|
|
|
NEW!
The
Ingalls Connection Descendants
of |
Recollections of Susan Fairbank Whiting (Mrs.
Newell Whiting) Part 1: The New York Years Montie, the earliest that I can remember is April 19, 1828(?), the day Aunt Rilla was born. I was at my Grandpa's. Uncle Fletcher's people lived in part of the house. There was a double fireplace and there was a brick out of the back of the fireplace so we could peek through and I remember seeing Louise. She was one year younger than I. Father lived on the flats until 1840 when he sold that farm and bought one on the hill about five miles from there where we lived until we came west in 1844. I remember there one fall was a large grey wolf killed a lot of sheep and the men turned out for miles around and had a big wolf hunt. I don't remember how many days they hunted but can remember hearing the conch shells they blew on so they could keep in touch of each other. We lived near the big alder swamp where the wolf had taken refuge. They got him and people came for miles to see him after his carcass was stuffed. I remember one day some Indians came to the house while father and mother were away and us children were scared most to death. The Indians see how frightened we were and they said "me no kill just want something to eat." They got it too. One Indian had a red handkerchief on his head. The snow used to be awful deep in the winter. Sometimes when father would lead his horse to water the snow would be over his back, or at least we couldn't see the horse from the house. There was a small stream run through father's farm. There was a bridge across the creek and one day father and mother were loading hay across the creek and sister Jane and I started to go out where they were. I went along all right but Jane stopped on the bridge to watch the fish. When I got to where father was I looked around for Jane but she was nowhere in sight. Father ran for the bridge as fast as he could go and threw his vest as he ran and I was close to his heels. When we got to the bridge we saw her in the water about half way to the bottom. Father jumped in and got her quick. I don't remember whether she was unconscious or not. That must be full 68 years ago, I guess more. She had a blue dress on. I can remember it as though it was yesterday. We lived about one mile from the Conewango Creek and we children used to go down there to see if we couldn't find some alligators or crocodiles. We never found any but looked for them all the same. We had to go a mile and three quarters to school. Aunt Celinda and Aunt Mary went in the winter some, but I never went in the winter till we moved on the hill. I have seen deer skipping through the woods, and the girls said they saw some bears cross the road one morning when they were going to school. I think I will have to tell you about your grandpa killing a bear. I have told you it many times of course. I don't remember it for it was long before I was born when Aunt Celinda was a baby. Father went away to be gone overnight. Mother did not like to stay alone so father got Uncle Joe and a nephew Elmer Fairbank to come down and stay with mother. In the night mother heard the pigs making a fuss. There was a gun in the house but the boys were too frightened to use it. Mother I think, tried to get them up to see what the trouble was but they rather stay in bed. Mother got up and went to the door and just as she opened the door the pigs ran by. There were four of five of them, nice good sized pigs, and just behind the pigs was a bear and behind the bear was a dog that belonged to father or one of the boys. Before they got around the house again the bear caught the pig and took it into the woods out back of the house. It was quite a distance and the pig was squealing all the time. The little dog kept the bear so busy he could not kill the pig. He had to climb quite a high fence. Mother said he would get up on the fence with his forepaws then the dog would run up and bit the bear's heels and he would get down and fight the dog off. Several times it happened, finally he got over and went into the woods. The next day when father came home he got a cousin of his by the name of Stearns to come down with his gun. They went down and found part of the pig. They thought when the bear got hungry he would come back for more pig so they each climbed a tree and put the carcass between them and waited, but not very long. As soon as the cousin saw the bear he fired without taking aim and the bear ran off. I have heard father tell how provoked he was. Then father made a dead fall and caught his bear ship. I've seen the place many times and we children had the bear in the trap all pictured out. It's 79 years ago now. I remember too when I was perhaps six or seven years old the shoemaker had been at our house and shod us up all round. One of my shoes got burned. I can't remember whether I set it too close to the fire or one of the younger ones did. Anyway it meant that I had to go without shoes that winter only, as I put on the other girls' occasionally. It would not mean much nowadays if a child burned as shoe but