Transcribed from the Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, IL
Originally Published 1885
Chapman Bros.
Chicago, IL

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

How Our Fathers Lived

Page 799-800

Pioneer life at the present time is not to be compared with that of 50 years ago. In this day the great railway corporations build railroads into and through such country as they may think in time will become profitable to the settlers and themselves, and the pioneers enter palace cars and are conveyed to their destination at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and from the beginning have a market for their produce at their very door. All this was different in the early days of Whiteside County. Then, when one desired to removed from the far East. It required long and extensive preparations, their conveyance generally being an ox team hitched to a heavy lumber wagon. The route lay through a wild and rough country; swamps and marshes were crossed with great exertion and fatigue; rivers were forded with difficulty and danger; nights were passed in the dense forests, with mother earth for a couch and the trees and foliage for a shelter; long, weary days and weeks of travel were endured, but finally their eyes were gladdened and their hearts beat faster when a vision of their future home burst upon them.

The first thing upon their arrival was to set about building a cabin. While this was being done the family slept in the wagons or upon the grass, while horses or mules, tethered to prevent escape, grazed on the grass around them. Trees of a suitable and uniform size were selected, felled and prepared for their places. The day for the raising was announced, and from far and near came other pioneers to assist in the labor. The structure went up, a lob at a time, those engaged in the work stopping now and then to “wet their whistles,: and oon it was ready for the clapboard roof, which was held on by huge wight-poles. A door and a window were cut where the good wife directed, a chimney built, and the building was ready for its occupants. The space between the logs was filled with split sticks of wood, called “chinks,” and then daubed over, both inside and out, with mortar made of clay. The floor was sometimes nothing more than earth tramped hard and smooth, but was commonly made of puncheaons, or split logs, with the split side turned upwards. The roof was made by gradually drawing in the top of the ridge-pole and on cross-pieces laying the clapboards, which, being several feet in length, instead of being nailed were held in place by wight-[p;es, reaching the entire length of the cabin.

For a fire-place, a space was cut out of the wall on one side of the room, usually about six feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs, making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone, if convenient; if not, then earth was used. The flue, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in ength, carried a little space above the roof, and plastered over with clay, and when finished was called “cob and clay” chimney. The door space was also made by cutting an aperture in one side of the room of the required size, the door itself being made of clapboards secured by wooden pins to two cross-pieces. The hinges were also of wood, while the fastening consisted of a wooden latch catching on a hook of the same material. To open the door from the outside, a strip of buckskin was tied to the latch and drawn through a hole a few inches above the latch bar, so that on pulling the string the latch was lifted from the catch or hook, and the door was opened without further trouble. To lock the door it was only necessary to pull the string through the hole to the inside. Here the family lived, and here the guest and wayfarer were made welcome. The living-room was of good size, but to a large extent it was also kitchen, bed0room, parlor and arsenal, with flitches of bacon and rings of dried pumpkin suspended from the rafters. These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the travelers seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if will to accept the rude offerings, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader may not imagine.

The character of the pioneers of Whiteside County falls properly within the range of the historian. They lived in a region of exuberance and fertility, where Nature had scattered her blessings with a liberal hand. The forest supply, the fertile prairie, and the many improvements constantly going forward, with the bright prospect for a glorious future in everything that renders life pleasant, combined to deeply impress, an independence of feeling, and a joyousness of hope. They were a thorough admixture of many nations, characters, languages, conditions and opinions There was scarcely a State in the Union that was not represented among the early settlers.

The clothing of the early pioneers was as plain and simple as their houses. Necessity compelled it to be in conformity to the strictest economy. The clothing taken to the new country was made to render a vast deal of service. In summer, nearly all peersons, both male and female, went barefooted. Buckskin moccaskins were much worn. Boys of 12 and 15 years of age never thought of wearing anything on their feet, except during three or four months of the coldest wether in winter. Boots were unknown until a later generation.