earlylife

JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA
(History of Johnson County, Indiana
By Elba L. Branigin 1913)

EARLY LIFE AND CUSTOMS

The first settlers coming into the woods were confronted with the necessity of making a clearing for the site of the cabin. While the clearing was making, a "half-faced" camp was constructed in the Indian style, with one open side which served for windows and door and where the fire was built. Sometimes the rear of the lodge was placed against a large log, and such was the first home of Samuel Herriott while the clearing was being made for the erection of his log cabin.

The first log cabins were made of round logs halved together at the corners, the cracks between the log "chinked" with wedges of wood and ''daubed'' with clay. Openings were cut for windows and doors, the windows being covered with skins or blankets until greased paper could be provide or glass obtained. The doors were swung on leather or rude wooden
hinges, the latches fastening on the inside with strings hanging outside. By pulling the string within the door, the house was securely locked.But it was not long after the settlement of Johnson county until saw mills furnished the settlers with material for the erection of frame houses. Smiley's mill, on Sugar creek, was built as early as 1822; Collier's mill, on Sugar creek, just west of Edinburg. and another at the present site of what is now known as Furnas mill, were probably erected at about the same time. A little later Porter's mill was built on Indian creek in Hensley township, and other mills were erected at different points, especially in the southern half of the county. But long after these mills were erected the ordinary home of the farmer was built of logs, and it was only the quite well-to-do who built their of framed materials and weather boarding.

In the making of the log houses it was the custom for all the neighborhood to meet and help raise the new house, for the logs were too heavy to be handled alone. After the cabins were built and a clearing made, the log rolling followed. All the men for miles around came to help, bringing their wives to aid in the cooking and serving of the bountiful meals. The log rolling sand house raisings called forth the generous feelings of the entire community and neighbors were not careful to keep account of the time spent in these neighborly offices. They bred sentiments of generosity and encouraged a spirit of neighborly kindness that the present day methods of living do not inculcate.

This neighborly spirit also manifested itself in all the industrial life of the community. In sugar-making time, at harvest time, at wool-shearing time, and at the corn huskings the neighbors were called in to help in the labor and to enjoy the social occasion. Women of the households also shared in this spirit and apple parings and quilting bees were as common as log rollings and house raisings. The same spirit permeated the religious life of the time. The quarterly meetings of the Methodists, the yearly meetings of the Old-School Baptists and many other gatherings of religious bodies called out the men and women of an entire community. If the meeting was held at a church, each settler living in the immediate neighborhood would provide for a score of the members coming from a distance. At many of the camp meetings rude houses were erected in the woods and the community gathered there for from one to three weeks' religious services. From these neighborhood meetings came the spirit which has been manifested even to this day by the farmers' wives in inviting many of the neighbors' families home for Sunday dinners.

In the school life the meeting house or school house also became a neighborhood center, and spelling matches and singing schools were held frequently and were largely attended. The pictures drawn by Edward Eggleston in the "Circuit Rider" and the "Hoosier Schoolmaster" are true to life and fairly represent the customs and manners of these social gatherings.

It is worth while to consider some of the difficulties which confronted the home makers of those early days. Before the friction match was invented the problem of keeping fire was oftentimes a troublesome one. The flint, steel and tinder were found in every home. The tinder was made of the ravelings of old linen or of tow, sometimes from dried pith of the elder or other like vegetable matter. If tinder was wanting, the fire was sometimes lighted from the flint by the aid of gunpowder. Often, however, \when by- mischance the fire went out, someone, usually a small boy, was sent to the house of the nearest neighbor with shovel or covered vessel to bring back live coals for the relighting of the fire. Great care was taken, however, to prevent this necessity, and before the settler left his home for a day's absence, the fire was carefully banked against a great back log and protected with ashes.

Before the days of the kerosene lamp, the usual method of lighting the home was by candles. The method of making these candles is well described in Alice Morse Earle's "Home Life, in Colonial Days" : "The making of the winter's supply of candles was a special autumnal duty of the household and a hard one, too, for the great kettles were tiresome and heavy to handle.

