Part 3 of 3, containing Chapters 30 - 48
to Part 1 of 3, Chapters 1 - 20
to Part 2 0f 3, Chapters 21 - 29
Call Number: CS71.K98
Title: History of the Kuykendall Family Since Its Settlement in Dutch New York in 1646
Author: George Benson Kuykendall
This book contains the genealogy and history of the Kuykendall family of Dutch New York.
Bibliographic Information: Kuykendall, George Benson. The Kuykendall Family.
Kilham Stationery & Printing CO. Portland, Oregon. 1919.
Copyrighted 1919
History of
THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
Since its Settlement in
Dutch New York
in 1646
WITH GENEALOGY
As Found in Early Dutch Church Records
State and Government Documents
TOGETHER WITH
Sketches of Colonial Times, Old Log Cabin Days,
Indian Wars, Pioneer Hardships, Social Customs, Dress and
Mode of Living of the Early Forefathers
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
-by-
GEORGE BENSON KUYKENDALL, M. D.
KILHAM STATIONERY & PRINTING CO.
PORTLAND, OREGON
1919
DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER
JOHN KUYKENDALL
Whose kindness, solicitude, watchcare and guiding hand, during the tender years of childhood and youth, whose fatherly counsels during young manhood, directed my purposes and kept me from straying. The memory of his nobility of character, his unswerving rectitude of principle and purpose, his devotion to right and splendid example, have been the guiding star of my life.
As time has sped by, as the world, times and men have changed, his character and life have towered, as a great lighthouse, above the mists of the years, and illumined the voyage of my life. To him, to whom I owe the most of all I have ever been, or ever accomplished, of worth to myself or the world, I inscribe this volume,
In grateful rememberance.
CHAPTER CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Considerations. Object of this work--General indifference to family history--Kuykendall history covers a long time and wide area--Author's recollections of the past--Usual dryness of genealogy--Connecting up events in family history with contemporary events.
CHAPTER II.
Story of Search After History and Genealogy of Kuykendall Family. More than genealogical facts given--Author's knowledge of the family history--Family traditions--Sending searching party to Virginia--Difficulty in getting data--Holland Society of New York--Findings of its genealogist. Mr. Versteeg--Mr. Nearpass and "Church Life"--Mr. Stickney and Mr. Van Sickle--Ancient Kuykendall Deed--Sale of first ancestor's home at Fort Orange, N. Y.
CHAPTER III.
Origin of the Name Kuykendall. Its meaning and derivation--The name is Dutch--Traditions in regard to name--Mr. Van Laer's suggestions--Roosevelt and Kuykendall names formed similarly--Given names in the Dutch records.
CHAPTER IV.
Changes in the Name Kuykendall and How They Came. Different forms found in the old records--How some of the descendants explain the changes--Autographic signatures of some of the early Kuykendalls--Conclusions drawn from the manner of spelling the name.
CHAPTER V.
Fort Orange New York, When Kuykendall Ancestor Came. Rensselaer's settlements--Description of Fort Orange at that time--Location of first ancestor's home--The old church, the bell and pulpit, at Fort Orange.
CHAPTER VI.
Dutch Reformed Church Records. What are they--Their value to Kuykendall family--Manner of keeping them--Minisink, Deerpark, and Walpack records.
CHAPTER VII.
Other Notes Connected With Early Kuykendalls. The first Dutch church of New York--Pre-American Kuykendall's home was in Gelderland, Holland--Marriage of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal--His children--The Tietsoort family--Marriage of Jacob Kuykendall.
CHAPTER VIII.
Children of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal. Record of their baptism, as found in New York Dutch Records. Comment on his family record--Facts concerning his children's lives--Jacob Kuykendall's family record--Jacob with surveying party on Susquchanna--Further history--Reminiscences of George Labar.
CHAPTER IX.
The Family of Jacob Kuykendall. Minisink Island and the country around--Dutch ox carts--Wolves, panthers, and wildcats--Old home of Ks charming yet--Johannes Kuykendall marries Elizabeth Brink--Old cabin of John K--Millrace and masonry--Excerpts from Journal of House of Burgesses--Old deeds and records--Family record of Johannes Kuykendall, The Four Brothers in Indiana--Around old Vincennes, Indiana.
CHAPTER X.
The Four Brothers, Continued From Last Chapter. Peter (5), eldest of Four Brothers--What we know of him and descendants--Daniel (5) of the Four Brothers--His descendants.
CHAPTER XI.
Descendants of Henry Kuykendall (5), Youngest of Four Brothers. Marriage--Settlement--Mill building and other activities--Family record--Henry's sons George, John, and activities--James Wesley, son of Henry--Biographic sketch.
CHAPTER XII.
Descendants of Jacob Kuykendall, Continued. Jacobus (3), (James), son of Jacob--His children's baptismal record--Benjamin (3), son of Jacob--His public activities--Connection with early Virginia courts--Benjamin's death--Will and mention of children's names.
CHAPTER XIII.
Nathaniel Kuykendall 1st and Descendants. Nathaniel's life in Virginia--His family record--Nathaniel's descendants--Dr. Jacob Kuykendall of Vincennes, Indiana--Other Nathaniel descendants--Some of later generations--Biographic sketches--Captain Isaac Kuykendall and descendants.
CHAPTER XIV.
Cornelius Van Kuykendaal, Family Record and Comments. Short recapitulation--Cornelius' family baptismal record--Analysis and comments thereon--Leur, son of Cornelius, marries Lena Consalisduk--The name Manuel--The Gunsaulus family--Descendants of Cornelius.
CHAPTER XV.
Mattheus and Arie Van Kuykendaal. Birth and marriage of Matthew--Arie--His connection with the Quick family--Thomas Quick, Sr.--His murder by the Indians--Baptismal record of Arie Kuykendall's children--His daughter marries Roelof Brink--The Brink family--Recapitulation and remarks.
CHAPTER XVI.
Pieter Van Kuykendaal and Descendants. The family record--Marriage to Femmetje Decker--The Decker family--Early times at the old Kuykendall home--Moses Coykendall and descendants--Samuel Decker Coykendall, capitalist and philanthropist--Other descendants of Pieter--Recent prominent Coykendalls.
CHAPTER XVII.
Pieter Kuykendal Descendants, Continued. Those who lived about Sussex, New Jersey--Others about Port Jervis, N. Y.--The Wilhelmus branch--About the Mamakating regions--Burial place of Wilhelmus Kuykendall and wife--Pieter's descendants in Cayuga county New York--Old deed for slave--Further Pieter Kuykendal family data.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Correspondence from Kuykendall Descendants. Regions where the first Kuykendalls lived--Letters from Western Virginia Kuykendall descendants--From John A. Kuykendall--From his daughters--Some Illinois and Indiana correspondence.
CHAPTER XIX.
Southwestern Kuykendalls and Correspondence. Remarks preceding letters--Kuykendalls in early Carolina history--Excerpts from North Carolina Colonial Records--Activities of N. C. Kuykendalls near Rock Hill and Yorkville, South Carolina--Letters from Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and other states--Correspondence of Judge W. L. Kuykendall, and son, John M.--Biographic sketches.
CHAPTER XX.
Southwestern Correspondence, Second Series. Letters from Tennessee--and Texas descendants--Kentucky and other correspondence--Early Kentucky settlers--Trials and hardships--Moses Kuykendall and descendants--Summary and comments.
CHAPTER XXI.
Descendants of Kuykendalls who Settled in Southern Indiana and Illinois. General considerations--Grouping of letters--Vienna and Carmi, Illinois, Kuykendalls--White River, Indiana, early settlers.
CHAPTER XXII.
Texas Kuykendalls--Captain Abner Kuykendall first of family in Texas--Early pioneer struggles--Excerpts from early Texas history--Death of Captain Abner Kuykendall--Judge William Kuykendall of Tilden, Texas--His narration of family history--Benjamin Straysner Kuykendall, sketches and incidents by himself and others.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Kikendalls and Kirkendalls. Most Kikendalls trace back to New Jersey--Kikendall letters from Michigan--Washington state--Kentucky--Illinois--and other states. Change of name from Kikendall to Kirkendall--Letters showing ancestry of the two branches--Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Kirkendall branch and others--West Virgina and Iowa Kirkendalls and Curkendalls and others.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Cuykendalls and Correspondence. Martynus Cuykendall--His autograph signature--Cuykendalls who settled near Owasco, New York--Letters from Cuykendalls in various parts of the country.
CHAPTER XXV.
Coykendalls and Correspondence. The spelling Coykendall a more recent form--All Coykendalls are from the Pieter Branch--Michigan and New York Coykendall correspondence--Mrs. Dr. Pott's family record--Letter of M. A. Coykendall--Family history and sketch--Letter of John F. Coykendall and other correspondence.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Some Early Pennsylvania Kuykendalls. Sketches of early Allegheny and Beaver county settlers--Henry Kuykendall in Baptist Church records--Ira, James, and Christian Neff Kuykendall.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Kuykendalls in the Revolutionary War. Scantiness of Revolutionary soldier history--Difficulty of finding data--Revolutionary War Pension records obtained by author--Names and history of Kuykendall pensioners.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Early Migrations and Settlements of the Family. No nawspapers to tell of their moves--Early settlements all near the old home--Much moving after the Revolutionary war--Moved in caravans or in boats on the rivers--Crossing the Plains--Starting on the journey--Crossing Missouri--Prairie dog country, rattlesnakes, owls and Indians--A terrible thunder storm and rain--Alkali water and thirst--Night visits of coyotes--Beautiful mirages but deceptive--An experience with service berries--Crossing Snake river at Salmon Falls--"Cussing" as an aid in wading a river--Grotesque and hard ways of travelling--Down the Columbia in a barge--Death of little girl--Oregon at last.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Genealogy of the Kuykendall Family in the Order of Generations.
CHAPTER XXX.
The Rifle, Axe and Log Cabin. The axe hewed the way for civilization--The fall hunt--Yaugh houses, or bunting houses--The pioneer log cabin--The fireplace--Furniture and equipment--Dogs of the early settlers, their helpfulness to the pioneer.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Mode of Living and Home Life of our Ancestors. Women's work--Spinning, weaving, making clothes--Men's work clearing farms--Passing of the walnut tree--How our fathers obtained their shoes--Domestic wares--Cooking--Soap making--Maple sugar making--Pastimes and social amenities--Dress--Keeping time, time pieces--How our fathers made fires and lights--Corn, its uses and ways of making meal--Hominy block--Handmills or Querns--Tub mills--Makeshifts and substitutes.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Schools, Teachers and Education in Early Times. First schools of our Dutch forefathers--School discipline--Punishments and the instruments used for this purpose--Old time school books--Rusty cups and iron combs--Goose quill pens.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Churches, Sabbath and Religious Meetings. The Early Dutch Reformed Church--Carrying guns to church--Early day singing--Sunday a day for rest and amusement--Lorenzo Dow waking people up.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Marriage Customs and the Old Time Weddings. Forms of betrothal--Weddings great events--An old time wedding--Assembling of bride's friends--Company of the bridegroom--Run for the bottle--The wedding--Wedding dinner--The dance that came afterwards--Fiddles and fiddlers.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Sickness, Medicines and Medical Treatment. Housewives were the doctors--Herbs, barks, and roots--Spring medicine--Mustard plasters--Worms, symptoms and remedies--Rheumatism and cures--Bleeding--How it was done.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Indian Warfare, Forts and Indian Atrocities. Stockade--Forts of the early settlers--Night flight to the forts--Boy fort soldiers--Life in the forts--Capture of white women and girls--Hard times and hunger--Going armed to farm work--Indian attack on early Virginia planters--When our fathers dreaded fine weather--Artifices and cruelties of Indians--A Kuykendall Enoch Arden.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Pests, Outlaws and Tories. Many small insect scourges--Malaria--Milk sickness--Its work swift and fatal--Frontier renegades--Their miserable work among Indians--Tories--Their treatment by our forefathers--Branding with a hot spade--Tarring and feathering incidents.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The Old Mine Road and the Early Kuykendall Home. Mine road historic--Romance and mystery connected with it--Old copper mines--Tunnels--Myths and traditions--The old road connected with thrilling historic events.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Forms of Servitude, Peculiar Customs, Witches and Old Time Superstitions. "Binding children out"--The Redemptioner--Slavery and the Kuykendalls--Witches--Signs, omens and superstitions--Testing witches--Washington Irving's Legends told by our ancestors--Amulets and charms.
