Part 2 (1/2)
”Wheaton dismantled them of their hides, and hastened away before the night should set in, lest some other encounter might overtake him of a similar character, when the disadvantage of darkness might decide the victory in a way more advantageous to the roamers of the forest. Of this feat Ben Wheaton never ceased to boast; reciting it as the most appalling pa.s.sage of his hunting life. The animal had found him while asleep, and had him concealed, as he supposed, intending to give her young a specimen of the manner of their future life; or if this is too much for the mind of a dumb animal, she intended at least to give them a supper.
”This circ.u.mstance was all that saved his life, or the panther would have leapt upon him at first, and have torn him to pieces, instead of covering him with leaves, as she did, for the sake of her young. The panther is a ferocious and almost untamable animal, whose nature and habits are like those of the cat; except that the nature and powers of this domestic creature are in the panther immensely magnified, in strength and voracity. It is in the American forest what the tiger is in Africa and India, a dangerous and savage animal, the terror of all other creatures, as well as of the Indian and the white man.”
The German Palatinates who settled in the upper Susquehanna were noted for their physical endurance and their fondness for sports, but the same can hardly be said of their desire for intellectual culture.
Perhaps they were no worse, in this respect, than circ.u.mstances made them. Poverty and hard work were their portion, and the share was not stinted out to them. There were no newspapers, that is, during the earlier history of the settlement, published at a nearer point than Albany. Even those papers were but poor affairs. They were filled with the unimportant doings of the Dutch burghers--perhaps enlivened now and then, with a highly seasoned article, full of indignation because some obscure man in Ma.s.sachusetts had committed a trespa.s.s by cutting a forest tree on the manor of Livingston.
School teachers were not numerous nor were they well qualified for their work. School houses were at a great distance from most of the homes. They were both comfortless and cheerless. The snows were deep in winter and the weather was inclement. In summer, even little hands were helpful at home.
In their sports, the settlers were often inclined to push a joke to rudeness, and what began in fun often ended in a fight. Still, they were good-natured, honest people. They were kind to those needing a.s.sistance, and if necessity became common so did the loaf of bread.
There was no lack of social enjoyment, for their hardest toil was made the occasion of a gathering. If a piece of woodland was to be cleared, or a fallow, the male portion of the community united in a ”bee” and the work was soon done. Perhaps, while the men were thus working together in the field, the women had gathered within doors, and were busily plying their fingers over the mottled patch-work of a quilt.
In the lengthening summer twilight the men, coatless and barefoot, sat in groups on the front steps or under the low Dutch stoops and talked of the incoming crops, the weather or the watery moon.
The forests, all over the hillsides, where now village streets are creeping up and winding across, were frowning with great pines and hemlocks. The log road ran in every direction and was no more exclusive than a common highway. The ”s.h.i.+ngle-weaver's” huts were on nearly every road and bypath. The most towering pines were regarded as lawful prize, and during the winter the men found plenty of employment and slight recompense in hauling the pines to mill. Here they were converted into lumber, which was piled up by the bank of the river until ”the spring freshet.” On the swollen stream it was rafted to Baltimore, Harrisburg and other places.
The ”rafting season” was looked forward to with no little solicitude by the more robust and daring of the young men. They waited for the rafts to be cut from their moorings with keen antic.i.p.ation, and the stories of some of the rivermen are still well remembered by the older inhabitants.
For a great many years, Albany was the only market to which the pioneers carted their wheat. The roads were barely pa.s.sable and the trip to Albany and back required from six to eight days. The wagons, upon which the produce was carted, were of rough and clumsy make. It would not be supposed that the driver would find much pleasure in making the distance to market and back on one of these clumsy vehicles, but the trip, especially to the younger men, was not without its enjoyments. They carried their provisions in a large, round, wooden box over which closed a round, wooden cover. They also carried provender for their teams and the only necessary cash expense was a sixpence each night for lodging. The more sumptuous and less economical might, if they chose, diminish their exchequer to the amount of an extra sixpence by indulging in a gla.s.s of ”flip.” Nearly every farm-house of any pretension on the high road to Albany was a hotel, so-called, if not in fact. Seated at night within these primitive hotels, the farmers who had a.s.sembled from different parts told their tales of prowess--some true stories and a good many lies.
Beside the ambitious house that gloried in a daub of red paint and which had been pushed up to the aristocratic height of one and a half or two stories, before which flapped in the wind a wide, white board with the cheerful announcement, ”Smith's Inn--Refreshments for Man or Beast,” stood a more modest structure. Brown, unpainted, unclapboarded, it stood by the wayside. Its log walls were stuccoed with mud, and in the wide mouth of the doorway was the brawny housewife, bare-armed, peering from beneath a slatternly red sun-bonnet, while over the doorway the pa.s.ser-by read the letters in red chalk upon a new pine s.h.i.+ngle:
+-----------------+
”CAKES AND BEER
FOR SALE HERE.”
+-----------------+
After the farmer had sold or bartered away his wheat or other produce, he generally returned with a load of goods for the village merchant.
_CHAPTER III._
Prominent among the early settlers of Oneonta was Jacob Dietz, who removed into the settlement from Schoharie county about the year 1804.
Mr. Dietz was early appointed a justice of the peace, and continued in office either by appointment or election for a great length of time.
He was active in the affairs of the town and an energetic man of business. He was a long time in mercantile business, and his store, which was situated where now stands the brick building occupied by the First National Bank, was the center of a lively trade for those times.
Mr. Dietz acc.u.mulated an extensive estate, and reared a large family of children. He became the owner of extensive tracts of land, some of which are now occupied by the streets and residences of the village.
Some of his representatives are now living in the west and are deservedly esteemed where they reside.
At about the date last mentioned, one Schoolcraft erected a modest structure on the site of the Susquehanna House. Schoolcraft's house became in a short time the leading tavern of the community, where poor grog and worse food were dispensed to the villagers and wayfarers, doubtless much to the gratification of their primitive tastes.
About the same period, 1804-5, one Joseph Westcott, from the present town of Milford, erected a store nearly opposite the residence of D.M.
Miller. These stores--Dinninny's, mentioned in the preceding chapter, Dietz's and Westcott's--were all of the most primitive order, and, especially the first named, contained but a meagre stock of goods, the stock generally consisting of a barrel of New England rum of the most violent nature, several old bull ploughs, a little crockery ware, a few cooking utensils, and a small amount of dry goods. There was but little money and the merchant's trade was carried on mostly in the way of barter, the tradesman exchanging his merchandise for grain, lumber and s.h.i.+ngles.
Early in the history of the town, a Mr. Walling, the grandfather of J.R.L. Walling, located to the east of Oneonta creek, near where his descendant above named now lives. One Newkirk also settled on Chestnut street, on the lot adjoining Philander Lane's. Lawrence Swart settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Henry Wilc.o.x, about the same time that Jacob Dietz came into the settlement.[A]
[Footnote A: There were other families among the settlers by the name of Hillsinger, Couse, Whitmarsh, Ha.r.s.en, Sullivan, White and Morrell.]
At the time of Swart's settlement the land on the lower end of River street was covered by a dense forest of hemlock and maple. Over those attractive and well-tilled fields now composing Mr. Wilc.o.x's farm, roamed at that time the bear and the panther, and glided with little molestation numberless rattlesnakes of the largest and most poisonous species. The settlement along the river, below the residence of George Scramling, seemed to proceed slowly, as the land below this point was considered of but little value, while the heavy growth of hemlock precluded the rapid clearing away of the forest. To the north and east of the village the hillsides yielded a vast quant.i.ty of the more valuable timber.