An early hour found the work well under way. A good fire was started in the kitchen fireplace under two vast kettles, each two feet perhaps in diameter, which were hung on trammels from a lug pole or crane and half filled with boiling water and melted tallow, which had had two scaldings and skimmings. At the end of the kitchen or in an adjoining room, sometimes in the lean-to, two long poles were laid from chair to chair, or stool to stool. Across these poles were placed at regular intervals like the rounds of a ladder smaller sticks about fifteen or eighteen inches long, called candle rods. These poles and rods were kept from year to year, either in the garret or up on the kitchen beams. "

To each candle rod was attached about six or eight carefully straightened candle wicks, the wicking being twisted strongly one way; then doubled, then the loop was slipped over the candle rod, while the two ends, of course, twisted the other way around each other, making a firm wick. A rod with its row of wicks was dipped in the melted tallow in the pot and returned to its place across the poles. Each row was thus dipped in regular turn; each had time to cool and harden between the dips, and thus grew steadily in size. If allowed to cool fast, they of course, grew quickly, but were brittle and often cracked. Hence, a good worker dipped slowly, and if the room was fairly cool, could make two hundred candles for a day's work. Some could dip two rods at a time. The tallow was constantly replenished, as the heavy kettles were used alternately to keep the tallow constantly melted and were swung
off and on the fire. Candles were also run in molds, which were groups of metal cylinders, usually made of tin or pewter; each wick was attached to a wire or nail placed across the open top of the cylinder and hung down in the center of each individual mold. The melted tallow was poured in carefully around the wicks, kettles, and boiling was the favorite method of preparation. Most of these pots and kettles were provided with long legs, so that the utensils might be set on the hearth and a good fire of live coals maintained beneath them. Many of the pioneers' kitchens were provided with iron skillets and Dutch ovens, with cover for baking, the "johnny cake" being a favorite article of diet. Every fireplace was provided with andirons, usually made of iron, and some of the more pretentious homes had brick ovens built at the side .of the fireplaces.

Every schoolboy is familiar with the picture of the kitchen fireside in Whittier's "Snow Bound," but, as Mrs. Earle has pointed out, "The discomforts and inconveniences of a colonial home could scarcely be endured today. Of course, these culminated in the winter time when the icy blasts blew fiercely down the great chimneys and rattled the loosely fitting windows. The rooms were not warm three feet away from the blaze of the fire." Had it not been for the great feather beds and , warm comforts and home-made blankets, sometimes supplemented by heavy bed curtains, the long winter nights could scarcely have been endured.

At the table the pioneer fared well. Of course, in the very beginning many suffered from the want of proper food. Mrs. Lydia Herriott, wife of Samuel Herriott, one of the first settlers of Franklin, often told of their family being without breadstuff of any sort for a month, but after the clearings had been enlarged so as to provide a plentiful supply of corn, the early
settlers had little reason for complaint in the matter of food supply. Game was everywhere abundant. To quote Judge Banta : "

Venison was plenty indeed, and unskillful was that pioneer who could not now and then secure one for his table. Many persons kept the larder supplied the year round. William Rutherford, on one occasion, knocked one on the head with an axe, as it ran past him where he was making rails. One, pursued by dogs, took shelter in Gideon Drake's sheep pen adjoining his cabin, and Mrs. Drake and a neighbor woman, closing the door of the pen, slaughtered it, and made venison of it before the pursuing hunter came up.One Sunday morning, shortly after King's cabin was built. Isaac Voorheis was sitting on the bank of Young's creek, immediately south of Judge Woollen's residence. Hearing the bay of a dog up the creek, he looked that way, and saw a deer coming toward him. Keeping quiet, it came down to a point opposite to him and plunged in, but the current carried it down against a log, when Heister's rushed in and caught it and in his hands it became venison for the family.

