------------------------------------------------------------------ FORWARDED MESSAGE - Orig: 8-Jan-99 16:44 Subject: HISTORY of our ANCESTORS ------------------------------------------------------------------ This is part of the history of our country too; I know it isn't germaine but I thought some might like to see it anyway. It's from NC The early settlers had to go nearly two hundred miles to Cross Creek to get salt, sugar, iron and other necessities that they could not produce here. The women of those days were more industrious than the bontons of the elite of society that we have with us today pretending to be wives and mothers. They would work in the fields all day, and at night they had the cotton to seed, flax to spin, carding, weaving, knitting and many other things to do. The meals had to be prepared too but it required only a short time to do that; the principal articles of food were and hominy, and such other articles as could be produced on the plantation. Coffee and tea were rarities. Tea made from spicewood twigs, sassafrass roots and sage leaves and "coffee" made of parched corn or rye was commonly used. In the spring of the year all the stock was belled and turned loose in the woods to shift for themselves. Troughs were hewn in logs where the stock was salted about twice a week. These troughs were called "salt licks." In those days there was a kind of wild pea vine that grew abundantly in the woods and the stock would graze upon these pea vines and do well until cold weather. These wild pea vines ceased to grow about 50 years ago. There is quite a contrast in society then and now. In other days the dwellings usually consisted of two log houses--the kitchen and the Big House, and occasionally the "Big House" had "up stairs." The "Big House" was the parlor, sitting room and bed room combined. There was neither organ nor piano, but the fiddle, banjo, flute and fife were the musical instruments in those days. Courting was carried on in those days, you bet, but the bontons of today wouldn't have recognized the style in those days. There were no drives in costly vehicles nor expensive bridal tours. When the distance to be traveled was too far to walk they rode on horseback. Bride and groom or beau and sweetheart would both ride the same horse and hie away over the rough roads as merrily as the mated sparrows fly about their nests. The courting at home was done in the "big house" in the corner by the fire while the old folks were in bed and pretendedly asleep in the backend of the room. Corn shuckings, quiltings, etc., were great social events. At night after the work was complete, the neighborhood fiddler came in and the fun began. Until an hour or two before day both old and young, male and female, would dance and skip and play keeping step with the music all the while. Every body believed in helping his neighbors do their work and in turn his neighbors would help him. The whole community would engage in shucking corn, etc. and keep moving about until every man's work was done, keeping up the frolicks every night. When a man killed a hog or a yearling he would divide with his neighbors who would repay when butchering day came with them. The principal sports among the men were hunting and horse racing, and in later years, mustering. In those days, there was no tax on grog as they called it, and from all information it was freely used. It is peculiarly interesting to study the habits and customs of our fore fathers who first inhabited their country; think of them chasing the deer, elk, bear and other game; their conflicts with the Indians; the everyday association with such pioneers as Daniel Boone and Benjamin Cleveland. But the frontier life is a thing of the past; the pioneers have long since passed away, and all that is left is the country which they founded and nurtured in its infancy. Let us honor them by keeping the record of our country spotless and clean. ==== BRETHREN Mailing List ==== !^NavFont02F0CCE0007NGHHSCF5A15 Maggie's World of Courthouse Dust & Genealogy Fever http://www.infinet.com/~dzimmerm/mindex.html *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* God Put Me On Earth to Accomplish a Certain Number of Things. Right Now I am so far behind, I will never die. --- Unknown *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with good health, good friends, and more than enough good luck. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*