This information from Mary K. Goodyear
The author was born in what is now Johnson
Co, but when he was 16 moved to
Washington Co Arkansas. He tells us so many things about the lives
of the people
of that time period in Johnson Co and remembers names of folks
other than his
own people. So, if you have the time, please read:
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Far back in the dim shadows past, my mind
wanders, reviving the memory of
persons, places, objects, events, thoughts, sayings, customs,
fashions &c and a
thousand other little matters that appear on the tablets of memory,
some of
which are indelibly fixed thereon, whilst others are of fainter
lines, and still
others appear to come and go -- according to the light thrown
upon them,
appearing quite distinct at one moment and then again becoming
exceedingly dim
and shadowy-- changing, dissolving, assuming new shapes and forms,
as often
takes place in one's dreams at night.
I first see myself a little child, not more
than 3 or 4 years old of age.
Father, mother, sisters and brothers all at one large hewed log
house, kitchen
&c with great chimneys, fireplaces to them, bright crackling
fires burning in
those fireplaces. The house is on a public road and among the
hills in far-off
Kentucky. Our home with its surroundings was a world within itself.
I knew
nothing far beyond it. People came and went, stopped at our house,
were
entertained, talked, laughed, ate and drank, and went off again.
I knew not
whither.
I can remember that I had white or flaxen
colored hair; wore little coats of
linsey, colored blue, and made like those worn by small girls
&c &c. Sometimes
wore long shirts made of flax, coming down to my ankles, and no
other clothing
but this for summer weather! I can see my eldest sister Rachel
as a girl of 11
or 12 years doing house work, spinning on a "big wheel"
and mother spinning flax
on a "little wheel". Rachel also looked after me a good
deal, washed my dirty
face and hands, and often took me off with Mary and brother Pete
into the woods
after berries, grapes, papaws, plums and red haws, walnuts, hickory
nuts, hazel
nuts and chestnuts &c &c Often saw snakes, squirrels and
many birds on those
jaunts. I can remember a colored woman named "Junie"
or "June" and a colored man
named "Danl" or Daniel, who lived with us about that
time and both of whom I
greatly loved and who loved and cared for me a good deal.
I can also remember being sick and of Father
nursing me in his arms, and seeming
to be much concerned over me. Of Mother, too, dosing me with does
of raw
Garlick, tansy, worm seed and other nauseous things. Not long
after this, I can
remember of seeing Mother holding a baby brother on her lap, in
our main sitting
room, and of seeing a man called Dr Hopkins, feeling the pulse
of "little
George" (as we called him) and all hands were very much concerned
over the
affair, as baby was quite sick and getting his breath with great
seeming
difficulty. Can now see the old Dr. take a sharp lancet from its
case, bare the
baby's arm and stick the glittering instrument in the flesh, which
caused a
little flow of blood. This was caught in a vessel of some kind
and the Dr. took
a spoonful of this blood and caused the sufferer to swallow it.
That made a
lasting impression on me! Poor baby died soon after. I was not
able to realize
the fact, as I had never before, seen a dead person. I felt of
its face and
found it cold, its eyes closed as in sleep, but not breathing
and panting, nor
wheezing, and I was dumbfounded in wonder and amazement. They
told me that my
little brother was dead and that we would have to cover him up
in the ground and
that I would see him no more.
All this seemed very strange to me. He was
buried near the house, on an
eminence, and spot what held with a kind of sacred veneration
and we were ever
filled with awe and solemnity on passing or viewing the spot where
the first
human being was covered up in the earth, that we had seen dead
and buried
Time passed on for a year or so, and a young
man named Tolton Leek, one of
Father's work hands, sickened and died at out house and on his
death bed
requested to be laid away beside little George, which was accordingly
done. That
was the second dead person seen by us, and there today slumbers
the inanimate
dust of those bodies, side by side, awaiting the Resurrection
of the departed.
After the death of this infant brother,
another boy was added to our family and
was named James. The same is J. H. VanHoose of Fayetteville, Ark.
Still another
boy in due time was added to the household and he was christened
George
Washington, and is now living in Arkansas.