Wild turkeys were more abundant even than deer. Wherever there was food for them they were to be found in goodly numbers. Their 'keonk' was a familiar sound to the inmates of every cabin. In the spring of 1823, a drove passed over the after-site of Franklin, numerous enough to make a well marked trail a hundred yards in width, but they were extremely poor and were, no doubt, migrating in search of food. Simon Covert has been heard to say that for several years after he moved to the neighborhood of the Big Spring, he could at any time within a two hours' hunt during the fall and early winter season, kill one or more turkeys. Jacob Fisher was an expert turkey pen builder, and thought nothing of catching six or eight turkeys at a time in his pen. As late as 1850 flocks of fifty were to be seen in the woods in Union township, and in 1856 a wild turkey 'hen hatched a brood within fifty yards of John Barlow's house in Clark township. Wild turkeys often did much mischief scratching up the newly planted corn, eating it after it was grown, and treading down the smaller grain before it was harvested. Richardson Hensly, of Hensly township, lost his first planting of corn by the turkeys scratching it up. ''

Men who bring a wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts, to a state of civilization, never lack in romantic incidents with which to add flavor to the tales told in old age. There are hut few, indeed, who do not yield to the charm of border-life incident. Men who came in conflict with the wild beasts of the country, necessarily met with experiences that, when after- ware! related, bordered on the romantic. However dangerous some of the encounters had with the wild animals by the pioneer hunters of the county. no man ever lost his life, or for that matter, received serious injury, save Lewis Hendricks, who lived in the Sugar creek neighborhood, in an encounter with a bear, when he met with an accident that left him disabled for life. He had wounded the animal and, in company with a neighbor, was ''tinting for it. One on either side of a brush fence in which it was supposed to be lying, they were walking slowly along, when it rushed out and attacked Hendricks. His companion ran to his assistance and shot the infuriated animal, but not before it had stripped the flesh from his arm. and otherwise injured him.

Hardly a hunter of any note lived in the country during the first ten years, who could not boost of his success as a bear hunter. Curtis Pritchard, William Spears, Robert Worl, and Jacob Woodruff, while hunting, found three grown bears holes in trees. Kindling a fire in one of the trees, one was smoked out and shot. Cutting the tree down before it fell another
descended and ran with such rapidity as to escape the flying bullets. Five dogs pursued it, and after a half-mile chase, brought it to bay. Two of the dogs it killed outright and crippled badly two others before it was dispatched. The third beast was shot and killed as the tree fell in which it had concealed itself. Bear meat was prized by some as an article of food. Benjamin Crews had at one time eight hundred pounds of the meat cured and smoked like bacon, which he sold for the same price.

"The most ferocious beast that roamed the woods was the panther. The bear, the wolf, and even the deer, would fight savagely when in close quarters, but each would run from the hunter whenever it could. The panther, on the contrary, was reputed to make battle with man without provocation. Two brothers by the name of Smith, living in Nineveh, in the early days, went to hunt straying cattle. They carried no guns, and when night came they made a camp fire and lay down and slept. During the night one of them was awakened by a noise and, stirring the fire to a blaze, he plainly heard a panther leap off through the bushes to an open space, not far distant, where it stopped and lashed the earth with its tail. Several panthers were shot at Collins' Lick, one by a man named John Weiss, and under circumstances showing the narrow risk an unskilled hunter sometimes ran. Weiss carried a very inefficient arm and had no experience as a hunter. He went to the lick to watch for deer, and while hiding in ambush he happened to look around and was horrified to see, close by, a panther crouched, ready to spring upon him. Without a thought, he brought his gun to bear upon it and, through sheer good luck, shot it dead in its tracks. Weiss never went hunting again. "

Near the headwaters of Honey creek, Samuel and John Bell were lying in wait at a marsh much frequented by deer. The sun went down and twilight was coming on when Samuel's attention was directed to an object crawling toward his brother, who was several yards away. It was a panther, and he knew enough of the habits of the animal to know it meant mischief. But he was an experienced hunter, a good marksman and, withal, had a cool head and steady nerves. Taking deliberate aim, he shot the beast through the head. More hunters, however, got into trouble with wounded deer than with all the other animals of the country. John Smiley once knocked one over, and on going to it. it arose to meet him with 'hair turned the wrong way.' Smiley sprang behind a sapling and it made a rush at him with lowered antlers. Laying hold of a horn on either side of the sapling, he held on for dear life. Round and round went both until, wearied with the fruitless contest, the buck smoothed its hair in token that his fight was over, when Smiley let it go, and he walked oft' undisturbed. Joseph Young, of Union township, knocked a buck down one day, and on touching its throat with the knife it sprang to its feet and made at him. Young jumped behind a large oak tree and the deer took after him, but by hook and by crook he managed to keep the tree between him and his assailant, receiving no more than an occasional prick of the horn. After its rage had abated, it gave its antlers a toss and disappeared in the thicket. "

