Logan County, Illinois - Pioneer Incidents, 1911

Pioneer Incidents

The early settler brought with him little beside his axe and rifle, and both were absolutely indispensible to the new life in the new country. When he had selected his location and staked out his claim, his first attention was directed toward procuring a shelter for himself and family. If in the vicinity of others who had preceded him, he was readily welcomed to share their scanty accommodations, two, and frequently three families, together, occupying a cabin, with a single room. If far removed from neighbors, he had to occupy his covered wagon, cooking and eating in the open air, until shelter was provided. His first labor was to fell trees and rear himself and family a tenement. This was, at first, an unpretentious cabin built of logs and covered with shakes riven from the forest timber. The spaces between the logs were filled with split sticks of wood, called "chinks," and then daubed over, inside and out, with mortar made of clay. The floor oftimes consisted only of the earth, tramped hard and smooth, but more commonly made of "puncheons" or split logs, with the split side turned upward. The roof was made by gradually drawing in the top to the ridge pole, and on cross-pieces, laying the "clapboards," which, being several feet in length, instead of being nailed, were held in place by poles laid on them, called "weight poles," reaching the length of the cabin. For a fire-place, a space was cut out of the logs, at one side of the room, usually about six feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs, making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone, if convenient, if not, then with earth. The flue, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in length, carried a little space above the roof, and plastered over with clay, and when finished was called a "cat-and-clay" chimney. The door space was also made by cutting an aperture of the required size in one side of the room, the door itself being made of clapboards secured by wooden pins to two cross-pieces. The hinges were also of wood, while the fastening consisted of a wooden latch catching on a hook of the same material. To open the door from the outside, a strip of buckskin was tied to the latch and drawn through a hole, a few inches above the latchbar, so that on pulling the string, the latch was lifted from the catch or hook, and the door was opened without further trouble. To lock the door, it was only necessary to pull the string through the hole to the inside. The ceiling above was sometimes covered with pelts of animals, to add to the warmth of the cabin, and sometimes the inner bark of the bass wood was used for the same purpose. Over an opening in one side of the cabin, made by cutting out a portion of a log, sheets of strong paper, saturated in grease or oil, were carefully tacked, thus furnishing light to the interior.

Here the family lived and here guests and wayfarer were made welcome. The living room was of good size, but it was the whole proposition, - kitchen, bedroom and parlor, with flitches of bacon and rings of dried pumpkins, suspended from the rafters. In one corner were the loom and other implements used in the manufacture of clothing and around the ample fireplace was collected the kitchen furniture. The clothing lined one side of the sleeping apartment, suspended from pegs driven in the logs. Hemp and flax were generally raised and afew sheep kept and out of these the clothing for the family and the sheets and coverlets were made by the females of the house. Over the door was placed the trusty rifle and just back of it, the powder horn and the hunting pouch. A loft was sometimes made for a sleeping place or a storage room and reached by a ladder secured to the wall. Generally, the bedrooms were separated from the living room by sheets and coverlets suspended from the rafters. Familiarity with this mode of living did away with much of the discomfort, but as soon as the improvement could be made, there was added an additional room, making a "double log cabin." The first houses were all unhewn log cabins, but by 1840, story and a half hewed log structures began to appear. The furniture in the cabin corresponded with the house itself. The articles used in the kitchen were as few and simple as could be imagined. A "Dutch oven" or skillet, a long-handled frying pan, an iron pot or kettle, and sometimes a coffee pot, constituted the utensils of the best furnished kitchen. A little later, when a stone wall formed the base of the chimney, a long iron crane swung in the chimney place, which on its pothook, carried the boiling kettle or heavy iron pot.

