Pioneer Life in Warren County, Ohio

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The History of Warren County, Ohio

Pioneer Life

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Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 28 Oct 2004

Sources:
The History of Warren County Ohio
Part III, The History of Warren County
Chapter IV. Pioneer History
(Chicago, IL: W. H. Beers Co, 1882; reprint, Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publications, 1992)
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A truthful account of the mode of life among the early settlers of the Miami forests cannot fail to interest and instruct. As the backwoods period recedes, its interest increases. It is to be regretted that more of the traditions of the pioneers, giving homely but faithful pictures of the every-day life of the early settlers have not been preserved. Their recollections of their journeys from the older States over the Alleghany Mountains, the flat-boat voyage down the Ohio, the clearing in the wilderness, the first winter in the rude cabin and the scanty stores of provisions, the cultivation of corn among the roots and stumps, the cabin-raisings and log-rollings, the home manufacturing of furniture and clothing, the hunting parties and corn-huskings, their social customs and the thousand scenes and novel incidents of life in the woods, would form a more entertaining and instructive chapter than their wars with the Indians or their government annals. Far different was the life of the settler on the Little Miami from that of the frontiersman of today. The railroad, the telegraph and the daily newspaper did not then bring the comforts and luxuries of civilization to the cabin-door of the settler; nor was the farm marked out with a furrow and made ready for cultivation by turning over the sod.

Clearing of the land

The labor of opening a farm in a forest of large oaks, maples and hickories, was very great, and the difficulty was increased by the thick growing spice bushes. Not only were the trees to be cut down; the branches were to be cut off from the trunk, and, with the undergrowth of bushes, gathered together for burning. The trunks of the large trees were to be divided and rolled into heaps and reduced to ashes. With hard labor the unaided settler could clear and burn an acre of land in three weeks. It usually required six or seven years for the pioneer to open a small farm and build a better house than his first cabin of round logs. The boys had work to do in gathering the brush into heaps. A common mode of clearing was to cut down all the trees of the diameter of eighteen inches or less, clear off the undergrowth and deaden the larger trees by girdling them with the ax and allowing them to stand until they decayed and fell. This method delayed the final clearing of the land for eight or ten years, but when the trunks fell they were usually dry enough to be burned into such lengths as to be rolled together

Dwellings & Furniture.

The first dwellings of the settlers were cabins made of round logs notched at the ends, the spaces between the logs filled in with sticks of wood and daubed with clay. The roof was of clapboards held to their places by poles reaching across the roof called weight-poles. The floor was of puncheons, or planks split from logs, two or three inches in thickness, hewed on the upper side. The fire-place was made of logs lined with clay or with undressed stone, and was, at least, six feet wide. The chimney was often made of split sticks plastered with clay. The door was of clapboards hung on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch. The opening for the window was not unfrequently covered with paper made more translucent with oil or lard. Such a house was built by a neighborhood gathering with no tools but the ax and the frow, and often was finished in a single day. The raising and the log-rolling were labors of the settlers, in which the assistance of neighbors was considered essential and cheerfully given. "When a large cabin was to be raised, preparations would be made before the appointed day; the trees would be cut down, the logs dragged in and the foundation laid and the skids and forks made ready. Early in the morning of the day fixed, the neighbors gathered from miles around; the captain and corner-men were selected, and the work went on with boisterous hilarity until the walls were up and the roof weighted down.

The cabin of round logs was generally succeeded by a hewed log-house more elegant in appearance and more comfortable. Indeed, houses could be

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made of logs as comfortable as any other kind of building, and were erected in such manner as to conform to the taste and means of all descriptions of persons. For large families, a double cabin was common; that is, two houses, ten or twelve feet apart, with one roof covering the whole, the space between serving as a hall for various uses. Henry Clay, in an early speech on the public lands, referred to the different kinds of dwellings sometimes to be seen standing together, as a gratifying evidence of the progress of the new States. "I have," said he, "often witnessed this gratifying progress. On the same farm you may sometimes behold, standing together, the first rude cabin of round and unhewn logs, and wooden chimneys; the hewed-log house chinked and shingled, with stone or brick chimneys; and lastly, the comfortable stone or brick dwelling, each denoting the different occupants of the farm or the several stages of the condition of the same occupant. What other nation can boast of such an outlet for its increasing population, such bountiful means of promoting their prosperity and securing their independence? "

The furniture of the first rude dwellings was made of puncheons. Cupboards, seats and tables were thus made by the settler himself. Over the door was placed the trusty flint-lock rifle, next to the ax in usefulness to the pioneer, and near it the powder-horn and bullet-pouch. Almost every family had its little spinning-wheel for flax and big spinning-wheel for wool. The cooking utensils were few and simple, and the cooking was all done at the fire-place. The long winter evenings were spent in contentment, but not in idleness. There was corn to shell and tow to spin at home, and the corn-huskings to attend at the neighbors. There were a few books to read, but newspapers were rare. The buckeye log, because of its incombustibility, was valuable as a back-log, and hickory-bark cast into the fire-place threw a pleasing light over a scene of domestic industry and contentment.

