some crop, usually corn. This was done by girdling the trees, clearing away the underbrush, if there chanced to be any, and sweeping the surface with fire. Five, ten, or even fifteen acres of land might thus be prepared'and planted the first season. In the autumn the crop would be carefully gathered and garnered with the least possible waste, for it was the food supply of the pioneer and his family, and life itself depended, in part, upon its safe preservation. While the first crop was growing the pioneer had busied himself with the building of his cabin, which must answer as a shelter from the storms of the coming winter, a pro-

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tection from the ravages of wild animals, and, possibly, a place of refuge from the red man.

If a pioneer was completely isolated from his fellow-men, his position was certainly a hard one; for without assistance he could construct only a poor habitation. In such cases the cabin was generally made of light logs or poles and was laid up roughly, only to answer the temporary purpose of shelter, until other settlers had come into the vicinity, by whose help a more solid structure could be built. Usually a number of men came into the country together, and located within such distance of each other as enabled them to perform many friendly and neighborly offices. Assistance was always readily given each pioneer by all the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several miles. The commonly followed plan of erecting a log-cabin was through a union of labor. The site of the cabin home was generally selected with reference to a good water supply, often by a never-failing spring of pure water, or if such could not be found, it was not uncommon to first dig a well. When the cabin was to be built the few neighbors gathered at the site, and first cut down, within as close proximity as possible, a number of trees as nearly of a size as could be found, but ranging from a foot to twenty inches in diameter, Logs were chopped from these and rolled to a common center. This worki and that of preparing the foundation, would consume the greater part of the day, in most cases, and the entire labor would most commonly occupy two or. three days—sometimes four. The logs were raised to their places with hand spikes and "skid poles," and men standing at the corners with axes notched them as fast as they were laid in position. Soon the cabin would be built several logs high, and the work would become more difficult. The gables were formed by beveling the logs, and making them shorter and shorter, as each additional one was laid in place. These logs in the gables were held in place by poles, which extended across the cabin from end to end, and which served also as rafters upon which to lay the rived " clapboard" roof. The so-called "clapboards" were five or six feet in length, and were split from oak or ash logs, and made as smooth and flat as possible. They were laid side by side, and other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to effectually keep out the rain. Upon these logs were laid to hold them in place, and the logs were held by blocks of wood placed between them.

The chimney was an important part of the structure, and taxed the builders, with their poor tools, to their utmost. In rare cases it was made of stone, but most commonly of logs and sticks laid up in a manner similar to those which formed the cabin. It was, in nearly all cases, built outside of the cabin, and at its base a huge opening was cut through the wall to answer as a fireplace. The sticks in the chimney were kept in place and protected from fire by mortar, formed by kneading and working clay and straw. Flat stones were procured for back and jambs of the fire-place.

An opening was chopped or sawed in the logs on one side of the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of hewed timber, three or four inches thick, were fastened on each side by wooden pins to the end of the logs, and the door (if there was any) was fastened to one of these by wooden hinges. The door itself was ,a clumsy piece of wood-work. It was made of boards rived from an oak log, and held together by heavy cross-pieces. There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised, by a string which passed through a gimlet-hole, and hung upon the outside. From this mode of constrnction arose the old and well. known hospitable saying: You will find the latch-string always out." It was pulled in only at night, and the door was thus fastened. Very many of the cabins of the picineers had no doors of the kind here described, and the

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entrance was protected only by a blanket or skin of some wild beast suspended above it.

The window was a small opening, often devoid of anything resembling a sash, and very seldom having glass. Greased paper was sometimes used in lieu of the latter, but more commonly some old garment constituted a curtain, which was the only protection from sun, rain or snow.

The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons—pieces of timber split from trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth with the broad-ax. They were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing but the earthen floor. Sometimes the cabins had cellars, which were simply small excavations in the ground for the storage of a few articles of food, or perhaps cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily gained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was sometimes a loft used for various purposes, among others as the " guest chamber" ,of the house. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of a sapling, put together, like everything else in the house, without nails.

The furniture of the log-cabin was as simple and primitive as the structure itself. A forked stick set in the floor and supporting two poles, the other ends of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin, formed a bedstead. A common form of table was a split slab supported by four rustic legs set in augur holes. Three-legged stools were made in a similar simple manner. Pegs driven in augur holes into the logs of the wall supported shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the family not in use. A few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of deer horns, formed a rack where hung the rifle and powder-horn, which no cabin was without. These, and perhaps a few other simple articles brought from the "old home" formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer cabin.

The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later-day fine houses. It was by no means uncommon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used upon the table. Knives and forks were few, crockery very scarce, and tin-ware not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and most wholesomd kind. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels, fish, wild turkeys, and the many varieties of smaller game. Plain corn-bread baked in a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a board in front of the great open fire-place answered the purpose of all kinds of pastry. The corn was among the earlier pioneers pounded or grated, there being no mills for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones at a considerable distance away. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. Sometimes especial effort was made to prepare a delicacy, as, for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies by pounding wheat for the flour to make the crust, and used crab-apples for fruit. In the lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles that made up the pioneer's materia medica—the herb medicines and spices, catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gathered in its season; and there were also stores of nuts, and strings of dried pumpkin, with bags of berries and fruit.