it meant a whole lot at that time. I remember too there was a tree in the creek near the bridge. The butt of the tree was on the bank. We used to wade in till the water was up to our necks, then we would go a little farther, shut our mouths and wade till it was up to our eyes, then hold on tight and dip our heads all over. I would be scared to death to see children do as we did. I can't think of much more that happened till father sold his place on the flats and moved up on the hill. That was in the spring of 1842. It was about five miles; I never knew why they called it the flats and I was never back to the old place after we moved. My grandfather Fairbank died before we moved on the hill. I remember grandfather Ritter came to visit us once and brought mother a cream pitcher in his hat. He had a tall hat and we children thought it wonderful funny to see him take off his hat and fish a pitcher out of it. We were out in the orchard when he came, getting sweet apples. I think that must have been about 1840. Father used to hire a man to thresh his wheat with a flail. They would spread it on the barn floor and thresh it, then rake off the straw and gather up the wheat and put it through a fanning mill two or three times before they took it to the mill to get it ground. The first threshing machine I ever saw was in 1842, at Uncle Caleb Fairbank's. Sometimes in the winter father would bring in a lot of corn and shell it and we would help him all we could. To make it easy for us to shell (for we were all little tots) father would run a long spindle between the rows. Then when the corn was shelled we would have great fun building cob houses. Other evenings father would peel brooms. Everybody had to make their own brooms in those days. They would lay in a supply of what was called broom sticks in the fall and during the winter they would make up brooms enough to last till winter again. I think they used ironwood. There was always some splints that were no good in the brooms. These we would gather up to light candles with, for there were no matches in those days. We used to cover the fire with ashes to keep it. The first stove I ever saw was one with the fire right below the oven. Must have been about 1840. Everyone had brick ovens and Saturday was baking day. They would build a fire in the oven and let it get real hot, then scrape it all out clean and put the stuff in, beans, brown and white bread, pies and generally an Indian baked pudding; oh how good they all were. None of you children ever saw a real dutch fireplace. Why one could lay a four foot stick of wood on the andirons and there would be plenty of room left. To start a fire from the foundation, first you would get a log say two feet in diameter and lay it back as far as you could, then place your andirons with the end to the back log then put on a fore stick, that is another big stick or log not so large, say ten inches through. Then get a lot of pine knots and some kindling, and you would have a fire in short order that would astonish people nowadays. We used to go out with father to get pitch for gum. We would bring in the pine knots and set them by the fire for the pitch to dry out, then we would boil it up with a little resin in it and pour it on water and when it was cool it was ready to chew. Sometimes our fire would go out, then father would take his gun, which had a flint lock and strike it over some tow, and the sparks would drop in the tow, then he would put on kindling and we would soon have a fire. Sometimes people would have to go to the neighbors for fire. In the spring we used to have great fun when father was burning brush helping him. You can imagine how much help we were, a great swarm of youngsters to watch and keep out the fire. In the spring the creek would overflow its banks and we would have all sorts of fun pretending it was a big lake, but it wasn't all play with us by any means. We had to knit and sew every day and as soon as we were big enough to hold a needle. We had our stunts and we had to do them before playtime came. We used to have lots of fun gathering butternuts and hickory nuts. I remember one Sunday our folks had gone to church and we saw a boy gathering our butternuts. The whole bunch of us took after him howling like wild Indians "thief stealer, thief stealer." We never knew who he was till after we came west and I was grown up. One day my cousin Solomon Fairbank was at father's and we were talking over old times and he told us of that incident, we had a great laugh over it. People used to go visiting in the evening in those days. It was nothing uncommon for them to go four or five miles. I remember a shoemaker who used to visit our folks in the evening and bring his cobblers bench. It was a great treat to have him come because he used to tell stories. Mother always got supper for company, but we were not allowed to sit up as children were expected to be in bed early. In those days father had a shoemaker come to the house and make shoes for the whole family. There was one old fellow whom I remember that wore a wig. One morning we went into his