Historical Wyoming County Jan 1980 - Old Fulton History

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PAGE 58 JANUARY 1980 Historical Wyoming is published quarterly by the Wyoming County Historian's Office, 76 North Main Street, Warsaw, N.Y. 14569. Editor: John G. Wilson, County Historian; Assistant Editor, Mary Wilson. Annual subscription rate is $3.00. Subscription year runs from July 1 to July 1 and those subscribing during that period will be sent all back issues for that year. Cost for extra back issues is $1.00 per copy. Checks should be made payable to Historical Wyoming and sent to the County Historian's Office. Secondclass postage paid at Warsaw, N.Y. 14569. Postmaster send forms 3579 to County Historian's Office, 76 North Main Street, Warsaw, N.Y. 14569. USPS 104-990 Mary D. Wilson A MEMORIAL As you will note on the masthead of this journal, it says, "Mary D. Wilson, Assistant Editor." That was an understatement. She was much more than that. She was the guiding light, the technical expert and the inspiration behind each issue. Since July of 1975 this little magazine has found its way into your homes because she devoted her time without recompense, save for the joy of recapturing the stories of the past. She did this because she loved people and the stories of their lives both past and present. Along with this love of humanity, she was a woman of unusually high intellect and cultural attainment. She had a B.A. degree from Barnard College and a Bachelor of Literature from Columbia University. It is not hard to understand why the Historical Wyoming has maintained such a high degree of excellence in journalism. Mary D. Wilson died unexpectedly on December 13, 1979, and with her passing will go her direct influence upon this publication. We know that in her estimation it was an unfinished task and could be improved with each passing issue. We will continue the task of County Historian and Editor of Historical Wyoming praying that her inspiration and lessons, both technical and humanitarian, will remain with us and guide our efforts in the future. Beyond the Loss of Mary to the Historical Wyoming, the loss is personal, one which cannot be described in words. Her family, friends and colleagues will miss her dearly. (The Warners Conl) "crookers", all seeking wealth in the new country. Arriving at the chosen spot in the forest, their first task was to erect a long home. This abode soon appeared as a rude cabin of logs piled one upon another so as to form a hallow square and the roof was covered over with the bark of trees. On the east side was an entrance; on the south, a place for a fire, and on each of the other sides were aperatures through which the light of day found the occupants. All of the country was covered with forest and nothing could be raised until the ground was cleared, which called for a great deal of labor. The first summer only a small piece was cleared too late to sow any seed but turnips, of which they had a fine crop. An older settler came with a bushel of buckwheat to exchange for some of the turnips. Milo told the man to take what he thought the wheat was worth. The man loaded his cart so heavily that it broke down. It was evident that he did not observe the Golden Rule in that exchange! During the early years cattle got their living in the woods eating the leaves and small shrubs. During the winter they fed upon the small limbs and buds from trees that had been cut down to clear the land. In the log cabin house, the back-logs used in the fireplace was too large to be put in place by hand so it was hauled into the house by oxen. The oxen were not driven into the house but there was an opening opposite the door through which the chain passed. The log was drawn close to the door, then the oxen taken to the other side of the cabin, and thus the log was drawn into the house and then rolled into the fireplace. Such a log might last a week. The fire was never allowed to go out, as it was difficult to start a new one with flint and steel, for there were no matches in those days. The coals and brands were covered with ashes to preserve the fire. Later, when there were neighbor's nearer, if the fire accidentally went out, it was common (continued on page 83)