One of the most desperate encounters with a wounded deer was had by Henry Musselman. To the throat of a paralyzed buck he touched his knife, when it gave an unexpected flounce, sending his knife through the bushes. It was a powerful deer and the hunter, who had his knee on its head and a firm hold of its antlers, saw at a glance that his safety depended on holding it down. Of course there was a struggle and, although the advantage at first was with the hunter, yet it soon became evident to him that the animal's power of endurance was equal to, if not greater than his own. His knife was lost, and his unloaded gun was leaning against a tree more than twenty feet away. What was he to do ? Realizing more and more that his safety lay in keeping on top, he held on in grim desperation. In their struggle a spice bush was broken, and in the splintered stub he thought he saw a weapon of deliverance. If he could only put those baleful eyes out. the victory was his. One after another he broke off the splintered stubs, and jabbed them into the creature's eyes, till their sight was gone, after which he left the blind Sampson of the woods to stumble over the logs and thrash through the bushes in impotent rage until he could load his gun and give it the death shot.

"Another incident in this connection may be mentioned. Jesse Wells, an old-time settler on the Blue river, who was long well known as a Methodist preacher was given to hunting. On one occasion he 'creased' a deer, and proceeded to bleed it. Taking hold of its hind legs to turn it over, the creature came to life and, giving one tremendous kick, which knocked the knife so far away that it was never afterward found, the animal leaped to its feet and furiously assailed him. Wells was a lithe, active man, but in spite of his best efforts to secure shelter behind a large poplar tree standing close by. the enraged brute succeeded in piercing his knee with one of the sharp prongs of its antler. Once behind the tree, the animal abandoned the fight and disappeared in the forest. Jesse Wells ever after walked with a stiff knee, which came of the wound received in that fight."

The pioneers were able to find an abundance of honey of the wild bees and some became expert bee hunters and spent much of the time in the woods in this interesting and profitable enterprise. Johnson county was blessed with an abundant supply of maple trees and sugar making was everywhere common. The maple trees were tapped in the early spring time when the sap began to run, a notch being cut in the side of the tree, a spile of pawpaw or elder inserted and the sap drained into a huge trough. It was then brought in buckets to the camp and boiled down, either to sugar or molasses.

The first settlers brought with them from their older homes in the South and first the cuttings and seedlings for their orchards and vines and there was soon an abundance of fruits for the table. Apple, peach and pear trees throve, and wild berries and small fruits were abundant. In the autumn the housewives prepared large supplies for the winter's need. While they lacked the present sanitary methods of canning, dried fruits and preserved and spiced fruits were put up in large quantities. The making of apple butter, peach butter and many fruit liquors was an avocation of every housewife.

Within a very few years after the settlement of the count)', "foreign merchandise" began to be brought in by enterprising merchants and the products of other countries, such as sugar, molasses, tea and coffee, were to be had in 'exchange for the produce of the farm and field. The business must have proved profitable, for it was one of the few callings which were required to pay a license under the early tax levies. For example a license to run a coffee house was issued to Abraham Lay in 1839, and, while license fees for retailing "foreign merchandise" had been fixed in the tax levy of 1826. this is the first record found of the sale of coffee in Johnson county.

Indian corn provided the early settler with the chief articles of diet. Not only was the green corn a substitute for bread, but with hominy, porridge, succotash, there was little need for the finer breads of the present day. Much of the corn was prepared for the table by hand by the means of rude mortars and pestles, but. like the saw mills, grist mills were fairly abundant even in the beginning of the county's history. Most of these were located on the small streams, but a few were driven by horse power. By the middle of the thirties, the following grist mills had been erected within the limits of Johnson county : Smiley's mill : McDermitt's mill, later known as Beard's mill and Clark's mill: Collier's mill, and the Thomas Williams' mill, all on Sugar creek; Thompson's mill, on Blue river at Edinburg; Isaac Williams' mill, on Nineveh creek : Covert's mill, near Franklin : Houghter's mill. Slaughter's mill and St. John's mill, on Stott's creek in Union township: and Barne's mill, on Indian creek in Hensley township. These were all rudely constructed mills and their product was not of the best, but the pioneer farmer was glad to make use of them, even though it took a day to get his bag of corn ground.