About the time of this event, I was confined
to bed with synuvitis of the ankle
joint and with the Bloody Flux (which prevailed at that time -
1832) and came
near "passing in my cheeks"! Grandmother V______ died
of same malady that year
and so did many of the old and young, in Floyd County, Ky, that
same season, of
the dread scourge named above.
All of our family suffered more or less
from it, James was at the point of death
for days and weeks. I too was like to die from the combined effects
of that and
the terrible condition of my ankle. Lost several pieces of bone
from the region
of the join of right ankle &c. For a year or more I was forced
to go on crutches
after the worst was over.
Prior to this (at 4 or 5 years of age),
Old Billy Smith of Prestonsburg, the
county seat of Floyd County, came along one evening and took me
home with him
(10 miles up the River above where we lived) and there I stayed
for a week or
more. That was my first visit to Town that I can remember! It
was quite an
adventure in my life! Thought I had seen nearly all the world!
Town (as we
called it) contained about 200 inhabitants! Possibly not near
so many. There I
formed a number of acquaintances -- little boys and girls and
several older
persons.
Old Dr. Tolbert was one of these. I remember
of going upstairs in his building
and there finding about a half bushel of worm seed, cleaned and
lying in a pile
on the floor in a corner of the room, and knowing that Mother
gave them to us
chaps, for a worm remedy, I therefore filled my breeches pocket
with the
fragrant seed for future use!
Some years subsequent to this (when 9 years
old), I was again taken to
Prestonsburg, there to be treated by Dr. Herriford, for my diseased
ankle
(spoken of before), and was boarded at the house of Philip Strother,
a good old
Methodist Preacher. Remained there 3 or 4 months. Went around
on crutches,
attended school part of the year and was treated by Dr. H____
who was a
descendant of Pocahontas! or was said to be! He extracted quite
a number of
splinters and pieces of bone from the region of my ankle joint
(the right one).
No one can tell how I suffered from that foot and the mental suffering
caused by
being away from home and friends, though kindly treated by Mrs
Strother and all
the family. The family at that time consisted of the old Preacher
and wife,
daughters Frances, Deborah &c and sons Joseph and Anthony.
They also had a
married daughter Hannah, who lived in the same town.
Here I made the acquaintance of the Mayo's,
the Friends, Everels, Harrises,
Mays, Derossetts, Whittens, Waldeck and Wallace, Davises, Strattons,
Halems,
Lanes, and many others. Sandy River bounded the town on one side,
and the town
was in the river bottom. I remember the old "Gum Spring"
near the edge of the
river, under a high bank. Did not have good, cold, bold running
springs like we
are blessed with here in the "West"! I had returned
from there and was at home
when the "stars fell" (here is inserted the date 1822,
unknown source-mkg) and,
as it happened, not one of our family witnessed the great henomenon.
Many people
were alarmed, thinking the Last Day was at hand. Old Prestonsburg
was terribly
stirred up. The people prayed and screeched and groaned and wailed.
Old Mrs.
Strother shouted and took on, expecting every moment to hear Gabriel's
Trump
sounded (so 'twas said) while Frances and Deborah, who were pretty
wild gals,
screeched, raved and wrung their hands, held on to their Ma and
besought her to
pray for them, but she just shouted away and told them it was
too late to pray
now, that she had often warned them of this, but that they would
not take heed,
and that now she could do nothing for them. It was too late, too
late now!
When I returned home from Prestonsburg,
father carried me in his lap on
horseback so as to keep from hurting my lame foot. I was very
anxious to get
home to see all the family and the other chaps were as anxious
to see me. James
was then only 3 years old, and hearing them say that father had
gone after me
and would be home with me that evening, he slipped off, ran away
and met us half
a mile from home on the road to town, and some distance out in
the dark woods. I
can see yet, how he looked and acted when he saw us meeting him.