CHAPTER XL.
Kuykendall Descendants in the War with Germany.
CHAPTER XLI.
More Light in Obscure Places in the History of the Kirkendalls. Correspondence of W. L. Kirkendale of Detroit, Mich.--Joseph Sargent Kirkendall--His family record--George Kirkendall, Shipping Master--Mrs. Jessie Polmeteer's letter--Tombstones of David Kirkendall and wife--Letter of Mrs. Proctor, Burlington, Ontario--Mrs. Daisy William's letter--Family record of David Kirkendall--Children of Samuel Kirkendall and Euphemia Lowry--William Kirkendall and Nancy Hess' family--Joseph S. Kirkendall of Carsonville, Mich.--Data from L. R. Kirkendall, Corning, N. Y.
CHAPTER XLII.
Additional Data Received too Late to Come in at the Proper Place. Statement of Henry J. Coykendall, Syracuse, N. Y.--Miss Harriet C. Johnson--Letter from Hiram Coykendall, Detroit, Mich.--McCage Kuykendall, letter--Family of Alfred Harden Kuykendall and Sarah L. Fort--Moses and Martha Andrews Kuykendall--McCage Kuykendall's family--Family of Garland and Belle Grattis Kuykendall--Lee and Oma Garret Kuykendall's family--Thomas and Maree Smith Kuykendall--Isaac N. Kuykendall's letter--Data from, Miss Mollie Cobb--J. M. Kuykendall, Cherokee, Tex.--Matthew Johnson Kuykendall--Wylie M. Kuykendall--Leander Kuykendall's family history.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Interesting and Curious Book Accounts and Documents, in Colonial and Ante Colonial Times. Ledger account of 1756, and 1757--Tinker's bill--Funeral expenses--Old tavern licenses--Price of bed with clean sheats--Cost of damning his royal highness--Doubling up, to cut cost of sleeping--Old time survey markings--Ancient deed of Walpack Church lot--Quotations from Minisink Valley Church records.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Genealogical Notes, Kuykendall and Stark Families. Rev. J. W. Kuykendall, biography--Early traits, education, "Boy preacher" at 18--Labors in Southern Oregon--Breakdown in health--Locates in San Jose, Calif.--His death--Rev. T. L. Jones' letter--Captain Isaac Kuykendall's family--J. Stewart Kuykendall--His public activities--Edgar Davis Kuykendall--College days--Studied law--Located in Greensboro, N. C.--Civil and military record--Capt. Isaac Kuykendall's daughters.
CHAPTER XLV.
Did More Than One Kuykendall Ancestor Come Over From Europe? Early Dutch New York documents--Powers of attorney--Accounts of Carsten and Urbanus Luursen--Church baptismal records.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Attempts to Trace the European History of the Kuykendall Family. Reference to "Willy Kukenthal" at Harvard College--Kuekenthal family history, back to 16th century--Ancestry of Maternal side of Kuykendall family--Tack family--Westphael ancestors of Jacob, Cornelius and Matthew Kuykendall's wives--Why we have no better knowledge of our ancestors.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Miscellaneous Portraits and Notes. Further sketch of Dr. William Kuykendall--Public activities as physician, in hospital, school legislation--Nathaniel Kuykendall, Gainesville, Tex.--Family sketch--Judge A. B. Kirkendall--His portrait--Family of Andrew Briggs Kuykendall--Group picture--Samuel D. Coykendall--Family record--Mrs. Harriet R. Frisbie's war work activities--Mrs. Mary K. Weaver, portrait--Charles Allen Kirkendall's portrait--Mrs. Nannie Kuykendall Collins.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Autographs of Some of the Early Kuykendalls, Comments and Other Topics. Sundry notes and observations--Kirkendalls and Klingensmiths--H. J. Kirkendall's statement--Further account of Judge W. L. Kuykendall of Saratoga, Wyom.--His son, John M. Kuykendall--J. B. Kuykendall, Vienna, Ill.--Kuykendall family historical association--Its object, suggested plan--How to carry on--Conclusion.
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CHAPTER XXX.
THE RIFLE, AXE AND LOG CABIN.
The rifle and axe might well have been adopted by our forefathers as their coat of arms, heraldic emblems that signified their mission as the harbingers of civilization and the conquerors of the American continent. With these rude implements they built and defended their homes, fences, barns and with them constructed many of the utilities of every day use. When travelling, and they stopped at night to camp, the axe was the first thing in demand, to clear away a camping place or to chop wood to make camp fires. Perhaps parties had all day been out with rifles, scouring the woods along the way, keeping a lookout for game. When the emigrant had found a place to make a home, the first tool he again thought of was his axe. This homely implement was a worthy advance agent of civilization, the forerunner of architecture and structural building, and preceded the coming of beautiful homes, schools, factories, mills, prosperous cities and vast industrial enterprises. All that the axe was to our forefather's home and farm, the rifle was to his commissariat and defense. So much did they rely upon their rifles that they always kept them ready at hand and in condition for immediate use. The old time rifle and musket had a flint lock only, which with the best care possible, sometimes failed to fire, it therefore behooved them to keep their guns in the best possible condition for any emergency that might arise.
When white man and Indian met in mortal combat the gun that fired first usually settled the question. Then the failure of the white man's rifle to shoot meant that he became the victim of the Indian's gun. To know how to load a rifle quickly was a valuable accomplishment and both history and tradition relate instances where an Indian and a white man were in a fray at close range, each with an empty gun, then it was a race for life or death which could load quickest. Other times when travelling, or even at home, our forefathers were in dire straits for meat, and if by good fortune a deer or an elk came in their way, it sometimes almost meant starvation if the gun "flashed in the pan" and failed to shoot. It was even worse when the hunter was met by an enraged bear or crouching panther and his rifle failed him. Many a poor fellow when closely pressed in combat, found that he had fired his last bullet, or emptied his powder flask, and had nothing with which to reload his rifle, and he was compelled to "bite the dust" by the gun of his savage foe.
Such occurrences were common enough in the times of our early fathers.
Hunting was in those days something more than sport or mere pastime. It became by necessity a large part of the pioneer's occupation in life, in securing meat for his family. It was the custom
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of our fathers to send out hunting parties every fall. When they first went to the Hudson, the Delaware valleys, the streams were full of fish and the woods full of game, so there was an abundance for whites and Indians. The whites were more diligent and persistent hunters and killed and used more game meat.
As the deer, bear, wild turkeys and other game became scarce the Indians sometimes had scant living, and this brought on bad feelings toward the white settlers, and they retaliated sometimes by trespassing upon the white man's property.
Our forefathers made up hunting parties every fall, when the season's work was done up, and when all kinds of game was fat and in fine condition. In the earlier days, whites and Indians frequently went out on hunting excursions together. Hunting camps were built out in the hunting grounds where game was plentiful, to which the hunters returned every fall. In early days these hunting camps were found along the Delaware and Hudson rivers, and were called by our Dutch ancestors "yaugh houses," which meant in English, "hunting houses." There was a line of them all along the old mine road leading down from Esopus, (Kingston), to the "old copper mine," three miles above the Water Gap. There was a noted yaugh house in Orange county, New York, at Mamakating, near where Wilhelmus Kuykendall lived, before and during and after Revolutionary war time. There was a fine spring there near the old mine road, which was called the "Yaugh House Spring," two hundred years ago. The whole country around knew of the yaugh house spring, and this was a famous camping place. Many times some of the Kuykendalls camped at this old yaugh house spring during the fall hunting time. There were a number of these houses along the Shawengunk mountain, and one not far from the "old mine hole" at Pahaquarry.
The men were out hunting all day with their rifles during the hunting time, and in the evening came in with the trophies of their day's shooting. When they all got in around a blazing fire, the hunters dressed their game, with many narrations of their adventures during the day, and enlivened the occasion with stories of past exploits. When the Indians were in a hostile mood, the hunters had to be on the lookout lest they be surprised by an attack. The redskins were always more or less jealous of their hunting grounds and game.
Even after they had sold their lands they were envious of the white settlers, especially of hunting parties. These feelings sometimes prompted them to treacherously steal upon the white hunter's camp, if there happened to be only one or two of the hunters together.
The game killed by the hunters was variously disposed of. Sometimes it was taken to their homes and there taken care of. It was sometimes "jerked" in camp. That is, it was cut into strips and dried over the fire, until the outside was hardened a little and the inside was partially dried. The smoke of the fire tended to preserve it.
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The first houses of our American ancestors were in nearly all cases log cabins and made of round unhewn logs. They were generally rude, rough buildings speedily thrown up under stress of immediate need for shelter and protection from storm, wild beasts or Indians. Usually several settlers moved out in the wilderness country and located near each other. Most of the first cabins had only a single room, in which a family of several persons lived, ate and slept.
The roof of the cabin was made of split clapboards or "shakes," laid upon poles or small logs that extended the full length of the house, projecting a little beyond. The clapboards were put on loose, and were held down by poles placed over their lower ends. These poles were often weighted down with stones. Many of the early cabins had no floors except the earth levelled and packed, but some had floors of split puncheons, hewed to make them a little smoother. An opening was cut in the side of the cabin, after its walls were up, for a door, and split jambs were pinned to the sawed ends of the logs, and to one of the jambs of the door was hung with wooden hinges. The door was made of split boards or slabs, and the latch was of wood, and lifted by a buckskin "whang" or string, which was passed outside through a hole in the door.
The window was a small square hole in the wall, four or five feet from the floor, covered with a greased paper for glass. The fireplace was very large and took wood of amazing length, for wood was plenty those days and easy to procure. The fireplace itself was built of stone, if stone was convenient, otherwise it was made of logs with a heavy backing of clay on the inside.
Above the fireplace the chimney was built of either stone or sticks plastered with clay inside. It is surprising how long some of those clay chimneys lasted, but the stone chimneys were still more durable. Some of the great old fireplaces and chimneys built by our ancestors two hundred years ago, are still standing and in a good state of preservation.
The openings between the logs of the cabins were "chinked and daubed," that is, were filled with split strips of wood and then plastered with clay. Every cabin of the old time had its "loft," which was commonly floored with split clapboards laid down loosely, and was reached by a ladder usually placed by the side of the chimney. This loft, though a humble looking place, was made to do service for many uses. It was in the loft where the boys slept, and it served as a sort of storage room for all kinds of "plunder," such as popcorn, walnuts, butternuts and hickory nuts, for eating in the long winter evenings around their great fireplaces. In the loft, also, were found an assortment of herbs for use as medicine or for culinary purposes, with strings of dried "punkin" and ears of seed corn.
The fireplace was high enough so that a woman of ordinary stature could stand erect in it. A pole reached from side to side upon which pots and kettles were suspended by trammel hooks.
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Over the fireplace was a rack made of the prongs of a deer's antlers and in this dry place the pioneer's rifle was kept ready for instant use. The family wardrobe consisted of a row of pins in the logs of the wall, upon which hung the greater part of the family clothing.
