Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-06-29

Two nights, besides three days OF
hard work and exposure for our
selves and teams. Wheat brought
so cents per bushel in the same
market. Calico, poor and thin cost
us l2aa to Is cents per yard. We
can buy today as good for 3 to 4
cents. l tell you this to give you
the starvation prices we had to take
for our farm produce as well as the
exhorbitant prices we had to pay for
foreign manufactured articles
i In the winter of l959-6O it was a
common thing to see from ten to
twenty teams coming from Turkey
4 Timber to Manchester with ties tor
the railroad then being built through
the county. These ties were traded
to Thompson, Paxson & Seeds who
occupied the "long store" where
Allen now is. The ties were paid
for in goods in which bed ticking
was one of the principal things
Many of the teamsters were dressed
in bed-ticking from head to foot so
it came about that the winter of
1859-6O was often referred to as the
"Bed-ticking Winter"
! November 5, 1859 Squire z. L.
Eaton was invited over to Watson
Roe's to say the necessary words to
hitch up Almira Roe and your hum
BILE servant in the matrimonial har-
ness and am glad to say that the
hitching was well done and has
held good to this day. The follow
ing February we took our earthly
possessions consisting mainly of
plug team, an ancient and much run
down wagon, with a home made I'M
painted box on it, two cows and
little batch Of household goods and
moved into an old log house on
farm at the north end of Ead's
Grove. The house was one of the
first built in this county and was
put up by Mr.. Brown. The roof
had been covered with split shakes.
Later on when it got to leaking it
was covered all over with green sod.
The logs that lay on the ground had
rotted and the house had settled
down all around while the floor had
settled only in spots leaving it full
of humps and hollows. The ceiling
was never over high and after the
house had settled SO much | could
not stand up straight except in GER
tain places. Our table and bed and
in fact everything we had was level
ed up with chunks and chips. We
were comparatively happy until the
rain began to fall then trouble began
in earnest. Water and mud from
the sod roof poured in like flood.
If the shower came at meal time per-
haps the first notice we had would
be a great splatter of black mud in
the butter or on the bread and some
times all over the table before we
could get up and move it. If the
rain came in the night we would
have to get up and light a candle,
move some things and cover others
and this done stand around like
chickens do on rainy day. One
night in June there came a very
heavy rain and the usual dose Of
mud and water came through the
roof. After while a great stream
of water and mud came down from
the hill and rushed into the house
through and under the door. We
got up as usual and stood around
for an hour or two and finally start
ed in the rain, for one of the neigh
bors. In going we had to cross a
slough where the water was nearly
waist deep. We stumbled and
floundered around in the darkness,
climbed two fences and finally got
to John Cults place where they took
US in. Ihave always thought it was
fortunate that this "undress parade"
occurred in the night.
Following Mr.. Torrey, Miss Blanch
Swinburne gave recitation and
Treasurer Mrs. Morse read her re-
port of the receipts and expendi-
lures made by her as treasurer of
the Old Settlers Association for the
year. The business of electing
officers also interrupted the literary
numbers on the program, the for
mer officers being reelected for the
ensuing year.
A recitation by Miss Stella Clute
was well rendered and after the
reading of the death list by Secre-
tary Bailey, land which we append
below Mrs. L. G.. Clute read the
following production:
MRS. l.. G. CLuTE.
Fifty four years ago the oath of
last September, my father VIM Roe,
came from our old home near South
Bend Ind; and settled here in Del
aware Co., Iowa, on the farm on
which we now live and where l
have lived ever since coming to this
state. The old log cabin on the east
bluff overhanging Honey creek in
IN which we settled, was the very
identical one in which the Co. Com
missioners met to locate the Co. seat.
The particulars of that meeting you
are all familiar with through the Co.
history. About fifty yards from our
home stood the log hut, a little
farther down the creek on our farm
built by man named Bennett, he
was an enigma to the old settlers as
well as to us to-day. Whence he
came and whittier he went; none
seemed to know. Robert Hutson
and his family lived on the bank of
the creek about one hundred yards
from Mr. Bennett. 1t was from them
we got bit of the Bennett history.
MIR. Bennett was away from home
/ tho rrrao for ,,nrk of %I,o &c., ,.ak,,.,>