THE first settlers in Ohio came on foot; often they were “squatters” only, that is with no legal claim to the land, and brought little equipment except an axe and a rifle. With the former they built a log cabin home, and cleared a patch of ground where they raised corn and planted a garden. Game was abundant, the waters full of fish, nuts of many kinds were available much of the year, and berries and other forest fruits part of the time, so they made a living. Later when trails became marked the people came in wagons, often part way by flatboat down the Ohio River. The covered wagon, sometimes drawn by oxen, or even cows, was the popular means of transportation. Owing to the lack of roads travel was largely on foot or horseback; if by the latter a pair of saddlebags was often taken along. One of such, used by his grandfather, James Harris, hangs in the attic of the writer’s house. This one is of heavy leather, each side holding half a bushel. One bag hung on each side of the horse, a broad band of leather connecting the two and by this they were fastened to the back of the rider’s saddle.
For the women there was a “sidesaddle.” It was quite wide, rather flat on top, and had two curving “horns” at the front, with a stirrup at the left side. The rider’s left foot rested in this while the right leg was hooked at the knee over the left horn of the saddle. Packages, etc., were carried in a carpet bag, hung over the right horn. Every farm had its saddles, of which one at least was a sidesaddle. It was unthinkable in those days that a woman should ride “a-straddle!” Even when riding “double,” behind her escort, she had to sit sidewise on the horse and hold on by putting her arms around him! To assist a lady mount her horse properly was a gallant art that required much practice. The lady stood on her right foot close to the left side of the horse and put her left foot in the palm of her escort’s left hand, held a foot or so from the ground. Then as she sprang lightly (more or less accordingly) on her right foot up to the saddle, the man lifted her up by his left hand, supporting her at the same time with his right, while she clung to the saddle with her right hand, or maybe both, and pulled herself up, as the man lifted and boosted. If the lady could hook her right knee over the left horn of the saddle as she reached the top, all was well; if not, there was a more or less undignified struggle. But with practice all round the matter became a rather graceful performance. Most farm houses, stores, and public buildings had a “horse-block,” where the ladies and boys could mount unassisted.
The axe was the one essential tool. With it the cabin and most of its furniture was made, as well as parts of the implements and other equipment. As the forests were mostly very dense the trees grew tall and straight; so that the logs from these, when notched at the ends and thus locked together for the cabin room, rested closely on each other. The “chinks” between were filled in with split timbers and plastered over with a clayey mud, both inside and out. When well made the walls were thick and warm; but unless there was a loft of some kind the room was cold in winter except near the fireplace, for the cold and even snow blew in through the roof, and where it rested on the top logs. The roof was made of clapboards, laid overlapping, and often held in place by heavy poles. A “loft,” made of puncheons or later of boards, shut out the cold and snow from above and made the room warmer. It was reached by a ladder through an opening at the end opposite the fireplace. Bunches of dried herbs, fruit, and all kinds of stuff were hung from the rafters; besides being a store-all place the loft was the sleeping quarters of the men-folks, especially the boys.
The fireplace was variously constructed; commonly it was a wall of stone, often inclosed by timbers built up like the cabin walls, with a thick layer of mud between the stone and timbers. The chimney was built of split sticks, four-square, and well plastered on the inside with clayey mud. Naturally it was not uncommon for a fireplace or chimney to catch on fire, but owing to its composition it burned slowly and was usually discovered in time.
There were no cook stoves, till near 1850, probably a few in 1840. For the larger homes there was often a brick oven, 5 - 6 feet high, 3 - 4 wide, and 6 - 7 feet long, sometimes connecting with a chimney of the house, but more often built some distance away. Once a week or so the oven was heated and the baking was done. But in general the cooking was done by the fireplace. This had a long, flat bar of iron, the “crane,” hinged into one side and swinging over the fire some inches in front of the backwall. On this were hung flat iron bars of different lengths, turned back at each end to form a hook. On these were hung the pots and kettles for heating water and cooking. Some cooking and baking was done in pans and skillets on beds of hot coals, and in heavy, deep iron vessels (Dutch ovens) holding from a half to two or more gallons. This was set in a bed of hot coals and ashes with which the heavy, closefitting, iron lid was also covered. As late as our own boyhood days, long after the advent of the cook stove our mother often heated water, or cooked part of the meal on the fireplace crane, and baked corn bread, sweet potatoes, meat, etc., in the Dutch oven. My how good such did taste! Biscuits were baked in bright tin “Reflectors,” set so as to reflect the heat upon the biscuits.
