Statewide County OhArchives News.....Tid-Bits -- Part 112B: The Role of Women in the settlement of the Western Reserve ( 1796-1815 ) May 12, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 May 15, 2008, 9:55 pm Historical Collections Of Ohio, And Then They Went West, Know Your Ohio May 10, 2008 May 12, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 May 12, 2008 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know your Ohio Tid-Bits -- Part 112 B The Role of Women in the settlement of the Western Reserve ( 1796-1815 ) Social Relations ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 112 B Social Relations on the Western Reserve The desire of the early women settlers on the Western Reserve for education and learning is also reflected in the inquisitiveness that accompanied their extreme hospitality. On the other hand it would be unfair to maintain the desire to satisfy the hunger for news was the only factor which resulted in hospitality to strangers. The lack of very early taverans forced travelers and new settlers to appeal to the hospitality of those already established in the community. And the hospitality of the frontier woman in the Western Reserve was bounded only by the means of her family to afford its practice. No matter when strangers arrived, they were given the best while the rmained, which meant so much more work for the pioneer houswife already overburdened with chores --- and deparures were regretted with unfeigned sincerity. In fact, hospitality appears to have been an outstanding social requisite. George Tod, in one of his letters to Samuel Huntington ended with: " And give my best respects to Madame and Miss Margaret and tell them I expect to do myself the pleasure before summer to call at their home and drink a little whiskey and eat some of their warm bread and butter. " According to a statement of Thomas D.Webb of Warren, when calling on Samuel Huntington who at the time was absent on circuit of the Supreme Court, " presented a letter of introduction to Mrs. Huntington .... and induced her to board me for a short time. I remained about three weeks." Another way in which women of the early Reserve proved their social value, was in maintaining peaceful relations with Indians in the district. On the whole, the Indians were generally friendly excet when under the influence of liquor and in making demands for and devouring enormous quantities of food. Frequently, too, the women exchanged their bread for venison. The white women also made dresses for the squaws and frequently loaned their babies to the Indians for a play day. Hannah Carrol, the wife of Silas Young of Geauga, was especially freindly with her Indian neighbors who often visited her. One brave was particularly attracted by the young Quakeress from Pennslyvania and he gravely proposed to Silas, an exchange of squaws. Silas jestingly assented and thought no more about it. But not so the Indian Brave, who appeared with his squaw and papoose to conclude the trade. Silas being absent, Hannah told the Indian that she could do nothing about the matter and to come another day. However, he must have become reconciled to his darker Indian spouse because although he had revisted the Youngs, he made no further references to the exchange. A few women however, like Mrs. Lorenzo Carter, suffered much from fear o the Indians. Mrs. Carter's fear can probably be traced to her having been chased by a drunken brave, hatchet in hand, until she was rescued by her husband. This same Mrs. Carter was the moter of some nine children. Large families were an important requisite for economic development in early Western Reserve history and the family averaging ten or fifteen children was the rule rather than the exception. One of the many toasts made by General Moses Cleaveland at Conneaut during the first fourth of July celebration on the Western Reserve was " May these sons and daughters multiply in sixteen years sixteen times fifty." Apparently the settlers did all in their power to carry out this toast. William Creighton wrote to Tod: " I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you at Zanesville this Winter in the character of a Legislator .... My family is increasing so rapidly it behooves me to take care of my household. " Without a doubt, pioneer mothers suffered a good deal during childbirth. Seth Pease tells us that, " Doct Shepart tarried at Cleaveland on Mrs. Stiles account " yet only a friendly Indian squaw was present at the birth of the first white child born in Cleveland. Mrs. Eunice Kingsbury, mother of te first white child born on the Western Reserve, endured great hardship, privation and mental suffering during the winter that her baby was born. the Kingsbury family settled for the winter of 1796 in a rickety log cabin at Conneaut, which the surveyors had abandoned earlier that fall. Kingsbury returned to his native state, New Hampshire, on important business and then was delayed by