302 - HISTORY OF WYANDOT COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS-PICTURE OF PIONEER LIFE.
THE UNUSUAL CONDITIONS ATTENDING THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY NAMES OF EARLY PIONEERS, AND DATE OF THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS- CABIN BUILDING-COOKING UTEN91LS AND TABLE WARE-FOOD-HABITS OF THE PIONEERS-EMPLOYMENT OF THE MEN - WOMEN'S WORK-DRESS OF THE PIONEERS-THEIR BOOKS--SENSE OF ISOLATION-HOSPITALITY-WHISKY-SCARCITY OF MONEY-OF THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE-PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS-WILD HOGS - GRADUAL IMPROVEMENTS.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
IN the course of events, over which those who were to become its pioneers exercised little or no control, the region now denominated Wyandot County was settled (as compared with most other districts) in a manner quite anomalous, yet in a way which is very easily comprehended when once explained. As already shown, the Indians, at the treaty held at the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lake in 1817, ceded to the United States Government all the lands remaining in their possession in the State of Ohio, except various small reservations then and there designated. Hence when it was agreed that the principal reservation of the Wyandots should have Fort Ferree at Upper Sandusky for its center, the central -and greater portion of the present county was reserved to its aboriginal owners. The small Wyandot reserve at the Big Spring, and the Delaware reserve lying south east of the reservation first mentioned, also encroached upon the limits of the county as now formed. therefore, all of the white settlements began upon the outskirts, so to speak-to the north, east, south and west of the chief Wyandot reservation-and in either direction, distant Seven to ten miles front Fort Ferree, the locality now known as the town of Upper Sandusky.
In 1919, Deputy United States Surveyors* Sylvanus Burns and Thomas Worthington ran out the townships and subdivision lines of the county, and the following year the lands not reserved to the Indians were offered for sale at the usual Government price per Sere. Prior to the sale of any of these lands, however, quite a number of " squatters " had settled near the reservation lines, chiefly for the purpose of trading with the Indians and to gather in the greater portion of annuity moneys paid the red men in exchange for poor whisky, bright calicoes, brass trinkets, etc., etc. From the date last mentioned until 1842, the whites within the present limits of the county, increased but slowly in numbers, yet, on the northern border-in the townships of Crawford, Tymochtee and Sycamore-quite populous communities were to be found, long before the removal of the Wyandots. However, by the purchase of the reservations of that nation, and the disposal of the same to individual owners, the population at once increased with astonishing rapidity. This is shown by the report of Col. Huber, Receiver of the Land Office at Upper Sandusky, who stated that
*Samuel Holmes, Deputy Surveyor General, performed much work in the county In 1836, and William Brown in 1843.
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from the lot of September, 1845, to January 1, 1846, he received for the sale of lands in Wyandot County the sum of $211,057.06.
Having thus briefly pointed out the rather unusual conditions under which the county was peopled by the whites, the following conclusions are reached: That a few " squatters " settled in the county, outside of the Indian reservations, about the year 1817; that the first lawful settlers became established in the same localities not earlier than 1820; that the first white settlements were not made within the reservation lines until after the year 1842, and but very few in the territory last referred to until 1845.
The original settlers of the county were chiefly of English and German origin. Forty years ago, the English element largely predominated, but at the present time it is probable that those of German birth or descent, as a class, outnumber all others. The reader will find sketches concerning many of the past and present residents of Wyandot in the township histories of this work, hence it is not purposed to enter into a repetition here; yet a small number of the pioneers are named in this connection, merely for the purpose of approximating the time when each township was first occupied by the white men.
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS.
Antrim--Jacob, John and Adam Coon, John Heckathorn, Jacob Snyder and Valentine Mutchler, all Germans, who came from Pickaway County, Ohio, and squatted on the Delaware Reserve in the spring of 1819, are believed to have been the first white men to attempt a settlement. Their location afterward became known as "Germantown."