Soap making was another necessary accomplishment of the pioneer housewife. The “soft soap” was made by cooking the “cracklings” left over from making lard, and accumulated scraps of fat meat and rinds from the cured pork in lye from wood ashes. The lye had to be boiled down to the proper consistency ( so it “would bear up an egg”) then the fat products were added and all boiled till the fat combined chemically with the lye forming a soft soap, very cleansing, but hard on the skin. This was kept in kegs or barrels. Sometimes the lye and fats would not combine or “unite,” due often to unexplainable causes, possibly the interference of witches!
Belief in witchcraft was quite common; all kinds of troubles, diseases, etc., were charged to witches, or wizards, and all sorts of charms, rites, incantations, remedies, etc., were in vogue to protect against such. Some few of these silly beliefs are still with us, in places. Many of the charms. incantations, etc., were queer, some amusing, all silly, and interesting; but space prevents giving them.
The following example will illustrate. Fever and Ague was a common disease in the new country, often very distressing and rendering the victim unable to do much work for weeks. The preventive and also remedy charm was as follows:
The person involved went by himself into the forest and selected a small hickory tree. He bored a hole into the trunk and plugged up a lock of his hair in the hole. Then fastening one end of a long piece of wool yarn to the plug–better still fastened in with the plug, he walked slowly round and round the tree meantime repeating over and over:
“Fever and Ague if thou plague me,
Fever and Ague I’ll plague thee;
I’ll wind thee up in this hickory tree,
Fever and Ague if thou plague me.”
In clearing the land the trees were first girdled, or “deadened;” that is the sap wood was well cut through all round three or four feet from the ground. This was done in June, usually, and with the water supply cut off the tree soon withered and died. In two years or so the smaller limbs decayed and fell. The partly decayed trees still standing were chopped down and cut into suitable lengths for “rolling.” Instead of using the axe this was often done by piling heavy chunks and limbs on the tree length in places and burning it into logs. This saved much hard work and was called “niggering.”
When all was ready the neighbors were invited in for a “log-rolling.” They were divided into groups of 6 to 12, each with its captain. The number of men invited was in proportion to the amount of work to be done. By means of “handspikes,” stout poles 4 to 6 feet long, and sharpened at one end, the men carried, sometimes rolled the logs into heaps for burning. The handspike was placed under the log at a right angle, and a man lifted and carried each end. If equally placed each man’s load was the same; if not, the man with the shorter end had more than half the weight. Hence the expression, “getting the short end of a deal.” Log rollings were often the scene of much merriment, the groups sometimes racing each other in making heaps. Of course a good, substantial dinner, sometimes supper, was the big event of the day, the neighbor women coming in to help with this.
Somewhat similar were the house or barn “raisings.” The frame of the building was then made of heavy, hewn timbers; these were mortised together, each side, end, and partition, forming a section, by a carpenter who was in charge of the raising. This was done by the men raising the section upright, at first by hand, then as it rose higher by means of poles with a sharp spike in the end. As some of the men had to stand under the heavy timbers, they had to work carefully and together, each man determinedly holding up his share, and all responding at once to the carpenter or captain’s call of, “Heave yo!” When raised vertically on a foundation the sections were fastened together by means of wooden pins, through holes already bored, and the “frame” was up.
As there were no fruit pests and most settlers put out orchards at once there was soon a plentiful supply of apples, peaches, plums, cherries, etc. Apples and peaches were dried and this dried fruit formed a staple article of diet during the winter season. For drying the peaches were simply cut into halves, and the stone removed. Apples were peeled, then cut in quarters. The fruit was then laid on boards sloped to the sun and kept from getting wet by rain or dew. In a few days of hot weather it was ready to hang away in sacks, for the winter. Often the young people would be invited in for an “apple cutting,” which was followed by a general good time, games, lunch, etc. “Peach leather” was made by removing the skin and stones, squeezing the fruit into a pulp, which was then spread evenly on a board sloping to the sun. In a few days the “leather” was dry, a quarter of an inch or less thick and could be rolled up and laid away for future consumption. It was a far better article than dried apples, but required quite a little chewing, as it was eaten without cooking.
