Hide Article Text (OCR)
YE OLDEN TIMES.An Old-Time Erie County Man Tells of Them.An Interesting Account of the Early Days of This Section of the Country by One of the Pioneers.‘•Rivet,” in the Fremont Messenger, gives the fallowing interesting interview with a former resident of this section of the country:Cam'alia, O., Sept. 18.—A few days since we chanced to find a former resident of this village at work upon the roadway. He had just returned to the burg” after an absence of 40 years. We dropped into a pleasant con versation with him, and during the time the gentleman remarked that a good many changes had taken place since his departure from the village, two decades ago.The gentleman when asked, said his name was Gera ham McPherson Clark, and in a casual remark, said he was fast nearing his 79th birthday. We must • confess that we were somewhat sur-' prised, for to a casual observer would hartlly have taken him to be over 50, if the way he handled a long-handled maul had been taken into account.After telling of his birth and his boyhood life about his home, about one and a half miles southeast of the village, he said, that the first- house, aside from the primitive log shanties that were first erected, was a fine two-story stone house, just south of the passenger platform on the Big Four railroad near the station, this village, the ruins of the same being still in easy vie\v from the roadway just south of the large grist mill owned and operated by the Gallu-ghrerfiros:-This village at that time was called Cold Creek—-an appropriate name—for but a short distance beyond arises one or more of those almost phenominal springs or fountains as they are culled, here—that form the creek just to the south and com of the village proper.The first settlement, said Mr. Clark, was on the west side of the stream—the water therein being some three feet- or more higher then than at the present time. There was no bridge then to reach the east side, and teams that werebound for Randnslrr and tLo Ancta geuefal stqre, where you could get almost anything wanted in those days from a marline spike to a earn brie needle. This store was the general rendezvous for the settles in that city and B:uip did a big business. I often went to this store with my father. Shd!lelt;| corn sold for #1 to $1.15 per bushel, and wheat from $1 to $1.25 per bushel. Cattle were used for all purposes. A cow was worth from $10 to $12, but a good pair of oxen that were well broke quickly sold for $50.“One often saw a settler riding in a two-wheel cart or a wagon drawn by one ox and a cow yoked together, and rhe settlers with their guns and pkiyer books in hand often started to go ten, twelve—yes, even fifteen miles—to attend divine service and to hear a preacher. There were no church buildings then and meetings were usually held around among the farmers' homes, all over the counties of Erie, Sandusky and Huron within a radius of twenty miles or so.‘T was quite a young* man when a log meeting house was built about u mile south of what is now known as the Seven Mile house. It was a huge structure for those days. It must-- have been 20 feet wide and 40 feet long, for when built it was two logs long—the only building of tlie kind in or near this place or even in Sandusky. This meeting house was a great convenience, and the meetings were well attended and it was not long after the house was opened before an earnest and long protracted meeting was held there.“Sheep and cattle were the principal live stock, which the settlers usually brought with them from the east. The sheep were sheared of their fleeces in the spring or early summer, when the w omen folks would card and spin it into yarn, then take o! send the same to Monroeville, where there was a woolen factory, to have it made up into cloth to make clothing for the men folks. Cottonelotl^was usually sold for lo or 20 cents per yard and spool cotton bought at 12k, ceiAs per spool? _ -••In the ftdl, the farmers would gather their flax and during the long winter evenings' their wives and daughters would spin the same into linen thread and send the same to Monroeville to have it wove into cloth, would be made up iuto suits for the men and boys of the family for summer wear, I tell you when us young fellow's got on our new linen suits we used to ’feel that we were some pumpkins. They were our best
Newspaper Details
Sandusky Star
Sandusky, Ohio, US
Wed, Sep 21, 1898
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Kathleen W.
NA, 21 Oct 2023
Other Publications Near Sandusky, Ohio
Sandusky Register
Daily Commercial Register
Sandusky Clarion
Sandusky Daily Sanduskian
Sandusky Star