He was waddling
along, running and tired, almost to fainting, and crying out,
"Dack, Dack! I see
Dack!" Not far behind him was some of the family in pursuit
of him, on the hunt
of him rather. Paintsville, now the county seat of Johnson County,
was then in
Floyd County, and was only 3 miles, or perhaps a little more from
our farm. We
used to attend school at that place. Brother John, who was 4 1/2
years older
than me, used to ride (in winter time) and take me behind him,
both riding in
the same saddle. In this way I could keep warm, and John served
as a North
Breaker to me. At that time I was only 5 years old, James Franklin
was our
teacher. On Christmas 1828, at that school, the large boys "barred
the teacher
out" and made him treat. I got too much of it. And I remember
that John left me
all night at old Billy Ramey's, the old miller, and there and
then I sang
"Leather Breeches" for the benefit of one Hiram Leathers,
a sweetheart of Miss
Millie Ramey, the miller's daughter.
Along about this period Father ran a Distillery
and made barrels of whiskey!
Thought it was all right and proper! Fed large numbers of hogs
on still slop, as
it fattened hogs very fast &c &c. After a time he became
convinced that he was
doing wrong and quit that business altogether. Old Judge Robbins
of Mt.
Sterling, the Circuit Judge of our district, was a strong temperance
man and
made the first temperance speech (said to be) that was every made
in the
country. That speech decided Father in his convictions or wrongdoing
and caused
him to quit making and vending ardent spirits. He lost a large
amount of money
in the operation, taken as a whole, as he had made quite an out-lay
to get the
thing in full operation. Jack Beck, his old distiller, was much
grieved at being
thrown out of business and left for other pastures wherein to
pursue his
avocation. So much for that.
After the recovery from my sore foot, I
was left with a stiff ankle joint and
walked on the ball of my foot and walked with some difficulty.
At 10 1/2 or
before 11 years old, I was put to plowing and did constant service
in that way
whenever plowing was done, and that was fro March till August.
It was an uphill
business for me at first, but after a time I got along much better
and was said
to be a very good plow-boy. At any rate, I got lots of it to do
and plenty of
other work besides!
While crippled, on account of my diseased
ankle and having been confined for a
long time at home (3 months or more), in order to gratify my desire
to be out of
doors, my Father would take me astride of his neck, support my
diseased and
painful foot in his hands, and in this way would carry me all
over the farm, to
my great delight.
On one occasion, I remember we visited a
turkey pen at the lower end of our "old
field" on Jennie's Creek, a mile from the house, and found
a wild turkey caught
in the pen! I was much excited over this and wanted to crawl into
the turkey
trap through the trench leading in, but Father would not let me,
as he said the
turkey would hurt me with its wings. So Father went in himself
and broke its
neck and we took it and went on our way, the turkey being added
to Father's
burden.
A few years prior to this event, some wild
bears invaded this same field and
made havoc among the roasting ears growing therein. They would
visit the field
at night and kept hidden in daylight. Several attempts were made
to start them
with dogs, but it so happened that they did not come on those
nights when the
hunters were looking for them. They were cunning bears and not
easily taken in.
After ceasing to search for them, Old Uncle
Levi VanHoose was looking for
squirrels one day not far from this same field and very unexpectedly
came across
old Madam Bruin and her dusky children, probably waiting for night
to come so as
to slip into the corn again. He fired on them with a squirrel
shot and killed on
the Mrs. B's children, whereupon she emigrated and was never heard
of in those
parts afterwards. So we had good bear meat to eat, in compensation
for the
stolen roasting ears.
Raccoons, also, were accustomed to invade
our cornfields and we generally caught
and killed a lot of them to pay for it. We had good dogs and they
often caught
game of various kinds--treed foxes and wildcats, coons and possums.
Some of
these were shot and killed with a gun, and others caught by cutting
down the
trees and letting the dogs on them.
Jennie's Creek ran through our farm and
it was there I caught my first fish, and
in its waters learned the art of swimming. Trapping for patridges
and hunting
rabbits was pleasant past-time in winter. Pheasants were very
plentiful there
and were excellent to eat. They resemble our prairie chickens
of this country
(Arkansas-mkg)
We had a good peach orchard and also a pretty
good lot of apple trees, all of
which bore fruit in great abundance about every 2d or 3d year.
That was rather a
poor wheat county; we raised but little of it and what we did
raise had to be
cut with the reap-hook or the old scythe-cradle. Then we had to
tramp it out
with horses or thresh it out with flails by hand power! We then
took it (a bag
full at a time) to the water mill or horse mill, had it ground.
