The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-06-20
TWO GOLD MAIDS" IN MICHIGAN.
A NARRATIVE OF WOMAN s PLUCK AND
ENERGY.

A NARRATIVE OF WOMAN 5 PLUCK AND
ENERGY.
A few weeks since, says a Charlotte
Mich \ CORRESPONDENT of the Detroit
Post. a briefnotice appeared in the Eaton
county papers announcing the death OF
one of a couple of old ladies residing III
the township of Kalamo, who had moved
into the woods when that country was
almost a wilderness, and cleared them
ND a farm and cultivated it just as the
s.lords of creation are in the habit OF
doing. They were known in the COM
munity as 1.-The old maids" or as Aunt
Rachel" and Aunt Samantha. " Think
ing their history might be read with
some interest by those who admire PlucK
and believe in wOman's right 10 enteI
any field of labor she chooses, L called
upon the surviving partner OF TINS heroic
couple and CLEANED from her the toIloW-
ing brief account of their lives
Their names were Rachel Mitchell and
Samantha Wvman They were in nowlse
related to each other and had never met uIl-
til womanhood, and had neither OF them done
any outdoor labor until they had reached
middle life Aunt Rachel, the survivor, was
born at Monmouth, Me, May IA, 1909, and IS
therefore, now little past 20, and, though
bronZed with the outdoor labor incident 10
the life of the hardy pioneer, she possesses
,ona Of that coarSeness of manners that we
might be apt to picture to ourselves IN Wo-
man who for nearly third of century, had
not only brayed all of the prlVatlonS anu
hardships of our noble frontier women, OUT
had actually endured the lapors ol Ile IlaIIS
frontiersman herself. Aunt samantha, VINO
died April Is, was born III Vermont, May 81
Their fathers had both died while they
were but infants, and they, like other girls
under like circumstances, were carry loTcGu
To labor for their own support. Samantha
was a tailoreSS, working at her trade IN
Monroe county, New Ork, whittier She mao
drifted when Rachel, who had been girl OF
all work first met her, in 1881. On their flrsl
ocnuaintance an unusual attachment Sprang
up between them, which continued uhu
death recently broke the tie that bound them
/ Rachel learned the tallOTeSS trade OF Saulah-
/ tha. and for wears together they piled the
needle without thought OF the rude IarH
life in store for them. They entered INTO {
/ life partnership almost on their first acqualnt
/ auce, though no written contract TO that ell
/ feet was ever drawn up.
| In answer to the question as 10 WheIle
| there was not some disappointed love anal
connected with this strange union, ant
/ whether there ever was any special agree
ment that they should remain single, Aun
/ Rachel responded: ooh, no; nothing o
/ that in the history of either OF US we neNe
it wasn't necessary. We knew we shoul
never marry.
sometime between 1886 and 1910, catchin,
. the emigration fever, they came westward
I stopping a short time IN sllantl, put hIialI
, settling down to their trade III Marshal
{ where with their needles they earned tn
I farm on which.they have spent so many years
After remaining in Michigan year or 5
thev retutned to New \ Ork, leaving quaI
, fitV of money in an agents hands with II
/ structious to purchase them a small quaint
tv of land near Marshall. Their lntenuO
I was to return to that town and invest Wha
they could spare from time to time III III
/ prOvementS.
A severe fit of sickness of Standardization
which she never fully ecovered-prevente
their return to Michigan until the winter {
[ lS4g-5O In the meantime their agent, diSr
garding his instructions, had invested the
money in a piece of land in the township {
| KaIamO. Eaton county, some twentN-hN
I miles from Marshall, where they had deSigI
ed to live, and near where they had dlrecte
| him to purchase. On returning to MIchlga
Rachel at this time says she first determine
to enter upon farm life, and as she relate
her resolves and some of her early experience
in the woods, it occurred to me that the ht
roes were not all dead yet. Many bra'
heart. whose courage would be undauntG
upon the field of battle, would have ShruT
from the task before these determined wOme
In company with another family they reach'
the vicinity of their land on the 9TH of Jam
arV, 1919. The snow being nearly two fe'
deep, and the country an almost unbrOk'
I forest, the scene was one to appal the Stor
Z est heart. The man who had moved III wit
them was discouraged at the situation al
Z wanted to return without unpackIEg. III
"WOmen folks" together with Samanth
8 were crying, and but for her brave heart al
determined courage the next day would ha
j / seen them on their back track. She said s
] had come to stay, and should never retul
until she was satisfied that she couldn't Ii
there The question of return being tn
settled, they proceeded to business, and fin
/ ing a vacant log house moved into and Occ
4 pied it until they could build one OF the
q own. From this time Rachel employed ht
self at outdoor work, even to chOpping doV
Z timber, logging, bruSh-piling and any a
every kind of labor that men do in a nC
II country. Samantha : health was such til
L she was able to do but little hard work out
doors, and, in fact, did not do all of t
Il heavy hOuSewOrk, much of this being al
= done by Rachel. For some years after i
: chel had been in the habit of doing ever
thing else on her farm, she hired men to Sc
her wheat until she finally found she cOU
do that as well as any of them. She relat
|, many of her early adventures in the WOO,
One evening, just at dark the violent Sque
: ing of one Of her hogs appriSed her of t
fact that a bear had seized it and was ma ki
for his hamts in the forest. Calling her d
she gave hot pursuit and finally succeeded
reScuing the porker from the Jaws of bru
but in so damaged a condition that they i
to Kill and dress il before morning She 5;
that she got so that she could do as mU
ChOpping as a man and preferred outdoor
indoor labor. Her farm is nearly all
proved and well stocked with sheep, COY
hogs, fowls, etc. 1t has a good orchard a
fair buildings. There was one thing, no
ever, she said that had never been on tn
farm, and that was a mortgage, and they h
never been seriously embarrassed with
/ debtedneSS. This is something, no dOu
that many of their neighbOrs cannot s.
Aunt Rachel is only about five feet high, !
very stout, weighing about $50, and gu
fLnr.l.r 81,