The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in conformance to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the herculean labor, day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off he brush and debris, preparing the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals which they

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Sbrought with them or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were engaged in the heavy labor of the field and forest, or following the deer, or seeking other game, their helpmeets were busied with their household duties, providing for the day and for the winter coming on, cooking, making clothes, spinning and weaving. They were fitted by nature and experience to be the consorts of the brave men who first came into the Western wilderness. They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. Their industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work then, like man's was performed under disadvantages which have been removed in later years: She had not only the common household duties to perform, but many others: She not only made the clothing, but the fabric for it. That old, old ̊coups; tion of spinning and of weaving, with which woman's name has been associated in all history, and of which the modern world knows nothing, except through the stories of those who are grandmothers now—that old occupation of spin: ning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance al we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up thoughts of the graces and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation that is gone—that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, was the chief industry of the pioneer women. Every cabin sounded with the softly- whirring wheel and the rythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon: " She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her bands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."

Almost every article of clothing, all of the cloth in use in the old log-cabins, was the product of the patient woman-weaver's toil. She spun the flax and wove the cloth for shirts, pantaloons, frocks, sheets and blankets. The linen and the wool, the " linsey-woolsey " woven by the housewife formed all of the material for the clothing of both men and women, except such articles as were made of skins. The men commonly wore the hunting-shirt, a kind of loose frock reaching half way down the figure, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more upon the chest. This generally had a cape, which was often fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that which composed the garment. The bosom of the hunting-shirt answered as a pouch, in which could be carried the various articles that the hunter or woodsman would need. It was always worn belted and made out of coarse linen, or linsey, or of dressed deer skin, according to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of deer skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather, while the feet were most usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made, though they needed frequent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buck- skin gloves or mittens when any protection was required for the hands. All of the wearing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being serviceable and comfortable, and all was of home manufacture. Other articles and finer ones were sometimes worn, but they had been brought from former homes, and were usually relics handed down from parents to children. Jewelry was not common, but occasionally some ornament was displayed. In the cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were usually a few books, and the long winter evenings were spent in poring over these well-thumbed volumes by the light of the great log-fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, or some similar occupation.

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Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in common use, and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every settler had his barrel stored away. It was the universal drink at merry makings, bees, house-warmings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log-cabin. It was the good old-fashioned whisky, "clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil," that the few octogenarians and nonagenarians of to-day recall to memory with an unctuous gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from the Monongahela district, and was boated up the streams or hauled in wagons accross he country. A few years later stills began to make heir appearance, and an article of peach brandy and rye whisky manufactured; the latter was not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater quantities.

As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied; social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The logrollings, harvestings and husking-bees for the men, and the apple-butter making and the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occasions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun as a means, often, of obtaining a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhibited considerable skill.

A wedding was the event of most importance in the sparsely settled new country. The young people had every inducement to marry, and generally did so as soon as able to provide for themselves. When a marriage was to be celebrated, all the neighborhood turned out. It was customary to have the ceremony performed before dinner, and in order to be in time, the groom and his attendants usually started from his father's house in the morning for that of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in, single file along the narrow trail. Arriving at the cabin of the bride's parents, the ceremony would be performed, and after that, dinner served. This would be a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed during the meal. After it was over the dancing began, and was usually kept up till the next morning, though the newly made husband and wife were as a general thing put to bed in the most approved fashion, and with considerable formality, in the middle of the evening's hilarity. The tall young men, when they went on the floor to dance, had to take their places with care between the logs that supported the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping their heads. The figures of the dances were three and four hand reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by "jigging it off," or what is sometimes called a " cut out jig." The " settlement of a young couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.

During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most primitive kinds, but the soil that had long held in reserve the accumulated richness of centuries, produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor. The soil wa,s warmer then than now, and the season earlier. The wheat was occasionally pastured-in the spring to keep it from growing up so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears weie to be had by the 1st of August in most seasons.

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When the corn grew too bard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater. Next to the grater caw the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted simply of a block of wood—a section of a tree perhaps—with a hole burn or dug into it a foot deep in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat for.the bashful young backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; sometimes a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for and made one of the best of how, my blocks. These blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet those mills were so far apart that in stormy weather, or for want of transportation, the pioneer was compelled to resort to his hominy-block or go without bread. In winter the mills were frozen up nearly all the time, and when a thaw came and the ice broke, if the mill was not swept away entirely by the floods, it was so thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn, that some of them were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground, if they were so fortunate as to possess an ox, or a horse or mule for the purpose of transportation, they were happy. It was not unusual to go from ten to thirty miles to mill, through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be •benighted on the journey and chased by wolves.

As the majority of the pioneers settled in the vicinity of a stream, mills soon made their -appearance in every settlement. Those mills, however, were very primitive affairs—mere "corn-crackers"—but they were a big improvement on the hominy-block. They merely ground the corn; the pioneer must do his own bolting. The meal was sifted through a wire sieve by hand, and the finest used for bread. A road cut through the forest to the.mill 'and a wagon for hauling the grist were great advantages. The latter, especially, was often a seven days' wonder to the children of a settlement, and the happy owner of one often did for years the milling of a whole neighborhood. About once a month this good neighbor, who was in exceptionally good circumstances because able to own a wagon, would go around through the settlement, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days in the operation, and never think of charging for his time and trouble.