Farm implements were of the crudest sort, even in the older settlements. The breaking plow had a steel share (shear) but the moldboard was of wood (hence the name, board) and made from a “twisting” tree, whose growth had the proper curve. It did not “scour” of course except in heavy clay soil, and so a small wooden paddle was carried to scrape off the moldboard occasionally. The harrow was a wooden frame made in the form of the capital A, or else diamond shaped. It had 20-30 iron teeth an inch or so square, 8-10 inches long, and tapering to a point. In case iron was not available the teeth were made of hickory wood. The roller was a log 7-8 feet long and about two feet in diameter, with a large iron pin or maybe of wood, driven into the center of each end. A long chain was fastened to this by a large link at each end: the roller was kept from striking against the chain by a rail fastened in the links just in front of the log, thus keeping the chain spread apart there. A “drag” was made by fastening two or more puncheons together. These were the main implements for preparing the ground for planting. Sometimes instead of the harrow and drag a forked limb of a tree, bushy, with perhaps other brush fastened on was used!
For cultivation the essential implement was the hoe! A single shovel plow was used, the shovel almost a foot long and nearly as wide. It was the custom to “lay corn by” with the single shovel, a furrow against the row, then the “middle split,” leaving the corn in a ridge, instead of the level ground as today. A double shovel was more used for cultivation, two shovels half as large as the single shovel, and set a little apart, one further back. Four acres a day, twice in the same row, was a big day’s work. The ground was furrowed out both ways for planting corn, with the breaking plow; a smaller one, the “barshear” was used later, or even with the single shovel. It was dropped “by hand” and covered with a hoe or a horse drawn “dadkin,” a rectangular piece of iron fastened upright on a beam like a single shovel plow. The upright iron plate gathered up the loose dirt in the furrow and this was dropped over the corn by raising the dadkin as it reached the hill. It was the boys and girls, sometimes the women’s job to “drop the corn,” six acres being a good day’s work.
Wheat, oats, flax, etc., were sowed by hand or “broadcast,” and plowed or harrowed in. Wheat, oats, and rye, were cut with a sickle, an acre being considered a big day’s work. Later the grain cradle with its wide, curved blade and four “fingers” came in, enlarging the day’s work to four acres, maybe. Before barns were built the sheaves of wheat were stacked in ricks near a dry, level “threshing floor” 30 to 50 feet across. Here it was tramped out by horses, sometimes beaten out with a flail, and the grain separated from the chaff by tossing it up in the wind by a sheet or winnowing it by hand.
Flax was pulled by hand and laid in swaths till dry, often till the inner stem was partly decayed and brittle. Sometimes moonlight, flax pulling parties were staged, like the apple cuttings. Sometimes the seed was tramped out like wheat; in any case the tough, outside fiber was removed from the stem part by a “hackle,” a heavy, rectangular iron plate, with close set, upright, sharp pointed steel spikes 4 or 5 inches high. (Hence the term “hackle” or “heckle,” as applied to disturbers of a public speaker). The “tow,” as the resulting gray-white fibrous mass was called, was spun into thread which was woven into cloth. Often both spinning and weaving were done in the home.
This home made linen goods was rather brown at first but would bleach out white in time, especially if left exposed to the wind and sun. In the same way wool was spun and woven. This home made cloth of either kind was rough at first but would wear for years. The outer hull of the butternut was often used to dye the goods, giving a lasting brown color. Many years later the democrats adopted the use of this dye as a protest against English imported dyes; hence such people were often called “Butternuts.”
Water power mills were soon established for sawing timber, not with the circular saws of the present but with a long saw working vertically. With these were often “grist” mills for making meal and flour. The miller took “toll” for such service, usually fixed by law at one-eighth of the grain brought to the mill. Often he took more, indirectly; hence the phrase in the old play song: “One hand in the hopper and the other in the sack.” Soon mills for spinning and weaving flax and wool and even for making paper were erected along the streams, where the fall was sufficient. The water flow was then rather regular; but after the forests were cleared and the land drained the water was carried off at once, so there were floods and long dry spells when the mills could not run. One by one most of these local industries went out; the ruins of these early mills are still to be seen in many places.
As the country developed the products were hauled or driven to Ohio River ports, mostly Cincinnati, and shipped down the river in flatboats. The return of the “trader” and the settling up that followed was quite an event. There was little U. S. money at first, either of paper or coin, so the proceeds were mostly in British and Spanish coins, with occasionally other kinds. It required an expert almost to count the money. The writer’s father has often told of this “settling up,” when a large sack of such coin would be poured out on a table for counting.
