The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-11-11

| ne huSDand felenteu ana WelBneu
,ut 19 pounds of flour. With it Lucy
'eturned to her cabin with a lighter
leart.
In the Rogers cabin that day the
short cake, without meat, butter or
anything else with it, tasted as sweet
IS the viands on the table of king.
In the afternoon, Aunt Lois Kent,
living a mile through the woods,
brought in a pan of meal and Mrs.
Shultz, equally far in the other
direction, brought some milk. So the
Rogers family had mush and milk.
Both good neighbors had learned of |
their troubles in an indirect way. |
Believe me-" Lucy Rogers said,
tears of joy and sorrow rained |
down my cheeks when this meal was
eaten"
Then Louisa Norton, "who married
Harris Garten," learned how terribly
the little Rogers family was distress
ed by want and hunger and told her
father, Samuel Norton, "This will
not do. These folks have come to a
new country and must be helped.
They shall not starve in Bucyrus."
More Aid Comes
Every evening Norton sent the
Rogers family new, fresh milk and
when they needed it, ham of meat.
Once he sent Louisa over with
dressed pig land l never had
present that did me so much good"
Luck Rogers afterwards declared.
In a few weeks Rogers recovered
and the family Jared better and
again were able to go ahead on their
own.
So it was that Lucy Rogers faith
in prayer was vindicated and never
until she died years later in her
early nineties, was it shaken. The
story is a true one and an example
of how Bucyrus, in the early days,
took care of it's own. Few of the
early citizens were reduced to such
extremes though most families often
were without the necessities of life.
Pioneer Family
Norton's own life in the wilder
ness had not been an easy one nor
was it one of affluence when the
Rogerses needed assistance. The
Nortons came to Crawford County
in 1919 when no other white family
yet was there. The nearest mills
were at Lexington, Richland County,
and at Fredericksburg. The man or
boy who went to mill walked the
whole distance and led a horse load
ed with two or three sacks of wheat.
When the family could not go to
mill the flour was pounded out with
a mortar and pestle.
Under the foregoing conditions
William Langdon'S gift to Lucy
Rogers of 19 pounds of flour had
not been a stingy one.
Often when there was nothing in
the cabin for supper Mrs. Norton
sent Louisa and Warren, the son,
with baskets to the corn patch to
bring back enough corn to CRATE for
supper and breakfast. When the
children returned, the crater was
taken down and the meal prepared.
1t was a lot of hard work.
With them from Pennsylvania, the
Nortons had brought loom and spin
ming wheel. Every backwoods woman
knew how to spin and some were as
expert at weaving as they were at
keeping house. 1t all went together.
Wolves Raid Sheep
Once Norton saved enough money
to go over to Marion County and
buy 40 sheep from the settlers there.
In a few weeks after he had brought
them home all had been eaten by the
wolves. For many years Crawford
County farmers could not raise
lambs nor pigs because Of the pork
and mutton loving wolves. When the
county offered a bounty for wolf
scalps it thinned the animals but
some-not because the bounty was
worth while but because the less
wolves there were the more mutton
was 25 feet from the crossing.
Norton's daughters related that
the family often lived on honey,
potatoes and game from the woods
and did without bread for weeks at
a stretch. Wild turkeys were some
times shot and one winter Norton
killed five deer. A deer-lick was
near the river in that neighborhood
and the animals came to it even up
to the 1905.
Bee Trees
Norton found % bee trees in one
day in the woods near his cabin and
from them secured enough honey to
supply the family larder for many
day. Later he became a bee raiser
and secured his first swarm of bees
from the wild ones found in the
woods. Honey was plentiful in the
forest. The Indians, depending on
nature to supply their food, never
wasted what they found and when
obtaining honey, never took more
than would supply their immediate