Corn not only provided food for the table, but it was used in many of the games enjoyed by the pioneer children. Checkers, fox and geese, and "Hull, Gull, how many" were all favorite recreations of the boys and girls in the pioneer homes.

A pioneer family was clothed in homespun. The fathers raised sheep, but the mothers dyed the wool with home-made walnut and butternut dyes, carded it into rolls, spun it into yarn and wove the web of the durable jeans.

One reading the early records sometimes wonders at the large bounty offered for the killing of wolves. For each wolf scalp, the hunter was allowed one dollar, quite a large prize in that early day, and the wolves must have been fairly plentiful, for in the year 1828 the county paid a bounty for eleven wolf scalps, and in 1829 for fifteen scalps, but of the latter eight were from wolves under six months old. It will thus be seen that the pioneer farmer was much concerned about the loss of his flock from these pirates of the woods.

As soon as the early settlers had cleared their fields from stumps they planted one field of flax and occasionally one of hemp. The seed was sown broadcast and while the flax was growing its cultivation usually depended on the women and children. The flax was cut or pulled shortly before it was fully ripe and laid out carefully to dry and was turned several times in the sun. It was then "rippled," the stalks of flax being drawn through a "ripply" comb fastened on a plank. After the seed "bolles" were thus pull eel off, the stalks were tied in bundles and set up in the field or taken to the learns. While in the Eastern states the flax was allowed to stand in the fields until the fibers had rotted, in Indiana it was usually taken from the barns and spread on the grass at night time to be rotted by the dews. After the flax was rotted it was then broken in a flax brake, a heavy base with three raised planks set thereon, above which was a top with a plank so set as to work between those in the base, the upper portion being worked by hand from a pivot at one end. The flax was usually broken twice, so as to remove all the outside fiber, and it was then "swingled" with a fork or knife to remove any small particles of the bark that still adhered. This work must be done in dry weather when the flax was dry. The clean fibers were then bunched into "strikes" and were again "swingled." After being throughly cleaned it was "beetled" by pounding in a trough as to make the fibers soft and smooth. After this came the "hackling," and upon the number of "hacklings" depended the fineness of the flax. "Hackling" required much dexterity, for if care was not used all the fiber would be converted into tow. The hackles were made of iron teeth set closely together in a board, through which teeth the flax, after being slightly wetted, was pulled and laid into threads. This process was repeated with hackles having teeth set more closely together until the fiber was of sufficient fineness to be spun. Mrs. Earle thus describes the process of spinning: "Seated at a small flax wheel, the spinner placed her foot on the treadle and spun the fiber into a long, even thread. Hung on the wheel was a small bone, wood or earthenware cup, or a gourd shell filled with water, in which the spinner moistened her fingers as she held the twisting flax, which, by the movement of the wheel, was wound on bobbins. When all were filled, the thread was wound off in knots and skeins on a .reel. Usually the knots or 'lays' were of forty threads and twenty 'lays' made a skein or 'slipping.' To spin two skeins of linen thread was a good day's work." After the spinning, the skeins of thread were bleached, sometimes in the brooks, until the thread was washed and rinsed to the proper color.

The farmers' wives and daughters knew how to weave as well as to spin, and in nearly every pioneer home was a loom upon which the linen cloth was woven. Even after the linen was woven into cloth it still had many processes to undergo before it was ready for garments. It was oftentimes worked through as many as two-score processes of rubbing, rinsing, drying and bleaching before it was used, but the linen thus made, if it were well done, was of the finest quality and had a finish and durability never found in the machine-made product.

Few of the men and boys, however, were able to afford this costly garment. Their shirts were usually made from the coarser threads of the tow. and, while the garment was prickly to the wearer, it was strong and serviceable. Even the women's garments were made of cheaper materials than linen, and linsey woolsey, a fabric made of the fibers of flax and wool woven together, was the dress worn by women, and not only about the home, but on social occasions as well.