The table was made of a slab or slabs of wood, hewed and smoothed down. The legs were round poles of proper length put into auger holes underneath. The height of those old fashioned tables would be the cause of amazement to the present day great-great-granddaughters of our ancestors. Those exalted pieces of kitchen furniture came well up to the chins of those sitting down by them to eat. A few stools without backs served for chairs. There was a "water bench" that held the water bucket and gourd or wooden dipper. The bedstead was built for "solid comfort," the bed rails being round poles. The bottom of it was made of split boards. The bed itself was made of straw or corn husks torn to strips. Later they had feather beds on top of the straw or husks. The bed covers were made of skins of bear, deer or elk, with whatever quilts or blankets that could be procured. The bedsteads of our forefathers were built on the same lofty proportions as their tables, and the wonder is how they ever managed to get up into them, especially the old and fleshy ones. Going to bed was like mounting a scaffold, and would these days suggest the necessity of a step ladder with which to get in bed.
The home and furniture here portrayed, represent the earliest frontier homes of our forefathers. They soon had feather beds and improved furniture, though it was still rather primitive in character. The outsides of the cabins of our ancestors often had the skins of the wild animals they had killed and tacked up on them to dry. There is a story told of a preacher travelling in the thinly settled regions of the southwest, looking for any members of his church that might be living in the vicinity. Calling at a cabin in the woods, he asked the lady of the house whether she knew of any Presbyterians around there. She said she really could not tell, but said "My husband has killed nearly every kind of varmints in the country; you might look on the cabin walls outside and see if there are any of their skins there."
Coming to a log cabin in the frontier, one was almost sure to be greeted with the baying of hounds or barking of dogs, that made the woods ring. Dogs were indispensible those days when panthers, bears and Indians were so common.
Their keen scent and alert ears and eyes quickly detected the proximity of Indians or wild beasts, and gave the alarm by their excited barking. The settler could often tell by the sound of barking whether the cause of alarm was an Indian, wild beast or something less dangerous.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
MODE OF LIVING AND HOME LIFE OF OUR ANCESTORS.
Our forefathers had none of the luxuries of life, and were glad to get even the common necessities. They had no nearby stores, where they could purchase goods. They had to make or produce for themselves whatever they used, and had to get most of their supplies in the summer and fall, to last until the next season. Whatever furniture they had in their homes, they made themselves.
Their homes were therefore places of industry. The clothing worn by the earliest of the Kuykendall fathers and neighbors, who settled in the wilds of Virginia. Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas, was, to considerable extent, made of dressed skins of deer, and other wild animals. Most of the clothing of the men and boys, however, was of home made cloth, a mixture of plain linen and wool. This was woven on home made looms, which were heavy and sometimes clumsy. The women gathered flax, hackled and spun it into threads, out of which to weave cloth. They carded and spun wool from which to make yarn for socks and stockings. In weaving they ran linen threads lengthwise of the piece, and the cross threads were wool. The linen gave the cloth strength and the wool made it warmer. This cloth was made up into "hunting shirts" and into frocks and jackets for the men and clothing for the children. It was not uncommon for the hunters and woodsmen in summer time to wear buckskin breeches, and hunting shirts of the same material. In the very early days of pioneering by our ancestors, the under-clothing for women was made of linen of their own weaving. It was not very fine but was very strong and durable and bleached out white after washing.
Sometimes the flax crop was a failure; or the Indians prevented the raising of flax, or killed their sheep, when they were reduced to great hardships and had to use whatever substitutes they could find. The thin bark of wild nettles that grew along the little creeks was used instead of flax to make a sort of linen that was not quite as good as that made of flax. For dyes for their home made jeans, linsey woolsey and their stockings, they used a decoction of green butternut and walnut shells. It is safe to say that if the belles of today had, like their great grandmothers, to make their own clothing they would go considerably differently dressed than they do.
Potatoes were not found in the gardens of our early ancestors and tomatoes were considered to be poisonous and were never eaten. They were sometimes grown as objects of curiosity or ornament, and were called "love apples" by our good old great grandparents. Canning fruits as we do today was a process entirely unknown to them. "Punkins" were dried for winter use, being first peeled and
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cut into thin strips and strung on long threads of linen. The drying process was out in the sun, often by the fireplace.
In nearly all the very early settlements the sources of food supply were distant and difficult to reach, and people had to be careful and not waste what they had, but with all their care and economy they sometimes ran short.
Nuts of various kinds were gathered in the fall. These made excellent food and helped to make the winter evenings and social gatherings pass more pleasantly.
The log smoke-house was an important adjunct to the homes of our fathers, being a sort of commissary store for bacon, lard, dried venison, ham, sausage, kraut and pickles--when they could get these things. There was always work enough to keep the whole family busy. While the women were looking after their cooking, carding, spinning, weaving cloth for the family's clothes, drying fruit or vegetables, milking the cows, making butter and cheese and doing a thousand other things that our modern housewives know nothing about, the men were out about the place at the rougher work. Cutting timber and brush, chopping the trees into lengths, rolling them together and burning them, made an immense amount of labor. This with grubbing out stumps, plowing and cultivating the land were only a part of the men's work among our forefathers.
While clearing lands, they cut and burned timber that today would be of almost inestimable value. Great, clean bodied walnut, butternut, oak and beech trees were chopped down and burned as an encumbrance. Grand old walnut trees were split into rails, made into fence posts or used to build hog pens. Great forks, gnarls of curly maple and walnut, that today would be looked upon as valuable as a gold mine, for making pianos, organs and fancy veneers were rolled into piles and turned to ashes and smoke. Our fathers had not the least idea of what their value would be some day.
In colonial times and for years afterwards our forefathers made their own shoes; and they had first to tan the leather to make them. Collecting tan bark and tanning leather was a part of the home industry. Tan bark was peeled mostly from young oak trees in the spring or early summer, allowed to dry, and then there was a job for the boys, pounding up the tan bark to make it ready for use. The hair was taken from the hides, by the use of strong ashes, before they burned lime. The tan vat was usually dug out of a log, and when made was often partly sunken in the ground to keep the "ooze" from drying up and to keep the temperature more even. When the hair was removed from the skins, they were immersed in the vat of oak ooze and allowed to tan for many months. When taken out they were partially dried and worked over to make them more pliable, and lard or tallow and lamp black were worked in to color the leather, the grease making it impervious to moisture.
The shoes worn by the family were made at home. Nearly every home contained a few tools for cobbling shoes, a hammer, awl,
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shoe knife, two or three lasts and some shoe pegs. What terrible mortification would fill the souls of some of the descendant daughters of our great-great grandmothers if they had to wear shoes like those worthy women!
After the country had been settled a little longer, cobblers came around every fall and went from house to house, stopping long enough to make shoes for a family's winter wear, and then went to another home where he did the same thing.
DOMESTIC WARES
Our forefathers made at their homes all their wooden wares, such as water buckets, churns, tubs, butter firkins and "keelers." They sometimes did cooper work that was marvelous, considering their facilities, but as a rule their home-made wooden vessels were rather heavy, crude and clumsy. When our great grandmothers happened to have nice, well made wooden wares, with alternate staves of white sap wood and red inside wood, they were as proud of them and looked upon them with as much complacency as the housewives of today would view a superb set of Haviland chinaware.
When our first ancestor landed at New Amsterdam domestic life was much the same as that of the people of Holland, three hundred years ago, modified of course by peculiar circumstances and surroundings in the new world. Today when we sit down to a company dinner, we have on the table articles of food or furnishings from every part of the civilized world. It was not so with our fathers. Even knives and forks, teacups and saucers, china and Haviland wares were not in common use. No one at that time used forks at the table. The forks used then were single tined, mere awls or bodkins to pierce and hold meats while they were cut. It was a number of years later before each individual had a cup at his side at the table, even among the wealthy. Cups with saucers came some time after that. Pewter dishes were much used, even among the better class. These were brought from Europe. Spoons were made also of horn, wood, and other materials. Glass tumblers, pitchers and goblets all came at a later date. Blacksmiths some times made spoons of copper or brass. When I was at Port Jervis, New York, where the Kuykendalls lived over two hundred years ago, Hon. W. H. Nearpass and lady showed me a lot of heirloom table settings, among which was a large spoon, or soup ladle, the bowl of which was made of copper and the handle of iron or steel, which was riveted on. It had been made there in the Delaware valley, somewhere near about, but just how long ago, Mr.
Nearpass could not tell.
There was a long period when wooden dishes were very commonly used. There were wooden plates, called "trenchers," wooden bowls and trays in which to knead bread, "noggins" and bowls. These dishes were turned on small foot lathes mostly, and were made of maple, ash and bass wood. When the pioneer women had
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enough nice, wooden plates and mugs to "set the table," they thought they had quite a satisfactory outfit. Probably there were none of our Revolutionary patriots, judges, legislators, generals or statesmen who had not often taken food from these wooden dishes, and were glad to have anything even that good.
The table knives and forks used in this country were made of iron or steel and the tines of the forks broke off easily. So great was the scarcity of dishes and utensils for kitchen and table use, that the shells of gourds were used to make dippers. Even mussel shells and hard shells of squashes were made to do duty on the dinner table. With their scant outfits and homely expedients our great grandmothers sometimes had a dilemma hard to meet; to make a satisfactory show, when there was company.
When a small boy, I frequently heard a story told that illustrated the difficulties they sometimes had when the preacher came around to visit the family. On one of these occasions, when the minister had sat down to the table and "asked the blessing," the good lady of the house began to apologize for the scantiness of her table setting, saying "The children have broken and lost nearly all the knives and forks, so that I am ashamed of the appearance of my table." About that time one of the little fellows, feeling that her remarks were something of a reflection upon him, went to the table to inspect the situation. Pulling himself up on tip-toe, and looking around he said, "Why, ma, there's old Sharp, old Butch, old Case and old Stump, and that is all the knives we ever had." He regarded his speech as a complete acquittal for himself, but it was not so good for his mother's veracity.
Our people came to America long before stoves made their advent. The box heating-stove was the invention of Benjamin Franklin in 1753, but cook stoves did not appear until several years later, and were not in general use among the people until as late as 1830, even then they were hardly ever seen in the farmer's home. When cook stoves were first introduced they were objects of as great curiosity as a circus elephant and excited much comment. When heating stoves were first put into churches or "meeting houses," some of the people who had seats some distance back said the stoves "drove the cold back and made it colder than before." They complained that it was unfair to put the new fangled contraptions into the "meeting house" and drive all the cold to the ones in the back seats. The women had more trouble to learn to manage their newly purchased stoves than their great-great-grand-daughters have today in learning to run a typewriter or an automobile.
Cooking done in old times was done upon the open fireplace, and utensils used were all made of black cast iron, with the exception of a few copper and brass kettles. Tea kettles were thick, heavy iron, and some of them lasted for generations, if not broken by accident. Pots and kettles for boiling meats and vegetables, skillets and baking ovens were all heavy to handle. Happily our
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good old granddames knew of nothing better, and in such cases ignorance is bliss. If they had known of the existence of kerosene, or electric lights they would not have been satisfied to use tallow candles. Had they known of beautiful stoves and ranges such as we have today, they would have said they would not "bake their brains out cooking on a fireplace." Had they known of many of the thousands of other modern conveniences, it would probably have made them unhappy and dissatisfied with their lot.
Bread was baked in an iron oven that had legs to hold it up from the hearth.
It had a thick heavy lid, and both lid and oven were first heated on the fire.