Wearing Apparel

The wearing apparel was chiefly of home manufacture. The flax and wool necessary for clothing were prepared and spun in the family, cotton being comparatively scarce. Carding wool by hand was common. Weaving, spinning, dyeing, tailoring for the family were not unfrequently all carried on in the household. Not a few of the early settlers made their own shoes. Wool dyed with walnut bark received the name of butternut. Cloth made of mixed linen and wool, called linsey, or linsey-woolsey, of a light indigo blue color, was common for men's wear. A full suit of buckskin with moccasins was sometimes worn by a hunter, but it was not common. A uniform, much worn in the war of 1812 is described as consisting of a light blue linsey hunting-shirt with a cape, the whole fringed and coming half-way down the thigh, a leather belt, shot-pouch, powder-horn, a large knife and tomahawk, or hatchet, in the belt and rifle on the shoulder. The author of the history of Miami County says he has seen Return J. Meigs, Governor of Ohio, and Jeremiah Morrow, United States Senator, and other high officials, wear this hunting-shirt while on frontier duty during that war.

Horseback Travel

With the early settlers, almost the only modes of locomotion were on foot and on horseback. The farmer took his corn and wheat to mill on horseback; the wife went to market or visited her distant friends on horseback. Salt, hardware and merchandise were brought to the new settlements on pack-horses. The immigrant came to his new home not unfrequently with provisions, cooking utensils and beds packed on horses, his wife and small children on another horse. Lawyers made the circuit of their courts, doctors visited their patients and preachers attended their preaching stations on horseback. The want of ferries and bridges made the art of swimming a necessary quality in a saddle-horse. "Is he a good swimmer? " was a common question in buying a horse for the saddle. Francis Dunlevy, as President Judge of a district embracing

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ten counties, made the circuit of his courts on horseback, never missing a court and frequently swimming his horse over the Miamis rather than fail of being
present.

In 1803, when Jeremiah Morrow was called to the national capital as the first Representative in Congress from Ohio, he made the journey on horseback, taking with him his wife and their two children, aged, respectively, three years and eighteen months, to the residence of Mrs. Morrow's parents in the old Redstone country in Pennsylvania. Leaving his wife and children at the home of her parents until the close of the session, he continued his journey over the mountains to Washington. For sixteen successive years did Mr. Morrow make this annual horseback ride from his home on the Little Miami to attend the sessions of Congress. The journey was more trying on the strength and endurance of the horse than the rider. Especially was the return homeward in the spring slow and difficult. The forests kept the roads moist longer than they now remain, and in the fresh condition of the soil they often became almost, impassable. With one favorite and hardy horse, Mr. Morrow made twelve trips over the Alleghanies. But this was exceptional. With no other horse he owned was it deemed advisable to attempt a third journey.

Horse Thieves

The country was infested with horse-thieves. The unsettled condition of the country made the recovery of stolen horses very difficult. The horse-stealing proclivity of the Indians was one of the chief causes of the hatred of the early settlers toward the red men; but, after all depredations by the Indians had ceased, the farmers continued to suffer much from horse-thieves, who were believed to be often organized into gangs. The great value of the horse and the difficulty of recovering one when run away, caused the pioneer to look with malignant hatred upon the horse thief. The early Legislatures were composed almost entirely of farmers, and they endeavored to break up this kind of larceny by laws inflicting severe penalties corporal punishment, fines, imprisonment and even mutilation. The following is the penalty for horse-stealing prescribed in an act passed in 1809: "The person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, for the first offense, be whipped not exceeding one hundred and not less than fifty stripes on his naked back, and on conviction of each succeeding offense of a like nature shall be whipped not exceeding two hundred nor less than one hundred stripes on his naked back; for the third offense shall have both ears cropped, and in either case shall restore to the owner the property stolen or repay him the value thereof, with damages, in either case, and be imprisoned not exceeding two years, and fined not exceeding $1,000 at the discretion of the court; and be ever after the first offense rendered incapable of holding any office of trust, being a juror, or giving testimony in any court in this State."

Ear-cropping was prescribed for no other offense, and, as it was the penalty for the third offense of the horse-stealer, it is doubtful if it was ever actually inflicted in Ohio. The railroad and the telegraph, by affording the means for the more certain detection of the criminal and the recovery of the stolen property, did more to put down this crime than the most severe penalties.

Copper Distilleries

The little copper distillery was to be found in most neighborhoods throughout the county. Rye and corn whisky was a common drink. It was kept in the cupboard or on the shelf of almost every family, and sold at all the licensed taverns, both in the town and country. The early merchants advertised that good rye whisky, at 40 cents a gallon, would be taken in exchange for goods; houses and lots were offered for sale, flour or whisky taken in full payment. It was a part of hospitality to offer the bottle to the visitor. Whisky in a tin-cup was passed around at the house-raising, the log-rolling and in the harvest field. It is a mooted question not easily settled whether intemperance was more common then than now. That the spiritous liquors of those days were

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purer is admitted, but the notion that they were less intoxicating seems not to have been well founded. Excess in drinking then as now brought poverty, want and death. The early settler with the purest of liquors could drink himself to death.

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