The cooking was all done on the fire place and at the fire and the style of cooking was as simple as the utensils. Indian or corn meal was the common flour, which was made into "pone," or "corn dodger" or "hoe cake," as the occasion or variety demanded. The "pone" and the "dodger" were baked in the "Dutch oven," which was first set on a bed of glowing coals. When the oven was filled with the dough, the lid, already heated on the fire, was placed on the oven and covered with hot embers and ashes. When the bread was done, it was taken from the oven and placed near the fire to keep warm, while some other food was being prepared, in the same oven, for the forthcoming meal. The "hoe-cake" was prepared in the same way as the "dodger," that is, a stiff dough was made of meal and water, and, taking as much as could convenientl}"be held in both hands, it was molded into the desired shape, by being tossed from hand to hand, then laid on a board or flat stone, placed at an angle before the fire, and patted down to the required thickness. In the fall and early winter, cooked pumpkin was added to the meal dough, giving a flavor and richness to the bread not attained by the modern methods. In the oven, from which the bread was taken, the venison or ham was then friend, and, in the winter, lye hominy, made from the unbroken grains of corn, added to the frugal meal. For some years after settlements were made, corn meal formed the staple commodity for bread.

Clothing

The clothing of the pioneers was as plain and simple as their houses. Necessity compelled it to be in conformity to the strictest economy. The clothing taken to the new country was made to render a vast deal of service, until a crop of flax or hemp could be grown, out of which to make the household apparel. The prairie wolves made it difficult to take sheep into the settlements, but after sheep had been introduced, and flax and hemp raised in sufficient quantities, it still remained an arduous task to spin, weave and make the wearing apparel for an entire family. In summer, nearly all, male and female, went barefooted. Buckskin moccasins were much worn. Boys of twelve and fifteen years of age never thought of wearing anything on their feet, except during three or four months of the coldest weather in winter. Boots were unknown until a later generation. After flax was raised in sufficient quantities, and sheep could be protected from the wolves, a better and more comfortable style of clothing prevailed. Flannel and linsey were woven and made into garments for the women and children, and jeans for the men. The wool for the jeans was colored from the bark of the walnut. The black and white wool mixed, varied the color, and gave the name of "pepper-and-salt.'"' All the wool had to be carded by hand, on cards from four inches broad to eight and ten inches wide. Every household had its big and little spinning wheels, winding blades, reel, warping bars and loom. The preparations for the family clothing usually began in the early fall, and the work was continued on into the winter months, when the whirr of the wheels and the regular stroke of the loom, could be heard until a late hour of the night.

Agriculture

In the earlier settlements of this section, ponds, marshes and swamps abounded, where to-day are found cultivated and fertile fields. The low and flat places were avoided for the higher grounds, not only on account of the wetness, but for sanitary reasons. Agricultural implements were necessarily rude and the agriculture of a corresponding character. The plow used was called a "bar share' plow, the iron point of which, consisted of a bar of iron about two feet long and a broad share of iron welded to it. At the extreme point was a coulter, that passed through a beam, six or seven feet long, to which was attached handles of corresponding length. The mould-board was a wooden one, split out of winding timber, or hewed into a winding shape, in order to turn over the soil. As this plow would not "scour," the plowman had to carry along a paddle to clear off the plow, as he moved along. The average depth of this plowing was but from two to three inches. Markers being unknown, a man with a pair of horses and the "bar share," or breaking plow, which came later, laid off the rows, running below the breaking, the cross-rows having previously been made with a single corn plow. The dropper followed along behind, with the seed in a basket or bucket, and another man, with one horse and a shovel plow, ran in the side of the furrow and left a small ridge upon the seed. By this slow process, seven to ten acres could be planted in a day. A one horse "turning plow" or shovel plow was used to "tend" the crop. Twenty to twenty-five acres were all that one hand could take care of and the rule was to plow it three times. Thirty bushels to the acre was considered a fair crop, though hard workers made their land produce forty or even fifty bushels. To prepare for a crop of oats, in view of the fact that the previous year's corn stalks were usually plowed under, rendering the use of a harrow impracticable, the top of a tree was hitched to a team and the tree dragged over the ground.

even six or ten yoke, were used, with a plow that cut a furrow from two to three feet wide. The plow beam, which was from eight to twelve feet long, was framed in an axle, on each end of which was a wheel, sawed from an oak log. This held the plow upright. It was a heavy, unwieldy looking apparatus, but it did good work. Later, a smaller plow and a less numerous team were employed. It was found that the best time to break the sod, was when the grass was growing rapidly, as it would then decay quickly, and the soil soon be mellow and tractable. If broken too early, or too late, in the season, it often required two or three years to get the soil in a mellow condition. Very shallow plowing required less team and would mellow much sooner than