Crawford-Daniel Hodges, who settled near the site of the present town of Crawfordsville, in 1821, was one of the first to locate in this township. Hon. John Carey became a resident in 1823, and he was soon followed by Thomas Gale, Jesse Gale, Samuel Ritchie, Jonathan Kear, Asa Lake, Thomas Wallace, Curtis Berry, Sr., and a number of others.
Crane--As this township was embraced by the Wyandot Reservation, its lands were not offered for sale until the latter part of 1845. Prior to that date, its residents were all located at the town of Upper Sandusky. See history of that town for a list of its inhabitants and lot owners in 1845.
Eden-Judge George W. Leith settled in what is now termed Eden Township in 1937. It had but a sparse population for a number of years, but among those who soon followed Mr. Leith to this then wild region were James Winstead, David Kisor, Z. P. Lee, John Horrick, John Leith, Solomon Brundige. Isaac Miller and Solomon York.
Jackson-Thomas C. Beaver settled in the township in 1826; John Abbott upon Section 3 in 1833, John Vanorsdall in 1834, John Flower and Jacob Dermiger in 1835, and William Fitch in 1837.
Marseilles-It is claimed that John Heckathorn, before mentioned as a "squatter" in Antrim Township, settled in the present township of Marseilles about the year 1828. Charles Merriman located on the site of the village about 1830, and Hugh Long in the same place in 1832.
Mifflin-Samuel M. Stansberry and family located within the present limits of the township in 1832. John Tanner, Daniel Straw, Israel Straw, Abraham -Clark, Wesley Davenport, Jabez Halstead and Martin Dickens were also among the early settlers. Dr. Cover was the first resident physician.
Pitt-Ebenezer Roseberry, a noted hunter and frontier sportsman, was the first to settle within the limits of the township, as now formed An-
304 - HISTORY OF WYANDOT COUNTY.
thony Bowsher found Roseberry here in the spring of 1819, and informs us that the letter had already been established two or three years, at least long enough to have caught and placed his private mark upon scores of the wild hogs. During the years 1819 and 1820, Anthony Bowsber, Peter Bowsher, William Morral, Walter Woolsey, John Wilson, Jacob Snyder, Jacob Brewer, Alexander Frazier, Samuel Morral, D. H. Bargley, Cornelius Wilson and John Wilson all settled just south of the reservation line in the vicinity of Little Sandusky.
Richland-Hescot Picket, the first settler of this township, established his residence on Section 28, in January, 1832. He came from Athens County, Ohio. Nathan Benjamin, from the same county, also settled here in 1832. The following year, Philip Colo. and Charles Smith became residents.
Ridge-It is claimed that Homan and Andrew Bates became the first residents within the present township about 1833. John Salyards, Daniel Spade, T. N. Shepherd, Isaac Wohlgamuth, the Starrs and Grindles were also early pioneers.
Salem-The first settler in this township was Ezra Stewart, a native of Connecticut, who settled upon Section 5 in October, 1831. He was followed by John Stewart in 1834, John Nichols and Arnold B. Inman in 1835, Daniel and Jacob Baughman and John B. Mann, or Mason, in 1836.
Sycamore-Samuel Harper settled in the township as now formed in 1821, and built the first dwelling-a log cabin. His sons who came with him were William, James, Samuel 0. and George. Samuel- Harper, Sr., had served as a Revolutionary soldier, and was wounded at Bunker Hill. He died in October, 1821. The Eyestones, Luptons, Kisors, Betzers, Pontius, Griffiths and 'Van Gundys were also early settlers.
Tymochtee-Henry Lish, of this township, and Ebenezer Roseberry, of Pitt, were the earliest settlers in the present county of whom any record has been preserved. Lish was a native of the State of Now York, and it is claimed that he settled on the site of the village of Tymochtee (where he soon after established a ferry over Tymochtee Creek) in 1816 or 1817, At his house the first election in the county was held on the let day of April, 1821. Thomas Leeper and family, from Ross County, Ohio, became residents in 1821, and soon after came Peter Baum, William Combs, Levi Bunn, -John Taylor and George Bogart. At an early day this was the most populous district within the limits of the present county. In 1850, its in. habitants numbered 1,817.
