writes that it was long beautiful prairie, with tall rich grasses, five
and six feet tall, with fringes of sturdy timbers following its swiftly
running streams. He describes the kinds of soils and tells which is rich
and which is poor. For instance he says where one finds slate he may
rest assured the soil will not produce very good crops. On the other
hand, where one finds limestone the soil will produce fine products,
grains and fruits.
Metal was found in some of the hillsides and mountains. An Englishman
named Powell found silver ore on the mountain which bears his name. He
smeltered the silver and from it made coins. This was breaking the laws,
of course, and soon officers were attempting to arrest him. Powell fled
to his mountain where he had a small fort hidden, and for years eluded
them. After many years men found his little shop where he smeltered the
ore and Kercheval himself saw the crude crucible in which the ore was
refined and the iron utensils also.
Kercheval tells that many of the farmers found it difficult to plough
their lands and to make crops because of the innumerable small and large
stones which they found everywhere. At last they decided to get rid of
them and built many of the stone walls which one sees up and down the
mountain sides, along winding roads and enclosing picturesque homes. He
says the soil is so rich that seeds do not need to be planted very deep,
as they will germinate if there is only enough soil to cover them.
There were great sugar-maple trees too and he tells of those "sugar
hills" in which there are four or five hundred acres of trees. They even
look like sugar loaves from a distance and today on Paddy's Mountain you
may still see some of them. You may already have guessed that the name
Paddy was in honor of the owner Patrick Blake, an Irishman who built in
the gap which is named for him.
Kercheval lists carefully all the various healing springs and gives the
properties of each. He even gives the names of many persons who were
benefitted by drinking from or bathing in them.
Let us pause here and read about these pioneers, how they built their
houses, how they dressed, and something of their superstitions, manners
and customs.
The first settlers built plain sturdy houses made mostly from rough hewn
logs. Some of these were covered with split clapboards, having weight
poles to keep them in place. Many of them had no floors except the earth
itself. If made of wood, they used rough logs, split in two and roughly
smoothed with a broad ax. However, as they improved the lands and their
families grew, some larger houses were built of stone, which the men and
boys brought in from the fields.
The married men generally shaved their heads and they wore wigs or linen
caps. When the Revolutionary War broke out this custom was stopped for
they could no longer buy wigs from Europe and none were made in this
country. There was little linen, so they could not get enough for other
needs and they could do without caps.
The men's coats were mostly made with broad backs and straight short
skirts. These had huge pockets with flaps. The waistcoats had skirts
nearly down to the knees and pockets also. Their breeches were so short
they hardly reached to their knees, and they were fastened with a tight
band. Their stockings were drawn up under the knee-hand and tied with a
red or blue garter below the knee so it could be seen. Their shoes were
made of coarse leather, with straps and they were fastened with buckles
of brass for every day--maybe with silver for Sundays and holidays. The
men's hats were either of wool or fur with a round crown three or four
inches in height and with a very broad brim. The shirt collar was only a
narrow band and over it was worn a white linen stock drawn together at
the ends and fastened with a broad metal buckle.
The women wore a short gown and petticoat of plain materials and a
calico cap. Their hair was combed back from the forehead and made into a
plain knot at the nape of the neck.
The women and girls worked in the fields and wore no shoes except in the
winter. They worked from dawn 'til dark, for they milked, churned, made
cheese, washed and ironed for the family, cooked, spun and wove, knitted
stockings and quilted in their leisure moments. Kercheval tells us how
they made apple butter and sourkrout. Of the latter he wrote:
"Sourkrout is made of the best of cabbage. A box about three
feet in length and six or seven inches wide, with a sharp blade
fixed across the bottom, something on the principle of the
jack plane, is used for cutting the cabbage. The head being
separated from the stalk and stripped of its outer leaves is
placed in this box and run back and forth. The cabbage thus cut
up is placed in a barrel, a little salt is sprinkled on from
time to time, then pressed down very closely and covered at the
open head. In the course of three or four weeks it acquires a
sourish taste and to persons accustomed to the use of it is a
very agreeable food. It is said the use of it within the last
few years on boards of ship has proved it to be the best
preventive known for scurvy. The use of it is becoming pretty
general among all classes in the Valley."