Not only did the housewives weave their linen and woolen garments, but the bed spreads and even the carpets were woven on hand looms. The pioneer mothers not only spun and wove, but had many other laborious duties. The making of home-made soap was one of these. Throughout the year scraps of grease and meats were saved, as well as the wood ashes from the great fireplaces. In the early spring time the husband made a large hopper or barrel, in which the ashes were placed; water was poured on them and the lye caught in a trough beneath. The lye was then boiled, with the grease added, until the soft soap became like a jelly and it was then ready for use. The housewives also picked the geese and the ducks and made the feather beds and pillows. A few made their own brooms, although this was not common in Johnson county.

While the burden of all these household duties fell largely upon the women, the men were scarcely less industrious. Farm implements of the pioneer days were hand-made and of the rudest character. Col. W. M. Cockrum, in his "Pioneer History of Indiana," gives an excellent account of the makeshift implements of the earliest days in Indiana, when nearly every farmer was his own blacksmith and carpenter. He says :

"In the pioneer days, there was no wagon or blacksmith shop in the country and the early settlers had to depend on their own resources for such farming tools as they needed. They made a very serviceable plow with a wooden mould-board. The plow share, point and bar were of iron, all in one piece. Three short bolts, two for the mould-board and one to fasten
the handle to the heel of the bar, and one long bolt from the bottom of the share up through the plough sheath to the top of the beam, was all the iron about the plow, and that cost more than the best two-horse plow would cost now.

The wooden mould-board was made of the best hard wood obtainable. White oak was often used. Post oak was the hardest of any, and when dried was the smoothest. After fashioning the mould-board, it was dressed down to the proper size and shape and then placed in the chimney above the fire to season. The stock was made of the best hard wood and much after the "fashion of today, only not so smooth nor in any way finished as well, but: it was strong and serviceable. "

They had a very serviceable harrow made entirely of wood. They secured a slippery elm or iron-wood, if they could find any large enough, and cut four pieces the proper length for an 'A' harrow, first sloping the two pieces at one end, and fitting them to the center or tongue-piece, a hole been bored through each of the three pieces, and securely pinning together. A cross-piece was then placed about the middle of the harrow and pinned to the center and the two side pieces. Two inch auger holes were then bored along the side pieces about ten inches apart and filled with dried hickory pins that extended about eight inches below the side timbers, thus making a harrow that did good work and required a heavy pull to break in any way. "

"For single and double trees, they made them much after the fashion of today, except that the clips, devices and lap-rings were made of hickory withes, which, if properly made, would last for a season. The horse collars were made mostly of corn shucks, platted in large rope-like sections, and sewed together hard and fast with leather thongs, to make the bulge or large part of the collar, short pieces of platted shucks being made and fastened up as high as needed. A roll made by sewing two platted parts together was securely fastened on the edge of the collar, forming a groove for the hames to fit in. They also made collars of rawhide, cutting it in the proper shape and sewing the edges together, stuffing the inside with deer hair to make it hold its shape. Hoop ash timber was pounded up fine and when mixed with deer hair made a better material for the purpose than the manufactured excelsior of today.

"The bridle was made of rawhide. For a bit, they took a small hickory withe, made a securely fastened ring on both ends of it, leaving enough of the withe between the rings to go into the horse's mouth, and wrapping that portion with rawhide to keep the horse from biting it in two. A bridle was made very quickly by securing a piece of rawhide long enough for the
reins, then putting the leather in the horse's mouth and looping it around his lower jaw just back of his front teeth, and with this a horse was guided better and with more ease than with the bridle bit. "

"A wagon that was termed a truck was made by cutting four wheels from a large tree, usually a black gum. A four-inch hole was made in the middle of the wheels, in which axles fitted. Then splitting a tough hickory or white oak pole three or four feet at the big end, spreading these split pieces apart about fifteen inches, and boring two holes through the front axle and the two ends of the tongue, they then fitted a piece called a sand- board over the ends of the tongue with holes in it to correspond with those in the axle. Having pinned it all securely together, they fastened the end to the front end of the wagon. A coupling pole was fitted into the center of the two axles and pinned there. Heavy bolsters were put on over the axles and on them a board bed was made. "

