History of Huron County Ohio United States of America

A description of a pioneer log-cabin and of the pioneer home-life, may be of interest to todays reader. Once a location for the cabin was selected, the area cleared, and suitable timber selected, felled, partially hewn, and cut into proper lengths, all that remained was to "raise" the cabin. Word was given out, and settlers for miles around gathered to lend a helping hand. A man of experience in such matters was selected as leader; and other experts, axes in hand, were posted at the corners to cut saddles or notches in the logs that they might, lie more firmly and closer together. The ends of the logs usually overlapped and projected for a foot or more beyond the notch.

The logs were drawn to a convenient nearby location by oxen, and the majority of workers helped move the logs as needed. Sometimes the combined strength of the group was enough to lift and carry them, but oftener skids and handspikes had to be used; in either case the work was done with a will, and hardly needed the energetic commands provided by the leader.

Accidents were not uncommon. Severe strains sometimes resulted from one man trying to out-do another, while othertimes a log slipped or fell, striking a man down in its descent, and perhaps breaking his leg or arm.

The log-carriers were sometimes divided into squads, or groups, each having a particular end to keep up. The consequent rivalry made the task go faster, the building being rarely over a single story in height.

When the walls were ready and the roof poles put in position, the remaining work of finishing the cabin could be performed more leisurely and with fewer hands. The whisky they had been sipping for refreshment during the hard labor was drunk more freely than ever, and its stimulating effect began to be visible in many of the company. Quiet men grew loud and boisterous; modest men boastful and arrogant; peaceful, orderly men became quarrelsome and vindictive. Instances occurred where the pleasant party of the early day ended in a general row.

In fairness to the early settlers we must say that the evil effects of whisky drinking were much more rarely seen than might be imagined, considering that to drink freely was the custom of the times, and such a thing as total abstinence was almost unheard of. The stimulus was more likely to lead them into rough sports and games, or rivalry in feats of strength and agility, than to engender violence.

The log-cabin roof was made by first laying small logs or saplings, often of tamarack, placed lengthwise. These formed a support for shingles or "shakes," rived or split out of straight-grained, full-grown white-oak trees. The shakes were much longer than shingles of later years, leaving about three feet of surface exposed to the weather. Nails, forged by hand, were nearly unobtainable, so shingles were secured by laying poles or logs to keep them in position.

The chimney was often composed of "cats and clay," the cats in question not being felines, but small sticks split to a regular size. The fireplace was formed of stone, often undressed boulders chinked with clay, and on this the chimney was built, generally outside and at the end of the cabin, the cats forming a frame work which was heavily daubed and plastered with clay.

As for openings, the cabin door usually was rived planks, unless there happened to be a saw-mill in the neighborhood. The hinges and latches were also made of wood.

Windows were small, and glass was a luxury rarely seen. Sometimes greased paper served as a substitute, otherwise the widows were open to the air when not shuttered.

Usually, packed dirt served as a floor at the beginning, until time and materials could be spared for making a wood floor. Boards or "puncheons" were split out for that purpose; they were hewed but little, and consequently were never very smooth, and often quite shaky.

In place of cupboards and closets, holes were bored in the wall-logs and pegs driven in, on which to hang the various articles of clothing and household items -- including a place to hang the rifle. These pegs served as support for shelves and even for beds. But regular bedsteads, cheap and common enough looking these days, were soon introduced, many settlers bringing them with them from Connecticut. For the children "trundle-beds" were in common use.

The cabin rarely consisted of more than a single room. In the warmer months much of the cooking, washing, etc., was done outside, under the shade of some convenient tree. At other times the one room served the purpose of kitchen, dining-room, parlor, closet and bed-room combined. The larger boys generally slept in the garret, access being had by a flight of rude stairs or a ladder. In the winter season the snow often found its way between the loosely spaced shingles.

Rude benches, long enough to seat two or three persons, made of planks split and shaved, served as chairs. In the plank, bore-holes with sticks inserted served as legs or supports.

Household utensils were as scanty as the furniture. A single pot or skillet often had to serve many times over in preparing a meal. Tinware was scarce and expensive, stoves unavailable. As for saving fuel, that was of but little concern: the huge fire-places could hold a log as long and heavy as a man would care to carry, and the seemingling endless forests needed clearing to provide crop space.

The fire in the hearth evokes pleasant memories of early days; on a winter's evening, with familiar faces grouped around, the scene is most inviting. Is the sacrifice of old comforts to modern plans always without loss? The bright light of the blazing logs often rendered candles or lamps unnecessary, and the fire being easily kept up was rarely suffered to die out for months on end. Matches, now considered indispensable, were not yet available on the frontier, so the fire was lit by striking flint and steel for spark.

Clocks were a luxury available to few, but within a few years were brought in and sold at high prices by peddlers. Those who could not afford one noted the hours by observing the sunlight, shadows and stars.

The basic food for settlers was "johnny-cake" and mush: pan bread of coarse-ground flour and boiled oat or corn-meal. Milk was freely used, but butter often dispensed with due to poor quality, and cheese unavailable. Pork and venison were always at hand; wild turkey, squirrel and other game easy to obtain. Sugar from the maple was readily available. Tea and coffee was available but expensive, and were often replaced by decoctions of sassafras, spice-bush and starched corn. The variety of foods and manner of cooking were quite tolerable to those settlers fortunate enough to have a little money, otherwise they often suffered for necessities, being put on short rations was not an uncommon experience.