sickness while still in the east. He did not succeed in returning to the Western Reserve until Christmas Eve when he found his wife, who had recently borne a child, in a dying condidtion from exhaustion and want of proper food. The infant died and the mother had been compelled to bury it beneath drifted snow and forest leaves near the cabin. Fortunately, Mrs. Kingsbury recovered and the family moved from their isolated dwelling to Clevelend. The large Western Reserve family as not only an important unit of economic organization, but also of social organization. Parties, courtships, marriages and deaths, each formed a reason for social intercourse with outsiders, while on more ordinary occasions, a father and mother with their number of sons and daughters, fond themselves a fairly sufficient social group. One of the outstanding social events in the early Western Reserve history was the Fourth of July celebration in 1801 given at the home of Lorenzo Carter of Clevelend. In a letter to Alexander C. Elliott, Gilbert Bryant told of having attended the famous ball in his youth. " I waited on Miss Doan .... when I went for Miss Doan, I took an old mare; when she was ready I rode up to a stump and spread her under petticoat on old Tib behind me, secured her calico dress to keep it clean, and mounted on behind me. I had a fine time! There were about a dozen ladies and from fifteen to twenty gentlemen present. The dancers kept time to Major Jones' violin on the puncheon floor, and occasionally refreshed themselves with a glass of sling made of maple sugar and whiskey; and never was the anniversary celebrated by a more joyful and harmonious company, than those who danced the scamperdown, double shuffle, western swing, and half moon, in that unostentatious place of assemblage." House and barn raisings, hog killings, soap boilings, house warmings, husking bees, spinning-, weaving-. quilting parties, spellig bees, among innumerable others, were occasions for social gatherings For these parties, it ws the task of the women and girls to prepare the feasts which accompanied them. Also, the early women in the Reserve found time to visit with another and, in order to waste as little time as possible out of the total minutes of their already crowded lives, they would take their knitting or sewing with them. These visits also were a means for speaking knowledge, since there was little circulating literature, gossip being the chief souce of information. And it was heartily indulged in during the course of the visit. When suppertime arrived, the hostess usually baked a shortcake and bewed a pot of tea. The homespun tablecloth was spread on the home made table and a dish of stewed fruit or fresh berries in season graced the center of the table. The cake was broken into squares and passed around, each woman helping herself from the one common sauce dish. Occasionally, a housewife was able to serve " the rare dainty --- wheatcakes fried in bear's oil." Weddings afforded aother occasion for celebration, the ceremony usually followed by feasting,dancing, and hilarity until " break o'day the next morning." Weddings, too, afforded the womwn an opportunity to wear their " Sunday Best." which sometimes proved to be gowns brought from the East. The wedding gowns themselves, were usually made of calico and that of one young bride who married in 1811, " was dear in more ways than one. She had to spin one week to pay for each yard." In 1815, it took seventy two bushels of corn to buy a woman's dress. On the whole, the style of women's clothes was very simple. If able to appear clad in neat and clean apparel o domestic manufacture, it was considered quite sufficient, however grand or imprtant the occasion. This was true of even the young ladies who were of marriageable age, and who desired to make a favorable impression. The everyday costume generally consisted of homespun and checked aprons. Most clothing in the Western Reserve, tat of men as well as women, was made entirely by the women. Plaids were the prevailing designs, with dyes extracted by the women from barks, berries, and leaves. The use of deerskin and wool materials for winter, and flax fr summer clothing was the general rule. Mittens and socks were also knitted by the women. During the summer, the women went bare footed and whenver possible, carried their coarse and heavy shoes to some point before their destination, whether gatherings or prayer meetings, where they were put on. thus the dress of the women in the early Western Reserve was suited in the plainness of their lives and were rarely decorated with bits of home made lace or needlework. Rings, brooches, buckles, and ruffles were,in the main, heirlooms brought from the East. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits con't in part 102 C. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/statewide/newspapers/tidbitsp110nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/ File size: 10.3 Kb