The dough was put in, live coals were raked out on the hearth, the oven placed over them and the lid put on, and coals were put on it. Hot coals were added on top or underneath as required. They certainly did turn out fine bread, baked in these ovens. When travelling or when time was an object, they made "johnny cake," a term corrupted from journey cake. This was often baked on a spade or shovel, or the dough was put into a bed of hot ashes, when it was called "ash cake."
Later, sheet iron camp kettles were invented, and came into general use on the frontier and in camping out. They were light, heated quickly and would not break. Every operation in the work about homes and farms was done differently in those days. In washing, our great-great-grandmothers seldom had a washboard, certainly not one of metal such as were used later. Many families took the washing down to the creek or spring. A large iron or brass kettle was used for heating water and for boiling the clothes, which, instead of being rubbed on a washboard, were pounded with a heavy bat or paddle on a stump or bench, then rubbed by hand and rinsed. They were hung out on a line, often spread on the grass or on brush to dry.
MAKING SOFT SOAP
Any person of advanced years must have seen the old fashioned "ash hopper." This contrivance was nearly always seen in the back yard of every frontier home. It is not very uncommon yet in parts of the southwest. However common it was, I am free to say it was never popular with me in my boyhood days. When soap making time came, the boys and "women folks" carried water to saturate the contents of the ash hopper to make the lye, to "cut the grease" in making soap. It may be there are some of our older people who have pleasing recollections of soft soap making days, but the writer's memory carries no fond memories connected with the making of lye soap. From the very first, including putting the ashes into the hopper, carrying water to "start the lye," setting up and firing the big old kettle, chopping and carrying wood to keep it boiling, it was all work. Then the breathing of smoke. rubbing smarting eyes, stirring the boiling lye with its floating "cracklings" and tallow, the boiling and foaming over, the scorching
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and stinking of the malodorous brew all bring to me anything but pleasant associations. How could it be pleasant when I was nearly dying to go fishing or go in swimming? But that old soft soap had a "fetching way," when it came to removing dirt and grease.
MAPLE SUGAR MAKING
With all their privations and hardships, the pioneer forefathers had their pleasant things also. Sugar, such as we now have was not in common use. There were, in many locations, hard maple trees, "sugar trees," then called, that were tapped every spring and maple sugar and syrup were made from their sap.
Sugar making time was looked forward to with pleasant anticipation by the young people. It came along in the early spring when there were clear days and frosty nights and pretty hard freezing, but the days were warmer, with sunshine that started the sap flowing. In the groves of "sugar trees" was the sugar camp, where the sugar makers camped and boiled down the sap. When "sugar weather" came around, the trees were tapped by boring auger holes in them.
Tubes or spiles were then inserted to conduct the sap to the saptrough. The sap trough was made by cutting a small green maple log or stick of wood into lengths two feet long and splitting them through the middle, then digging out the wood on the split side with an axe and adze. These troughs were set under the drip of the spiles to catch the "sugar water." When our forefathers first began maple sugar making, they boiled the sap in any kettles or pots they might have, brass or copper being preferable. Later, they made long, shallow box-vats of sheet iron which were placed on a long, low furnace partly made of masonry, on which the vats were placed. The sugar troughs when full of sap were emptied into the vat or the kettles and a fire kept up to evaporate the water, while, from time to time, the scum was skimmed from the surface.
There was great fun in sugar making time, every stage of the process being enjoyed from the very beginning until the finished product was in cakes of sugar or vessels of maple syrup. Our good old great-grandmothers broke holes in the small ends of eggs, emptied their contents and then filled the shells with thick, granulated syrup to make Easter sugar-eggs for the children; and small cakes of sugar were moulded in receptacles of various shapes and sizes.
When a kettle of syrup was boiled down to a suitable consistency, the "sugaring off" process was gone through with to make the delicious old fashioned maple sugar. Those were "sweet times," indeed, for everybody concerned in making maple sugar. Every step of the process was watched by them with frequent libations of the fresh sap--that which had been boiled to a more syrupy consistence, and with scraping of the kettles for the sweet, sticky maple wax.
The old time way of maple sugar, as well as the old pioneer maple sugar makers have passed on, swept along by the tide of time
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and the march of modern events. Last summer I visited an old Kuykendall home in Illinois, near the Indiana line, where there settled about a hundred years ago some of our branch of the family, when the country all around was a forest. His grandson showed me around the plantation, a part of which had purposely been left almost in the original condition. Today there are magnificent beech, hard maple, oak, walnut and basswood trees standing in mighty grandeur. In one place there are still left the traces of the old sugar camp, where sugar and syrup were made about a hundred years ago. While still retaining its forest beauty there is a melancholy reminder of the people who lived there, and of the events of long gone days.
To many an old grandmother and grandfather of today, memory goes back tenderly to the old sugar camp, with its delightful associations, and they still have a fondness for the maple sugar that no "store sugar" with modern flavoring extracts, has ever been able to successfully imitate.
With a vivid memory of Indian alarms and fightings, with recollections of all their trials and hardships, scanty conveniences and comforts, there are yet found a few very old persons who, as they wend their way down the twilight of life, sigh when they think of their youthful days and happy days in the old sugar camps.
There are a few living whose recollections reach back to the days of linsey- woolsey hunting shirts, coonskin caps, with coon's tail hanging as an ornament; probably few, if any, have memories of the use of the flint lock rifle, but many can yet remember when the spinning wheel was far more common in homes than pianos and organs. Fortunately there is a tendency to forget sorrow and sad things, and to remember the pleasures and bright spots in life.
The genial, blazing fires in the great open fireplaces of our grandfathers made warmth and light for evening indoor enjoyments in their cabins. The great "back logs" and "fore-sticks" of maple, oak and hickory made hot fires that caused their homes to seem cheerful, despite their hardships.
After a long hunting expedition, tramp in the forest, or day of hard work in the rain and snow, "slashing" trees, or at other work, their immense fireplaces served a very useful and comforting purpose. By the light of the old fireplace many of our pioneer mothers, with rolls of carded wool, tramped back and forth by the side of the old spinning wheel, spinning yarn, while the hum of the spindles rang out in the darkness of the surrounding woods.
Some of the earliest pictures stamped upon my memory, in connection with the old time spinning wheels, for wool and flax, were of old Grandmother Kuykendall, or Aunt Mary, running the wheel. I can yet almost hear the ZooZ, ZooZ, ZooZ, of the spindles as they were urged around by the wheelstick. Old grandmother and Aunt Mary have laid at rest many a year.
Some of the amusements and employments of the older ones of our early fathers have been spoken of, but what of the little ones?
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Slim fare, homespun, unshapely clothes, scanty in quantity and often threadbare, Indian scares and forebodings of impending evils, could not dampen the spirits of the rollicking children of our forefathers. Except when in actual danger or suffering, the younger children were happy and care free, and seemed to enjoy life quite as well as children of these days, who play about on carpeted floors, under the illumination of electric lights. While the older people were engaged in their various useful employments of evenings, the children had their fun, popping corn by the big fireplace, eating nuts, playing blind man's buff, and many other games that have been handed down for generations. What did it matter to them if the floor was made of split puncheons and rocked about as they were walked over? What did it matter to them if they drank water from a gourd-shell dipper or took their evening meal of mush and milk from a wooden bowl and ate it with a horn spoon? The taste and nutrition were there--the rest is imagination.
In those days very few of the modern conveniences had come into existence.
People did not know of anything much better than they had, and so did not worry over wants and deficiencies.
PASTIMES AND SOCIAL AMENITIES
Play and amusements have always been necessary for the welfare of humanity, and never more than in times of hardship and distress. Young people in the times of our ancestors had no moving picture shows, phonographs, travelling shows or theaters to amuse and please them. There was a period in the very early part of the American history of the Kuykendall forefathers, when there was not even the annual circus. The children of those times never experienced the delight of watching the unloading from the cars of a circus outfit, nor saw a circus parade. Probably the sight of a railroad train would have been to them a bigger thing than any circus. These exalted heights of boyhood bliss came at a later date. The more popular pastimes of the young were dancing, foot racing, horseback riding, jumping, wrestling, shooting at a target and hatchet throwing. Our fathers had a way of turning useful labor into sport.
Many of their social gatherings were in the form of a "bee," as it was called, that would enable them to get a lot of work done under the guise of fun. At these gatherings they had competitive tests to see who could mow most hay, cut most grain or husk most corn. The idea was to see who could "beat" at any work to be done. This turned work into fun and contributed greatly to sociability and friendly feeling among the neighbors.
The neighbor women came together also at the log rollings, "slashings" and corn huskings, to aid in the preparation and serving of the dinner, and frequently had contests of their own. There was much hard work connected with the old time log rolling, slashing or harvesting bee, but it was all out in the open air, and they
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had keen appetites and strong bodies, and enjoyed to the full their homely fare.
The early settlers were nearly all good axmen, and when they got together at felling trees and clearing land, there was sure to be keen contests in chopping. Two of the best choppers were frequently pitted against each other to fell two trees of equal size. A modern baseball game between "crack" players is not watched today with more interest than were the sturdy strokes of those masters of the woods. When the cracking of the nearly severed trees presaged an early fall, the choppers bent eagerly to their work, and when the giants of the forests fell with a crash, the yells of the spectators made the woods ring. There was a hard forenoon's work at chopping, rolling and piling logs and brush. Then with faces and hands begrimed with sweat and charcoat dust, the men gathered to the cabin, at the sound of the horn or conch shell, for the noonday meal. No need of digestive tablets, or appetizers. After washing their faces and hands at the spring or "branch," they gathered around a rude table, part or all of it improvised for the occasion. Their appetites were not dampened because of pewter dishes, or wooden bowls, or by the fact that there were few forks and some of them with broken tines. While they ate, they laughed, told stories, joked each other, the cooks and waiters, and got all the pleasure possible out of their dinner. At corn huskings the company was divided up in two parties or "sides," by "choosing up." These two sides worked in competition with each other, to see which could finish its pile of corn first. It was the duty of the finder of an ear of red corn to kiss the girl next to him, which obligation was discharged promptly and willingly, to the amusement of the company, and doubtless with regrets of some that they were not the kisser or kissee. They worked, played sly pranks, and withal were not worrying about the cut, style or fit of their clothing, or whether they were of the latest fashion.
When young people got together in early pioneer days, they often practiced the imitation of the call of birds or animals for amusement, seeing which could make the best imitation. This was something they were afterwards able to turn to good account. The Indians were adepts in this practice. A hunter who could perfectly imitate a wild turkey or the bleating of a fawn, was often able to locate game by the response. Sometimes the white hunter was lured to his death by an Indian imitating the gobble of a wild turkey or the call of a deer. At other times the trained ear of the white hunter detected something crude or imperfect in the Indian's effort, whereupon he became the hunted one and lost his life--a victim of his own devices.
At nearly all gatherings of a social character in old times, there was pretty sure to be some whiskey. The host was supposed to furnish the stimulants for the occasion, the jug was brought out, and all present were supposed to take a "swig." It was seldom, however, that any became hilarious from too liberal indulgence.
