Butler County, Alabama - Chapter 4, 1885

All Danger of Another Attack by the Indians Removed, and Peace Restored - The County Rapidly Settled by Emigrants from Georgia and South Carolina - TJie Year \%\g a Year of Great Prosperity to the Settlers - Some of the Customs of the Times.

News was received in October that the Indians had left this section entirely, and that there was no danger of further disturbance. These tidings brought great joy to the hearts of the settlers, who had remained in the forts the larger part of the year, enduring all the hardships of the fort life, and feeling great anxiety for the preservation of their lives from a bloody grave. They immediately returned to their cabins in the forest, and began to work with renewed energy, making preparations for the following year.

When the news was spread abroad over the land that peace had been restored in the Territory of Alabama, thousands of families from Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Kentucky, began to flock to this territory to find homes upon this fertile soil. A large number of those coming from Georgia and South Carolina stopped in the present locality of Butler County. This was in the latter part of i8i8 and the early part of 1819. About this time, the families of the DunkHns, Herberts, BoUings, Gray dons, Judges, Farmers, Hutchinsons, Burnetts, Pickenses, Smiths, Caldwells, Cooks, Waterses, Joneses, Dulaneys, Demings, Blacks, and Pickens, a large number of which settled near where Greenville was afterward built. They were soon followed by the families of the Carters, Arringtons, Peavys, Donaldsons, Joneses, Mannings, Levingstons, Crenshaws, Womacks, and others, who settled in different parts of the county.

All the land at that time belonged to the Government, and could be settled and cultivated by any person who so desired. Any one wishing to purchase land, could do so by going to the land office, which was then at Cahaba, on the Alabama River. There was nothing but a trailway to Cahaba at this early period ; a plain road was, however, cut in a few years. At first, the land agent would knock off different pieces of land to the highest bidder on certain days of sale ; and it very often occurred that a settler would lose his homestead, after spending several months of hard labor building the house and clearing the land around it. If he did not lose it, it frequently happened that some person would bid against him, and make him pay about two or three prices for his home. A case is reported of a settler, who had spent both time and money on his place, and who had to rebuild, after riding over a hundred miles on horseback, and spending several weeks on the road to

Cahaba - his place having been knocked off to another person who overbid him. Another settler, in the same neighborhood, seeing how his friend had been treated, determined that he himself should not suffer the same treatment ; and when his land was put up for sale, he mounted a barrel, with rifle in hand, and announced that he would put a ball through the first man that bid against him for his own land. His place was knocked off to him at fifty cents per acre without any opposite bidding from any of the bystanders. But this law was soon changed, so that no person could buy another person's land after it had been improved. The price of all the land was regulated by law at ;^i.25 per acre, for rich as well as poor. All were well pleased at this solution of the problem, and no further trouble was given to the people about their homes. Every family was soon provided with as much land as it desired, and was happy.

In these early days, the soil was very fertile, and money plentiful. The surface of the ground was perfectly loose, and yielded corn on the least attention. The settlers would kick a hole with the heel of their shoe, drop in a few grains of corn, cover it up, and would gather good corn by only hoeing it once. There being no horses, cows, nor hogs in the county when the settlers came, the range was magnificent. Cane, pea-vines, grasses of all kinds, covered the face of the earth. The people lived the pioneei life, having but little use for money. Their dress, being almost entirely made at home, was of a very common type. The houses of the settlers were of the lowest order of architecture. They were roughly built of logs and poles, and covered with boards, held on by poles and pegs, as there were no nails to be had in the savage land in those days. The floor was generally of dirt, packed hard with mauls, and dried. Sometimes they were made of puncheons, which were poles split in half, with the flat side turned up. The chimneys were constructed of logs, sticks and dirt, and sometimes of rocks. The old-fashioned spinning-wheel and loom were a part of every family's furniture. The men spent their time in hunting, exploring the country, and working some on the farm, while the women remained at home, looked after the children, spun and wove, cut out and made the garments, and cooked for the family.

There was no society at this time. Everything was work, although work to the adventurous settlers was nothing more than a pastime. They would frequently assemble to assist in a house-raising, a log-rolling, or a cotton-picking. These meetings were both social and business-like. All the men and women, both young and old, would be present; the men would engage in the harder part of the work, and the other sex would prepare a meal, a kind of feast, for the settlers. After the work was done, they would spend several hours in telling tales of an adventur- ous character, or of news from friends and relatives back in the old country. The few old settlers still living in the county, take great delight in telling some of these interesting and blood-curdling stories of early pioneer life. The author has collected a great many of these exciting narratives, but for want of space, will give only one in brief.

While a settler was out hunting, his dog bayed a bear in the cane-brake. The hunter, not knowing what it was, crawled along through the cane with his gun ready to fire on short notice. When he was within eight feet of the object, a large bear made at him, breaking the cane as it came, blowing and puffing as if mad. Being greatly surprised and frightened at the sight of so dangerous an animal so near, the hunter turned himself as quickly as possible to flee, but, in turning, his foot was caught in a bamboo, and in attempting to free himself, he fell headlong into a brook - the bear still coming on him, reaching out his claws and blowing. The faithful dog, seeing his master in such a predicament, seized the bear by the hind leg, and began to tear his flesh vigorously. The bear turned immediately upon the dog, and the hunter escaped without injury.

quently meet at some neighbor's house to engage in religious worship. A few chapters of the Scriptures being read, and a prayer or two offered, concluded the exercises, after which the settlers would spend some time in social and business conv'ersation. Some persons would walk six or eight miles to these meetings. The settlers never lived close together, and neighbored with families ten or fifteen miles distant. The men carried their guns with them at all times, and brought down a buck or a turkey wherever they happened to meet them, regardless of the day of the week, or the work they were engaged in, whether plowing, hoeing, going to meeting, a burial, a marriage, or visiting their friends - it was never out of order to lay up something for eating purposes. It was some time before many of the settlers regarded Sunday more than any other day, for every day of the pioneer Hfe is a kind of hohday or time of rest and recreation.

The early settler cared but little for money, and spent a very adventurous, easy-going sort of life, caring more for his rifle, ammunition, dogs, and the best stands for deer and turkeys, than for speculation in lands and any of the industries by which he could soon lay up a large fortune for his family. None of them ever accumulated a large amount of wealth, but all provided their families with a comfortable country living. The education of the children was, for several years, almost entirely neglected, and a great many of