Then the women
folks had to "sarch" each mess as 'twas used. Our "sarches"
(as people called
them) were made something like a sieve -- only the hoop contained
a bottom of
muslin instead of wire or horse-hair.
I can remember when there were no bolting
machines in all the region. One was
finally put up in the "Big Paint" mill, 3 miles from
us, and then Old Henry
Dixon added on to his horse mill, 3 1/2 miles off. These were
at first turned by
hand, but after a little while were geared to the other mill works
and run by
the same power that turned the mill.
We used to wear a good deal of home-made
cloth, "Kentucky jeans", linsy woolsey
and flax and also cotton. Tow-cloth was also worn by a good many.
We kept a
flock of sheep and mother and the girls spun the wool and wove
it into cloth for
clothing and made many blankets and coverlets. They also made
some sheets out of
flax. Mother was a great flax spinner and made a large amount
of that into
cloth. I have worn flax shirts and pants of her make, when a little
boy. People
did not buy so many store goods in those days. Even our winter
shoes were home
tanned and home made. We had to make out with 1 pair a year --
that is we boys.
Sometimes the girls would be favored with a store pair for summer
wear.
While I was only a small child, not large
enought to do any farm work, father
took a family of Negroes to keep and feed, for their help. This
family consisted
of Old Anthony and Rose, his wife, some large and som small girls
and several
boys, some larger, some smaller, making 8 to 12 in all. Father
furnished them a
house on the "burnt Cabin" end of our land and kept
them all for one or two
years, but the expense of keeping them so far over-ran the profits
from the
small amount of labor gotten out of them that he (father) was
glad to get rid of
them again. Then we hired "Patsy" and her brother "Macy"
whom we kept for a long
period. They have been set free by a "will", Patsy to
be freed at 21 and "acy"
as 25. Prior to these times they were to be hired out for cash.
Last I heard of
them they were free and doing well, out at Mt. Sterling, Ky. Several
other
darkies were hired and lived with us from time to time, but father
never tried
to own any of them as he looked upon slavery as a curse and always
said it would
________ perhaps in a dissolution of the Union, or at any rate
a great evil to
country and people.
In those days we had great fun and good
times making maple sugar and molasses.
There was a large number of those trees on our place and we made
shugar in the
latter part of winter and early spring, almost every year. Those
were time to be
remembered, as we had a great deal of fun mixed with ourt labor
and enjoyed the
time hugely. We had a camp erected in the woods, a furnace built
filled with
kettles, large poplar trough dug out to hold water in, at camp
-- small trough
to catch the water at each tree tapped and horses and barrels
and halfsleds to
haul in the shugar -water to camp. And then at night we stayed
in camp, boiled
down the water, told stories, listened to the hooting owls, dried
off syrup in a
skillet and ate hot shugar with paddles of clean wood, and drank
spice-wood tea
made with the shugar water, ate cold lunch &c &c Happy
were we then.
Our old home, of which I have already spoken
was situated on the main road
leading up the Sandy River country. It was 9 or 10 miles below
Prestonsburg (the
county sear) and was 3 or 3/12 miles above Paintsville, which
was then in Floyd
County but since then has been cut off by a new division of counties
and belongs
i Johnson County and is county seat of that new county
Father bought and located on this old farm
soon after he and mother married,
which event happened in 1812 or 1813 (am not exactly certain which
one of those
dates). Nearly all of my brothers and sisters were born there,
only two of them
being born in the far West, as this country and Arkansas were
then called. I was
the first one born in the big new house situated on the road just
mentioned a
few lines back. Brother Peter was next to me, then George (who
died when an
infant) the James H., next another named G. W. VanHoose, next
one called Jacob
Monroe, then a sister called Elizabeth, H.B., and Narcissia were
born in
Arkansas. Rachel, John and Mary were all older than myself.
The house referred to was built of hewed
poplar logs, was two stories high, had
large brick chimney, a huge fireplace below and a smaller one
upstairs. House
cealed, had good pine floors and was furnished with several glass
windows. The
"upstairs" was the most pleasant part of the house.
There was also a large
kitchen built at the southwest corner of our dwellings and to
it was built a
large stone chimney and a fireplace adapted to cooking in those
days. A large
swinging iron crane was fixed in the jam of this fireplace, to
hang pots and
kettles on. Our house has a long porch on the front or east side
and one also
one the west, that extended up against the kitchen and made a
very convenient
passway into that department.