"Oxen were the usual teams that were hitched to these crude but serviceable wagons. A heavy wooden yoke went on the oxen's neck. Two hickory bows enclosed the neck and up through the the top of the yoke, thus fastening the two oxen together. There was a hole made in the middle of the yoke, and a strong hickory withe was fastened into it with a loop for
the end of the tongue. A better ring was made for the tongue and fastened to the yoke by twisting into a strong cord a heavy rope of rawhide. The tongue was put into this ring and a pin of wood through the end of the tongue before and behind the ring. These wagons were very serviceable for hauling wood, gathering corn, and for many other purposes on the farm. They were very musical as well, for the more grease one put on the wooden axle to make it run lighter, the more it would squeak, making a noise that could be heard a mile. "

The pitch forks for all purposes on the farm were made of wood. A young forked dogwood sapling was secured, the bark taken off, and the two forks pointed for tines, and this made a good fork. Wooden rakes were made of strong seasoned wood, some of them being made by fitting the head piece with deer horns, and they made very useful implements. A good spade was made of hickory and, if properly seasoned and kept well oiled, this tool would do good work as long as wanted. Sleds were made in many ways and were universally used by all who had either oxen or horse teams. In early times the hickory withe and deer hides were used for all purposes on the crude farming implements, as is the binder twine and fencing wire of this period."

But it must be remembered that in Johnson county the village smithy and shop followed hard upon the footsteps of the first settlers, and the pioneer farmer in this county, if he had the money, was not left entirely to his own resources. Most of them chose, however, to fashion their own implements, as they did the little household furniture they required. And. like the Kentucky pioneers who passed through the cane-brakes of what is now the "Blue Grass Country" to settle upon the hills where fuel and water was abundant, the Johnson county pioneers settled on the highest and driest lands, near a spring, if possible, to avail themselves of the best that nature had provided for home making.

The work in the fields was of the character rendered necessary by the want of good implements for the clearing of the lands and the cultivation of the soil. After the ground was cleared for the small field of corn it was broken and dragged or harrowed, and then "laid off'' with a single shovel plow, generally in both directions. At the intersections of the furrows the corn was dropped by hand and covered with a hoe. In the corn planting the women and children were usually relied upon to drop the corn, but the men as well girded themselves with aprons, knotted in front, and helped in planting the corn crop. As one could drop as much as two could cover, effort was soon made to find an implement that would save the labor of the hoe. The "grasshopper," a small side-bar plow, and later the "straddle-jack," two small plows set so as to straddle the row, were the first improvements upon the work of the hands in covering corn. A '"jumping-jack," for the same use, was a small shovel plow run in the row and lifted at the hill so as to cover the corn. The next time-saver invented was a "marker," used to lay off the rows transversely, and next came the corn drill and corn planter, the latter making its appearance in Johnson county about the middle of the fifties. The check rower did not make its appearance until about the time of the Civil war, and it is worthy of note that one of the first types of this machine was invented by a citizen of Johnson county and thereafter manufactured under the name of the Hayworth check rower. In the wheat fields the crop was in the beginning reaped with a hook, but the cradle was also in use from the beginning of the county's history. The first of the wheat harvesters to make its appearance in Johnson county was known as Mann's patent. One of these was brought to the county by John T. Forsythe as early as 1855, and it was a one-wheel machine with a sickle and canvas carrier which carried the wheat from the sickle to a platform elevated fourteen or fifteen inches, from which the wheat fell into a concave box resting against teeth fashioned like a revolving hay rake. One man drove the machine while his helper, sometimes a boy, sat with his back to the driver and when the box filled with wheat, revolved the box so as to throw out the sheaf ready to be bound. Isaac Bergen and John P. Banta also owned harvesters of this type.

During the latter part of the fifties other harvesters, notably the Ball, the Kirby, the Manny and the Kentucky harvesters, came into use. The Ball had two wheels and the wheat fell from the sickle upon a platform arid was raked off in bunches by a boy sitting with his back to the driver. The one- wheeler Kirby was of almost the same type, except that the helper stood and removed the straw with a hand rake : the Manny was a much larger machine, on which two men besides the driver rode and bound the straw as it was elevated to a small platform. The Manny met with little favor because of its weight upon the horses' necks.

