A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

Mt. Vernon and Albion.When we arrived in Albion this second time father was able to rent a stone house on the main streetfor a temporary home We moved right into this as soon as we arrived, and bought provisions and startedkeeping house at once. This was quote as comfortable as going to one of the taverns and was muchcheaper. We brought some furniture with us and were able to buy some more that was indispensable...Assoon as father could rent a more suitable place we moved into it. We were able to get a fairly good housewith a store room in front, entirely separate from it, and this we used for a workshop, after making workbenches and putting up a turning lathe father and brother Ed went to work. We laid in a stock of lumberfrom Graysville, consisting of poplar, and cherry. Walnut was not much used except for coffins and webought a little for that purpose.The first piece of furniture they made was a corner cupboard or china cabinet for one of the well todo farmers. They also made a variety of other pieces, such as bureaus, bedsteads, tables, etc. Father didthe turning of bed posts, while I being then about thirteen years of age worked the large wheel that gavemotion to the lathe. Father had a treadle put on which could be used instead of the large wheel and oneperson could then do the turning as the treadle was worked by the foot. I was put to turning the smallerthings such as table and chair legs. It was hard work for a boy as young as I was but I had to do it, and Ithink I liked working as well as most boys. I was about fourteen years old at that time. It did not take longto supply all the demand there was in the whole country and then there was no more to do except anoccasional coffin to make. We used to get ten dollars for a coffin. They brought a corn stalk cut to thelength and a notch cut in it for the width, and when we saw a man on horseback come along with a cornstalk we knew we were going to have a job. We always insisted on having cash for a coffin but we did notalways get it and often had to take anything we could get.Father soon came to the conclusion we could make no living in Albion...Father had for some timedetermined to leave mother and the family in Albion and go to Cincinnati, taking brother Edward withhim and go to work at his trade. This course was to be a help financially as well as an experience in theways of the country...True to this resolve they left Albion for Graysville and took passage for the OhioRiver on a boat built especially for low water, this little boat could run on only a few inches of water.They used to say of it that when it stuck on a bar, the crew used to jump into the water and carry it intodeeper water, it would be all right until it got fast again when carrying it over the obstructing bar wasagain repeated...This boat was the smallest freight and passenger steamboat I ever saw. It only ran to themouth of the Wabash River and from there another boat had to be taken on the Ohio to Cincinnati, wherethey arrived in about four days after leaving Albion. Father and Edward went to a boarding house onThird Street near Walnut Street. They both got employment at once, father with Andrew McAlpin, whohad the best furniture store west of the Allegheny Mountains. There are many handsome mahogany piecesof dining room and parlor furniture made by McAlpin still owned by the old families and highly prized bythem. Edward got work at making bird cages with Wm. Chidsey, who did quite a trade with the countrymerchants. He also had a store where he retailed them. Mr. Chidsey did the wire work and Edward madethe wood parts. Father’s job consisted of making Elizabethan chairs and rockers, and he made them six ata time and took about a week to make them. He got eighteen dollars for the six. Edward worked by theweek, I don’t know how much his wages were.Father bruised the palm of his hand which developed into a severe Tumor which caused such severepain as to nearly drive him crazy. The doctor advised him to go home where he could have properattention, and he came home unexpectedly and took us all by surprise. It took I think about three monthsbefore his hand was sufficiently recovered to be able to use it.It was while he was laid up at home that he determined to take the family back to Cincinnati...Fathersold everything except a few pieces of furniture had from England and we all left for Cincinnati by theway of Graysville on the steamboat Talma, arriving at our destination early in April 1847. BrotherEdward had already secured a house for us on Eighth Street between Elm and Plum, which we at onceoccupied. Edward had been boarding with Mr. Chidsey but left there as soon as we got thingsstraightened out at the house on Eighth street. Father kept on working for Andrew McAlpin and Edward165