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DRESS OF OUR FOREFATHERS
If we could suddenly be transported back to Albany or Kingston, New York, at the period of about 1660 or 1700, and meet our Kuykendall ancestors dressed in the style of their times, and we in the style of today, there would certainly be a mutual surprise. Such a meeting would bring together more than two hundred and fifty years of change. In that long interval the fashions of both men and women have gone through many transformations. Women's clothes, skirts, sleeves, and head dress have run the gamut of all possible changes. Hats, bonnets and other headgear of women have resembled anything from a little cabbage leaf to a poke, skyscraper or Dutch church, while dress skirts have been such as to call to mind a bean pole or a balloon or a circus tent. When our ancestors came over to this country they dressed in the attire of Hollanders. At what are now Albany and Kingston, New York, they were surrounded mostly by Hollanders who retained the dress and habits of their fathers. For a number of years they continued to wear "knee breeches" with buckles at the knees and wore large buckles on their shoes. It was the custom to shave the head and wear a wig. Men wore broad white collars covering a large part of their shoulders, and had large white cuffs on their coat sleeves. Peaked hats and the soft broad brimmed felt hats were worn about the same time. Our Kuykendalls and others who were in the Revolutionary war, when on dress parade, wore the cocked hats, worn by the militia of the time. Wooden shoes were worn by the Hollanders for some time after the first settlement, and later at Kingston.
There appeared gradually, however, a form of dress that has been regarded as characteristic of the American pioneer. While this type was peculiar to the frontiersman, it carried according to locality and environment. People were forced by circumstances to use such material for dress as they could make or obtain, and cut it out and make it up as they found most advantageous to them.
These days, fashions change with the seasons, or at the dictation of certain fashion centers, while our father's fashions were mostly dictated by necessity. The men wore trousers or "breeches," made of linsey-woolsey, jeans or dressed buckskin. In some of the mountain regions of the southwest, the younger men adopted long leggings instead of trousers. These were held up by a cord or belt. The hunting shirt was a long, lose frock coat, reaching half way down the thigh, and overlapped nearly a foot. It was girded by a belt or sash fastened behind. Held by this belt and placed under it on the right side was the hatchet or tomahawk, and on the left side in similar position was the scalping knife. The "shot pouch," for holding shots or bullets, was swung to the neck by a deerskin thong, and was pulled around to the left, below the arm, and with this was the powder horn or flask. The hunting shirt had a short circular cape, which was generally bordered with fringe. If made of buckskin
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the fringe was cut out of the same material. Sometimes it was made of some kind of bright colored cloth. Old hunters frequently made quite a display of ornamentation on their capes, by showy borders of bead work or porcupine quills. The head dress was a coonskin cap, with the tail of the coon left to hang as an ornament, while a few frontiersmen wore broad, soft rimmed, felt hats.
The general character of the footwear of our ancestors will already have been inferred from what has gone before. The articles worn, their styles and material have gone through all the changes from the shoes of our Holland ancestors to the styles and material of today. Whatever they wore was dictated more by necessity than by their tastes and preferences. An assortment of all the various forms of foot dress worn by our ancestors, since their coming to America, would make a most unique collection, worthy of any museum of antiquities in the line of dress. Moccasins made of the dressed skins of the deer or elk, coarse cowhide shoes and boots, and what were called shoe packs, in some of their various forms and modifications, would mostly represent the footwear worn by our fathers and mothers of old. The clothing of the women was very simple and consisted of but few articles, plainly made, from homemade materials and generally wholly devoid of ruffles or any kind of ornamentation.
We have read many accounts of the scanty dress of the women of our American frontier women, about the time of the Revolutionary war, and always with a twinge of pity and regret for our noble and patriotic mothers.
It is a matter of wonder how our great grandmothers and fathers found time to do all the multiplicity of things they did. With all our modern short cuts in domestic operations, our vastly improved implements and means for doing housework, with our ready made clothing and prepared articles of food, and other items, our modern women complain that they have no time for this and that. These days the men mostly buy, or have made by the tailor, the clothes they wear, as well as their shoes and stockings, and the women can get up a satisfactory meal from ready prepared foods bought at the grocery store or market. We have a thousand conveniences our fathers never knew, and yet they never seemed to be crowded with their work, and really appeared to get more out of life than we do. They could not work as rapidly as we, for they had not the appliances with which to work, and yet they accomplished wonders with instruments and agencies we would scorn to use. They did not have an eight- hour day; with them, the day's work was from sun to sun. They took a slower but regular gait, but kept at it and did not watch the clock for quitting time.
This brings to mind the fact that they had but few clocks or watches in early times of this country. When our Kuykendall fathers lived in the Delaware valley there were a few old Dutch and Swiss clocks and watches, of ancient pattern. These were found in homes here and there, but when they went to Virginia,
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the Carolinas, Tennessee or Kentucky, it was hard to pack clocks to carry safely, and they were usually left behind. There were a few old fashioned "bulls eye" watches, hand made, that had come over from Switzerland, and were occasionally found among the early settlers. These were thick, and were so nearly spherical that they were often called "turnips." A common way of asking the time was to say, "What time is it by your turnip?" This saying has come down even to the present, being occasionally heard.
Our forefathers usually estimated time by the height or position of the sun.
Common expressions were sun up, sun down, sun an hour high, daylight, dark, dusk, getting up time, bed time. These were used instead of stating the time by the clock. An early morning hour was designated by saying about "chicken crowing time" or "getting up time." For evening, "candle lighting time," or early candle lighting time, were very common expressions.
About the time of the coming of our ancestors to this country and for some years afterwards, an hour and its subdivisions were measured by the running of sand through an hour glass. The expression, "the sand has about run," was equivalent to saying the hour is about up.
HOW OUR FOREFATHERS MADE FIRE AND LIGHTS
The early methods of mankind in making fire and lights form an interesting chapter in the history of the world. They began with the friction of wood against wood, as in the case of the American Indians and other barbarous races. We enjoy the improved methods of domestic economy of today and wonder at those of our forefathers. Nothing could present in a more striking manner the inconveniences experienced by our fathers in starting fires and making lights, than a comparison of the methods they used, with those of the present time. Today, we touch a button or turn a switch, and instantly our homes are illuminated with a light, the whiteness and brilliancy of which our fathers never dreamed. We strike a fire with the convenient parlor match, which had not been seen or heard of until three generations after our people touched American soil. Our fathers started their fires with a flint and steel, a procedure so long gone out of use that very few, indeed, of their descendants would know how to undertake it, and some would have to consult a history or encyclopedia to learn the process.
A soft bar of steel was struck, in a slanting direction, against the sharp edge of a piece of flint. This would scrape off, or cut from the steel minute shavings or particles, that by friction, became white-hot and scintillated and sparkled for a fraction of a second. These sparks were allowed to fall over tinder or tow, which was ignited and burned slowly without flame. In order to
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cause it to flame it was blown gently and cautiously until it blazed up.
The process of fire making was sometimes expedited by sprinkling powder on the tow or tinder, or a wad of tow well sprinkled with gun powder was shot out of a gun and was in this way ignited and coaxed into a blaze by patient blowing.
Often, when our fathers went on journeys or were out on hunting trips, they had trouble in making fires. Traditions relate how, when moving in frontier times or otherwise on a journey, fire was carried from one camping place to another. Living coals from hard wood were carried in a little pack of ashes, about which was wrapped a damp cloth, to make a fire, when a camping place was reached. There were occasions when all the fire about the premises went out, and it was necessary to send away half a mile or a mile to get living coals to start a fire. In those days it was the invariable custom to "cover up the fire" at night before retiring, to keep it alive for fire building next morning. Whenever people went away from home to be gone over night, or for a number of hours, they covered up coals in a bed of ashes the same way. There are many elderly people living yet who can remember these things, especially those who lived in the southwest.
Friction matches were not in common use until about 1830, and in frontier places they were scarce even then and for some time afterwards.
The homes of our fathers were mostly lighted by the blaze of their fireplaces.
If more light was wanted for reading, pitch wood or pine knots were thrown on.
For a light to carry around the house, lamps were made of an old saucer or shallow dish, into which lard or tallow was placed, with a strip of cloth or candle wick. Then came tallow candles--first "tallow dips," then moulded candles. Tallow dips were made by dipping pieces of candle wick of proper length into hot tallow, then allowing them to cool, and repeating the dippings until the candle had assumed the proper size. Then came moulded candles, which were even in size and shape and better every way. Our fathers thought perfection in lights was reached when "star candles" came around. They were firm and hard and much whiter, and not so greasy were comparatively clean, and gave a whiter and better light. "Meeting houses" and schoolrooms were lighted for years by means of tallow candles placed in wooden or tin sconces. Many schoolhouses have been burned down as a result of wooden sconces taking fire.
Old people now living can testify to having had grease from candles above them, drip down upon their Sunday clothes. It was hard to remain in a worshipful attitude of mind with the sound of dripping tallow upon one's shoulder, head, or down upon his best vest. After years of use of tallow and adamantine candles, coal oil came into use. Then we boasted of the wonderful advances made since our father's time and thought our lights had about
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reached the limit of perfection. The writer has studied his school lessons many a night by the light of an open fireplace, the blaze of burning pitch wood, by the light of a tallow candle, or even a lard lamp.
CORN, ITS USES AND MODE OF PREPARATION
Corn was the most important food article used by our fathers, and it is doubtful whether they would have ever been able to retain their foothold upon the continent without its aid. It often saved them and their families from starvation. Corn would grow and thrive where wheat was subject to insect pests and was utterly unreliable, in all the eastern settlements. When our people came to this country, corn was given various names, among which were "Guinny wheat," or turkey wheat. It is a singular fact that our people fresh from Europe were at first not as successful raising corn as the Indians.
The different ways of preparing corn for food were mostly derived from the Indians, and the names they gave to different dishes they prepared from corn have, many of them, been retained by the whites; as for instance, succotash, pone, hominy, and suppawn. Before pounding corn to make meal, the Indians soaked it in hot water for ten or twelve hours, and then pounded and sifted it, and whatever failed to go through the basket sieve, was returned to the mortar and pounded again. The Indians had two forms of corn pounders, one the small mortar and hand pestle, often made of stone. To make the larger, they cut off a tree ten or twelve inches in diameter, about three feet above the ground, then hollowed out the top so as to make a basin-like cavity, to form the mortar. For a pestle they used a club or block or wood, so rounded at the end as to conform to the shape of the cavity of the mortar. Then they bent over a slim, springy sapling, so that the top would come over the cavity scooped out in the top of the stump. To this elastic top they fastened the pestle. The pestle was suspended over the mortar by the elasticity of the young sapling, and did not have to be lifted every time by the operator.
The first and simplest way our fathers used in making meal for bread, was by the use of what was called a "hominy block." This was a large block of wood that had a cavity scooped out of one end, and then charred and scraped to make it smooth. This bowl-shaped cavity caused the grains of corn to constantly fall toward the middle after it had been struck with the rounded end of the hard wood pestle. This was a slow process and as only one person could work at a time it was tiresome. The families were large those days, and they found need of a more rapid way of making meal, and so improved on the Indian's sapling and stump mortar and pestle. This was a contrivance arranged with a larger mortar, sometimes the stump of a tree or a cross section of a good
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sized hard wood tree. This was scooped out on the end like the hominy block.
Then there was a sweep pole thirty feet or more long, tapered to be very small and elastic at the outer end. The larger end was placed under the side of the house, or stump, and there was a supporting post one-third of the way from the larger end. To the outer and small end was suspended a large, heavy pestle four to six inches in diameter and six or eight feet long. Through the pestle, at a proper height, there was put a long pin, to be used as a handle, by two persons operating the pounder. This large pestle, when it came down, crushed many grains and others rolled down toward, the center ready for the next blow.
One of these contrivances when seen from a little distance which looked something like a well sweep. In New York and New Jersey they were usually called samp mills. They made a thumping sound that was frequently heard for a mile or more if the air and wind were right. Some of our early Kuykendalls settled on Long Island, New York, and they and their neighbors used these samp mills. There was a saying among the boatmen on the sound, that they could tell where they were, by the sound of the samp mills pounding corn. Where there were large families, the corn pounding had to be kept in operation almost constantly to keep them in bread.