A PICTURE OF PIONEER LIFE.
The pioneers of Wyandot as a rule. after long and tedious journeyings over Indian trails or roads rudely improved, brought very little with them with which to begin the battle of life among Dew surroun4ings. They had brave hearts and strong arms, however, and possessed invincible determin. ations to hew out for themselves homes which should in time become the abodes of happiness and plenty. Sometimes the men came on without their families to make a beginning, but more often all came together. The first thing to be done, after a rude temporary shelter was provided, was to prepare a little spot of ground for the growth of some kind of crop. This was done by girdling -the large trees, clearing away the underbrush, and sweeping the surface with lire. The ground was then broken as thoroughly as possible with the few rude implements which the pioneer possessed. Ton, fifteen, twenty, or even thirty acres of land might be thus prepared
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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 chief supply of the pioneer and his family, and life and comfort depended upon its safe preservation.
While the first crop was maturing, cabin-building occupied much of the attention of the pioneer. He would need a shelter from the storms and cold of the approaching winter, and perhaps a protection from wild beasts. The pioneer who was completely isolated from his fellow-men, occupied a situation truly unenviable, for without assistance he could construct only a poor habitation. In such cases a small and rough cabin was constructed of very light logs or poles, or else a three sided, slopingroofed shanty was improvised. In front of the fourth or open side of the shanty or " camp," as it was sometimes called, a hugh fire of logs was kept burning, and this primitive structure was occupied until other settlers should come into the owner's neighborhood, by whose help a more substantial dwelling could be built. Usually a number of families came into the country together, and located within such distance of each other that they were enabled to perform many friendly and neighborly offices. After the first year or two from the time of the primal settlements, there was no difficulty in cabin. building. Assistance was always readily given a pioneer by all of the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several miles.
The site of the cabin home was usually selected with reference to a good water supply. It was often near a never failing spring, or if such could not be found in a location otherwise desirable, it was not uncommon to first dig a well. If water was reached, preparations were made for building near the well; if not. the search for a situation affording it was continued, but there was little trouble on this score in the territory now known as Wyandot County.
When the cabin was to be built, the few men in the neighborhood gathered at the site, and first cut down, within as close proximity as possible, the requisite number of trees, as nearly of a size as could be found, but varying often from ten to fifteen inches in diameter. Logs, generally from fourteen to sixteen feet in length, were chopped from these, and rolled to the common center, where they were to be used in building the home of the pioneer family. Often this preliminary work was performed by the prospective occupants alone. If such was not the case, it would occupy the greater part of the first day. The entire labor of erecting a good substantial cabin, would usually require two or three days. After the ground logs were laid, the others were raised to their places by the use of hand spikes and " skid poles," and men standing at the corners with axes, notched them as fast as they were laid in position. The place of " corner man " was one of honor and distinction, and the persons chosen for these positions were supposed to be particularly skillful in the use of the ax.
Greater difficulty attended the work after the cabin was built a few logs high. It was necessary that the logs in the gables should be beveled, and that each succeeding one should be shorter than that on which it rested. These gable logs were held in place by poles which extended across the cabin overhead, serving 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 logs, and made as smooth as possible. They were laid side by side, and other pieces of split stuff were laid over the cracks to keep out the rain.
The chimney was likewise an important part of the structure. In some
306 - HISTORY OF WYANDOT COUNTY.
cases it was made of stone, and in others of logs and sticks, laid up in a manner similar to those which formed the walls of the house, and plastered with mud. It was built outside of the house, and at one end. At its base a huge hole was cut through the wall for a fire-place. The back and sides of the latter were formed of large flat stones, when such could be procured, otherwise irregularly shaped stones, hold to their place by a slab wall locked around them, and covered with mud, were utilized.
