The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1876-06-08

made OF undressed stone. A dozen
neighbors were invited TO the house rails
ing. Four men-one to each corner,
notched the logs down, while the other
men lifted the logs upon the building.
After the building was up few rounds,
skids, or logs with one end upon the
building and the other end upon the
ground, enabled the men to shove the
logs up with wooden forks, cut from sap
lings. Ten or twelve rounds of logs
raised the building high enough. Some
six or seven feet from the sleepers, logs
were laid across for joists. When the
building was high enough, instead of
rafters, logs called ribs were placed across,
held up at the gables by logs which were
cut off sloping, to receive the roof. Clap
boards were laid on these ribs, and the
boards were held in place by small logs
laid upon each course of boards. These
weight poles were held to the proper place
by braces called knees The floor was made
Of puncheons which were logs split open
and the fiat side hewed, and turned up
The loft was made of clapboards. The
door was also made of clapboards, fas-
tened together with wooden pins, and
hung on wooden hinges, and when shut,
fastened with a wooden pin.
1t is not necessary to go further into a
description of these rude cabins. They
contained but one room. Now only
only think of raising family in such a
room. 1t was used as a kitchen, dining
room, parlor, bed room, &c, and often it
also had the old hand loom in it. This
was frame perhaps ten by twelve feet,
extending up to the loft. Then there
was the big wheel. for spinning wool and
cotton, and the little wheel for spinning
fax and tow Then there must be the
meat tub, the soap trough. crout arrels
the strings of dried pumpkins, and the
punches of skeins of thread, the winding
blades, spool frame, warping bars, &c
When think Of all | have seen slowed
away in one of these cabins, l6 by Is
feet / am puzzled to understand how it
could be done.
The pioneers. after providing food,
clothing and shelter, looked to the fu-
ture, and were. in some respects, a relig-
ious people. They had no ambition to
accumulate property and there was little
cheating among them. They had preach
ing occasionally, and their preacher:
were ignorant, unlearned, but honest,
Jealous earnest men. There were no
church buildings, and preaching was had
at the cabin of some neighbor, where
those living within three or four miles
would congregate. The men would sit
around on the wood pile. fences, &c, in
warm weather, and tell stories about
hunting, fighting &c, until time TO COM
mence services, when they would crowd
into the cabin to hear the preacher. The
rudest toughest and most drunken men,
would rarely misbehave at one Of these
meetings. The preacher would give
out his hymn, that is, he would first
read it all, and then read two lines and
then sing them, then read two more lines
and sing them, until all were sung. In
thus lining the hymn he had a sing-song
tone, which was very solemn.
The original settlers of the county were
exceedingly superstitisus. There were
very few persons who did not observe the
changes Of the moon, or the signs Of the
Zodiac, in the most trivial matters, such
as the weaving Of colts, laying of fence
worm, putting clapboards upon roofs.
sowing of fax, planting of potatoes. &c.
There were no physicians Of any standing
in the county except DR.. McNeel in the
south part and Dr.. Andrews at Jackson.
and the settlers thought diseases could
be cured by charms. Chill and fever,
or ague as it was called, was prevalent,
aud nearly all believed that it could be
cured by charm of some kind. One
way was to get small limbs from nine
different kinds Of trees or bushes, cut
pieces about half an inch in length,
string them on a thread, and wear them
around the neck like beads, for nine
days.
In clearing up the forests, serious cuts
we're often inflicted with the ak. There
we're men and women in every neighbor-
hood who claimed to be able to stop
bleeding from the worst wounds. by a
,harm, even when the wounded person
was a mile or more distant from the
,harmer. Burns were cured by blowing
put the fire from the burn, and mum
bling over some ceremony.