We had smoke house, stables and other outhouses,
a good paled-in garden, in
which we used to pick up scores of Indian arrow points made of
very hard
reddish-colored flint. The spot had once been an Indian Village,
or at least a
noted camping ground for them. This whole region was at one time
their grand
hunting ground and must have been a perfect Indian heaven! as
it abounded in all
kinds of game when new and its streams were full of fishes and
the woods full of
nuts, fruits, berries &c &c, all in lavish profusion.
The climate was also mild
and the whole face of the country was covered with heavy forests.
The surface of
the country was uneven, there being hills, ridges, hollows, valleys
and many
undulations and uneven places.
The hills, many of them, had pine trees
on the tops, sometimes spruce and there
were lots of cedar trees along the river bluffs. Beech and poplar
grew in
profusion and many large chestnut trees were found on the mountain
sides and
sometimes in the vales &c &c Many other trees and shrubs
grew there, that are
not to be found in the western states, or at least west of the
Mississippi
River.
The whole country was full of fine timber,
a great deal of which was cut and
floated down the river to market. We also used to cut, saw and
make thousands of
barrel and hogshead staves and peel cords of tan bark, all of
which we shipped
in flat boarts built for the purpose, to Cincinnati and other
markets. Some of
my early lessons in sawing were taken, sawing logs for staves.
That was hard
work for a boy. We cut white oak trees that were 3 feet diameter
and worked them
into staves, one tree sometimes making over a 1,000 of them. This
lumber
business was carried on there to a very considerable extent at
that time and
still more afterward. The saw-log business became all the rage
nearby in after
years, tens of thousands being cut, hauled to the river, rafted
or floated down
to market at different points along the Ohio River.
About 1828 Grandfather Mankins, Uncle George
Lewis, Uncle John Mankins and
others of our relatives on the mother's side and all of whom have
a place in my
early recollections, sold out their lands in Kentucky and emigrated
to Illinois,
going in old blue-colored wagons, drawn by fine horses. I can
well remember the
grief of friends, various scenes of the starting -- Mother and
Granmother and
Mother's younger sisters parting -- they going to wilds of the
Far West and we
and others of the conexion remaining behind. It was almost like
being parted by
death itself, as we supposed the separation was probably to be
one of forever as
to the present life.
Several of us camped with them the first
night, at a place called "The Dopp
Hole" in Big Paint Creek, which was 3 1/2 miles below where
we lived and was
only 2 to 3 miles from where they all started, which was "Long
Horn Bottom", 6
miles from where we lived. The starting road led up the stream
called Big Paint
and was west in direction.
After staying a while in Illinois, some
of them returned to Kentucky ans some
stayed longer in Illinois. "Old Uncle Wat" Mankins,
a brother to old Grandfather
Peter Mankins, was one of this number of first emigrants from
that region and he
did not return. Those that returned to Kentucky soon became dissatisfied
with
Kentucky and again struck out for the Illinois and settled in
Vermillion County
of that state.
The "Milk Sick" and the extreme
weather soon made them seek a more congenial
clime and they all sold out there and come out here through Missouri.
Passing
right throught the little settlement in this region now called
Springfield, and
wandered on down into Arkansas Territory,and settled in Washington
County,
Middle Fork of White River. This was about 1833 or 1834.
They were well pleased with Arkansas and
now believed they had at last found the
"promised land", flowing with milk and honey! They all
either bought claims that
had been laid on lands, or settled new places. In this way they
became
permanently settled and all seemed perfectly satisfied with the
new country, its
climate and everything else. It was truly a desirable place at
that period for
pioneers and those who were fond of hunting. Game was in great
abundance and of
almost every variety. The woods were full of wild bees, bears,
deed, turkeys,
coons, panthers and a hundred varieties of animals and fowls,
with a handsome
sprinkling of snakes and lizards. Wild fruits and nuts were found
in profusion.
The lands were fertile, water excellent, and timber good and in
greatest
abundance. There were also a few scattering stones to be found
in many places!
