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on Thursday, August. 14, in the year of our Lord 1879. Of course the people came. They couldn’t have been kept at home. Not only the pioneers in whose honor the meeting had been called,—the veterans who had come up through the years when deer tracks and the printB of the Indian’s moccasin could be traced through the woods that covered the land now within hearing of the factory whistles of the thriving count}* seat, when the plow with the wooden mold-board was an institution, and brimstone matches and ten-penny nails were luxuries; when two dresses of home-spun material, seven yards in each, made up the greater part of a belle’s wardrobe, and the search for pleasure that now produces the Fifth avenue soiree cropped out in “apple-peelings,”— not only came those whose hair has turned white and fallen out as the log houses and stick-chimnies have fallen ia, but their descendants, the middle aged, the stalwart young men and bright-eyed maidens, and the children, all came with them without stopping for county lines, from Franklin, and Union, and Wayne, and Kush, until the managers of the old settlers’ meeting rejoiced in their hearts, and the small boy of Connersville marveled and stood on bis head in the midst of his mother’s onion-bed as the long lines of carriages passed through toward the Fair grounds.The particulars lt;f the day’s exercises are given here more for the purpose of pre-with the “now” of the present, must produce a glow of honest pride in the breasts of the aged fe ft who yet remain to recount the past and survey the present.Each of yon for self can look at the present as it lies before you, and I will not attempt to picture it, but hope to recall somewhat of the condition of the country in 1S33, when I located amongst you.That portion of the county lying east of the old bo on dry line” being settled ten years earlier than the west side, had nearly passed the stage of log cabins. Every farm had its occupant, many nad comfortable ffrme or brick dwellings, and some had barns and ruit-bearlng orchards, out nearly all the improvements on our western border were of a primitive character; and it is mainly of this part of the county in which I lived for forty-three years I would speak.Farms ranged In size from a forty-acre tract to a quarter section, and nearly all of them had some improvement. The log cabin was the prevailing dwelling, and it was almost always surrounded by a cleared patch, or deadening, opening for the fire, by whose agency it was cleared up for the plow. So dense was the forest that the only evidences of other occupied farms near by was the sound of the ax, the crowing fowls or barking watch dog.Paths leading from cabin to cabin passed around large trees or logs and over streamlets lead us through the tangle of spice wood or pawpaw in our neighborly visits, and highways were marked out and corduroy bridges bore ua over marshes on our way to market, public worship or to mill in our wagons, up hill and down the same, and through streams which were all without bridges. The stumps, roots and loga gave the beaten track a serpentine direction, which required great skill in the teamster. If Levi Conwell were here he could tell you all about it, or if you ask Uncle Billy Simpson how be used to freight A. B. Con well’s whisky and flour to Cincinnati and return with a load of store goods, he can describe it better than I can. Pork and the articles named were our staple productions. Cincinnati was our only market. Our pork was driven on foot, requiring an average of eight days to reach our destination, three to close out the sale and two more to return. The entire trip Consumed about two weeks time.Wheat sold in Cincinnati in 1S34 at 50 cents per bnshel, flour for $2.75 per barrel, and Uncle Abe cangive you the price of whisky, as I did not handle it my memory is at fault. We got but little money.and we spent little. Our food grew on our farms and our clothing was mostly home-made, growing in the flax patch or on the sheep’s back, and its manufacture was mostly domestic. The flax-pulling and wool-picking were frequently done by combination or neighborhood frolics, and were occasions of great social pleasure. There are mothers present who could tell how they Ufted to race with their sweethearts at theflax-pullings, and some of them recollect how the points of their fingers ached after pulling the burs and stick-tight* out of the wool. Yes, anaOUA.NGR TOWNSHIP.* *Itlt;4John Reid and wife Wm Banks Thomas Jones Wm Huston S H Stone Sarah Amber MrsJebn Scott Mary Haines Jesse Dailey Wm Connor George Creelman W G Creelman Mrs Hugh Wilson John Spivey4*Mrs Ross Morrison “ Mary Connor Stephen Matney Alex Matney Wells Stevens Isham StevensLawrence Johnson John Johnson John Coon John Winch ell G W Jones John I Stevens Mrs J P Daniels Mary WilliamsJ1ARRISON TOWNHUIP.S G Tyner and wife Kina FloreaJ Grotiendyke “ Franklin Booe and wifeWm Monteetb Jane LambertWarner Broaddus John LudlowSamuel Pavey and wife S B Ludlow Wm Stephens Hannah LudlowWm Chrisman Daniel Taylor and wifeWm Wolf Lewis Ellis “George Wolf Rachel MeekerDavid Wolf Xaney HaekiemanJames Dehaven Mary* JordonJ W Ferguson and wife Thos Shipley and wife W W Thomas Joseph Caldwell **Mary A Honeywell Sydney Taylor **Benjamin Thomas . David Gordon Josiah Kerr Sanford GuardPotter Kerr Caroline KalbMargaret Kerr Zenos Powell and wifeElizabeth Kerr Hiram Sparks **Mary Moflltt John BatesC G Dehaven Miss E M RenStephen Thomas and wife IC J Rea C M Stone Etnaline SimsLC Stone Sara’l Caldwell and wifeI. W M’Cormick and wife Xancy Webb H Haekieman “ S J ShipleyThomas Campbell “ Eliza J MerrifieldU BTingley “ Garrett WolfChester Meeker Mr. E RogersAnson Kins J B BushRachel Haekieman Sarah SmithHannah Murphy John H DehavenAsenatb Trowbridge London SmuilenJacob Dehaven and wife Elizabeth BryantElizabeth SmuilenJKNNIMiS TOWNSHIP.Joseph R Darter Jarvey BallAbraham Sutton Sarah J MurphyAbraham Lyons and wife James liulgan
Newspaper Details
Connersville Examiner
Connersville, Indiana, US
Thu, Aug 21, 1879
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 06 Jun 2019
Other Publications Near Connersville, Indiana
Connersville Times
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