The Marsh harvester, patented in 1858. was of the same type as the Manny. The Dropper came into use early in the sixties and continued to be quite generally used until after the middle of the seventies. The first self binder brought into the county, of which the writer has been able to get precise information, was purchased by "Uncle Matt" Alexander, about the year 1878. A year previous Daniel Deupree. living just north of Edinburg. but in Shelby county, had bought a self-binder, and within a year or two many of the prosperous farmers had followed his example. When first introduced the self-binder was an object of much curiosity and men drove for miles to see the new-fangled implement. These were wire binders, the twine binders not coming into use until about the year 1883.

After his wheat crop was harvested, the pioneer farmer removed his sheaves to the barns, and in the beginning was obliged to beat the grain out with a flail, tossing the wheat in sheets that the wind might blow the dry chaff out. The better class of farmers had their barns provided with threshing floors, on which the sheaves were laid and small boys rode unshod horses around over the straw, with men turning and removing the straw until the grain was tramped out and worked to the bottom. Hand mills were then used to blow out the chaff and dirt. Sometimes the horses were hitched to a beam fastened to an upright revolving in the center of the threshing floor, the horses being led by a pole extending from the upright.

The first machine for the threshing of wheat was called the "groundhog," a huller set in the field between the stacks of wheat and operated by horse power. The "ground-hog" did not separate the wheat from the straw, but men stood at the tail end of the machine with forks and removed the loose straw, the remainder being fanned out at the barns. In a few years probably about the middle of the fifties, came the separator, driven first by eight then by ten to twelve horses. The horse-power machines were driven by a. tumbling shaft which ran from the "power" to the thresher. The band- cutter, standing next to this shaft, had to be very careful to avoid the danger of being caught. Steam power was first used with separators in Johnson county about the beginning of the Civil war. but in 1864 a distressing accident drove the steam engine out of favor. In that year near the present site of New Bargersville engine attached to a wheat separator blew up, killing Commodore Tresslar. James Utterback and a boy and seriously injuring others. At about the same time a like engine exploded at the state fair ground, killing more than a score of people, among whom were some citizens of Johnson county. The farmers feared a repetition of these accidents, and it was past the middle of the seventies before the steam engine returned to favor in the threshing field. The "blower" was still later coming into use. Many men yet in middle life worked on the straw stack and remember the overpowering dust at the mouth of the carrier. With the coming of steam power it was no longer necessary to stack wheat in the field. Still later came the traction engine, the self-feeder and the automatic weighing device with machines capable of threshing two thousand bushels of wheat per day.

When the farmer was not busy in the field he found work in clearing his lands, and the best timber was split into rails. Johnson county was favored by a fine growth of timber suitable for rail making, and it has only been within the last twenty-five years that the farmer was obliged to resort to other materials for his fencing.

One of the few diversions of the pioneer was the neighborhood shooting match. To these contests marksmen came for miles around and the rivalry at the matches, while friendly, was always very keen. The weapons were usually home-made, muzzle-loading rifles and, in the hands of the pioneer marksmen, were a very accurate and deadly weapon. Every neighborhood boasted its champion marksman and a few marksmen, notably William H. Barnett, Jonathan Yount and Thomas Stine, had a reputation county wide.

Muster days and election days were occasions eagerly looked forward to by the pioneer residents, and they were always made the occasion of more or less hilarious conduct. Election days were much more exciting than those of the present day. Indeed, for weeks before the election the excitement was intense, manifesting itself in great party meetings at the county seat. The different parties, toward the close of the campaign, held their meetings on alternate Saturdays and great was the rivalry between the parties in the matter of parades, torch-light processions and erection of party poles. In these campaign meetings each community vied with its neighbor in the arrangement and decoration of floats, in the arrangement of drum corps and horseback troops, and after the election the victors always met for jollification meetings with parades and torch-light processions, the marchers carrying banners taunting their opponents with defeat. The last of these expressions of partisan sentiment to arouse much enthusiasm in our county were the parades and meetings held in the city of Franklin during the general election of 1892.

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