Historical Wyoming County April 1957 - Old Fulton History

Page 6 6 April 1957
A PIONEER SCHOOL TEACHER ON THREE FRONTIERS (cont.)
of May following she taught school in Covington Centre for a dollar
and a half a week, boarding round. She had about forty pupils of
all ages from six to twenty, and of all sorts and conditions.
She continued teaching until the end of November, after which
she was married to Mr. Mark Norris by Elder True, both of Covington,
on the 13th of January 1820 at her mother's home in Moscow In the
midst of a fierce two day snow storm. On the third day the couple
returned to Covington to their first home. A brief description of
the house which was ready for their reception may be of interest.
It was built of logs, the floor of white ash--carpets being an
undreamed of luxury--two windows containing twelve seven by nine
panes of glass to light the room, and a cupboard which stood in one
corner contained all their crockery and table furniture. The walls
were the round side of the logs hewn smooth and "chinked" nearly
even with plaster. The fireplace had a crane with hooks for hanging
kettles. There was the iron bake--kettle for baking,and a tin oven
to place before the fire for roasting. A ladder in one corner, by
which one ascended to the loft, contained a bed and other ,stores.
The furniture of this house consisted of one bed, one armchair, a
few common chairs and a small bookcase hung against the wall.
Mr. Norris was engaged in a small way in trade, and also owned
an ashery near their dwelling house for making pot and pearl ash.
Three months after their marriage, Mrs. Norris's mother and sister
came to live with them, and soon after came her aged grandmother.
In the spring, Mr. Norris put up an addition to the log house of
which part was used for a store, well stocked in the fall of 1822.
The following spring, the ashery burned down--this was before the
days of insurance. In the summer of 1822, Mr. Norris built a good
size frame store and visited New York and Albany for goods0
In the winter of I82J4. Mr. Norris was appointed post master by
Benedict Brooks, P.M., who lived two miles west of Covington Centre.
The postoffice was then thereafter kept in the center of the town.
In 182)4, Mr. Norris built a new house and vacated the log cabinc The
kitchen contained, Instead of a fireplace, a small cook stove, the
first Mrs. Norris had ever used. In September l82i|, Mr. Norris,
accompanied by Roccena,went East for goods via Owego, Chenango Point
and Deposit, where he left her and continued to New York. At her old
homej Roccena collected a quantity of flower seeds and"the next
summer the little garden at Covington Centre was beautiful with
flowers„
As a consequence of the bitter feelings of anti-Masonic
spasm in 1827, M r. Norris decided to p;o to Michigan to look for a
water power site near which he could make a home f5r his family.
Having purchased property in Ypsilanti which included the only frame
dwelling, he returned East. Buying a carding machine and a small
stock of goods, he shipped these, as well as his household goods,
by canal and lake boats to Michigan.
(continued on page 85)