room for something and his wig was hanging on the foot post. You can imagine what a surprise it was to us. His name was Hines. The first I ever heard of spirit rappings was about that time. I think this old man had some nieces who were mediums. There was one woman that came to our house who was a great believer in the supernatural. Mother was very careful not to let us hear her stories but somehow we got on to some of them. One was she was eating pudding and milk and her bowl parted and let the mush and milk into her lap and closed again and she could find no crack. This woman had three fools in her family was it any wonder. There was another family that lived near us who were awful shiftless, there names were Carpenter. There were a lot of them and often Sunday morning you could see father, mother, and three or four young ones fishing down the creek, the mother would generally have one on her back or in her arms. We were greatly scandalized, for our folks keep the Sabbath, that is we did when father and mother were at home. I am afraid it was badly bent if not broken when were there alone for there was no mischief that we couldn't think of. People used to save their ashes and a man would come around and gather them. One day we heard that a man who had been to our home for ashes had committed a murder. We thought it wonderful that we were alive. He killed a man and his wife. Father and mother went to the funeral of the couple who were killed. We children hardly dare speak aloud for fear something terrible would come to us, we didn't dare to stay alone so went to a neighbor's. I remember one time father went to Rutledge and brought home a jug of whisky. Everybody kept the whisky jug as much as vinegar in those days but there wasn't the drunkeness there is now. Any way father gave us all a taste. I had heard about people getting high (now it would be called tight). Well after I had my taste I stood up before father and asked him if I was taller. One Sunday father and mother went to meeting and left us children at home. Well Aunt Celinda thought it would be nice to wash her dress, so she went at it. I don't know how she came out but I remember she starched it with milk. She turned a barrel bottom up and poured the milk on the bottom of it. Her dress was blue and drab linen. Mother used to spin the flax and wool for our clothes and weave it. Father's clothes, or the cloth for father's clothes, she would send to a fulling mill and have it dyed and fulled and generally she had some for herself fulled a little and colored either wine or plum. It was pretty too, that was for winter. For summer we had tow and linen dresses and underclothes and all. I don't think father had anything but linen for summer until we moved on the hill, that was in 1842. He used to have a tailoress come to the house and cut make his clothes. Father and mother used tobacco, and we children would hide their tobacco and tea as well, and when they would get out we would bring out our stealing for them but they caught us after a while and we had to leave their stuff alone. Our grandmother came to live with us about 1840. Her name when a girl was Mary Montgomery. She was born in Dunkirk, New York. I know very little about my mother's people. One brother and two sisters are all I ever saw. You may remember Uncle Hugh Haron's father and Aunt Celinda McCray. Aunt Polly Allen lived in Ohio. They had a large family; there were several brothers and sisters. I used to hear mother speak of them but was too young to remember their names. Mother was born at the head of Lake Champlain, New York. We moved on the hill in 1842. I think it was in the spring but am not sure. The next spring we made maple sugar. I used to go with the older girls and thought I was helping. There was a spring down in the woods and Aunt Celinda would go down there and do the family washing, the rest would go to help and have lots of fun. We had a swing made of tough bark. I don't remember the name of the tree that we peeled the bark from. There was a birch tree grew just over the spring. We used to eat the bark and twigs. I remember going down through the woods one time. It had been real wet but had dried off. There was a little stream. It was mostly dried up but there were little pools once in a while and they were full of fish and we caught a lot. I remember we had a man school teacher boarding with us and he had a fit in the night and father went after one of the neighbors, Mr. Barton. Teachers all boarded around. I believe it was a week for each child who went to school. I never went much in the winter. I was too young to go so far. I went to a Sabbath school celebration with Aunt Rhoda. She was always nice to us kids. Miss Althouse's father Mr. Wood moved into the neighborhood the spring we came away. Mrs. Wing gave me a brass ring and I lost it in a pond. One winter our milk cow got killed and father used to go down to my aunt's two or three time a week and get milk for us. I remember we used to take our cups and go out where father was milking and get some warm milk to drink. Father used to come to