Only the commonest goods were brought into the country, and they sold at very high prices, as the freightage of merchandise from the East was high. Most of the people were in moderate circumstances, and were .content to live in a very cheap way: A. majority had to depend mainly on the produce of their little clearings, which consisted to a large extent of potatoes and corn. Mush, corn bread and potatoes were the principal food. There was no meat except game, and often this had to be eaten without salt. Pork, flour, sugar and other groceries sold at high prices, and were looked upon as luxuries. In 1798-99 wheat brought $1.50 per bushel; flour $4 per 100 pounds; corn $1 per bushel; oats, 75 cents, and potatoes 65 cents. Prices were still higher in 1813-14, corn being $2 per bushel; flour $14 per barrel; oats, $1, and salt from $12 to $20 per barrel.

The writer has seen an old cash book kept at one of the frontier stores on the Reserve prior to 1800, wherein the accounts with the whites are carried out in pounds, shillings and pence, while those with the Indians, who largely patronized the store, were kept in dollars and cents. To judge from the daily consumption of whisky, it was pre-eminently the " staff of life," there being scarcely an account against a white or Indian, male of female, of which it does not form a large proportion. For domestic use, it cost 3 shillings per quart, while a gill cost 4 cents. Tobacco was sold by the yard at 4 cents per

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yard; common sugar at 33 cents, and loaf at 50 cents per pound. Chocolate was in more general use than tea or coffee, and sold at 3 shillings and 6 pence per pound, and coffee at 30 cents. Homespun linen could be purchased at 50 cents per yard, while the belle aspiring to the extravagance of calico, could gratify her ambition at 83 cents per yard, with the addition of a cotton handkerchief at from 70 cents to $1, according to color and design. Shoes and boots brought from $1 to $3 per pair, but moccasins were in common use with both white men and Indians at 3 shillings and 9 pence, though from 9 pence to two shillings higher when ornamented with the colored quills of the porcupine. The price of a rifle was $25, a horse $125, and a yoke of oxen $80. Indians usually paid their bills with peltry and many of the whites did likewise. A bear skin was worth from $2 to $5; otter, from $3 to $4; beaver, from $2 to $3; deer from 75 to 90 cents; marten 1 shilling and 10 pence; muskrat, 1 shilling, while fisher, wild cat, panther, wolf, fox, raccoon, mink and other skins were also readily purchased,

Long journeys upon foot were often made by the pioneers to obtain the necessities of life or some article, then a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an independence, however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of plenty which should reward them for the toils of their earliest years, and a rest from the struggle amidst the benefits gained by it. Without an iron will and indomitable resolution they could never have accomplished what they did. Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded. A writer in one of the local papers says:

" Eighty years ago not a pound of coal or a cubic foot of illuminating gas had been burned in the country. All the cooking and warming in town as well as in the country were done by the aid of a fire kindled on the brick hearth or in the brick ovens. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for the long winter nights, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs and carpets. The water used for household purposes was drawn from deep wells by the creaking sweep. No form of pump was used in this country, so far as we can learn, until after the commencement of the present century. There were no friction matches in those early days, by the aid of which a fire could be easily kindled, and if the fire went out upon the hearth over night, and the tinder was damp, so that the spark would not catch, the alternative remained of wading through the snow a mile or so to borrow a brand from a neighbor. Only one room in any house was warm, unless some member of the family was ill, in all the rest the temperature was at zero during many nights in winter. The men and women undressed and went to their beds in a temperature colder than our barns and woodsheds, and they never complained."

Churches and schoolhouses were sparsely scattered, and of the most primitive character. One pastor served a number of congregations, and salaries were so low that the preachers had to take part in working their farms to procure support for their families. The people went to religious service on foot or horseback, and the children often walked two or three miles through the woods to school. There were no fires in the churches for a number of years. When they were finally introduced they were at first built in holes cut in the floors, and the smoke found its way out through openings in the roofs. The seats were of unsmoothed slabs, the ends and centers of which were laid upon blocks, and the pulpits were little better. Worship was held once or twice a month, consisting usually of two services,' one in the forenoon and one hums-

250 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

diately after noon, the people remaining during the interval and spending the time in social intercourse. It is much to be feared that if religious worship were attended with the same discomforts now as it was eighty to ninety years ago, the excuses for keeping away from the house of God would be many times multiplied. Taken altogether, while they had to endure many privations and hardships, it is doubtful whether the pioneers of any part of America were more fortunate in their selection than those of Portage County. Every one of the settlers agrees in saying that they had no trouble in accommodating themselves to the situation, and were, as a rule, both men and women, healthy, contented and happy.

During the war of 1812-15, many of the husbands and fathers volunteered their services to the United States, and others were drafted. Women and children were then left alone in many an isolated log-cabin in northeastern Ohio, and there were several intervals of unrest and anxiety. It was feared by many that the Indians might take advantage of the absence from these homes of their natural defenders, and pillage and destroy them. The dread of robbery and murder filled many a mother's heart, but happily the worst fears of the kind proved to be groundless, and this part of the country was spared any scenes of actual violence.

