Randolph County, Missouri - Chapter 8: Characteristics and Customs of Pioneers, 1920

SELF-RELIANT AND BRAVJ: - FREE FROM PRIDE AND VANITY - GOOD WILD BETWEEN NEIGHBORS - MANY WELL-TO-DO - SLAVE OWNERS - PRODUCTS - FIRST HOMES - COOKING - GAME IN ABUNDANCE - THE PIONEER FAMILY - SUPPLIED THEIR OWN WANTS.

During the years preceding the organization of the county, for the settlers it was a time of self reliance and brave, persevering toil; of privations cheerfully endured in hope of a better time to come. The experience of one settler was just about the same as that of others. Most of the settlers were poor; they faced the same hardships and stood generally on an equal footing. They kept no record of events nor of the privations they were called upon to endure, nor of incidents in their lives nor happenings in the community that would be of interest at this time. They were too busily engaged in making history to preserve;) historical events. This is a matter of regret now, for it was then the corner stones of all the county's history and future prosperity were laid.

If these early settlers were poor they were free from pride and vanity, and the anxiety that attends the position of wealth. There were no fashion plates in those days and they were not concerned in dress nor display of that kind. Other people's eyes cost them nothing. They had few near neighbors but they were on the best of terms with those they had. There was no room for jealousy or strife to creep in. A common interest and a common sympathy bound them together. They were a little world to themselves, far removed from the east of the Mississippi, bound together by the consciousness of common hardships, attended with some peril and they must necessarily depend the one upon the other and make common cause in case of need. If disaster came to any one settler, if his cabin burned or was blown down, the neighbors assembled at once to assist the unfortunate to rebuild his home, as if they were members of the same family bound together by ties of blood.

What is said here with reference to Randolph County would hold good throughout the other settlements of that period within the state. The very nature of their surroundings made it necessary for them to dwell together in this spirit. They were thus living before there was an officer of the law in the county. The only protection each had was in the good will and friendship of his neighbors. The ill will of his neighbors justly merited would ostracize him and in the end drive him out of the community. The indignation of a pioneer community was more potent even than the law.

What we have said above is specially applicable to the first comers who settled in Randolph County prior to the admission of the state and shortly thereafter.

Every settler who came in the early days, however, was not penniless. In 1820 a census was taken in the state of Missouri and the population all told was 70,000. Of this total population, 12,000 in round numbers were negro slaves. The influx of population after the admission of the state brought many comparatively well-to-do men together with their families and oft times as many slaves as there were members in his family, into these river and contigious counties from Boone County to the then state line. This class, as a rule, bought farms improved or partially improved and oft times the pioneer seller would go farther back into the country and begin his pioneer life anew. The growing of hemp and tobacco with slave labor soon became a lucrative business and within a decade after Randolph County was organized and prior thereto in these river counties, comfortable houses were erected here and there, and wealth began to accumulate, not great fortunes such as we have today but competent ones that enabled the sons and daughters of the wealthier class to attend seminaries and colleges.

The first cabins erected in the county were temporary and less stable than the log houses that shortly took their places. To erect a log house required help, hence the preliminary cabin that must be raised by the unaided efforts of the settler was necessarily a make shift and of course endured for a few seasons only, until a more stable structure could be erected. No accurate description can be given at this late date of these temporary structures.

As the tide of emigration was strong after 1818, the community was speedily formed and log houses of one or more rooms were then erected. These were oft times rude enough. Some of the cabins were constructed of rough logs, notched and laid up one on top of the other, while others were constructed of hewn logs likewise notched and laid up and were generally a story and a half high, and all cabins alike were covered with clapboards, rived usually out of oak trees somewhat thicker than more than double the length of an ordinary . shingle. Many of the chimneys were made of sticks covered with clay, the fireplace being lined with stones. Cracks between the logs were chincked and daubed with mud so as to keep out both wind and rain. The doors of these cabins were usually hung on wooden hinges and secured when closed by a wooden inside latch lifted by a string through a hole in the door so that the door could be opened from the outside, and all that was required to lock the door was to pull in the string.

There were no mills in Randolph County when the first settlers eame, neither sawmills nor gristmills, and when planks were needed or when they were indispensable, they were sawed by hand, two men performing the work.

The cabin erected and the shelter thus secured for the family, the next work for the pioneer was to start his clearing so that bread could be had the following season. The trees were felled, or many of them, and the bodies converted into rails and the laps into fire wood for winter use. Enclosures were erected wherein to confine what livestock the settler possessed. Trees unfit for rails were deadened by cutting through the bark of the tree all the way around thereby girdling it, and all the brush on the clearing was burned. Of course the tree put out no leaves the following year and cutting down and converting the same into fire wood was the work of a later day. After the land to be cultivated was cleared and fenced, the amount of work to be done and the time required depended upon the size of the clearing. The settler was then ready to plow and plant. It goes without saying that the farmer and his sons had worked incessantly until the planting season came.

The family of the pioneer was seldom in want of food. The woods and prairies abounded in game. Elk, deer, bear, rabbits and squirrels innumerable could be obtained by the hunter. The pioneer was an ex- pert rifle shot as a rule, and fresh meat could be obtained in an hour's hunt. Game birds also abounded. Wild geese, ducks, wild turkey and prairie chickens could easily be found. Fur bearing animals, the beaver, otter, mink, raccoon and others were abundant and many a pioneer pet traps in winter and secured furs which were readily sold for cash.

The pioneer family like the neighborhood was necessarily based on the community plan. The pioneer must furnish the food and the material for clothing and shoes, while the pioneer's wife equally the head of the family in her department carded, spun, wove and made the clothing with the help of her daughters and servants, and also prepared and served the meals. There were times, no doubt, when the wives of the very early pioneers were compelled to card the wool as well as to spin and weave. Such carding was done by hand and just how this now seemingly impossible achievement was accomplished this writer will not attempt to describe. Mills to grind com and saw timber were indispensable and were early established. These mills were operated by water or horse power. The carding mill was equally indispensable and these were established here and there as promptly as were the sawmills. Thereafter the wool was taken to the carding machine, converted into rolls and the wives, daughters and women servants spun, wove, fashioned and made all the winter wear and likewise much if not all of the summer wear of flax or hemp. The summer wear of the family, especially the working clothes, was home spun, made of flax or hemp milled and was called "tow linen". A suit of homemade flax, skilfully milled, spun and woven and properly bleached, such as the farmers and their negro slaves wore in the antibellum days, would bring more on the market today fashionably cut, and would be much superior to the present palm beach suits both in durability and comfort. The wearing of homespun clothing did not end with the pioneer days, but continued until the Civil War and ended only when the slaves were freed.

There may have been differences of opinion and some bickering between man and wife in those days, but these old pioneers were usually prudent and sensible men, and having much to do themselves did what they were told to do, when in and about the house, by the other head ot the family. In any event, the early chronicles of Randolph County make no mention of a pioneer wife such as we have described deserting her pioneer husband and her family. The wife had too much responsibility to indulge in such pranks, besides, like Miss Betsy Trotwood's niece, she had no place to go.

The winter wear of the pioneer and his sons and servants was homespun jeans, cotton warp and all wool woof woven three or four ply. The only difference between the coat of the colored servant and the master was in the shape and color. The master's coat was usually dyed with indigo and was called blue jeans, while the suit of the servant and oftimes the working clothes of the other members of the family was dyed with walnut bark or made of wool from the backs of black sheep and was therefore brown.