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY 107 deep breaking. The first crop was mostly corn, planted by cutting a gash with an axe into the inverted sod, dropping the corn and closing it by another blow alongside the first; or it was dropped in every third furrow and the furrow turned on it. Corn so planted, would, as cultivation was impossible, produce a partial crop, sometimes a full one. Prairie sod turned in June, would be in condition to sow with wheat in September, or to put in with corn or oats the spring following, Vines of all kinds grew well on the fresh-turned sod.

In the cultivation of wheat, the land was plowed the same as for corn, and smoothed by dragging brush over the ground or later, by a wooden-toothed harrow. The wheat was then sown broadcast by hand, at the rate of about a bushel and a quarter to the acre, and harrowed in with the brush. The implement used to cut the wheat was either a sickle or a cradle. The cradle was a scythe, fastened to a frame of wood, with long bending teeth or strips of wood and was used for cutting and laying the grain in swaths. There were few farmers who did not know how to swing the scythe or cradle. Three cradlers would cut about ten acres a day. One binder was expected to keep up with the cradle. As soon as the shock was supposed to be sufficiently cured, it was hauled to some place on the farm, convenient for threshing, and there put in stack. The threshing was performed by flail, or tramping with horses, generally the latter. The flail was used in stormy weather, on the sheltered floor, or when the farm work was not pressing; the threshing by tramping being usually done in clear weather, on a level and well tramped clay floor. The bundles were piled in a circle of about fifteen to twenty feet in diameter and four to six horses ridden over the straw. One or two hands turned over the straw and kept it in place. When sufficiently trampled, the straw was thrown into a rick or stack, and the wheat cleaned by a fanning mill, or before fanning mills were introduced, by letting it fall from the height of ten or twelve feet, subjected to the action of the wind, when it was supposed to be ready for the mill or market. In those days, a field of timothy or clover was a rare sight. The prairies yielded innumerable tons of hay, which could be had for the cutting.

In one respect the early settler had an advantage of the farmer of to-day. His crops were not injured by insects. There were no chinch' bugs, Hessian flies or weevil; no vine bugs, plant lice, potato bugs, or bee moths, to annoy the farmer, nor any insect to bore or sting his fruit. The prairie grass was set on fire each year, and all the country burned over, so that little hiding place was left for insect life, and the crops grew so rapidly on the new and fertile soil, that, if any pests existed, the damage they did was so small as not to be noticed. Chinch bugs first made their appearance about 1847 and rapidly increased, from

Mills And Milling

The want of convenient mills was one of the most serious disadvantages, with which the pioneer settlers had to contend. The crudest contrivance used to make corn meal was a plate of tin, pierced with nail holes so as to make one side rough, bent in the shape of a half circle and nailed to a clapboard, about three feet long by six inches wide. By rubbing an ear of corn on the rough side, meal was made, though in a slow and laborious manner. An improvement on this was the handmill, consisting of two mill stones, one above the other. A hole was made in the upper stone, in which was placed a staff of wood, which ran through a hole in a plank above. One or two persons took hold of this staff-and turned the upper stone as rapidly as possible. There was no hopper, but through an eye in the upper stone, the mill was fed with corn in small quantities. Another plan was to make a mortar, in which the corn was pounded into meal. A large, round log, three or four feet in length, was taken, and a cavity made at one end, of sufficient capacity to hold about a peck of corn. The log was then set perpendicularly in the ground and the cavity filled with corn. A weight attached to a sweep was then used to crush the corn. The weight was forced down by the hands and was raised again by the spring of the sweep pole. The band mill, with horse or oxen power, was a still greater improvement. A large, upright shaft, some ten or twelve feet in height, was constructed, with eight or ten long arms, let into the main shaft and extending out from it fifteen feet. Auger holes were bored at the end of the arms, in the upper side, into which wooden pins were driven. This was called the big wheel and was about thirty feet in diameter.