After the war there was a greater feeling of security than ever before; a new motive was given to immigration. The country rapidly filled up with settlers, and the era of peace and prosperity was fairly begun. Progress was slowly, surely made; the log-houses became more numerous in the clearings; the forest shrank away before the woodman's ax; frame houses began to appear. The pioneers, assured of safety, laid better plans for the future, resorted to new industries, enlarged their possessions, and improved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in from the South and East. Every settler had his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep and hogs. More commodious structures took the places of the old ones; the large double log-cabin of hewed logs and the still handsomer frame dwelling took the place of the smaller hut; log and frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops. Then society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared, and the advancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the Western woods. The brunt of he struggle, however, was past, and the way made in the wilderness for the army that was to come.

For the next ten years succeeding the war of 1812 wheat was from 25 to 37 1/2 cents per bushel, and other products in proportion. Merchandise was still very high. A day's labor would barely purchase a yard of cotton, while thirty-two bushels of corn are known to have been exchanged, by one of the pioneers of Portage County, for four yards of fulled cloth. About 1813 J T. Baldwin and David Waller, two well remembered pioneers of Palmyre Township, brought the first load of salt from Cleveland to Portage Count It took five days to make the trip, and the salt was worth when delivered $20 per barrel. In 1816 corn was $2 per bushel, and flour $14 per barrel, while hired hands received but 25 cents a day. In 1821 wheat sold in Ravenna for, 25 cents per bushel, and money was so scarce that the average pioneer was very often unable to raise the funds to pay the postage on an occasional letters which then cost 25 cents. Wheat and flour were hauled to Cleveland with ox teams, and exchanged for goods, and, as the roads were usually in a terrible condition, it often took a whole week to make the round trip. Along thin& this period Judge Amzi Atwater, who resided in the northern part of the county, with the laudable intention of encouraging the struggling settlersv

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advertised that he would allow 50 cents per bushel for wheat to those who had purchased or would purchase land of him. Taking advantage of this liberal offer, they would buy up wheat at from 25 to 40 cents and turn it over to Judge Atwater at 50 cents per bushel. This was soon regarded by the Judge as " sharp practice," and he withdrew his offer. The usual hotel charges throughout the county for a good pioneer dinner was 12 1/2 cents, a similar amount being charged for four quarts of oats and hay for the guest's horse. Very little change occurred in prices of produce or goods until 1825, when the commencement of work on the Ohio Canal gave an impetus to every branch of trade.

The first settlers were necessarily exposed to many dangers and privations, yet as a rule they had no fears of starvation, for the forest was alive with game, the streams abounded in fish and the virgin soil yielded bountifully. Upon selecting a location, the pioneer usually began at once to open a clearing in the primitive forest and prepare a piece of ground for tillage. Thus the foundation of the present agricultural prosperity was laid by the first settlers of the county. In the fall of 1798 Abram S. Honey planted a small patch of wheat in Mantua Township, which was harvested the following summer by his brother-in-law, Rufus Edwards, who owned the land. This was the first crop raised by white men in what is now Portage County. In June, 1799, Elias Harmon planted some potatoes and peas in the Honey clearing. The same fall Lewis Ely put in a crop of . wheat in Deerfield Township, as also did Lewis and Horatio Day, amounting in all to some eight or ten acres. The next spring Lewis Ely, Alva Day, John Campbell and Joel Thrall each planted a small patch of corn in Deerfield. David Daniels cleared up a piece of ground on Lot 21, Palmyra Township, in the summer of 1799, and that fall sowed it in wheat, which he harvested the following summer. After threshing the little crop with his flail, he cleaned up about a bushel of the grain and carried it on his back to a mill located at Poland, Ohio, about thirty miles, distant, had it ground and returned with the flour to his cabin, where for the first time since settling in the wilderness, he enjoyed the luxury of wheat bread. In the spring of 1800 Daniels put in a patch of corn; Ethelbert Baker and William Bacon also planted little fields of corn in Palmyra the same spring. In 1799 Ebenezer Sheldon sent out Eben Blair from Connecticut to make a settlement on his land in Aurora Township. Blair came via Pittsburgh, where he bought a peck of grass seed. This he carried on his back from Pittsburgh to Sheldon's land, where he was soon after joined by his employer and Elias Harmon. An opening was soon made in the woods and sown with wheat brought out by Sheldon, the grass seed being sown in the same field. Benjamin Tappan put in a few acres of corn and vegetables in 1800, on his land in the southeast corner of Ravenna Township, and the same fall planted the ground in wheat. William Chard and Conrad Boosinger, both of whom settled in Tappan's neighborhood, also planted small fields of the latter cereal in the fall of 1800. Asa Hall made the first clearing in Atwater Township early in 1800, and put in some corn, which was succeeded the next fall by wheat. In 1801 or 1802 David Baldwin raised a corn and wheat crop in Atwater Township.