When corn was still somewhat a little soft, and not quite fit to be made into meal by pounding or grinding, a soft meal was made by grating it on a grater.
This grater was made by taking a sheet of iron or tin of the proper size, and punching it full of holes, on a block of wood. The opposite side of the sheet was left rough, with sharp elevated circular rims. This perforated sheet was then bent into an arch and nailed to a board, so that when it was done, it looked like a huge nutmeg grater. About that same period meal was often ground in a small hand mill that had two small circular burrs. The lower stone was stationary and the upper revolved above it. Around both was fitted a thin rim that stood a little off from the upper stone so that it would turn easily. A spout was arranged to carry away the meal as fast as ground, or it was allowed to fall into a receptacle below. There were contrivances for turning the upper stone in grinding. In the outer edge of the upper stone there was a hole into which was inserted the lower end of a staff or spindle, the upper end of which was inserted in a hole in a board that was fastened to the joists of the room.
There were other contrivances similar in general principles. The operator took hold of the lower end of the spindle and rotated the top stone rapidly. The corn was fed to the mill through the same hole that received the spindle. This form of hand mill was called a quern. In the simplest form it was almost identical with the handmills used by the orientals during Bible times and perhaps for thousands of years before. So far as I have been able to learn, about the same methods were used by our own forefathers and other settlers on the frontiers of the colonies of New York,
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New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia and further west and south.
All methods of grinding meal or flour, such as by use of the hominy block, coffee mill, sweep pestle mortar, and the little hand mills were very slow and tedious, and suitable only for emergencies of short duration. Advantage was soon taken of the power afforded by the small brooks, creeks and rivers to run little corn mills and lumber mills. While this chapter was in preparation, a letter was written to Mr. Horace Kephart, author of a very interesting book on "Our Southern Highlanders." In answer, he wrote from Bryson City, North Carolina:
"I have read with much pleasure your letter forwarded to me from New York. The photo you sent me of the Kentucky mountaineer's quern is very interesting. I have never seen a quern in this country, but they are to be found in European museums. In our mountains they used a mortar and pestle sometimes in plain form, but generally with a beam attached by which the pestle was worked, either by hand or by water flowing into and spilling out of a box on the end of the beam (pounding mill). Such contrivances are still used by the Cherokee Indians in this country."
The picture of quern or hand mill shown on page 450 was made from a photograph sent me by the Filson Club, of Louisville, Kentucky, whose courtesy was much appreciated.
As before stated, our fathers began early building mills for grinding corn and sawing lumber, all of which at first were small and very simple and primitive in construction. The first corn mills were usually called "tub mills." These days when we hear a flouring mill spoken of we think of a large building, several stories high, built of stone or brick, or even of steel, with extensive machinery for cleaning and rolling, crushing or grinding wheat for making various cereal foods. The grist mill of the olden times was a small affair. There was a set of two stones, the one which revolved being fastened directly to the shaft of the water wheel that drove it, and it could only go as fast as the water wheel. When the water ran low the mill went slow, and not unfrequently stopped; then the miller had to wait, to "catch a head," that is, until the water filled in above the dam. The distance people went to these little old mills seems amazing to us. Some were known to go as far as sixty miles, with a sack of shelled corn, behind them on their horse's back. When arrived at the mill, the "customer" had to wait his turn, and if the water was low, or the burrs dull, the waiting process was frequently a long and tedious one. Many times the miller was jibed and "guyed" about his mill's poky slowness. Corn meal and even the flour ground by the first mills of the country was not bolted by the mill, but was taken to the pioneer's home and sifted through a home made sieve. One of those sieves would be a curiosity these days, for it was made by stretching a piece of wet hairless deerskin (rawhide) over a wooden rim, and when it was dry, small holes were burned through it with a knitting needle or other hot point. Our ancestors had truly to earn their
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bread by the sweat of their brows. Such a thing as flour, ground, bolted and sacked in quarter barrel sacks and kept on sale at grocery stores was unknown.
SUBSTITUTES AND MAKESHIFTS
We learn by actual experience only, how many things we can do without, or for which we can find a substitute. Our earliest pioneers could not have glass for their windows and so used greased paper. They wrote with pens made of geese or swan quills. They often could not get a thing so common with us as brass pins to fasten their clothes. If a man "busted his gallus button off," he cheerfully fastened the suspender with a thorn or wooden peg, and went about his business. A gourd made a good dipper, seed receptacle or button box.
Little boys in the days of old had no hobby horses, but they rode stick horses bravely to mimic battles, and with wooden guns and swords slew thousands of Indians, and later became great scouts and warriors. The great grandmothers of the present generation had not the beautiful modern dolls, but they loved and nestled little soiled rag babies and played keeping house with broken bits of dishes, and grew up to be the kindest, noblest and best mothers in the world.
When our forefathers could not have steel hay forks they used the fork of a hickory or ash bush; the teeth of their harrows were made of wood, and they sometimes "brushed in" their grain or grass seed, with the bushy top of a tree. If they had no nails, and they usually did not have them, they fastened things together with rawhide whangs, tough hickory or hazel withs, and they stayed fastened. When the new baby came to the cabin they did not rush off to the furniture store and buy a baby wagon or fancy cradle, but cut off a section of a hollow log and made a log cradle. Hickory bark was frequently made to duty to make tugs for plow harness, and twisted corn "shucks" were used in making horse collars.
Many of the great-great-grandmothers of the present generation did not know how to use tea or coffee, particularly those who lived on the extreme frontier. Some of them had heard that these articles were used in "high toned" families, or on especial occasions, and to be up to date and in style, a little tea was kept for such times. In numerous instances the good old ladies did not know, after the tea was bought, how to use it. Many very amusing accounts are given in old diaries and newspapers, about the funny things that happened while they were learning its preparation. In some instances tea was cooked, in the expectation of making it tender like cabbage or greens, and attempts were made to eat it, thus after it had been buttered and salted. Tea was sold in drug stores, or apothecary shops, then called. Coffee, in the times of our old great-great-grandmothers was never sold otherwise than in the green, unroasted state. Instances are on record where they
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boiled coffee grains for hours, to make them soft and tender, that they might be eaten like peas or beans.
No one ever found a substitute for common salt. Abundant and cheap salt is found everywhere among us today, but it was not so with our forefathers, in New York, New Jersey, and particularly out in Pennsylvania, Virgina, Tennessee and Kentucky. With the early settlers, salt was a luxury as well as a necessity. When, for a short time, salt is cut off from our food, the salt hunger becomes imperative and nothing but salt will appease it. At points near the coast, our early fathers got their salt from the coast towns, to which it was shipped mostly from Liverpool. There are many elderly people who remember that their fathers and mothers used to always call for Liverpool salt, when they bought salt at the country store. We, the great-great-grandchildren of our forefathers have more and better things to eat, better and nicer clothing to wear every day of the year, better and more convenient appliances for all uses in our homes and domestic life, than were ever dreamed of by our ancestors.
After our people went to Virginia (now West Virginia), they in common with their neighbors, packed their salt out from Baltimore, Hagerstown and even from as far as Philadelphia. Further west in Tennessee, Kentucky and other states, salt was made at salt springs, where rude "saltworks" were established. Earlier, the people went to the salt springs, camped and boiled down the spring water in their kettles. No one who has done without salt, until the real salt hunger was felt, can form an idea of the avidity with which fresh meats were eaten when well salted, after a salt famine.
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CHAPTER XXXII
SCHOOLS, IN THE TIME OF OUR FATHERS
Perhaps modern advancement is nowhere shown to better advantage than in a comparison of the old school methods with those of recent days. When our first ancestor landed at New York there were but a few hundred inhabitants and no regular schools. In November, 1647, shortly after his arrival, Peter Stuyvesant, who had just assumed the office of Director General of the settlements, at New Amsterdam, wrote back to Holland asking what arrangements he should make for a school. He reported that there were no schools there at that time, saying. "The youth are running wild, and for lack of a proper place, no school had been kept three months." In 1649, some of the enemies of Stuyvesant sent a complaint to Amsterdam, saying, "There ought to be a public school, with at least two good teachers, so that the youth in so wild a country, where there are so many dissolute people, may first of all, be well indoctrinated not only in reading and writing, but also in the knowledge and fear of the Lord." It seems that by this time a school had been started, but had not been regularly kept. In those days, more attention was given to teaching morals, manners and religion, than in more recent times. Besides reading, writing and arithmetic, pupils were taught the ten commandments, the creed, catechism, the Lord's prayer, respect for old age and for those in authority.
Whatever may have been good or admirable in many ways, about the teachings and intentions of our forefathers, we cannot but feel sorry for their children because of many serious educational short-comings in their school training.
Their schoolhouses were but little better than barns or stables, and were constructed without the least reference to comfort, health or convenience of either pupils or teachers. They were always badly lighted, and in winter were cold and uncomfortable. School hours were long, and the regime was tyrannical.
In the early Dutch New York schools, the pupils sat in rows around the room, with hats, bonnets or caps on, except in time of prayer, or while reciting. In the first schools of the American colonies, the daily sessions began at six o'clock in the morning and lasted until six in the evening, in the summer, and in winter continued as long, only that they began an hour later and continued that much later in the evening. They frequently lit tallow candles for to finish the day's school work. Getting an education in those days was a serious business.
The early schools of our Dutch forefathers were mostly taught by men. These teachers had various duties besides teaching the children in school. The old teaching contracts show that they were expected to read in the church, the morning scripture lesson, lead
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the choir, keep the church registers, and to act as sexton at the burial of the parishioners. There are still some of those contracts in existence in New York. Corporeal punishment was in those days thought to be absolutely necessary to success in school discipline, and the rod was used with an unsparing hand. If a teacher were these days, to inflict such punishments as were then common and thought to be right and proper, he would be mobbed or thrown into prison. A necessary part of the teacher's equipment was a good bundle of birch or hickory rods, a dunce's block, a fool's cap or dunce's cap, and a "plak." The plack preceded the ferrule or ruler, with which pupil's hands were slapped at a later day. It consisted of a circular piece of board about four to five inches in diameter, with a handle attached. I have seen several old cuts representing an old Dutch New York school in session, showing the austere old teaching sitting, cap on, with the plak in hand, like the sceptre of a king. This instrument of school government was often made so as to be a real instrument of torture, having numerous fine, sharp metallic points sticking out over its surface, so as to inflict agonizing pain and even draw blood. Causing a pupil to stand, long periods, holding a heavy weight, or in strained positions was common practice, as a punishment. It seemed to be the idea in those days to hammer ideas into the heads of the pupils, without any regard to their feelings. The notion prevailed that young poeple had to be repressed, restrained and held down, or the devil in them was liable to break out any time. Getting an education was a "bitter pill," with many a youngster.
School books in those early times were dull, dry, hard and unattractive, with no pleasing, helpful illustrations. No attempt seems to have been made to adapt them to the capacity or understanding of pupils. It never seems to have occurred to authors of school books to make them attractive, easier and more pleasant. Books for children's study seem to have been made for persons who were already sages and philosophers. Among other customs was that of "watering the school" by having a water bucket passed around among the pupils, all drink, one after another, from an old rusty dipper or a gourd. The daintiest young lady in the school took the cup or dipper from an urchin who had just had his dirty lips or his thumb and fingers over its rim and this was thought to be all right. All drank in blissful ignorance of disease germs that doctors tell us cling to such old receptacles. In the early schools of the American colonies there was kept in the entry of the building a coarse comb, made of iron, with a wooden handle, for common use. When we think of the condition of some of the pupil's scalps, it is enough to give one "the creeps" to think of the millions of microbes that were scattered over the craniums of innocent pupils.