In one of his letters to the Old Settlers' Association, Christopher Ewing, now deceased, said: "The item of milling was most to be dreaded. My father made what he called a mortar, in which to make meal, by hollowing out a solid block of wood and making a pestle to fill the cavity. He fastened an iron wedge in the end of the pestle, which was attached to a sweep, with a round through it, at the proper height for the hand. At this grinder, thus roughly made, the boys would have to put in their idle time. Another mode for making meal was to make a grater out of tin. We often preferred these rude mills to going thirty or forty miles to a horse mill and wait for those ahead of us. The journey would often require three or four days' time. Flour was a rarity here, and when obtained was of a dirty, sandy color. This was caused by threshing the wheat on a ground flour, by driving horses over it. When it was cleaned, it was ground in one of these venerable horse-mills, then so few. Yet this was all we could afford. Biscuit was eaten once a week - on Sunday. The comfort of the settlers was somewhat advanced by the erection of Orendorft's grist mill. It was built on Sugar Creek and was since known as Morgan's Mill. The burrs were made out of lost rocks," as they were called, which were found scattered about over the prairie. They were undoubtedly brought here by the action of water, ages ago. They are very hard and durable, and are commonly known as "niggerheads." This mill was a great convenience to the Sugar Creek and Kickapoo settlers and had an extensive patronage. A water mill was erected on Salt Creek about the same time, but was useful only in high water time and was then not considered very safe. The first water mill in Logan County was built by John Glenn before the deep snow. The Orendorff mill would grind wheat, but the flour was not of the best quality."

The first horse mill in the county was built by James Latham, at Elkhart Hill, in 1822 and has been referred to before. A saw mill built on Sugar Creek by Daniel Loutis, in a very early day, was later converted also into a grist mill. Fred Ewing built a horse mill on Sugar Creek. I. R. Braucher and George Snyder had a mill on Salt Creek in the thirties. It was located on Section 32, in what is now Aetna township. John Vandeventer also had a mill on Salt Creek in what is now Chester township. What is known as the Rankin Mill at Rocky Ford probably dates from the thirties. The records of the county contain an index saved from the fire of 1857, in which is listed "articles of agreement for building a mill at Rocky Ford on Salt Creek," between Alexander Sample and Jesse Spencer, party of the first part and Jonathan Myers, party of the second part, and the same is dated May 26, 1845. This is probably the mill which still stands to-day at Rocky Ford, as a monument of other days. Subsequently the mill was operated by Leo W. Myers, who sold it in 1851 to Edmund Rankin, from whom it received the name by which it has been known in later years.

John Bucklers, now deceased, who came to what is now Logan County, with his parents, in 1822, in a monograph published by him in 1897, thus details some incidents of pioneer life, in this county, at an early day:

"The pioneer cabin was a rough example of architecture. The roof consisted of ragged clapboards, overlapping each other and held in place by poles tied together with strips of hide. The floor, if there was one beside the bare earth, was made of thick slabs called puncheons, hewn from the neighboring trees. The window, if there was one, was a small hole cut in the logs, through which light was admitted, by panes | of greased paper or cloth. The walls and hearth of the old fire place were made of clay pounded by hand, into a solid layer, about a foot thick, serving somewhat as a protection for the chimney, which was constructed of sticks, the crevices of which, like those of the cabin, were filled with mud. All cooking was done on hot embers, in the open fire place. In building a fire in one of these wood consumers, a large log, designated the back log, was placed in the rear part, and then a smaller one called the forestick, was placed at the opening, and between them was thrown the smaller wood. The back-log, varying in length from two to four feet, and in diameter from one to two feet, served both as a radiator and to protect the back wall. The forestick, in size about one-fourth that of the back-log, prevented the intervening wood from falling forward. The furniture of the cabin consisted of only a few of the most primitive hand-made articles. The beds were placed upon poles, held in position by supporting one end, in a crevice, between the logs of the cabin, and the other in a hole in a post, standing vertically on the floor, and ropes crossing from pole to pole served the purpose of slats. Chairs of hickory bottom and a table made of slabs completed the household furniture.