An opening was chopped or sawed in one side of the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of hewn timber, three or four inches thick, were fastened on each side with wooden pins, or in rare instances with heavy iron nails, and these formed the frame on which the door (if there was one) was hung, either by wooden or leather hinges. The door itself was a clumsy piece of woodwork. It was made from a plank rived from an oak log, and hold together by heavy cross-pieces. -There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised from without by a string or thong of dear-shirk, which passed through a gimlet hole. From this mode of construction arose the old and well known phrase, indicating the hospitality of its inmates, "You will find the latch-string always out." When on rare occasions, it was pulled in, the door was considered fastened. Many of the pioneer cabins had no door of this kind until they had been occupied for years. Instead of the door on hinges, a blanket or some old garment was frequently suspended before the opening to guard the occupants of the cabin from sun or rain.
The window was a small opening usually near the door, and in most cases devoid of frame or glass. In lieu of the latter, greased paper was often used, in rare instances thin deer skin well greased, and sometimes an article of the housewife's limited wardrobe constituted a curtain. The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons. These were pieces of timber split from trees about twelve to eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth as possible with a broad-am They were usually half the length of the floor surface. Indeed some of the cabins earliest erected had nothing but earth floors. Occasionally there was one which had a cellarthat is, a small excavation under the floor- to which access was had By removing a loose puncheon. Very commonly the cabins were provided with lofts. The loft was used for various purposes, and among others as the "guest chamber," which pioneer hospitality was offered to the wayfarer and the stranger. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of sapling.
Although the labor of building a rough log cabin was usually performed in two or three days, the occupants were often employed for months in finishing and furnishing it. The walls had to be "chinked and daubed," various conveniences furnished, and a few rude articles of furniture manufactured. A forked stick set in the floor and supporting the ends of two poles, the other extremities of which rested upon the logs at the side and end of the cabin, formed the basis for a bedstead. A common form of table was a split slab supported by four rustic legs, set in auger holes. Threelegged stools were formed in similar simple manner. Pegs driven in auger holes in the logs of the wall supported shelves, and upon others were displayed the few articles of wearing apparel 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 a few simple articles in addition, formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer's cabin. In contrast with the rude furniture fashioned by the pioneer with his poor tools, there were occasionally a few souvenirs of " the old home."
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The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best of the latter were made of pewter, and the careful housewife of the olden time kept them shining as brightly as the pretentious plate in our latter-day fine houses. Knives and forks were few, crockery very scarce, and tinware by no means abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was, as a rule, of the best and most wholesome kind. The hunter kept the larder well supplied with venison, bear moat, squirrels, wild turkeys, and the many varieties of small game. Plain corn bread, baked in a kettle in the ashes, or upon a board or board chip, in front of the great, open tire-place, was a staple article of food. Corn was either pounded into coarse meal, or carried a long distance to mill to be ground. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. In the lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles making up the pioneer's materia medica-the herb medicines and spices-catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, wormwood and pennyroyal, each gathered in its season; and there were also stores of nuts, strings of dried pumpkin, with bags of berries and fruit.
Well water was generally drawn up with what is called a "sweep," which was a long, heavy pole, hinged in a fork at the top of a tall post, and a rope or chain attached at the end over the well, with the bucket. Water could be drawn more rapidly with this simple apparatus than with the windlass or any modem pump.
The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity which was in conformance with the character of their surroundings and belongings. The days were full of toil, both for man and woman. The men were engaged constantly in the rude avocations of pioneer life-cutting away the forest, logging, burning the brush and the debris, preparing the soil, planting, harvesting, and caring for the few animals they brought with them or soon procured. The little openings around the log cabins were constantly made larger and the sunshine year after year admitted to a larger area of the virgin soil, which had been growing rich for centuries, and only awaiting cultivation to give evidence of its fertility.