In regard to clothing, the contrast with the present time was more noticeable. Men's clothing was primarily deerskin. It would wear a long time, but its utility was sadly diminished by the ease with which it absorbed water. A man getting deerskin trousers thoroughly wet would soon find them lengthened and dangling at his heels, threatening to trip him. After hanging them up to dry at night, he would find them almost as stiff as if made of cast iron.

The loom and spinning wheel were found in every family household. The women, besides making and knitting yarn, made cloth of flax and wool, often combining the different materials into a coarse fabric known as linsey-woolsey. Tree bark and other plant materials were used for dies, and the making of the garments was completed without resort to outside help. But these home manufacturers could not compete with the "pauper labor" of New England.

First came the calicoes and brown muslins, dear at first, and doubly so from cost of transportation, handling, and especially from scarcity, but very soon so cheap no one could be bothered with home-spun.

Not long afterwards and jeans were introduced for men's wear and satinets for lady's wear. Soon the loom had no further place in the household, and the spinning wheel was soon afterward also laid aside. More recently the sewing machine, books of patterns, and ready-made boots, hats and clothing have come into general use, not only for men, but for women too.

Once the settler had his shelter, the work of clearing grubbing and burning away the forest began. The fields thus cleared also needed to be fenced. This kept the men of the household busy for many long years. Rising early and working late, the labor was neither easy nor inviting. Occasionally, a particularly fine tree was saved for rails or other use, but timber and wood was so plentiful most of it had no marketable value. Beyond the relatively slight needs of the household, excess wood was mostly burned in the field.

The method used to clear land was different from later years. A shorter, less laborious method was adopted -- the labor of felling the trees was avoided by "girdling" or "deadening" them. The tree was killed by cutting notches through the bark entirely around the trunk. After a year or two the trunk became thoroughly dry and was readily burned. If fire-wood was wanted, the beech and maple for instance, they could be left unburned, and would begin to topple and fall after the third year, without any need for tedious cutting.

[The wording of this report was modernized and edited.]

FROM: History of the Firelands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties Ohio; by W W Williams, 1879.

Biographies:

was born in Bronson township, Huron county, Ohio, on November 22d, 1832. His parents were William W. Beckwith and Annie Herrick. His father, one of the first settlers of Huron county, Ohio, died in 1860, on the farm on which he had lived for more than forty years. The subject of this biography received such an education as is usually given to the sons of farmers. At the age of fourteen he entered the Norwalk Academy, and continued his studies until he was eighteen, when he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. John Tefft, a prominent physician and surgeon of Norwalk, Ohio. After completing his medical education in the colleges of Cleveland and New York he commenced practice with his preceptor, and in a few months married his daughter, Laura L. Tefft. During the year he remained in Norwalk he performed several important surgical operations, which attracted the notice of the trustees of the Cleveland Homoeopathic College, and he was appointed Professor of Surgery in that institution. He removed to Cleveland after delivering his first course of lectures, and commenced the practice of surgery. In a short time he was appointed surgeon to the different railroads entering the city, and in connection with the roads established a private hospital known as the Surgical Retreat. He has always taken an interest in the education of poor young men; he makes it a rule to take one student annually in his office and assist in his education. As a reward for this generosity he now has the pleasure of knowing that all thus assisted are prominent medical men; several of them are teachers in medical colleges. In 1870, on account of Mrs. Beckwith's health, he removed to Cincinnati, and commenced the practice of his profession in a new field, devoting his time mostly to medical consultations and operative surgery. The physicians of his school availed themselves of his experience and skill as a surgeon, and he now has a more lucrative practice than before. One portion of his practice is worthy to mention. He has operated fifty-eight times for ovarian tumors with a loss of but four patients; his success is attributed to the beneficial action of the medicines given by physicians of his school, more than to any peculiarity in operating. In 1872 he resigned his professorship in the Cleveland College, and with a few others organized the Pulte College, where he still holds the chair of Surgery. Although his time seemed to be fully occupied, yet he has written a work on surgery of more than 800 pages, ready for the press; and two years since he purchased the large property and organized the incorporation known as the Sanitarium, for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. He brought this institution into existence to prove that insane people could always be treated without mechanical restraint, and their delusions cured by kindness and amusements to occupy their minds. His expectations have been more than realized. There have been more than three hundred patients admitted, with a ratio of ninety per cent. of cures of acute mania.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, was born, April 6th, 1831, at Oxford, Huron county, Ohio, and is the son of Benjamin and Susan (Bill) Cogswell. He was educated at the Baldwin University, Berea, and after leaving school became a clerk in the post-office at Berea, where he remained until March, 1859. At this period he removed to Cleveland, where he entered the clerk's office department, continuing there for a considerable time. In 1872 he was elected to the position of County Clerk for the term of three years, and entered upon the duties of his office, February 9th, 1873. He is a man of energy and good business ability, well calculated to fulfil the duties of his office to the entire satisfaction of the community. He was married, April 5th, 1855, to Helen M., daughter of Chester Gee, of Thompson, Ohio, and is the father of two children, one son and one daughter.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

History of Huron County Ohio

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