Continued from Part 2 CORN HUSKING. Sixty or seventy years ago, the manner of gathering the corn was very different from that of the present day. Many farmers, instead of putting it in shock, cut the top of the stalk just above the ear and used it for fodder. They snapped the ears off and hauled them to the barn to husk. When the crops were large and they had large barns, [the corn] was placed in long ricks [racks?] across the floor and the neighbors invited in to help husk it at night. After husking, a good supper was served quite late at night. The huskers rested on their knees as close together as they could work, and there was always a rivalry to see who could first husk through the pile. It was the task for the older men to rake back the husks as they accumulated. Around 1860, J. T. SCHOLFIELD made a business of hauling the husks to his barn [where] they were shredded to be used in making mattresses, [then] baling and shredding to Wheeling, West Virginia. the motive power for the shredder was a tred power large enough for two horses to walk on. A large wagon bed seven feet high and large enough to hold a ton of husks was drawn by a four- horse team to deliver the husks, this having to be done in the winter when the roads were very muddy. My first ride on a wagon like this was in 1864, when I was eight years old, and we went from the Henry DOUDNA home on Sandy Ridge to the AARON home, [which was] then the home of Jonathan T. SCHOLFIELD. In the winter of 1880, I was in partnership with Perley PICKETT and we carried on the same business. It was the practice in those days for the neighbors to take the Boarding School scholars on a sled ride each winter. It fell to my lot to take twenty-four of the scholars in my load. This wagon bed was too high for them to see out and when the door was closed they were practically in prison. On our return trip, two miles west of Barnesville, Ohio, the scholars crowded too much to one side and the bed, being on bob sleds, upset and rolled the scholars into an adjoining field and pitched me into a fence corner in the snow. There was no one hurt. Sarah Pickett WALTON is, as far as I know, the only one living of those twenty-four scholars, after a lapse of sixty-one years. JAMES FRAME & GEORGE WASHINGTON. More than fifty years ago, my wife s father, William PICKETT, related this incident: James FRAME, a great uncle of his, during the Revolutionary War was brought into the presence of George Washington by two soldiers. [Washington] addressed James as follows: "James, what are you doing here?" The reply was, "These two men brought me here because I refused to bear arms." Whereupon the Commander said to him, "Many a time have we drunk out of the same cup and many a time have we slept together under the same blanket. You are at liberty to return to your home and help produce food for those who are willing to fight." James FRAME told my father-in-law, William PICKETT, that he had assisted George Washington when he was a surveyor. THE STEER NAME. While my wife, Louisa D. STEER and myself were living in Southern California, from 1866 to 1887, one day as I was driving in Los Angeles, I saw on a sign the name Vacy STEER. On making inquiry I found she was an English woman, who later on gave me the following information: In the 10th or 11th century, when the Normans first attempted to invade England, they found it difficult to make a landing on the stern and rockbound coast of Cornwall. After several unsuccessful attempts, a safe landing was made and the man who guided the boat was given the name of STEER. She also informed us that in a little town in Cornwall, the family history had been kept for five-hundred years. The first record of the name was found in the period from 1660 to 1665. From that time to the present, we have a complete line of records. If these records are desired, write to Warren E. Pickett, Washington, Pennsylvania and he can furnish a copy. [This offer was made in the early 1940s, so is just a wee bit out of date.] HAZARDS OF FARM LIFE. When raising a barn on the farm of James STEER in 1865, there were one hundred and twenty-five men working. Through the carelessness of one man, a beam four by four and eight feet long fell from the top story to the floor, striking a large man who wore a silk hat a glancing lick, and then struck Chalkley BUNDY on the head and seriously injured him. He was carried into the house and placed on the couch, where he laid until taken to his home. I was but eight years old, but I remember seeing his brother, John BUNDY, standing by him and I noticed how pale he was. [Chalkley] recovered, and later married Debora BUNDY. He died two years after the accident, and it was this injury [that] shortened his life. In the fifth month, 1879, when moving a barn to what was known as the lower farm, while putting the heavy sections of the roof with pole rafters in place, owing to a defective worm-eaten timber, the entire building--thirty-six feet long--collapsed, carrying twenty men down with it. The only one of those who was on the platform who was injured was David EDGERTON, who suffered a badly sprained ankle. I was near the eaves and was removing a pin that was in the way, so when the barn spread, I fell through. Though pinned to the ground, I was able to make known my whereabouts. The men soon removed the heavy sections of roof and carried me and laid me on the lawn. When the doctor came, he found my spine was injured and informed me that I would never be able to work again. After lying in bed for six weeks, I gradually recovered until I was able to manage my farm work. Although I suffered with my back for over thirty-five years, I had it straightened by the first chiropractor that came to Barnesville. Continued in Part 4 !^NavFont02F1262000ENGHHGZNY53HY63E7E5 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. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*