While the men were engaged in the heavy work of the field or forest, their helpmeets were busied with a multiplicity of household duties, providing for the day and for the year; cooking, making or mending clothes, spinning and weaving. They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. They were, as a rule, admirably fitted by nature and experience to be the consorts of the sturdy, industrious men who came into the wilderness of Western Ohio. Their cheerful industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work, like man's, in the years when this country was new, was performed under many disadvantages, which have been removed by modern skill and science, and the growth of new conditions.
The pioneer woman had not only to perform what are now known as household duties, but many which were removed in later years. She not only made clothing, but the fabric for it. Money was scarce, and the markets in which satisfactory purchases could be made were far away. It was the policy of the pioneer (urged by necessity) to buy nothing ;which could be produced by home industry. And so it happened that in- nearly all of the cabins was to be heard the drowsy sound of the softly whirring spinning wheel, and the rythmic thud of the loom, and that women were there engaged in those old, old occupations of spinning and weaving, which have been associated with her name in all ages but our own. They are
308 - HISTORY OF WYANDOT COUNTY.
occupations of which the modern world knows little, except what it has board from the lips of those who are grandmothers now. They are occupa. tions which seem surrounded with the glamour of romance as we look back upon them through tradition and poetry, and they invariably conjure up thoughts of the virtues and graces of the generations of dames and damsels of the olden time. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman of whom Solomon sang: " She seeketh wool and flat, and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." Almost every article of clothing, all 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 and trowsers, frocks, sheets and blankets. The linen and the wool. the " linsey-woolsey " woven by the housewife, formed nearly all of the articles of clothing worn by men and women.
These home fabrics were died with walnut bark, indigo, copperas, etc., and striped or checkered work was produced by first dyeing portions of the yarn their respective colors before it was put into the loom.
Nearly every farmer had a patch of from a quarter to half an acre of flax, which was manufactured into cloth by the family. The flax. before it was ready for spinning, had to be put through the process of " hackling " and " scutching," and the latter of these operations frequently furnished occasions for " bees," at which the people combined industry with merriment and sociability. Clothes entirely of home manufacture were almost universally worn during the early years, and the wearing of " store " clothes was thought by many to be an evidence of excessive vanity.
Men in the pioneer days commonly wore the hunting-shirt, a kind of loose frock reaching half way down the thighs, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot upon the chest. This generally had a cape, which was sometimes fringed with a piece of raveled cloth of a color different from that of the garment. The hunting-shirt was always worn belted. The bosom of the garment answered as a pouch in which could be carried the various articles needed by the hunter or woodsman. The shirt, or more properly, coat, was made of coarse linen, of linsey or doer-skin, according to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of doer. skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather. The doer-skin breeches or trousers were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet, were cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on, were almost as stiff as if made of boards. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. in crude form, each man being his own hatter until, a few years after the first settlements, men who followed hat-making as a trade came into the country and opened little shops, in which they made woolen hats.
The pioneer women were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buck-skin mittens or gloves, when any protection was needed for the hands. To a wardrobe of this kind were added a few articles obtained from some distant village, or brought from their old homes in the East. Nearly all of the women's wearing apparel, however, like that of the men was of home manufacture, and was made with a view to being comfortable anti serviceable. Jewelry was very rarely seen, but occasion ally ornaments were worn which likewise had been brought from former homes.
The Bible was to be found in the cabins of the pioneers almost as fre. quently as the rifle. In the cabins of some families, a few other books were occasionally to be met with, such as " Pilgrim's Progress," Baxter's
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"Saints' Rest," Hervey's " Meditations," Aesop's "Fables" and the like. long winter evenings were spent in poring over a few well-thumbed volumes by the light of the great log fire, or in knitting, mending, caring etc.