In the earlier schools of this country, pupils were permitted to "study aloud," that is to drone their lessons over in a monotonous tone, without accent or expression, each one going on regardless of
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any of the others. The noise and confusion made a veritable bedlam. How such a practice came into use would probably be hard to explain.
Steel pens were not known those days and a part of the teacher's equipment consisted in an assortment of goose quills and a "pen knife." Ink was made at home of copperas and nut galls. It was durable when properly made, and as goose quills would not rust, no fault was found with its corroding properties.
A well made goose quill pen wrote very smoothly and in the hands of a good penman, made beautiful specimens of writing. The teacher was expected to make the pens for the pupils and keep them sharpened and in order. The writer can well remember using goose quill pens in his first efforts at chirography, and of his father making pens for home writing, also of the teacher making and fixing and mending and sharpening pens for pupils in school.
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CHAPTER XXXIII
CHURCHES, SABBATH AND RELIGIOUS MEETINGS
Only a short time before the coming of our ancestors to America their people had been engaged in war against Philip II, King of Spain, battling for religious and political freedom. Being Protestants and adherents of the Reformed church, they were, by faith and tradition, against all forms of tryanny and oppression. On their arrival on the American shore they naturally associated themselves with people of the same faith as their fathers. When they lived at Fort Orange (Albany, New York), their neighbors were mostly Hollanders with a few Huguenots, who had fled from the old country to escape persecution. When they had become settled at Kingston, the records show that they were active in the religious and educational movements of the communities where they lived. At Deerpark, Machackemeck, Minisink and Walpack they were members of the Reformed church, and we find their names signed to petitions asking for the organizing of new churches, and to subscriptions to help pay for the erection of churches and the support of their pastors. They often made great sacrifices to educate their children. Quite an extensive correspondence and investigation leads me to believe this has been the case all along.
During the residence of the family in the Hudson and Delaware valleys, as long as the church kept up its organization, many, if not most of the Kuykendalls, were loyal members and supporters.
Before the migration of that part of the family which went to Virginia, between 1742 and later, the Presbyterian church had begun to increase in numbers and influence in the old home regions. Their pastors used the English language in preaching and other religious services, while the Reformed church dominies still adhered to the Dutch language. The younger ones of our people, who had learned the English in childhood, preferred the English preaching.
When our people arrived in Virginia, the country there was so new and unsettled that there were no regularly organized churches, and the settlers were mostly of Scotch-Irish descent who had been raised under Presbyterian influences. The first church organizations there were mostly Presbyterian, and so many of the Kuykendalls joined in with the people of that church. Its teachings and church polity is almost the same as those of the Reformed church, and so the transition was easy. At the present time, there are few, if any, of our people who are members of the Reformed church of their fathers.
There were times in the history of the family, both when they lived in New York and in New Jersey and regions further west, when it was impossible for the settlers to hold public religious
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services, because of the Indians. While at worship the savages crept upon them, or while the families were away from home at church, they robbed their houses or stole or destroyed their farm stock. Even the courts sometimes had to adjourn because of the Indians. These conditions led to the almost universal practice of the old pioneers carrying rifles wherever they went.
Even the minister carried his gun to the preaching place, and while preaching leaned it against the table. They had no pulpits that early. The members of the congregation sat upon backless wooden benches, or even on logs, with their rifles by their sides. What an appearance such an audience must have made, with their grotesque dress of homespun clothes, their coonskin caps or slouched woolen hats, and wearing moccasins, shoe packs or cowhide shoes, and some of the women even barefooted! They had no such thing as an organ in their churches those days in the frontier preaching places, no choir, and no hymn books except a few of the ancient "psalm books." The hymns were "lined out," that is, the preacher read aloud two lines, and then the congregation sang them, and then other lines were read. If the hymn was one familiar to those present, the minister said "please sing without lining." Much of the traveling about was done with poky ox wagons, and their church music was in slow, ox- wagon time. What their singing lacked in speed, the preaching made up in endurance, for the old time sermon on foreordination, predestination, hell and damnation lasted from one and a half to three hours.
To have introduced the rag time music often heard in churches these days, would have been considered sacrilege and a scandal, and the perpetrators of such an unholy innovation would have been put out of the "meeting house." Some of those old notions, more or less modified, clung to many congregations for years. Many of our older people have heard the church organ denounced as the "wooden brother," and objected to on account of its use being "worshipping the Lord with machinery."
At first in the west, people of different church predilections came together in a union meeting, without much thought of differences in church doctrine.
Sunday was not observed as a day of worship in the west as it had been back in the east. They abstained from labor generally, but the day was mostly given up to visiting among their neighbors, going fishing, hunting or getting together somewhere in the neighborhood for horse racing, wrestling, foot racing or for a shooting match. After the country began to be settled up, home made stills began to appear in the gulches and along the small streams, and whisky was made from rye and corn. The stills were cheap contraptions, which were easily constructed with a few feet of coiled lead pipe, a large kettle and a vat or cauldron, the cost of the whole outfit being very small. These were very common in the mountainous regions of Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia. In the early ancestral home regions
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in the Delaware valley a great deal of hard cider was drunk, and the Indian's fondness for it was amazing. Charges of rum and whisky were found frequently in the ledgers of the old taverns. A majority of the people drank more or less, for whisky was cheap. Nearly every family kept a jug of brandy or whisky about the house, and it was considered one of the highest marks of hospitality to bring out the jug or decanter, when a friend called. It was considered nothing against a man's religious character to take his dram of whisky whenever he felt so disposed.
About a hundred years ago now, there traveled in the Southwest an eccentric preacher named Lorenzo Dow. He was of rather superior education for the times, and had considerable natural eloquence, but was quite eccentric. He had wonderful zeal and was very industrious. He was from the eastern states, and traveled and preached all over the southwest. He labored in Kentucky and Tennessee where a number of the Kuykendalls lived. His natural eloquence, magnetic personality and oddity of dress and manner attracted great crowds wherever he preached. He held camp meetings and preached much out under trees.
I have heard my father and other of grandfather's people relate anecdotes they had heard concerning him. He was strong on preaching about hell fire and the judgment day, and believed in "stirring people up." One time down in Kentucky, he announced that he was going to preach on the "Judgment Day." Before preaching time he called up a young darkey and said to him, "Rastus, I want you to climb up into the thick top of that tree there, where the people cannot see you, and when I am preaching, and you hear me say 'Blow, Gabriel, blow,' take this horn and blow two or three times as loud as you can." Rastus said "All right, Massa Dow, I'll do dat berry ting." So a great crowd was assembled and all listened with bated breath to the thrilling eloquence of the preacher as he pictured the judgment day and the sinner's doom, which was liable to come suddenly, at any moment. The audience was spell-bound and in a state of high emotional tension, when he cried out, "The people deserve thy judgment, O Lord, blow, Gabriel, blow." The darkey up the tree gave a tremendous blast.
The effect was electrical, the people shrieked with terror, some fell to the ground paralyzed with fear and sense of guilt, and there were prayers and cries for mercy, and confession of meanness.
After the excitement was over the minister told them he had taken the means he did to show them now unprepared they were and how they would feel if the judgment were really to suddenly come.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS, OLD TIME WEDDINGS
Among all people, marriages and weddings have always held a commanding interest in social life. With our forefathers, marriage was looked upon as a matter of very serious import and was regarded almost as a religious ceremony.
Even a promise of marriage, actual or implied, was considered almost as binding as the marriage vow. In early times there were many different forms of betrothal, which was frequently in the presence of witnesses, and generally with the exchange of rings or of some other pledge or token. In some instances, a coin was broken in two and each of the plighting parties retained half as a pledge. In other instances one of the arms of each party was slightly scratched, so as to allow a drop or two of blood to flow, and the blood of each was allowed to mingle with that of the other as a symbol of their union, and the union of the blood of the two families. There were instances where they signed the marriage pact with a pen dipped in the blood of the two. These different ceremonies showed that it was expected that a marriage would "stick." There was not one divorce then to where there are a hundred today.
Among the customs brought over to New York (then New Amsterdam) from Holland, was that of young women beginning to spin and weave linen for their wedding trousseau, long before the wedding or even before an engagement. It was considered a shiftless and almost shameful matter for a girl to not have for her future husband a bridal present, consisting of a lace collar and cuffs, and an outfit of linen for herself to begin housekeeping with. This custom was, however, soon lost sight of in the new world.
In the remote frontiers, there were few social events, and the settlers embraced the opportunity of a wedding to have a big time. In the matter of dress, furniture and outward settings they had little to foster pride or envy, but they had the essentials, the bride and groom, the bridesmaids, the wedding ceremony, the dinner and the many little social amenities that made the occasion a great affair for the neighborhood. Above all they had the abounding health and animal spirits, and an open hearted hospitality that went far to supply all other deficiencies.
The mating and home making instinct was strong, early marriages were the rule, and large families were generally considered desirable. There were no great differences of wealth and social position to cause heart burnings and mar their social pleasures.
Let us in imagination go back a hundred and forty years and picture an old fashioned pioneer wedding. It is about noon. We approach the place where the ceremony is to take place. The cabin is already about filled, and outside in the yard, sitting or
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standing are groups of all ages. Hitched to the rail fence, or out by the log- barn are horses tied. The riding outfits range from a pioneer saddle to a sheepskin fastened on by a rope. The vehicles standing about are common farm wagons, and perhaps an ox cart. The dress of the groups about show all the variegations of frontiersmen's clothes, among which are seen the hunting shirt, the short waumus, butter nut dyed pants, perhaps buckskin breeches with fringe up and down the legs. Some have on belts to which are attached a hunting knife in a scabbard. Our society belles would blush to their ears, or go into a fit, at sight of the dress of the young men and women who were their great-great-grandfathers or mothers. Foot dressings were coarse brogan shoes, or high top boots--heavy home-made affairs. Women's shoes were of the same heavy, home-made patterns, and stockings were of common home-made woolen yarn, butter-nut dyed.
It was the custom for the friends of the bridegroom to assemble at the home of his father, and then all go together to the home of the bride. The practical joker was usually on hand, and it was not unusual to find a rope or grapevine stretched across the path, that sent some one or more sprawling on the ground.
This was looked upon as great sport, and resulting hurts short of a broken leg or neck were considered a part of the game, and nothing thought of them.
Whisky was found at all weddings and most of the guests took their "dram."
When the bridegroom's party had arrived within a short distance of the bride's home, two of the young men were selected to "run for the bottle," which was a black bottle full of whisky. It was decorated with a white ribbon about its neck, and called "Black Betty." At the bride's home were assembled her friends, awaiting the party of the groom. The two riders in the race for the bottle were ready for the run, and when the word was given they were off, and went dashing over rocks, roots, and gulleys, whipping and spurring as if the issue were life or death, and utterly regardless of danger. At the bride's home, they found the other party out waiting and watching the issue. One of them held up "Black Betty" in full view of the riders, ready for the grasp of the winner. The victor seized the bottle with a resounding whoop and dismounted. He passed the bottle around, first to the prospective bride and then to other ladies, the gentlemen coming in due order. Even the dignity of the preacher did not suffer by taking a swig. If he had killed a bear or two and was good with a rifle his reputation was made.
The wedding took place before dinner, and the ceremony was performed by the minister; or if they had none, by a justice of the peace. At the dinner there was no standing on ceremonies. There was no criticism of the style or settings for the occasion. There was an abundance of substantial food, consisting almost exclusively of such things as were produced on farm or in their gardens, with
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chicken, turkey, venison, corn bread, and cider in abundance. These articles were all put on the table at once and not doled out in courses, and often there had to be a second table set. They had no place cards or printed wedding announcements. The invitations were verbal and often were given to a good part of the neighborhood.