Owing to the lack of outlet for products and of money as a medium of exchange most of the local business was done by barter and trade. All kinds of farm products were exchanged for all sorts of goods, and labor. The goods were largely hand home-made. Every small town had its various shops, where shoes, hats, clothes, tools, implements, barrels, harness, vehicles, plows, saddles, furniture, cutlery, etc., etc., were made “by hand.” In harvest time the workers in such places often went out to help the farmers. In these small towns almost every family kept a cow and had a garden, thus reducing living costs. Besides the mills and industries named there were tanneries and distilleries, almost every county having several.
Drinking was common everywhere, with whiskey the usual liquor. But besides this there were home-made wines, especially blackberry and elderberry, peach brandy, hard cider, and “apple-jack;” this last was simply apple cider specially distilled. A home was hardly hospitable unless it offered its male guests some kind of liquor; many, probably most of the preachers drank. In many places whiskey was deemed essential in harvest sheep-washing, and in cold, out-door labor; yet some homes, especially those of the Quakers, would not tolerate drinking. In general every trade or sale of any consequence was ratified by the seller “treating.” Naturally with all this drinking there was much brawling and fighting at public places, gatherings, etc. At the military drill held by law once a month in each township, the drilling usually occupied the forenoon, but often the afternoon was much of it spent in “settling old scores” or making new ones, due to drinking. But with all this the people in general behaved well, obeyed the laws and taught their children to respect law and order, observed Sunday, went to church, had good health considering conditions, enjoyed themselves, and prospered in their way.
At first the roads were ungraded, with few bridges, and when the frost was coming out or in rainy weather were often impassable, except on foot or horseback. Sometimes in a very wet, swampy place a stretch of corduroy road would be made. In this large logs were placed lengthwise in the mud at either side of the roadway and smaller, straight logs closely touching each other laid across these. Sometimes these latter were slightly hewed on top. It made a rather lumpy and strictly “one-way” road, but was at least passable. Later the main
roads were made into turnpikes by companies that were allowed to collect toll to repay them for their expense. Gradually these “pikes” were either purchased by the county or state, or the time allowed their charters expired till all eventually became free. But in the writer’s boyhood no town of any size could be reached without paying toll, usually two cents a mile. A heavy pole, like the old fashioned well-sweep, was placed across the road at the house where toll was collected. If there was any trouble about collecting toll this pole was pulled down and barred the road. It was sometimes fastened down at night and the traveler had to waken the “gate-keeper,” but usually the road was left open after midnight.At first there was no public provision for schools. Education outside the home was obtained in “Subscription Schools,” in which the parents paid so much per pupil. No examination or certificate was required of the teacher, and no provision of any kind to show that he was qualified to instruct. Sometimes the school was held at the home of the teacher, but usually in a building erected by donations of material and labor. This of course was of logs, occasionally with only a dirt floor; the windows were small and of greased paper which let in some light; a great part of one end was occupied by a fireplace. It was the duty of the older boys to carry in the logs, especially for the morning fire. The fuel was provided by the patrons.
There were no desks. The seats had no backs and were made of puncheon with the split side hewn smooth, and supported on heavy pegs driven into large holes made with an auger. There was a wide puncheon supported against one side or end of the room, where those who wished could write, standing. The pens were made of goosequills and one duty of the teacher was to see that these quill pens were in good condition; for this a sharp penknife was needed. Occasionally a pupil had a Murray’s Reader, but in general the text in reading was just whatever book the home happened to have, often the Bible. Other texts were Webster’s Speller, the New England Primer, Pike’s Arithmetic, and rarely Pineo’s Grammar; Geography was almost unknown. The studies were mostly Reading and Spelling; one who had mastered the arithmetic over to the “Rule of Three” (Simple Proportion) had “acquired an education.”