JANUARY 1980 PAGE 59 (The Warners Cont.) to go to the neighbors to get a brand. Hardly had Milo began his struggles with the frontier when he was ordered as one of the militia in Sept. 1814, and sent to Canada. He left at home a young wife, a son only a month old and no neighbors nearer than three miles except her sister and brother-in-law (The Pauls) were living with them at that time. Fortunately he was gone but a month but came back with rheumatism and could do little with but great pain for two years thereafter. LOST BOY Milo had brought a nephew, Omri Fuller, son of his sister Chloe, whose husband had died. The boy was then but nine years old and rather odd and later as a man he never married and seldom said anything about himself or anyone else. Since Milo was unable to walk, he sent the boy Omri to fetch the cows from the woods. About dark the cows came home but the boy did not. Believing the boy had lost his way, Milo blew the horn several times to attract him home but he did not come. Neighbors three and four miles away heard the horn and came to find out what was the matter. They were anxious about the boy and thought he would be running through the woods in fright. Milo, however, thought he would more likely crawl under a log and go to sleep. It began to rain and the neighbors started out with horns and lanterns to look for him and tramped through the forest all night. They did not find the lad. Shortly after daybreak the boy came home dry. He had found the cows but could not make them go the way he thought was home. When he found he was lost and could not tell which way to go, he crawled into a hollow log. Asked if he were afraid of wolves, he said, "Didn't see any; thought I heard them howl." It is believed he heard the horns and thought it was wolves howling. Money was very scarce; about the only way to get any was from furs, but Milo was not hunter or trapper. He leached lye from ashes from the burned trees and boiled it down into potash and hauled it to Albany. It took three or four weeks to make the trip and then the expenses left very little. As late as 1850, one of the leaches he used could be seen near the brook north of the frame house, then on the site. EARLY FARM BUILDINGS J.K. Warner, a son, who remembered the log cabin, said there was an outside well, the ash-pen, a cheese house, and the smoke tub which alternately served the purpose of a smoke house and a goose nest. About the yard and adjacent shop were the log cheese press, the grindstone, the scythe and bush-hook hanging from the projecting logs of the shop. Sometimes a honey bee colony would make a hive in the hollow of a log and fill the space with treasured sweets. The front door was made of two and a half hemlock boards in the rough, fastened with cleats nailed on the inside. There was a hole in the center through which the children might peep upon coming home from school to see if Ma had any visitors and whether you might enter with the accustomed noise and frolic, just as you did when there was nobody there but "our folks". It was said that this hole was made by the discharge of a gun, fired for the purpose of awakening a lone corporal on the morning of "training day". The wooden latch was pulled up by a string through a gimlet hole a few inches above, just as in the days of Abraham. J.K., one of the older children, recalled the Sundays when he had to stay at home with the younger ones while the parents went to meeting. He would, in imagination, create robbers, savage Indians and mad dogs so you pulled the string that you might feel a little safer. There was a cathole in the corner of the door with its door swinging on leather hinges which old Tom understood so well how to open. The sound of the door crying for grease as it swung on its great wooden hinges was never forgotten. The familiar old door served other purposes after the cabin was replaced and was finally consigned to flames under a kettle of soap. The logs of the original cabin were not even rough-hewed except for a few in the southwest corner where the shelves were. Some of the logs there were hewed and a sheet served as papering and as a covering to screen the chinaware from the dust that shifted through the great cracks above. Chinaware consisted of old brown bowls and iron spoons and tin basins from which you ate pudding and milk; the pewter plates and the "big pewter plate" which always held the mush at night, pot, victuals at noon, and held the cold victuals the next day. The red potatoes they raised were especially tasty. CABIN FURNISHINGS There was an old looking glass on the parlor side of the cabin, always with an inclination forwards -at an angle of 45 degrees, thus giving the shortest as well as the tallest an opportunity to see his "phiz" and also furnished a convenient place for knitting work, combs, patches and the like. Ma's bed was in the northwest corner and the trundle bed under it where all the children slept at one time or another, sometimes three or four at (continued on page 68)
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Page 5 and 6: JANUARY 1980 PAGE 61 (The Warners C
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Page 19 and 20: Once in a while, we come across a p
Page 21 and 22: JANUARY 1980 PAGE 77 (Sheldon Histo
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Historical Wyoming County Jan 1980 - Old Fulton History

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