Sometimes a neighbor failed to get an invitation and took it as a personal affront. There were cases where the offended party proceeded to show his indignation or spite by shaving off the manes, tails and fetlocks of the horses belonging to the bridal parties. This sometimes started a family feud that lasted for years.
The wedding was always followed by a dance, which began as soon as all were ready, and was kept up until next morning. The dresses of the women were made to clothe their persons, and not to expose as much as decency would permit.
The dancing shoes were anything from moccasins to stogy boots. They usually had one or two fiddlers (they had no violins or violinists those days, just plain fiddles and fiddlers). The tunes played were such as had been used for generations. The figures of the modern dance were unknown. The light by which they tripped off their jigs, waltzes, polkas and quadrilles, was the blaze of pitch wood in their big open fireplaces.
The bride was not expected to remain up all night, but along about midnight, a party of young ladies took her quietly off to bed, which was usually upstairs.
They saw her safely in bed and then left her, and soon a bevy of young men headed by the groomsman, took the groom and saw him to bed. Going upstairs, in those days was often climbing a ladder set by the side of the chimney, in the corner of the room. At the dinner and in the evening, toasts were drunk to the success and happiness of the bride and groom, with wishes that they might be blessed with wealth, and that all their troubles might be little ones, emphasizing the last two words to clear up any ambiguity.
The dancing went on until day light, when the guests returned home for a much needed rest. About a week later, there was what was called an "infare," when a similar round was gone through, including the run for the bottle, the dinner and dance.
After the country became more densely settled, and churches and good schools had been established, these old customs were gradually modified. With the coming of schools and colleges the ways and manners of the people became more polite and refined; with better houses, better clothing and more home comforts they began to want to have better social environments and influences, and to be more in line with modern progress. Modern times have not improved upon the old fashioned pioneer hospitality, whatever advances have been made otherwise.
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CHAPTER XXXV
SICKNESS AND MEDICAL TREATMENT
The quack, advertising doctor and patent medicine almanacs were not cutting much figure in the world when our ancestors came to this country. There were two physicians at Fort Orange (Albany, N. Y.) during the time our family lived there, but exact knowledge of medicine was about where it had been for five hundred years. It was not the custom of our early ancestors to employ physicians, except in very serious cases. There were no drug stores then.
Places where medicines were componded were called apothecary shops. Physicians were few in the country. The pioneer settlers depended mostly on their own resources. It had long been the custom for the housewives of the families to look after all ordinary cases of sickness and accidents. The women gathered various herbs, barks, roots and leaves, to be used for family medicines. These were kept where they could be gotten at as occasion required. The use of home- made "bitters" was very general. These were made by putting bitter barks and roots in whisky. It was a very prevalent idea that in the spring season, people needed a "medicine," to thin and purify the blood. The bark of sassafras was much used to make a tea for this purpose. Sarsaparilla and burdock were used for the same purpose. Sweating was produced by drinking hot spearmint tea, aided by hot foot baths. The mustard plaster was in those days at the height of its glory, and was used good and strong, so that amid its burning the patient forgot his other miseries. There are many people living who can remember of drinking boneset tea, and of being covered with mustard plasters that burned like living coals.
A vigorous emetic was given at the beginning of "bilious fevers" or a "bilious spell." The usual emetic was ipecac or boneset tea. When a person had retched and strained until he could see stars, he broke out into a profuse sweat and was as limp as a rag, and for the time being, felt much relieved. This prompt, vigorous treatment no doubt cut short many attacks that otherwise would have resulted in more prolonged sickness. While this treatment, at the time, seemed rather hard, the results often appeared to justify the means.
Many years ago there sprung up what was called the Thompsonian system of medication. Its author taught that all minerals were poisonous and only roots and herbs should be used in medicine. This apostle of roots and "yarbs," sold his medicines put up in packages, each medicine known by a number. With the medicines were sent pamphlets telling of their wonderful virtues and how to use them. I well remember two of them, "Number Six" and "Composition." Number six was a liquid form of hades, and composition
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was the dry form, or so it seemed to me, when I had to take it for sore throat and colds. It was a combination of cayenne pepper, ginger and other hot stuffs, and was reputed to be good for almost anything from a sore toe to cramp colic or Asiatic cholera. Its proprietor advised its use externally, internally, and almost eternally. Long before Thompson, however, our good old grandmothers knew the virtues of many herbs, barks and seeds for medicine.
Two or three generations ago, it was generally thought, especially by the old ladies, that nearly all children were infested by worms. There were certain signs they said that infalliby indicated their presence. If a child had a variable appetite, was sick at the stomach and "got white around the mouth and 'gritted' his teeth in his sleep"--these were sure signs of worms, and demanded the prompt use of "worm medicine." Many a poor little fellow was doped with turpentine or wormseed tea, to drive out or kill worms, when its trouble was indigestion caused by eating unwholesome food. Croup was a much dreaded ailment among children, and really seems to have been more severe and dangerous than it is today. Hot onion poultices, lobelia, or hive syrup were the more common remedies. Burns were treated with poultices of scraped potatoes or carrots, or were dredged with flour, or common baking soda, in later times. Two generations ago no one knew anything about disease germs or of antiseptics. In the healing of all kinds of wounds, burns and cuts, it was thought that the formation of pus was necessary. Such a thing as the healing of an open wound, without pus formation was never expected.
There was a chronic form of rheumatism that was very prevalent in the times of our pioneer forefathers, that caused more or less lameness and stiffening of the joints, with pain and aching, particularly of nights. They were much exposed to changes of weather, out in snow, rain and freezing winds, and often had to remain out with wet clothes on for long periods of time. We hear a great deal about old people being so active in former times, and of men of seventy-five to eighty-five, as "straight as an arrow and as spry as a cat," but they are more frequent in good stories than they were in reality. Old men, crippled and lame from rheumatism, were very common and those "spry as a cat" men were few, when they had passed sixty years.
To mention all the medicines they used for rheumatism would be to run the gamut of almost everything known by them. Cupping, blistering, scarifying and counter irritation with pungent, burning liniments were among the most common external remedies. Among the plants and roots they used were the ordinary poke root, jimson weed, black cohosh, and a few others. These were usually put into whiskey and formed a kind of bitters. Since it was impossible, situated as they were, to remove the cause of their ailment, the relief they obtained was mostly of a temporary character.
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There was more or less superstition connected with the ideas of people concerning medicines those days, and this led to their believing in the virtue of such things as carrying a "buckeye" or a potato in the pocket for rheumatism, or the blood of a black cat for erysipelas, or the virtue of a rattlesnake's rattle worn in the crown of the hat, for rheumatism. Among the Pennsylvania Dutch the belief in such things was more common than anywhere in the country.
The great-great grandparents of the present generation of adults lived mostly in open houses that admitted air freely, yet when any of the family had a fever or serious sickness, there was a great dread lest air should touch the person and he should "take cold." Cold water was never given to a fever patient, they first dropped a live coal or hot burnt crust of bread into it, "to take off the chill." When water was given, the patient was admonished to take a very little only, for fear of its being injurious to him. Many a person in those days almost burned up with fever and in an agony of thirst who was not permitted to gratify his longing for water.
"Taking cold" was the scape goat for the failings, neglect and ignorance of nurses and doctors and was made to account for all relapses and unfavorable turns in sickness. If the patient died, his death was very often attributed to his having taken cold. Even when an open wound became infected, and profuse suppuration set in, it was generally said the person had taken cold in it.
Bleeding was thought to be a great remedy for many acute illnesses, particularly for pleurisy and lung fever; they did not have pneumonia those days, or did not call it so. The old time doctor carried his lancet with him every time he made a visit to a patient, and often used it. When he decided to bleed, the patient's arm was bared to well above the elbow, a bandage was placed tightly around it. The patient was told to grasp a broomstick, that was placed upright by the bedside. When the veins of the arm stood out well the lancet was plunged in, and a basin or bowl was brought to catch the blood.
When the patient showed signs of faintness or became weak, the flow of blood was stopped. There were no anaesthetics those days, and if a man had a leg broken or limb out of joint, or a surgical operation was needed, the unfortunate one "gritted his teeth" and bore it. Surgical operations were few, and appendicitis had not yet been "invented." People lived in happy ignorance of the existence of microbes or of having, inside of them, such a dangerous thing as an appendix to their internal organs. They went on fearlessly eating grape seeds and skins, and even swallowing choke cherry stones, while we tremble in dread of an appendicitis operation, should we happen to let a grape seed slip down accidentally.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
INDIAN WARFARE, FORTS AND INDIAN ATROCITIES.
To protect themselves as much as possible from the Indians, every neighborhood had its fort, and in sections where people were much scattered, nearly every settler had his home surrounded with a high stockade. This was made by setting round logs into the earth, on end and touching each other. Portholes were left where they would be most convenient to shoot from. The larger forts consisted of several cabins, to which the families of the neighborhood fled in time of Indian outbreaks, and remained as long as necessary. The walls of the houses, which stood in a row on one or two sides of the enclosure, formed part of the fort walls. They were arranged to suit the convenience or necessities of those who were to occupy and defend them. They were frequently built so that the roofs were highest on the outside, slanting backward and inward. On the corners of the more pretentious forts there were blockhouses. These projected two or more feet outside of the fort on two sides, and were sometimes built two stories high, or so as to have an upper room, the upper story projecting over the lower. This enabled the settlers to guard the outside of the fort against attempts of the Indians to chop or burn it, or climb over.
The forts were built so as to enclose a spring or well, so that if besieged, they could not be shut off from water. Folding gates or doors, made of thick timbers were hung on strong wooden hinges, and were provided with strong barricades.
In the states of Kentucky and Tennessee the tendency was to group the houses of the settlers close together, and erect a stockade around them. These were sometimes called "stations." In times of sudden uprisings of the Indians there was a hurried scrambling in the neighborhood to get to these places of safety.
Hostilities "broke out" usually in the summer and as a result the farming and gardening operations of the settlers suffered great neglect. While the owners could not look after the gardens, the chipmunks, groundhogs and crows gave them their destructive attention. Fences were knocked down and gardens destroyed, so that often there was little or nothing to show for all the settler's worry and labor.
On the coming of spring and good weather, our fathers had to look out for an attack any time. When it was learned that Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, messengers were sent with all speed to alarm the settlers. If it was night time, they rapped at the door, window, or on the log walls where the beds of the sleepers were supposed to be, and in a low tone announced "Indians!" One time telling was all that was required. There was a speedy getting out of bed and dressing. The head of the family looked after the rifle and ammunition and gathered such weapons
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of defense as were in the house, the mother looked after the children, getting them ready for flight, packing up a few clothes, bedding and whatever they could carry. All their preparations had to be made in total darkness, for lights would have made them conspicuous marks for any prowling Indians to shoot at. Very small children and babies could not understand the reason for their sudden and rude awakening at such an unseemly hour, and it was sometimes difficult to keep them quiet. The outcries of a baby too often betrayed it and its mother to death. It was a terrible thing to be awakened in the after part of the night, by the fearful whoop and horrible yellings of the savages, and to look out and see the light of burning stacks of grain or hay, or their stables, and to hear the crack of rifles and the pounding at the door of the cabin, by blood thirsty fiends.
If the settlers could have time to get together into one of the better constructed forts, and to collect their bedding, supplies and ammunition, they felt comparatively safe and were cheerful and took their hardships uncomplainingly.
Finding themselves so much exposed to Indian attacks in the earlier home in the valleys of the Hudson and Delaware, our forefathers began at quite an early date to build stone houses for their better protection. These were much more difficult to capture, and could hardly be destroyed by fire, and were a perfect protection against the arrows and rif