If not near home the teacher “boarded round” with the parents, in proportion to their number of pupils; in this way he probably gained much experience and heard a lot of “news.” In general it was believed that “Lickin’ and Larnin’” went together, and that the teacher who could lick well was most successful. The writer has listened for hours to stories of their early schools as told by his parents; from these it seems that while there
were some fine teachers in such schools there was much unnecessary cruelty and that too often the teachers were petty tyrants, with little regard and less sympathy for the children. Many of these stories were amusing, some pitiful, few tragic, and all interesting. The following will illustrate all types: A seven-year old girl stayed all night with a schoolmate where they had pancakes for breakfast, and was given one to take to school for a “bite” at recess. Not knowing what else to do with it the little girl put it in her place on the puncheon bench and sat on it! When called on to recite she was naturally hesitant about rising and thus exposing the pancake. The teacher, a man named Taylor, jerked her roughly out of her seat; with a loud guffaw he speared the pancake on the sharp point of the heavy “gad” he always carried and walked round the room dragging the little girl after him and waving the pancake in the air. In telling the story half a century later the one time little girl naively stated that she “never liked that teacher afterwards.” Small wonder; with such pitiful tragedy for the little child and such contemptible meanness on the part of the man! It was a time when most energy was devoted to getting a living; so education was not very popular and less than half the children learned to read and write.In 1821 a law was passed authorizing half a mill tax for schools. But it was entirely optional and the proceeds could be used only to buy a site and erect a building, each township being divided into districts for that purpose. It was understood that nothing but Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Arithmetic were to be taught in such buildings (this was to prevent them being used as academies) and the parents had to pay for all teaching, still “Subscription Schools.” It was not till 1838 that laws were passed marking the beginning of real public schools in Ohio, and teachers were paid with public money in schools which were free to all between six and twenty-one years of age.
Each township was divided into sub-school districts in which three men were elected to employ a teacher and look after the building and school. At first the school year was divided into three terms, Fall, Winter and Spring, with usually a different teacher for each term, but in general a man for the winter. This was the term of largest enrollment; often 40 to 60 or even more, many of the pupils full grown. Frequently the control of such a school was no easy matter, depending greatly on the attitude of the community towards education. Gradually the fall and winter terms were combined into one, and finally all three, with one teacher for the year. It was not customary to have school in March till this was done.
From 1840 on these rural school houses became real community centers and were quite a factor in the development of public life. All kinds of public gatherings were held in them: Spelling Schools, Ciphering Matches, Lyceums or “debating societies,” Singing Schools, etc., with an occasional political meeting or “revival.” Many of our great public leaders began their political career in the “debating society” of the rural district. With the clearing and draining of the land there was no longer need of the early “tenants” who had made rails, cut wood and dug ditches, so the rural population gradually declined; the development of labor saving farm machinery still further hastened this decline till instead of the half hundred pupils the rural school sometimes had half a dozen. The advent of the auto brought the transportation of these scattered pupils to larger, centralized schools, till now the formerly one time popular rural one-room school community center is largely a matter of the past.
Another feature of pioneer days, 1820-1850, was the “Camp-meeting.” This was a religious gathering held usually in August or September in the woods, a well shaded slope with a good spring of water near by being the favorite location. People came for miles, often in covered wagons, and stayed several days at these places. The attendance would sometimes run into several hundreds or even thousands. They were frequently the scenes of great religious fervor and excitement. In several of such gatherings the participants, sometimes others as well, would be afflicted with a peculiar, violent, spasmodic contraction of the muscles; sometimes these would throw the one affected down on the ground where he remained helplessly “jerking.” Because of this the condition was called “The Jerks.” Quite often those who came to scoff and ridicule the performance were similarly and suddenly affected. This peculiar affliction has never been satisfactorily explained.
Early Clarksville Community
As the two families with which this history deals spent most of their married life in or near Clarksville a brief sketch of it during that period is in place.
David Sewell was the first permanent residential owner. He bought a tract along East Fork and with his wife, two sons, John and Aaron, his daughter Hannah and her husband, Peter Burr, took possession in 1798. With him also came Isaac Tullis, Mary Hendrick, and some of the Cowans. The party came by wagon to Pittsburgh, then by flatboats down the Ohio to Columbia, now a part of Cincinnati. From there they came by wagon, cutting their way the last 15 miles through the unbroken forest. They crossed Todds Fork near where Rochester now stands; the route was long known as the “Sewell Trail.”
James McKee and John McGregor came in 1803; Jonnathan Lawrence in 1806; James Harris and Thomas Austin in 1809; William Hadley from North Carolina in 1810. Other early settlers were: William Austin, a brother of Thomas, and Samuel T. Louden. Before these there were a few temporary settlers, “Squatters,” who lived in crudely constructed cabins, or even in the hollows of huge sycamores along the creeks.