Kercheval even tells us what the pioneers did for medicine. When he was
a boy he saw a man brought into the fort on horseback, who had been
bitten by a rattlesnake. One of the men dragged the snake, fastened to a
forked stick, behind the victim. The body of the snake was cut into
small pieces, split and laid on the wounded flesh. This, they claimed,
would draw out the poison of the bite. When this was done, the snake was
burned to ashes. During this process, others gathered chestnut leaves
and boiled them in a pot. Wide pieces of chestnut bark were applied to
the man's wound and the chestnut-leaf mixture poured over some of the
boiled leaves which had been made into a poultice. This was kept up
during the first day and if not improved, the treatment was continued
the next.
Others suggested using boiled plantain, cooked in milk, which was given
to the patient. Walnut fern was another remedy for snakebite. The braver
patient submitted to cupping, sucking the wound or having someone cut
out the flesh around the bite.
Gunshot wounds were treated with slippery-elm bark, flax seed poultices
or by scraping the wound itself and cauterizing it.
The people suffering from rheumatism were rubbed with oil made from
rattlesnakes, bears, geese, wolves or any wild animal. This was put on a
flannel rag and bound to the parts affected.
There were all kinds of syrups made from herbs such as spike nard and
elecampane for coughs and tuberculosis. The Germans used songs or
incantations for the cure of burns, nose-bleed and toothache. For one
afflicted with erysipelas the blood of a black cat was given. Hence
there were few cats which had not lost parts of their ears or tails.
The sports of the boys in those early days were mostly those which
developed their physical bodies. The boys were given a gun almost as
soon as they were strong enough to carry one. They learned to make their
own bows and to sharpen their own arrows and many of them could shoot as
straight as the Indians who still roamed the hills.
Throwing the tomahawk was another favorite sport. This axe-like weapon
with its handle will make so many turns in a given distance. With a
little practice a boy soon learned to throw his tomahawk and strike a
tree as he walked through the forest.
When a boy was twelve, he had his own small rifle and pouch and was made
a member of the fort. He was given a certain port hole through which he
took careful aim. He was often allowed to go with older men on hunting
trips if he had proved himself worthy to be "among men."
Dancing as we know it was unknown, but few ever enjoyed anything more
than those boys and girls did dancing their jigs and reels. Their music
was simple and singing was something both old and young enjoyed to the
fullest. Story-telling was an art then, and year by year, old, old tales
grew longer and longer and Jack the hero, always conquered all the
giants.
There was witchcraft in the Valley too, and when a crow or calf died or
was sick, the owner often thought a witch had shot it with a hair ball
or with some kind of curse. When a man lost his cunning in his once good
aim, he was sure some one had put a "spell" on him. Some actually
believed men were changed into horses and after being bridled, they were
ridden all over the countryside. Many men thought this was why their
bones ached and they felt too tired to work their farms.
The men who did strange things were spoken of as wizards. Some called
them witch-masters, and these claimed they could stop the mischievous
work of the witches and cure baffling diseases.
When a child was born with a frail body, or developed rickets, it was
often thought to be caused by the spells of someone unfriendly to the
family.
If one would get rid of the witch in his neighborhood a picture of the
supposed witch was drawn on a board or on a stump and shot at with a
bullet which contained a bit of silver. This bullet, if it struck the
picture, was thought to put a spell on the witch.
We may smile at the thought of those superstitions, but few of us, if we
are honest, will not admit that we have one pet superstition just as
foolish as those referred to above.
Kercheval tells us how difficult it often was for the farmer to retain
all of his crops. There were so many animals, like the squirrels and
raccoons, which liked their grains. Storms would come and huge trees
would fall on their fences, letting their horses and cattle get into the
fields.
He makes us realize how difficult it was to procure the necessities of
life. Where, for instance did they get the mills with which to grind
their grains, where the instruments with which to make their farming
implements and their household cooking utensils? Who were their weavers,
their shoemakers, tailors, tanners and wagon makers? Of course there
were none, for each farmer and his family had to rely on what they could
do with their own hands or what they could trade to some neighbor in
return for something done for him.