The first corn in Rootstown Township was planted in the spring of 1801, near its northeast corner, by Ephraim and David Root. In Nelson Township a crop was put in the same year by Delaun and Asahel Mills. In 1802 Royal Pease sowed a few acres of wheat. in Suffield Township. In April, 1808, Benjamin Baldwin settled in the latter township. He brought from Connecticut a small bag of apple seeds, which he planted upon his arrival, and from the seed-

252 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

lings thus obtained has come the much-prized " Baldwin Apple." The fir* crop of wheat planted in Randolph Township was in the fall of 1802, by Bela Hubbard, on the northwest corner of Lot 57, the first land cleared in tisi township. He had to go to David Baldwin's in Atwater Township eight railed away to borrow a plow, which he carried on his shoulders to his little clear, ing, and returned it in the same manner. He went to Christman's Mill, osLittle Beaver Creek, in Pennsylvania, for seed, the round trip taking about a week, but so rich was the soil that he raised 100 bushels of clean wheat froni four acres of ground. He and Joseph Harris raised in partnership, in 1805, 1,500 bushels of corn. In 1803 Elijah Mason cleared twenty-two acres of land on Lot 23, Hiram Township, which he planted in wheat the same year. John Campbell raised the first corn in Charlestown Township in 1805, having removed there from Deerfield, where he first settled. In 1806 John a4 George Haymaker sowed a small patch of corn on the bank of the Cuyahoga; in Franklin Township, and the next year built a grist-mill on that stream. Joel Baker put in a crop of corn and wheat on Lot 46, Shalersville TownshiA in 1806. Eber Abbott planted the first corn and wheat in Edinburg Township in 1811. In the spring of that year Elijah and Oliver Alford and Ebenezer 0. and Nathan Messenger cleared small pieces of ground in Windham Township, which they planted in corn. Wareham Loomis also put in a small patch, and the same fall several acres of wheat were sown by the same partied and other settlers who arrived during the summer. Benjamin Higley, one of those who came to Windham that year, planted four acres of wheat on Lot 36, and from three bushels sown he threshed out the following summer about 100 bushels, which fully demonstrates the original fertility of the soil of this county.

The agricultural implements in use by the early settlers were very simple and rude. The plow was made entirely of wood, except the share, clevis and draft-rods, which were of iron, and had to be for a number of years transported from Pittsburgh, as there were no iron works in the county where the plow; shares could be forged. The wooden plow was a very awkward implement, very difficult to hold,and hard for the team to draw. It was, however, very generally used until the fall of 1824, when the cast-iron plow, patented by Jethro Wood, was first brought into the county, though it did not gain popular favor very rapidly. The farmer looked at it and was sure it would break the first time it struck a stone or a root, and then how should he replace it? TM wooden mould-board would not break, and when it wore out he could take his ax and hew another out of a piece of a tree. In no one agricultural implement has there been more marked improvement than in the plow—now made of beano tifully polished cast-steel except the beam and handles, while in Canada and some portions of the United States these, too, are manufactured of iron. The cast-steel plow of the present manufacture, in its several sizes, styles and adaptations to the various soils and forms of land, including the sulky or riding plow of the Western prairies, is among agricultural implements the most perfect in use.

The pioneer harrow was simply the fork of a tree, with the branches on one side cut close and on the other left about a foot long to serve the purpose of teeth. In some instances a number of holes were bored through the beams and dry wooden pins driven into them. It was not until about 1825 that iron or steel harrow teeth were introduced into Portage County.

The axes, hoes, shovels and picks were rude and clumsy, and of inferior utility. The sickle and scythe were at first used to harvest the grain and hay, but the former gave way early to the cradle, with which better results could be

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attained with less labor. The scythe and cradle have been replaced by the mower and reaper to a great extent, though both are still used considerably in this county.

The ordinary wooden flail was used to thresh grain until about 1830, when the horse-power thresher was largely substituted. The method of cleaning the chaff from the grain by the early settlers, was by a blanket handled by two persons. The grain and the chaff were placed on the blanket, which was then tossed up and down, the wind separating a certain amount of the chaff from the grain during the operation. Fanning-mills were introduced about 1820, but the first of these were very rude and little better than the primitive blanket. Improvements have been made from time to time until an almost perfect separator is now connected with every threshing machine, and the work of ten men for a whole season is done more completely by two or three men, as many horses, and a patent separator, in one day. In fact, it is difficult to fix limitations upon improvements in agricultural machinery within the last fifty years. It is, however, safe to say that they have enabled the farmer to accomplish more than triple he amount of work with the same force in the same time, and do his work better than before. It has been stated on competent authority that the saving effected by new and improved implements within the last twenty years has been not less than one-half on all kinds of farm labor.

The greatest triumphs of mechanical skill in its application to agriculture are witnessed in the plow, planter, reaper and separator, as well as in many other implements adapted to the tillage, harvesting and subsequent handling of he immense crops of the country. The rude and cumbrous implements of the pionêers have been superseded by improved and apparently perfect machinery of all classes, so that the calling of the farmer is no longer synonymous with laborious toil, but is in many ways pleasant recreation.

The farmers of Portage County are not behind their neighbors in the employment of improved methods and in the use of the best machinery. It is true that in many cases they were slow to change, but much allowance should be made for surrounding circumstances. The pioneers had to contend against innumerable obstacles—with the wildness of nature, the jealous hostility of he Indians, the immense growth of timber, the depredations of wild beasts and the annoyance of the swarming insect life, and the great difficulty and expense of procuring seeds and farming implements. These various difficulties were quite sufficient to explain the slow progress made in the first years of settlement. Improvements were not encouraged, while the pioneers generally rejected "book-farming" as unimportant and useless, and knew little of the chemistry of agriculture. The farmer who ventured to make experiments, to stake out new paths of practice, or to adopt new modes of culture, subjected himself to the ridicule of the whole neighborhood. For many years the same methods of farming were observed; the son planted as many acres of corn or wheat as his father did, and in the same phases of the moon. All their practices were merely traditional; but within the last thirty years most remarkable changes have occurred in all the conditions of agriculture in this country.