The pioneers had many discomforts to endure, and some dangers to enwhen Wyandot County was settled, the danger of Indian r ons ad passed away forever, but a vaguely defined apprehension existed in the minds of not a few of the first settlers, that they were not entirely secure in their forest homes. The larger wild beasts were a source of dread, and the smaller ones a source of much annoyance to those who first dwelt in this region. Added to this was the liability to sickness, which always exists in a new country. Then, too, in the midst of all the loveliness of their surroundings, there was a sense of loneliness which could not be dispelled, and this was a far greater trial to many men and women on the frontier of civilization, than is generally imagined. The deep-seated, constantly-recurring feeling of isolation made many stout hearts turn fond ly back to remembrance of the older settlements, the abodes of comfort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned.
However, the traveler always found a welcome at the pioneer's cabin. It was never "full." Although there might be already a guest for every puncheon, still there was "room for one more." If the stranger was in search of land, he was doubly welcome, and his. host would volunteer to show him all the first-rate claims in "this !ere neck of the woods," going with him for days, showing the corners and advantages of every " Congress tract" or unclaimed section within a dozen miles. To his neighbors, the pioneer was equally liberal. If a doer was killed, the choicest bits wore sent to them-a half-dozen miles away, perhaps. When a "shoat" was butchered, the neighbors were also kindly remembered, If a new-comer came in too late for " cropping," the neighbors would supply his table with the same luxuries they themselves enjoyed, and in as liberal quantity, until a new crop could be raised. Often the neighbors would also cut and hew logs, and haul them to the place of the new-comer's future residence, coneluding the jubilee task with a grand house-raising. The first night after completing the cabin, they would have a " house-warming " and a dance, as a sort of dedication. The very next day, the newcomer was about as wealthy as the oldest settlers.
As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled, the asperities of life were softened, its amenities multiplied. Social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The logrollings, harvesting and husking bees; the occasional rifle matches for the men, and the quilting parties for the women. furnished frequent occasions for social intercourse. Hospitality in the olden time was simple, unaffected and unbounded, save by the limited means of the people. Whisky was in common use, and was furnished on all festive occasions. Those of the settlers who could afford it, had a barrel stored away, and there were very few so poor that they could not have at least a jugful. The liquor at first in use was brought from the Monongahela country. It was the good old. fashioned whisky" clear as amber, sweet as musk. smooth as oil " that the octogenarians and monogenarians of today recall to memory with an unctious gusto, and a smack of the lips, which entirely outdoes the descriptive power of words. A few years after the first settlements were made, stills were set up in the large towns to supply the home demand, and corn whisky was manufactured, which, although not hold in as high esteem as the "old Monongahela'' was used in large quantities.
310 - HISTORY OF WYANDOT COUNTY.
Commercial transactions were generally carried on without money, that is, by exchanges of commodities, called "barter" in the books. In this system, sometimes, considerable ingenuity was displayed. When commod. ities were not even in value, credit was given. But for taxes and postage neither the barter nor the credit dodge would answer, and often letters were suffered to remain a long time in the post office for want of the 25 cents in money demanded by the Government. With all this high price on postage, by the way, the letter had not been brought several hundred miles in a day or two,. as now-a-days, and delivered within a mile or two of the person addressed; but it had been weeks on the route, and delivered, probably, at a post office five, ten or twenty miles distant. Peltries came nearer being money than anything else, as it became the custom to estimate values in peltries; thus such and such articles were worth so many peltries. Even some Tax Collectors and Postmasters were known to take peltries and exchange them for the money required by the Government. Orders on the store were abundant, and served as a kind of local money. When a day's work was done by a working-man, his employer would ask: "Well, what store do you want your order on?" The answer being given, the order was drawn, which was nearly always honored.
When the first settlers came into the wilderness, they generally supposed that their hard struggle would be principally over after the first year; but alas I they often looked for "easier times next year" for many years before realizing them; and then they came in so gradually and obscurely as to be almost imperceptible. The sturdy frontiersmen thus learned to bear hardships like soldiers on duty. The less heroic would sell out cheap, return to their old homes East and spread reports of the hardships and privations on the frontier, while the sterner class would remain and also take advantage of these partially improved lands thus abandoned, and in time become wealthy.