The first mills or hominy blocks were made of wood. A block of wood
about three feet long was burned at one end, wide at the mouth and
narrow at the bottom, so that when the pestle hit the corn it was thrown
up and as it fell down to the bottom it was mashed. Gradually, each
grain of corn was ground to a like size. When the corn was soft, as it
was in the Fall, this grinding made a fine meal for mush or "journey
cake" as they called this form of bread. However, this was slow work
later on when corn got hard.
The farmer also used a different kind of mill. He used a sweep made of
springy wood, thirty feet or more long. This pole was supported by two
forks, placed about a third of its length from its butt end where it was
securely fastened to some firm object. To this was attached a large
mortise, a piece of sapling five or six inches in diameter and eight or
more long. The lower end was shaped like a pestle and a pin of wood was
put through it at a proper height so two people could work the sweep at
once.
Kercheval says he remembers the one which he helped work in his own
home. It was made of a sugar-tree sapling and was kept almost in
constant use either by his own family or by the neighbors who came to
use it. He says these sweeps were used to make gunpowder from the
saltpetre caves which the settlers soon found.
The women often used a grater for the corn when it was very soft. This
was made of a piece of tin, a few holes punched in on one side and then
nailed to a block of wood and the corn scraped against it. This produced
a form of corn-meal but was a very tedious method. Another kind was a
mill made of two circular stones. The one on the bottom was called the
bed stone and the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop with
a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into the hole in the
upper surface of the runner near the outer edge and its upper end
through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above. The grain was put
into the runner by hand. This type of mill, is one of the earliest ever
known by man.
Then every man tanned his own leather. The tan-vat was a huge tub which
was sunk into the ground. A quantity of bark was quickly gotten each
spring when the farmer cleared his land. This was first dried then
brought in and on rainy days, the bark was stripped, shaved and pounded
on a block of wood with an ax or mallet. Ashes were used in place of
lime for taking off the hair from the skins of animals. They did not
have fish-oil, so the settlers substituted bear's grease, or lard made
from boiling the fat of these animals. This oil was used to make the
leather soft and pliable. The leather was often very coarse, but it was
tough and wore well. They made their blacking or polish for their shoes
by mixing soot with lard. Not every man could make shoes, but everyone
could make shoepacks, an article similar to the moccasin.
Kercheval's father was a master weaver as well as a fine shoe maker. He
made all the shoes worn by his family and would not let anyone else make
his thread, as he thought no woman could spin it as well as he could. He
made all the woodenware called set work. He hand-carved some of them,
making grooves in which he fitted hoops to hold the staves in place.
During the days when every man had to serve in some military service,
the elder Kercheval was not strong enough to fight. The men brought all
their firearms to him and he repaired them. He could straighten a
crooked gun barrel with ease and file off any broken edges.
Kercheval's father had been to school for only six weeks, yet he read,
worked hard problems in mathematics and wrote letters, not only for
himself, but for many of his friends. He drew up bonds, deeds of
conveyance and wrote other articles for them. He taught his boy to use
his hands, for Samuel tells that as a boy, he wove garters, belts and
shot pouches. He, too, could make looms. He traded well, for he says he
would swap a belt for a man's labor for a day, or give one to a man for
making a hundred fence rails.
An amusing custom developed among the German settlers regarding their
weddings. Young men and women, termed "waiters," were selected to help
officiate at a wedding. The groomsmen were proud to wear highly
embroidered white aprons on such an occasion, for it was symbolic of
protection to the bride. Each waiter tried to keep the bride from having
her slippers stolen from her feet during the festivities. If she did
sustain the loss the young man had to pay for it with a bottle of wine,
since the bride's dancing depended upon its recovery.
Characterized by their strong religious beliefs it was only natural for
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to build their churches as they built
their little homes. Opequon Church south of Winchester is thought by
many to be the oldest church in the Valley. Not so with the Germans.
They did not attempt to build separate houses of worship for a
generation or more after coming to the new section but they did hold
regular services in the homes of the settlers and waited until a better
time to erect churches.
There was an interesting custom among the Scotch-Irish at their
weddings, too. It was called "running for the bottle." Usually the bride
and groom went to the parson's home for the marriage ceremony, attended
by their friends on horseback. At the conclusion of the ritual the young
men took to their horses and dashed for the bride's father's house. The
man on the fleetest horse was given a bottle of wine from which the
returning bride and groom first drank and then it was passed on to
others. In most instances the mad rush to the home was made in spite of
numerous trees and small brush which were cut down to serve as obstacles
in their paths.