It is not, however, in grain-growing that Portage County has made its most material progress. The natural adaptation of the soil to grass, and the abundant supply of pure water, early attracted the attention of many progressive farmers to the raising of dairy stock, and the manufacture of butter and cheese, which industries have increased until they are among the leading agricultural pursuits, exceeding most other branches of farming in their importance and magnitude. Mulch cows were brought into the county by many of the very earliest settlers, and butter and cheese began to be manufactured for

256 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

market in a small way during the first quarter of the present century. The business grew rapidly, and by 1850 nearly 2,000,000 pounds of cheese were annually produced in Portage County, and butter and cheese became the great staple products of the northern .half of the county. Their regular manufacture has since extended into several of the southern townships, though the latter are more largely devoted to grain-growing. From 1860 to 1864, inclusive, Portage County ranked among the counties of the State respectively third and fourth in its production of cheese and batter, annually averaging for those five years 2,933,471 pounds of cheese, and 872,454 pounds of butter. In 1866 it stood second in both products, having 3,115,728 pounds of cheese, and 833,988 pounds of butter. In 1870 it was third and fifth respectively, with 3,822,829 pounds of cheese, and 916,376 pounds of butter. In 1871 it had 3,308,334 pounds of cheese, and 907,693 pounds of butter, being fourth and seventh respectively in those products. In 1872 it produced 3,619,983 pounds of cheese, and 906,995 pounds of butter, ranking fifth in both. In 1873 there were turned out 948,964 pounds of butter, which was more than any other county in the State, and 3,712,233 pounds of cheese, or the fifth in that article. In 1874 this county's butter product heads the list with 1,062,043 pounds; and it was the fourth cheese producing county, with 3,483,965 pounds. It ranked respectively third and sixth, in butter and cheese, in 1875, turning out 955,817 pounds of the former, and 3,404,286 pounds of the latter product. In 1877 Portage manufactured 1,043,542 pounds of butter and 3,767,783 pounds of cheese ranking fifth in each. In 1878 its butter product stood fourth, and its cheese product second in the list of counties, reporting 981,425 pounds of the former and 4,170,339 pounds of the latter. Its butter product dropped in 1879 the ninth place, being 911,910 pounds, while its cheese production al declined to less than one-half of the amount turned out the previous year, og 2,061,111 pounds, making Portage fifth in the list of cheese counties for that. year. Little change occurred for the succeeding two years, the county stand; ing, in 1881, seventh in its butter product, with 962,970 pounds, and third its cheese product, having 2,798,722 pounds. In 1883 this county against the first place in its butter product, standing at the head of all the other coup ties, with 1,299,077 pounds, while its 2,645,115 pounds of cheese gave it fifth place in the list of cheese producing counties. The statistics for 188t have not yet (March 1885) been collected, but cheese dealers have informed the writer that, on account of the long dry season, there will be a considerable, falling off in last year's product. The county now contains about thirty cheese factories, located principally in the three northern ranges of townships, though there are several in the southern section of the county.

Horses, cattle, sheep and hogs were brought into the county by the first, settlers, though they were usually of an ordinary breed, and very little was, done toward the improvement of farm stock for fifty years after the first settlement was made. Mrs. Josiah Ward is credited with owning the first sheep in Randolph Township, which were brought in from the East in 1805. Her husband having no money, was unable to purchase them, when she "took out her stocking " and paid cash down for eight or ten of the drove standing in front of their little cabin. She had saved up this money ere leaving her Connecticut home, to be used for that very purpose. Timothy Culver, also of Randolph Township, bought sixteen sheep about the same time, the seller to. receive as many more at a certain stated date; but the animals were kept near the creek, and, in consequence of eating a poisonous plant, all but one died the first winter. In 1806 John H. Whittlesey and Jeremiah Jones located in Atwater Township, and soon afterward went to Georgetown, Penn., and pur-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY - 257

chased twelve sheep, which they brought to their homes in this county. On getting the sheep here they discovered that they had no place to keep them este from the wolves during the coming night, but Mr. Whittlesey soon got over the difficulty by giving the animals a portion of his own kitchen. About 1807 John Campbell went to Pennsylvania and brought in some stock from that State, which he distributed among the few settlers who were then financially able to purchase. In 1813 Erastus Carter bought six sheep of John Campbell. They were watched through the daytime by his son Howard Carter, who is yet living, and shut up at night in a log-stable. One night the sheep were left out, and the wolves killed every one of them. The family picked up the wool scattered around the remains, carded and spun it, and had it woven into cloth, from which young Howard was made his first pair of woolen pants since coming to Ohio several years before, buckskin being then the only material generally in use for such garments.