At one time, tea retailed at $2 to $3 a pound; coffee, 75 cents; salt, from $5 to $6 a bushel of fifty pounds; the coarsest calico, $1 a yard, and whisky, $1 to $2 a gallon, and all this at a time, too, when the poor pioneers had no money to buy with, except the little they sometimes obtained for peltries.
About 1837. a farmer would haul his wheat to Sandusky City, over swampy roads, requiring six to eight days to make the trip, and sell his grain for 60 cents a bushel. On returning, they brought out merchandise, at the rate of 50 cents a hundred weight.
Flour, for some time, could not be obtained nearer than Zanesville or Chillicothe. Store goods were very high, and none but the most common kinds were brought here, and had to be packed on horses or mules from Detroit, or wagoned from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, thence floated down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Scioto, and then packed or hauled up. The freight was enormous, often costing $4 a ton.
Bread, the "staff of life," was the most difficult of all to procure, as there were no mills in the country to grind the grain. The use of stump mortars and graters already referred to, were tedious and tiresome processes. A grater was a semi-cylindrical piece of thickly perforated tin, fastened upon a board, and operated upon as is anutmeg grater. The corn was taken in the ear, and grated before it got dry and hard. By and by a horse grist mill was put up here and there, and then water grist mills along the principal streams; but all these together could not keep pace with the demands of the rapidly growing settlements. When there was water
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enough to run the mills, the roads were too muddy and small streams too high for teaming and taking the grain to the mills. Horse mills were too slow, and thus the community had to plod their weary way along until steam flouring mills were introduced.
The implements used by the first farmers in this State would, in this age of improvement, be great curiosities. The plow was of the wooden mold-board, bar-share pattern, difficult to describe. The reapers were the sickle and the cradle. Harrows, with wooden teeth, were simply brash heaps dragged over the ground. Hoes were almost as heavy as grubbing hoes. Threshing machines were flails, or the grain was trodden out by horses or oxen. A sheet or quilt, with a stout person at each end to swing it simultaneously, sometimes constituted the fanning mill; or sometimes the grain and chaff would be dipped up with a pail, held aloft and slowly poured out, while the wind was blowing. Handbreaks were used for breaking flax and hemp.
When the earliest pioneer reached this Western wilderness, game was his principal meat, until he had conquered a farm from the forest or prairie. As the country filled up with inhabitants, game grew correspondingly scarce, and by 1840-50, he who would live by his rifle would have had but a precarious subsistence had it not been for "wild hogs." These animals -the descendants of those left by home-sick emigrants who had returned East-multiplied and thrived in a wild state, their subsistence being chiefly acorns, nuts sedge stalks, and flesh of carcasses and small vermin. The second and third immigration to the country found these wild hogs an unfailing source of meat supply for a number of years. In some sections of the West, they became altogether too numerous for comfort, and the citi. zens met, organized and adopted measures for their extermination.
Meanwhile, daring all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the area of tillable lands went steadily on, and true, the implements, as already mentioned, were few and of the most primitive kind, yet the soil which hold in reserve the accumulated richness of unnumbered centuries, produced splendid results. Although the development of the country and the improvement of individual condition was slow, nevertheless it was sure. Hence year by year, the log houses became more numerous, and the forest shrank away before the woodman's ax. The settlers brought stock into the country as they became able, and each one had his horses, oxen, cows, sheep and swine. Among the earliest evidences of the reward of patient toil were the double cabins of hewed logs, which took the places of the earlier hut like structures. Then frame houses began to appear, and hewed-log barns, and later, frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops. Simultaneously with the earliest -indications of increasing thrift, society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared, and 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. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past. The pioneers had made a way in the wilderness for the advancing hosts of the army of civilization.