The first permanent house in Clarksville was built by Samuel Louden in 1813. [ed: The original book had the obviously incorrect date of 1913, which I changed to 1813.] It was of hewed logs, quite commodious and with a large loft; it was intended for a tavern and was so used for nearly a century. The second house was built by John Oxley, in 1815. The town itself was laid out by William Hadley, April 27, 1816, Peyton West Surveyor. It consisted of 44 lots each 66 feet wide and 132 feet long, with suitable streets and alleys, and named after Hadley’s wife, whose maiden name was Clarke. An addition was made to the town by James Linton in later years.
A noted early character was Win. Smalley, who settled just below the town. He had been captured by the Indians when only six years old and held till he was 20 and witnessed the death by torture of several white captives. Once he escaped but was recaptured and marked by cutting his ear. He finally rejoined the whites and fought with them against the Indians in Harmar’s campaign and in St. Clair’s Defeat. In this last it is said he fired his rifle 35 times, of which 25 took effect.
He was quite tall and of fine personal appearance but with the bearing and manners of a savage. He bought his land of a Cincinnati lawyer who kept holding back the deed. Finally Smalley, armed with his rifle, tomahawk and knife called on the lawyer and told him that unless he was given the deed by a certain time he would return and kill and scalp him. Smalley soon got the deed all right. He lived mostly by hunting and fishing, but started a tannery in a small way. Most people stood in dread of him and children ran at his approach.
In 1817 Ephraim Kibbey purchased Smalley’s stock and opened a tannery along East Fork below where the Goshen Pike crossed later. Many years after Samuel Austin established a tannery at the east end of the village. He was also an earnest, devoted local preacher of the M. E. Church and an important factor in the town till his death in 1870.
Clarksville early developed many of the shops and small industries of pioneer times. Samuel Hyde set up the first cabinet and furniture shop, soon followed by E. Titus and Alfred Cast. George Harris opened the first wagon-making shop. Later such shops also
made carriages and usually had a blacksmith shop in connection. It is not known who were the first blacksmiths–but Manuel Collins, a tall, muscular man had his own shop later. John Kelley opened the first tailor shop; S. H. Wilson and K. S. Kerans one later. Hat making was quite a business in early days; Elisha Kirk had the first hatmaking shop, followed by Richard Lackey and John Dempsey. The latter became a noted character of the town later. The first carpenters were Samuel Louden, James Abbott, and Win. Michaels; this last became a judge at Lebanon in later years.John Hadley was the first harness maker and for his “saddle trees” used the forks of dogwoods which were then abundant. James Morrow was the first and only distiller. Joseph Wysong was the first shoemaker; also the first postmaster and for a time conducted the office in the tavern which he was the first to keep. Samuel French was the first stone mason and in demand for building chimneys. James Starry had the first silversmith shop; David Sewell was the first justice of the peace.
Jacob Longstreth was the first physician and next Ashael Tribbey and A. T. Davis. Their “practice” was very meager as people relied on “home remedies” and to some extent on charms and magic; so Longstreth also kept a store and the other two farmed along with their “doctoring.” Drs. John Gardner, H. W. Baugh, and T. S. Garland came in after years; Zenas T. Garland, his son, was a prominent physician later.
Among the teachers in the early subscription schools were Nancy Tufts, Carter B. Harlan, and a man named Taylor. Even after the public school system developed Clarksville for many years conducted its schools the old way, all grades to a teacher in three different buildings. It was not till 1868 that the “Union School” was erected and a graded system established. The Quakers who had maintained a school of their own near their church did not come under the public school system till some time after the Union School was established.
There were several store keepers at times, mostly in a small way; Jacob Longstreth among the first. There is no record of the others. George Morrow early established a large general store; he had partners at times, among them Samuel Harris and Dr. John Gardner. The Nichols store was established in 1830 and continued for over half a century. James Linton set up a large general store which did a thriving business till some time after 1900.
Clarksville early became a pork packing center; Hale and Cook operating quite a plant on East Fork just above the Goshen Pike. Later John Hadley and James Lindsay set up a
large packing house southeast of where the Union School Building was later erected. Hogs were driven in for a radius of 60 miles and for some years 50,000 or more were packed annually.The hogs were of a very different type from the fat, sleek porkers of the present. They were mostly of the “razor-back” or “Elm peeler” class, with long bodies and snouts, often able to root a hole deep enough for a grave. They roamed the woods, half wild, fattened (?) largely on beechnuts and acorns, and even after being driven 40 or 50 miles it was a man’s job to catch and handle them. The lard and cured meat were packed in kegs and barrels and hauled mostly to Cincinnati to market.