Grandfather and Grandmother Mankins now
had most of their children settled in
the new country, close to them -- those of them that were married
-- for they
still had 2 boys and 4 girls single and with them. And now they
resolved to have
the others left in Ky., namely Bracken Lewis and Mother. Uncle
William Mankins
(one of their sons) a married man had also remain in Ky., but
he had been killed
at Paintsville about 1833 or 4 by a horst stunning his head against
the corner
of a house. Henry Mankins, another son of theirs, had been killed
in Ky. prior
to their leaving for Ill., was killed with a prisn pole in opening
a large board
cut.
So these two old people, Grandfather M and
Grandmother M paid us a visit in the
early springtime of the year A.D. 1836, with the intention of
getting us off for
the newly found Canaan of the Far West. We were all rejoiced to
see them and
early listened to their account of Arkansas and their many adverntures
and ups
and downs since we had parted with them years before.
Uncle B. Lewis (who was Mother's own brother)
soon sold out, land and everything
that could not be taken along and emigrated along with the old
folks as the
returned home to Arkansas. All traveled by steamboat, after reaching
the mouth
of Sandy, the same way that Granfather and Grandmother had gone
back there.
Wagons were not in the move now. Father sold his land while they
remained with
us but we could not get off that spring, much to the regret of
all concerned. We
had too much business to settle up to get away on such short notice.
About this time, or not far from this, Old
Griffith Dickerson and family and his
son-in-law A. Steele came into our part of Ky. and settled on
John's Creek 4 or
5 miles miles above us in Floyd Co. Mr. D and wife had 4 sons,
Thomas, the
eldest, who was a man of 30 years perhaps, was rather weak-minded,
from a spell
of fever which injured him severely when a small boy. Two other
sons, Silas and
James, were young men, about grown, and were bright and intelligent
boys, Silas
being the older one. There was a young boy named John, 10 or 12
years old, being
the youngest member of the family.There were three single daughters,
Martha,
Jane and Nancy, the latter not grown. They had 2 or 3 daughters
married before
coming to our country, Steele's wife, a Mrs. Gillis and one (don't
now remember
the name). They were a good and very interesting family and we
neighbors with
them and became warmly attached &c &c John, the boy, finally
sickened an died.
James and Silas were industrious and skillful at any and all kinds
of labor and
often helped father in boat building to carry of lumber and tan
bark in, and by
that means and on account of his jovial disposition became a great
favorite in
our family. Silas also was greatly liked by all of us. He was
the elder of the
two and was then about 20 years of age (1836). More of them hereafter.
Time
passes on.
I will now speak of father's brothers, of
whom he had several, and 2 sisters.
Uncle James V____ was older than father by 2 years. He and Aunt
Betsy, as we
called her, had 11 boys and 1 girl! Felty was next to father (no,
I mistake, it
was Levi that came next to Father, and then Felty)! Uncle Reuben
was next, Jesse
next and Thomas was youngest. Aunt Betsy and Sally were along
between the boys.
Both of them married men named Price. Richard and Moses. Aunt
Betsy married
Richard, who was uncle to Moses, the husband of Sallie. The two
girls, the ones
named, were alive at last accounts, and only one of my uncles,
Uncle Jesse. A
numerous progeny followed in the wake of all those named, and
are scattered over
a good deal of territory.
I remember that when a small boy it used
to afford me great pleasure to get off
a visit to Uncle Feltie's or to Uncle Jim's! Feltie's good wife
was named
"Jemima", a very good and kind woman was she. Her maiden
name was Borders and
her folks lived below us on the Sandy River and were among the
good old pioneers
of that region. They only had one son John and one girl (I believe).
Uncle Levi
had several sons and daughters. John and William were two of these,
the older of
the boys, born to his first wife who was a Miss Clark. He also
had 4 daughters
by this wife and several sons and daughters by a second one.
John and Bill, as we called the boys named,
were playmates of brother John and
myself and often worked with us and fished and played a great
deal with us. They
lived very close neighbors to us for a long period of time. I
loved them as well
as my own brothers, I believe. They would fight for John or myself
at the drop
of a hat and drop the hat themselves if the other fellows were
imposing on us. I
remember many interesting things connected with them and us but
too tedious to
mention and would be uninteresting to others who may read these
lines. Poor
fellows, we would like to see them if still alive, or to hear
from them, which
we have not for many long years.