The swine of the early settlers, compared with those they now possess, present a very wide contrast, for whatever the breed may have been called, running wild, as was customary, the special breed was soon lost in the mixed swine of the country. They were long and slim, long-snouted and lung-legged, with an arched back, and bristles erect from the back of the head to the tail, slab- sided, active and healthy; the "sapling-splitter" or "razor back," as he was called, was ever in the search of food, and quick to take alarm. He was capable of making a heavy hog, but required two or more years to mature, and until a short time before butchering or marketing was suffered to run at large, subsisting mainly as a forager, and in the fall fattening on the "mast" of the forest, Yet this was the bog for a new country, whose nearest and best markets were Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, to which points they were driven on foot. Almost every farmer raised a few hogs for market, which were gathered up by drovers and dealers during the fall and winter seasons. In no stock of the farm have greater changes been effected than in the hog. From the long-legged, long-snouted, slab-sided, roach-backed, tall, long, active, wild, fierce and muscular, it has been bred to be almost as square as a store- box and quiet as a sheep, taking on 250 pounds of flesh in ten months. They are now ranked into distinctive breeds, the Berkshire and Chester White being more extensively bred in Portage County than any other kind.

The following statistics, compiled from the Secretary of State's reports, will' furnish a good idea of the growth of the stock interests in Portage County for the past forty-five years:

In 1840 the county contained 4,205 horses and mules, 25,308 cattle, 37,240 sheep and 11,074 hogs. In 1852, 4,795 horses, 27,526 cattle, 70,852 sheep, 5,537 hogs and 45 mules. From 1858 to 1864 inclusive, the annual average was 8,063 horses, 33,927 cattle, 86,692 sheep, 7,875 hogs and 75 mules. In 1867 there were 7,439 horses, 27,823 cattle, 125,545 sheep, 7,769 hogs and 87 mules. In 1870, 6,373 horses, 26,696 cattle, 45,386 sheep, 6,421 hogs and 56 mules. In 1873, 7,887 horses, 34,706 cattle, 44,365 sheep, 5,565 bogs and 73 mules. In 1875, 8,359 horses, 26,466 cattle, 34,609 sheep, 4,648 hogs and 75 mules. In 1878, 7,886 horses, 29,968 cattle, 41,394 sheep, 9,162 hogs and 75 mules. In 1880, 7,557 horses, 28,702 cattle, 51,622 sheep, 6,895 hogs and 74 males. In 1884 there were reported 9,327 horses, 30,049 cattle, 13,746 sheep, 29,185 hogs and 267 mules. The greatest noticeable changes will be found in the sheep reports. From 1840 to 1867 there was a rapid increase of this stock, numbering in the latter year 125,545 head, but from that date up to 1884 there was a varying decrease in numbers, until the difference between 1867 and 1884 was over 100,000. While the number of horses and cattle

258 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

varied a few thousand back and forth, there were more than three times as many hogs reported in 1883 and 1884 as in any other year since 1852. This would indicate that hogs are rapidly taking the place of sheep on the farms of Portage County, the raising of the latter having been almost abandoned because of the rapid decline in the price of wool, caused by the reduction of the tariff on that staple.

The leading staple crops of Portage County are wheat, corn, oats and hay. From 1850 to 1864 inclusive, the annual average wheat and corn product wife respectively, 149,084 and 358,094 bushels. The annual average product of oats from 1858 to 1864 inclusive, was 240,233 bushels, while the annual hay product for the same period was 44,711 tons. In 1866 there were raised in this county 81,922 bushels of wheat, 456,667 bushels of corn, 309,381 bushels of oats, and 49,913 tons of hay and clover. In 1870, 108,324 bushels of wheat, 540,862 bushels of corn, 386,257 bushels of oats and 44,612 tons hay and clover. In 1875, 176,866 bushels of wheat, 736,112 bushels of corn, 502,288 bushels of oats and 33,914 tons of hay and clover. In 1880, 460,896 bushels of wheat, 450,822 bushels of corn, 429,735 bushels of oats and 40,138 tons of hay and clover. In 1883 (the last report published), there were raised, 318,261 bushels of wheat, 159,751 bushels of corn (shelled), 540,464 bushels 00 oats and 58,694 tons of hay and clover. The total annual average wheat-product of this county from 1878 to 1882 inclusive was 352,251 bushels, and of corn for the same period, 568,503 bushels.

The official valuation of property in Portage County, by decades, ae returned for taxation, will illustrate its steady increase in wealth and general prosperity. In 1850 the total valuation was $5,926, 727; 1860, $10,854,964 1870, $14,228,943; 1880, $16,100,010.

Portage County Agricultural Societies.—There has been no agency that has accomplished so much good for the farming interests of this county as the' several agricultural societies of the past and present. Their influence began sixty years ago, when, on the 9th of May, 1825, the " Portage County Agricult., Ural Society " was organized at the Court House in Ravenna, by the election of the following officers: Joshua Woodward, President; Elias Harmon, First Vice-President; Owen Brown, Second Vice-President; Frederick Wadsworth, Corresponding Secretary; Samuel D. Harris, Recording Secretary; William Coolman, Jr., Treasurer; Jonathan Sloane, Auditor. The society held its first " agricultural fair and cattle show " at Ravenna, October 18, 1825. Among the premiums we find one of $3, awarded to Seth Harmon for the best crop of corn, he having raised one hundred bushels and one peck from one acre of land. Fairs were held annually by the society at Ravenna until 1830, when, although officers were elected, no fair was held, and the society went out of existence.