As the meat packing required a large supply of kegs and barrels several cooper shops soon developed, operated first by John McCarthy, James Coyle, William Doggett, and later by others. As these shops needed staves from oak trees, and hoops from tall, slender saplings, and the tanneries used oak bark, the farmers obtained quite a revenue in supplying these needs while at the same time clearing their lands for cultivation.
Clarksville was incorporated in 1837, and continued its development as a thrifty, prosperous village, due largely to the pork packing plant and the tanneries, which kept many men at work and made a market for the farmers’ hogs and timber. Besides these were the various small shops and industries described under “Pioneer Conditions.” A combined grist and sawmill was located half a mile northeast of the town and did a heavy business. After the Civil War a turning lathe department was added which made parts for furniture, especially chairs. For years this did quite a business and also made a market for the farmers’ beech timber, so abundant, and fit for little else but fuel.
In August, 1853, the Cincinnati & Zanesville R. R. was completed through Clarksville and added materially to the town as a market and business center. For many years the engines used wood for fuel, making a market for timber and furnishing employment for men in cutting and hauling the wood. The hills along the streams were thus stripped of their protecting forests; the wood was piled in great ricks, often under shed roofs, along the railroad lines.
Later the roads used coal but an immense gravel pit opened some three miles above Clarksville gave regular employment to 20 or 30 men. For many years the “gravel work train” was a notable feature, leaving and returning each morning and evening, on time to the minute. Another industry came to Clarksville with the Civil War when chickory began to be used as a substitute and an adulterant for coffee. A man named Massie, from
Kentucky, bought the rich bottom lands lying between the town and the grist mill and for many years raised chickory, manufacturing the long roots into “coffee.” In this way employment was given to many, especially women and boys. The business ceased soon after the war, but the chickory plant, with its long, perennial root, prickly stem and leaves, and its beautiful purple-blue flowers has spread; and in many places become a decided nuisance.While the pork packing, tanneries, and the various small industries which gave Clarksville its early prosperity gradually disappeared, the later ones mentioned as gradually took their places, and the town continued to prosper, the period from 1840 to 1885 marking its time of greater prosperity. An irregular addition was made to the original town plat in 1858, by James Linton. He was a surveyor, married Maria, the daughter of John Hadley, and became a prominent factor in the town’s prosperous period.
The church was well represented in the early community by three denominations: 1 There were many Quakers who settled up along Todds Fork; the Hadleys, Harveys and Pyles were all Quakers, and a church was built for that denomination at the east end of Clarksville quite early. Services were held there till near the close of the century. 2 The Baptists were numerous at first and they erected a brick church in the town, largely through Ephraim Kibbey’s efforts in 1823. They diminished in number afterwards and later the building was purchased by James Villars and remodeled for use by the Methodist Protestants. 3 The Methodists were strong from the first; after holding services at different places they erected the present building in 1856. It was later remodeled and is still in active use.
This sketch would not be complete without some mention of the section’s connection with slavery, the crowning trouble of early days. There were many Quaker families among the early settlers along the creeks above Clarksville, and these as a whole were bitterly opposed to slavery. Naturally they were in sympathy with escaping slaves, supplying them with food and permitting them to hide in the deep thicket ravines on their farms, till they could be sent on to the next safe stopping places. While treating the pursuers of the escaping slaves courteously the Quakers put all kinds of obstacles in their way. One residence had a short tunnel leading from the cellar to an opening in the bluff back of the house. A tall set of shelves, apparently built into the cellar wall, concealed the opening into the tunnel. Fugitive slaves were taken on to the next place after dark. Many fugitive slaves owed their final liberty to the kindly help of Quaker, and other families, above Clarksville.
The matter of escaping slaves did not figure largely till after the death of Hon. James Harris. His son, Samuel, at Springhill, while not taking an active part then against slavery, could not resist assisting his former Quaker neighbors help escaping slaves on their way. On two occasions, the writer, then a boy four years old, was wakened after going to bed by unusual noises in the kitchen. On going out to see what was the matter he found one time three negroes, two men and a woman, and on the other two negro men, eating a hasty meal. They had been brought after dark from the Quaker settlement for transportation onward. His father took the three that night on to a place near Xenia in the family carriage, taking a loaded double barrel shot gun. His oldest brother, Charles, took the two next time. There were doubtless other times when he did not waken.
Mary Cherry Harris
At age of 65
Hon. James Harris
At age of 50