The grave hath swallowed up most of those
I have named long since and in a few
brief years there will be none of them left to tell the story
of their youthful
days of any of the events connected with former years, neither
theirs nor mine.
Time works wonderful changes and soon lays us all away, to await
the grand
reunion that will ultimately take place, no doubt.
Father sold his farm to old Billy Harris,
a neighbor of ours, as before stated,
in 1836, before Grandfather M___ and uncle B. &c &c left
for Arkansas. But we
still remained on the place for a year, made a crop &c &c,
and in selling out we
reserved the right of getting out a large board-load of barrel
staves and
another boat-load of tan-bark and stacked it in the woods to cure.
This work and
the hauling of the stuff to the river bank occupied most of the
spare time from
crops, for the years '37 and '38.
In '37 we deserted our old and long occupied
home and moved to the River a mile
or so away, so as to be handy to our hauling and boat building,
for we had two
big boats to build to carry off the lumber. This we proceeded
to do. We cut our
gunwale trees, poplars, one of which furnished us a pair of gunwales
84 feet in
length, 7 inches thick, 2 feet 2 in at the bow-rake and about
20 in. at the
stern-rake. Of these, with the other timbers necessary, with 2
in. plank for
bottom and sides, we constructed the larger boat. We built the
smaller one, in
which we carried the tan-bark, 60 ft. long and 18 ft. wide and
sided up 6 ft.
high from the bottom of the boat inside. The larger one was sided
up the same
way. In this one, when ready, we placed 53,000 staves and heading;
in the other
about 30 cords of bark. It was very serious job to do all this
work, as we had
to haul the bark off of the mountain top, a mile or two away,
and the staves
from many a hollow and branch bottom, 1 to 3 miles away from the
River .
About a year, perhaps not so long as that,
before getting ready to move, our
oldest sister Rachel was married to James P. Dickerson, one of
those young men
spoken of a little back. Before this, however, or about that time,
as I
remember, Old Father Griffith Dickerson and his son Silas went
on exploring
expedition to find some goodly land to which they and other friends
would
emigrate provided they found a place to suit.
They made their way into the far-off Missouri,
visited various points &c &c and
determined on it as their future home. Old Uncle G_______ returned
and left
Silas on Gasconade River, where he engaged at work in a saw mill
and told his
father he would remain there until he, the father, returned to
Kentucky and
moved their folks all out to Missouri and then rejoin them where
they expected
to settle &c &c. But, poor fellow, he sickened and died
there and none of us or
his own folks ever saw him again. This was a sad stroke to his
parents and the
family.
After Dickerson's return home we all set
to, in order to get off to the west.
They and their son-in-law, Alexander Steele, all sold off their
immovable
property. We did so, too. We built a small boat in partnership,
I believe;
covered it and had it made comfortable, for all of us to ride
in and carry what
household goods we wanted to carry along &c &c. There
were 4 families to occupy
it - Dickersons, Steeles, our own family and James D and sister
R., who had not
been long married as stated before.
We went ahead in getting our large lumber
boats ready for their loading and
getting it all collected on the banks of Sandy convenient to load
&c &c. The
spring of A. D. 1839, was now come and this spring was to see
us off, make or
break. Our boats were loaded, the oars made and hung, the moving
boat was also
finished and equipped -- all in readiness to receive its precious
cargo of
anxious children and many an older one not much less anxious.
There were about
25 souls altogether, to occupy the little moving boat bound for
the Far West.
This was indeed one of the most exciting
and interesting periods of all our past
history, the late War not excepted! I had been once to the Ohio
River two and a
half years prior to this. Father and I took our wool to a carding
machine over
on Twelve Pole, in West Virginia, 60 or 65 miles from home; and
we then went
over from there, 15 miles or more, to the mouth of Guyan River
at Guyandotte --
there to see an old gentleman named Thomas Buffington, with who
father lived for
a long period when a boy and who he loved and venerated as a father.