Buffalo to buy things. The spring we came away he got a lot of things for us. I remember he got cloth for me a dress and I went down to Aunt Susie Town's to stay while she made it for me. We had a dog, his name was Spike. He was old and fat and there was a man had the rheumatism and someone told him if he would rub his legs with the oil from a dog it would cure him. We always thought his son killed the old fellow but we never knew. I assume father did. We were mad all of us especially Aunt Celinda. I remember an old maid that used to visit us who used snuff. She used to go out by the well and pick up some soft stones and eat them. Her name was Deborah Barton. There were two Englishmen who were neighbors to us, they were old bachelors. One day one of them brought some mutton over for mother to cook for them. It was so strong we children would not stay in the house while it was cooking. I remember one day at school we were standing in our spelling class and one of the girls fainted and fell flat on the floor. The winter before we came west was the first winter I went to school. The room was heated with a box stove. I think there was a fireplace too but am not sure. The seats were next to the wall with the desks in front of the older scholars, then there were seats in front of the desks for the smaller ones. The first book I had to read in after I learned my ABC was a spelling book, then came the English Reader and Testament. We had no other books until we came west. We never had any playthings except what we made ourselves. We would get blue clay out of the creek and make all sorts of pottery and burn it in a kiln that we would make. We used to make mud pies too like girls nowadays. Mother used to weave. My work was to tend baby, wind quills, and pick up mother's shuttle when she dropped it. We didn't have as much time to play as children do nowadays. Needles and pins were very scarce. If we had a half dozen needles in the house it was an abundance. We used to use strings on our clothes or buttons, but buttons were not plenty. I remember one night there was a skunk got in the cellar. One of my cousins was there with a little dog. He went after the skunk but didn't get it. I don't think, don't remember, but I do remember the smell. For a long time our folks couldn't keep a thing in the cellar. When I was a child I used to love to stand by the window and watch the snowflakes as they came down, sometimes the snow would be so deep people would turn out with their oxen and sleds to break the roads. We used to have great fun when father got the hay partly fed out, then we would get on the highest beam in the barn and jump down on the hay. It's a wonder we did not break our necks. The first tomatoes I ever saw my grandmother had in a box. She raised them for show. Father started for Wisconsin the eleventh day of May 1844. The last night we spend in Cattaraugus we stayed at Uncle Joshua's. I remember father's youngest brother went with us quite a distance. I don't remember how far. You remember him, Uncle Alfred, he was a doctor. We stopped in Ohio two weeks to visit two of mother's sisters, and mother and one of father's brothers Uncle Elijah. He lived at Ganges. I went into a store at Ganges for the first time. We visited a number of cousins. I don't remember the names of them now. They were mother's nieces. Our wagon box jutted out over the wheels to make room so we could sleep in the wagon. Father had boards to lay across from one side to the other, then they would make the bed. It made a nice place to sleep for us older girls but father and mother and the younger children slept in houses. Father would get permission to make beds in the house near where we camped, as mother was so poorly she did not dare to sleep outdoors. We cooked beside the road. Sometimes there would be seven or eight covered wagons in a string. I remember one slough we crossed, the water came up into our wagon box. Father had three horses. One was balky and just as sure as we got into a mud hole she would begin to cut up. She would get mad and throw herself right down into the water, then father and the other men in the crowd would have to jump out and take her by the head to keep her from drowning. Then they would unhitch the horses and lead them over and draw the wagons over by hand. You can imagine what it meant when there were six or eight of them. Uncle Amos Ross came with us. One of his horses tired out before we got to Wisconsin so he had to have one of ours. I remember one place where there was quite a river and it was marsh on each side and there was a corduroy bridge led up to the main bridge and the logs were all afloat. They had to lead the horses over and take the wagons over by hand. One of father's horses got one leg down between the logs. They were afraid she would break it but they got her out all right. We were about four weeks on the road. I remember when we came through Chicago, it wasn't much but a mud hole. It was an awful wet season and there was mud everywhere. Introduction
| The New York Years |
The
Wisconsin Years | Fairbank-Whiting Genealogy |
|