"The corn, there being no grist mills near, in those days, was ground or crushed in a special hewed cavity in a log, by a wedge attached to a spring pole. This cavity, in shape, was similar to an inverted hollow pyramid, having an altitude of ten or twelve inches and a base with like dimensions. After the corn was partially crushed, it was sifted through a perforated deer hide, the coarser part being used for hominy and the finer for corn bread, the staple food of the hardy pioneer. These early children, - now old men, if living - were rocked in cradles of similar construction, made by splitting in halves a hollow log. To this, no rockers were attached; in order to give the cradle motion, it was rolled to and fro on the floor. No cabin home was complete without several bee hives, and honey was often used for sweetening purposes, though maple sugar was made in large quantities every spring. In the months of February and March, in every maple grove, could be seen the busy pioneer family, collecting sugar water and boiling it down, into syrup and sugar. Bee hunting was pursued as a favorite pastime, and friends and neighbors vied with each other in finding bee trees. In those days, the young people enjoyed a corn husking instead of the masquerade ball or the social musical party. The farmer having gathered his year's crop of corn, with husks attached, invited all friends to be present at his corn husking. If, today, like invitations were sent out by the farmer, he would doubtless receive only letters of regret; but, in those days, it was different, for, at the appointed time, the friends, for miles around, would come. At a word from the host after the corn had been divided into two equal heaps and the company into rival forces, the fun began and corn and husks could be seen flying in all directions. At night, after the husking was completed, an old time dance followed, in which young and old alike enjoyed themselves.

"The country being infested by wild beasts, sheep raising was almost a failure; yet each family secured enough wool from their little flock of sheep to keep them in clothing. Cotton and flax were raised for various purposes and the cotton was ginned by hand. (The raising of cotton in Logan County, prior to the deep snow, a fact not generally known, is referred to at greater length in another chapter. - Editor. ) Cotton and wool were by hand carded, spun, woven, colored and made into garments, and flax was treated in the same primitive manner. Wolves were so numerous and troublesome, that bounties of corn were offered to the men producing the greatest number of scalps and my father, at one time, secured first prize, 250 bushels of corn, for thirteen scalps. Wild cats and catamounts were also numerous in the woods, and much harm and anxiety to the stockman were caused by their presence. So abundant were deer, in this early day, that they were to the pioneer, as meat, what the cattle of today are to the farmer, Of the wild game that once roamed unmolested, there only remains the cunning fox, very scarce, the prowling raccoon and the chattering squirrel, by the wayside. The young man of early days, instead of courting the fair sex in a parlor, with drawn curtains, was wont to place his chair, at no great distance from his ideal, in a one-room log cabin. Here he passed the evening alternately talking and whispering to his loved one, as the occasion seemed to warrant, the quietude being broken only by an occasional sigh or a lusty snore from some member of the family who lay dreaming in the same room. This one room, the mother's kitchen, was also the daughter's parlor, as well as the sleeping room for their children.

"For lighting purposes, tallow candles were generally used; but oftentimes, a turnip, hollowed, scraped and filled with grease, in which a strip of cotton cloth was placed, with one end overhanging the edge, and lighted, served the same purpose. The pioneer's first wagon was made by himself, from the trees of adjacent woods, and constructed with no tools but a saw and an axe. The wheels, the most difficult part of the wagon to make, were circular blocks, sawed from the end of a large log. At the hubs, these were about a foot in diameter, and gradually decreased until about three inches across at the rim. This clumsy wagon was nevertheless found very convenient, for, previous to its introduction, the pioneer, like the red man, used the horse as a beast of burden. The wagon, if not properly oiled, was an annoyance to the entire neighborhood, and a terror to all wild animals. There being no undertaker's goods near at hand in the year 1826, at the death of

Mrs. Sarah Finders, a sister to Jeremiah Birks, and one of the first pioneers, if not the first, dying in Logan County, her coffin was made by friends, from a walnut tree. A cavity, just large enough to admit the body, was hewn in the log, and boards fastened with wooden pins, | all from the same tree, were used for a covering. She was buried in the old Turley graveyard, now known as the Carlyle cemetery. The early settlers were sober-minded, pious men and women, and though houses were hard and difficult to build, each denomination had its log cabin church. Revivals and camp meetings were more in vogue then than today, and oftentimes they continued for weeks, day and night. Before they had time to erect churches, religious services were held in the pioneer homes."'