That was my first view of the great beautiful
Ohio. The River happened to be
very full at the time; the driftwood running, the waters muddy
and foaming &c &c
so as to make it quite a sight to me. The River looked to be a
mile in width and
run with a very strong current. Then and there I saw my first
steamboat. 'Twas
in the Fall of 1837. Saw 4 boats while there and stayed one day
and night. The
city of Guyandotte, opposite to Buffington's was a sight to me,
truly. 'Twas a
very handsome town and larger by far than all the other towns
and villages put
together than I had ever seen! Had then see only Prestonsburg,
Paintsville,
Louisa (at the forks of Sandy)
Buffington was very glad to see father,
who he had never seen since father was a
boy, perhaps not older than I then was (14 years). He also and
so did his wife,
take on over me a good deal. We enjoyed that visity greatly. The
old folks shed
tears she we bade them adieu, telling father that they would meet
him in the
good world to follow this life &c &c. We never saw them
more from that day to
this.
We went back to the carding factory, got
our rolls and when we reached the forks
of Sandy River, at Louisa, where we crossed on our horses, going
to the Ohio --
we now had to ferry over, as the backwaters from the Ohio River
had reached that
point, 35 miles above the mouth of Sandy. There was at least 6
or 8 feet plumb
water of the back waters at this place.
I had much to tell on reaching home, of
my adventures and what had been seen by
myself and father. I felt that I was a muchly traveled individual,
had seen most
of the enlightened world, Arkansas excepted, which we hoped to
see too before a
very great while! Other members of our family had not been so
fortunate as
myself in the way of travels and sightseeing. John had been to
Cincinnati once
with father and Rachel had been to Mt. Sterling when almost a
grown young lady,
but I had seen the majestic Ohio River, steamboats, and a city
of some size and
many other interesting things and important personages &c
&c. Oh, how I could
now interest the younger boys with stories of my travels and adventures
connected therewith. This about 1 1/2 years prior to the interesting
preparations for our move the the western country, mentioned some
distance back.
Our preparations were now nearly completed.
Boats loaded, tied up, moving boat
ready to be filled when needed. Only waiting for a rise in Sandy,
of depth
sufficient to float our heavily laden lumber boats over the shoals
in safety.
Oh! the anxiety, the dread for fear the required water would not
come till the
spring would be too far advanced to make the journey before the
hot weather to
be encountered down on the Mississippi and on the Arkansas Rivers.
We had a great deal of hot weather and sickness
(at least some of them had) but
I cared for none of these provided we could only get started.
The novelty of a
move, seeing the sights, seeing new countries, big rivers, steam
boats, great
cities, new people, and our kindred and friends in Arkansas --
the idea of
getting to a land full of wild animals, game, honey and a thousand
other
interesting things (to say nothing of Indians). All these things
made the
younger ones of our colony stand on tiptoe of expectation and
become exceedingly
impatient of delay.
Finally the river began to rise -- 1, 2,
3 ft. and still crawling slowly up the
banks. It was now the 3d day of May, 1839. Next day was set for
the grand start.
The long looked for event was come at last and we were actually
on the even of
starting. It was 3 to 4 miles up the River to Dickerson's where
the moving boat
was moored to the bank and where were Old Father Dickerson and
family, Sister
Rachel and James D., and Steel and his family. I was dispatched
up there in the
evening, to stir them up and to appraise them of the fact that
next day we
expected to loose the cables of our large lumber boats and set
them afloat on
the rolling waters of the Big Sandy, just above "Hell's Gate"
and plough through
that dangerous pass as a start to Arkansas! and that we wanted
them all to be
aboard the boat in due time and come floating down the tide and
join the
starting flotilla on its western journey.
I stayed up there that night, May 3d, but
cannot say that I slept, for I was too
much excited and too anxious for that. Next morning we got everything
ready in
good time, and loosed cable and floated down to wher our large
boats were tied
up and there we landed to get our family aboard. The River bank
at this point,
the upper end of Hell's Gate shoal, was lined with people, our
many friends and
relatives gathered to see us off and bid us a last adieu, a long
farewell. Many
were the tears shed that day and many hearts were sad. We finally
took our
leave, loosed the cables of our boats, and at 1 or 2, perhaps
as late as 3 p.m.
we were sailing down the stream to never more return. Z. V. H.