On the 12th of March, 1839, the Ohio Assembly passed " an act to authorize and encourage the establishment of agricultural societies in the several counties in this State, and to regulate the same;" and Jane 20, 1839, in pursuance of notice given by the County Auditor, a meeting was held at the Court House in Ravenna, for the purpose of organizing an agricultural society in Portage County. William Wetmore was Chairman, and George Y. Wallace, Secretary. It was resolved by the meeting to call the new institution the " Portage County Agricultural Society," and the following officers were chosen: William Wetmore, President; Lorin Bigelow, Vice-President; George Y. Wallace, Recording Secretary; Joseph Lyman, dorresponding Secretary; John B. Clark, William Milliken and Oliver C. Dickinson, Executive Committee. Their first fair was held at the Court House October 20 and 21, 1841, and was

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY - 259

quite a success. Successful fairs were also held at the same place in 1842, 1843 and 1844, but on account of a long drouth and consequent failure of crops, none was held in 1845.

On the 27th of February, 1846, the Legislature passed " an act for the encouragement of agriculture;" and April 1 and 2, 1846, the State Board of Agriculture met at Columbus, Ohio, and adopted rules and regulations for the government of county societies legally Organized in harmony with this law. A meeting was held at the Court House in Ravenna, for the purpose of organ. izing a society under those rules, and to obtain the financial assistance from the State, which the act promised. Greenbury Keen was called to the chair, and Richard J. Thompson chosen Secretary. Enoch Johnson, Friend Cook, Ralph Day, William Stedman and Richard J. Thompson were appointed a committee to prepare a constitution for the society, which was subsequently presented and adopted. The following officers were then elected: Richard J. Thompson, President; J. G. Foley, Vice-President; Archibald Servoss, Secretary; Enos P. Brainerd, Treasurer; William Stedman, Albert Austin, Charles Button, William Milliken and Daniel W. Jennings, Executive Committee. The thanks of the meeting were extended to Hon. William Wetmore, of the Senate, and to Hons. David McIntosh and Thomas C. Shreve, of the House, for their exertions to procure the passage of the law for the promotion of agriculture. Gen. McIntosh was afterward President of the society for several years, and in August, 1853, he and wife were presented by the society with a massive silver salver, as an appropriate token of its appreciation of the efforts both had always put forth to build up the interests of the institution.

The first fair of the new society was held at Ravenna, September 30 and October 1, 1846, and though not so largely attended as expected, was nevertheless a very creditable exhibition. For several years the society held its annual fairs in Ravenna, with no permanent grounds, but in 1859 it rented about twenty acres of land east of Ravenna, and immediately south of the present grounds, which were fitted up and used for twenty years. Prior to 1870 the financial affairs of the society had reached a low ebb, and the fair of 1869 was regarded as a failure in every sense. Many predicted that the society would go under, and on the strength of this feeling an agricultural society was organized at Garrettsville, with the expectation of taking its place. But in the meantime Horace Y. Beebe, and a few other enterprising citizens, "put their shoulders to the wheel," raised a subscription, paid off the debts and got the institution once more " upon its legs," where it has since remained. The lease of the old grounds expired in 1879, and the society obtained a twenty years' lease of its present grounds, owned and previously fitted up by the Ravenna Park Association, a coterie of horsemen who held annual races and thus sought to encourage the growth of fine horses. On these grounds, which contain twenty-two acres and a good half-mile track, the agricultural society has erected a fine exhibition hall, offices, and cattle and. sheep sheds, besides having the right, under its lease, to the use of the stables, grand stand, and other buildings of the Park Association, with exclusive control of the grounds during the fair. It is generally admitted that the present prosperous condition of the society is largely due to the efforts of Horace Y. Beebe, who has spared neither time nor labor to make the annual fairs a success, and whose energy and business capacity, together with the earnest support of the Board and friends of the society, have enabled him to accomplish what few men would have cared to undertake. Besides the annual fair at Garrettsville, several other townships in the county hold township fairs, and while any effort in that direction is laudable, it is, nevertheless, a positive fact that

260 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

those township societies detract much from the interest and usefulness of the county organization, and had, therefore, better be abolished. The membership of the society is now about 600, and its present officers are N. S. Olin, President; R S. Elkins, Vice-President; E. R Wait, Treasurer; B. S. Wing, Secrotary; C. C. Gardner, William Bergen, S W. Andrews, W. W. Stevens, Simon Perkins, A. N. Farr, Franklin Willard, F. R. Coit, H. 0. Hine and Smith Sanford, Directors.

The Portage County Horticultural Society was organized in February, 1879, with fourteen charter members, most of whom were men who put their hands to the plow without any intention of looking back. The society has experienced unexpected prosperity, and contains at this writing 250 members, who pay an annual fee of $1. It has never failed to hold its regular monthly meeting, and the attendance has always been encouraging and generally large. The social feature of the meetings, which are held at the residences of the members, is good remuneration for the expense and trouble incurred, while the interest stimulated in horticulture has been rapidly increasing, as is plainly

evident throughout the county in improved yards, orchards and gardens. The present officers of the society are Horace Y. Beebe, President; R. S. Elkins, Vice-President; Andrew Willson, Secretary; C. L. Bartlett, Treasurer; C. C. Gardner, A. J. Jennings and John Meharg, Executive Committee. The same President and Secretary have held those positions since the organization of the society. The officers and members of the Agricultural Society recognize the aid of the Horticultural Society in reviving the county fairs, and making them truly successful. In many ways the society is exerting a whole some influence. The members feel that what has been done is but a prophecy of what may be accomplished, and are generally anxious to make the society as helpful to the purpose of its organization as is possible.