In a prior letter, written to the Old Settlers' Association, by Mr. Buckles, in 1880, he also said: "I was reared in a log cabin, constructed without a nail or a board, and the chinks between the logs were the only windows. Of the present luxuries, we had none. I never saw a cook-stove, until I was nearly grown. The cooking was done at the fire place, which was about half the width of the cabin, and which took logs for fuel that we were obliged to roll in at the door. Our cooking utensils were mainly the pot and the gridiron, and the kettle oven, in which to bake bread. We had no machinery of any kind, except the loom and the spinning wheel. With these we manufactured the cloth from which our clothes were made. Work was performed by main strength, and with bare hand, and our bread was truly earned by the sweat of our brow. It was a rare thing to see a man with a pair of boots." Charles S. Capps, of Mt. Pulaski, in a similar letter to the Old Settlers' Association, in 1878, said: "People lived in a very primitive manner in those times. The clothing was mostly homespun and home-made. Instead of coats we had hunting shirts and 'warmuses,' as they were called, a kind of loose blouse made of home-made jeans or linsey. Many of the farmers made their own shoes and all did their own cobbling. The women and children were clothed mostly in home-made linsey and flannel. A few had calico dresses made as narrow as the 'pull-backs' of the present day, for in those times, six yards was all that was required for a lady's dress. Sunbonnets made of calico and pasteboard were the prevailing headdress. Shoes were rarely used in summer, except to meeting or for visiting. Bread, cakes and pies were baked in iron ovens, with legs to give room for coals beneath, and a lid with a rim to hold coals on top. This and a skillet for frying meat, a dinner pot and a tea-kettle constituted the outfit of our mother for cooking. Game was plenty and cheap. I boarded with a family one term of school, whose daily bill of fare was corn dodgers without butter, fat bacon fried in grease and rye coffee minus the sugar, but we had good appetites and enjoyed it."

Prairie Fires

Another pioneer incident, often of exceedingly serious consequences, was the prairie fire. The yearly burning of the heavy annual growth of grass on the prairie, which had occurred from time immemorial, either from natural causes or from being set by human hands, was continued after the white settlers came, and was the source of much annoyance, apprehension and frequently of severe loss. From the time the grass would burn, which was soon after the first frost, until the surrounding prairie was all burned over, or if not all burned, until the green grass in the spring prevented further progress of fire, the early settlers were continually on the watch. When the ground was covered with snow, or during rainy weather, the apprehension was quieted. A statute prohibited setting the prairie on fire, under heavy penalties, with liability in an action of trespass for damages accruing, but convictions were seldom effected, as the proof was difficult. Various means were resorted to for protection. A common one was to plow, with a prairie plow, several furrows, around a strip several rods wide, outside the improvements and then burn out the strip. Another was to wait until the prairie was on fire and then set fire outside, reserving the strip for a late burn, that is, until the following summer, and in July burn both old grass and new. The grass would start immediately and the cattle would feed it close in preference to the older grass, so that the fire would not pass over it the following autumn. This process repeated, would soon, or in a few years, run out the prairie grass, and in time, it would become stocked with blue grass which would not burn to: so great an extent. All this required time and labor, and even these: precautions were futile, as against a prairie fire driven by a high wind. This would leap all barriers and put human effort at defiance. The early settlers ever had vivid recollections of thc grand illuminations nightly exhibited in dry weather. The whole horizon would be lighted up around its entire circuit. A heavy fire, even six or seven miles away, would afford sufficient light on a dark night to enable one to read print. When a fire had passed through the prairie, leaving the long lines of side fires, like two armies facing each other at night, the sight must have been grand. If one's premises were securely protected, he could enjoy such an exhibition; but if his property was exposed, the sublimity of the scene was lost in the apprehension of danger.