At Winchester these two distinct nationalities got along fairly well
together. An example of their friendly relations is to be seen in their
"War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines." The Dutch on St. Patrick's Day
would parade through the village streets with effigies of St. Patrick
wearing a necklace of Irish potatoes and his wife carrying an apron full
of them.
And then on the day of St. Michael, the patron of the Dutch, the Irish
retaliated by holding aloft an effigy of the saint decorated with a
necklace of sourkrout.
As was to be expected these frolics occasionally went to the extreme and
ended before the judge in the log cabin courthouse.
It was hard for those early settlers to get such articles as salt, iron,
steel and casting. There were no stores where they could purchase sugar,
tea and hundreds of other necessities of today. Pelts, furs or skins
were their only money before they had time to raise horses and cattle.
In the Fall of the year, after all crops were harvested, every settler's
family formed an association with some of their neighbors for starting a
caravan.
This consisted of two packhorses. A bell and collar was put on each
horse, as were a pair of hobbles made from hickory withes. Bags were
packed on the back of the saddles in which to bring back two bushels of
alum salt, each bushel weighing eighty-four pounds. Each horse carried
two bags on the return journey. This was not such a heavy load for a
horse but one must remember the animal also had to carry its own food.
Somewhere along the narrow trail, some of this grain was hidden until
the return journey. Large pouches or bags were also carried in which
were loaves of home-baked bread or "Journey Cake," a mixture of Indian
meal and water baked on an iron skillet and boiled ham and cheese.
The men traded first in Baltimore, Hagerstown and Cumberland. They also
took along a cow and a calf, which was what they paid for one bushel of
the much needed salt. While the salt was being weighed, no one was
allowed to walk on the floor.
Woodstock
First called Muellerstadt after its founder Jacob Miller, Woodstock was
granted its charter in 1761 by the General Assembly of Virginia. Miller
was farsighted in his plans for the community and provided adequate
building sites for homes and businesses.
The historian Kercheval tells an interesting account of the appearance
of Indians around Woodstock:
"In 1766, the Indians made a visit to the neighborhood of
Woodstock. Two men by the name of Sheetz and Taylor had taken
their wives and children into a wagon, and were on their way to
the fort. At the narrow passage, three miles south of
Woodstock, five Indians attacked them. The two men were killed
at the first onset, and the Indians rushed to seize the women
and children. The women, instead of swooning at the sight of
their bleeding, expiring husbands, seized their axes, and with
Amazonian firmness, and strength almost superhuman, defended
themselves and children. One of the Indians had succeeded in
getting hold of one of Mrs. Sheetz's children, and attempting
to drag it out of the wagon; but with the quickness of
lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other
made a blow at the head of the fellow which caused him to quit
his hold to save his life. Several of the Indians received
pretty sore wounds in this desperate conflict, and all at last
ran off, leaving the two women with their children to pursue
their way to the fort."
When Lord Dunmore came to govern the colony of Virginia in 1772 the
citizens passed a resolution endorsing his administration. They
requested that a new county be formed from Frederick which would be
called Dunmore County. Five years later, when he began to have trouble
with the colonists the people of Woodstock instructed their burgess to
get the name of their county changed to Shenandoah. This name is
retained to the present time.
About six miles from Woodstock a Mr. Wolfe erected a fort on Stony Creek
years and years ago. He had a fine hunting dog and at the time of our
story Indians were lurking in the neighborhood. This was during the
period when the savages were endeavoring to rid the Valley of the white
men.
Mr. Wolfe went out hunting one morning and had not gone far before his
dog began to run around and around him, blocking his path. Then he
jumped up in front of his master, put his feet on his shoulders and
seemed to try to stop Wolfe's progress. When the dog found he could not
stop his master he ran back towards the fort, then back to his master,
all the time whining a warning.
The hunter suspected some danger, so he kept his hand on his gun and
watched out for Indians. He soon saw two of them behind a tree.
Evidently they were waiting for their man to come close enough for them
to get a good shot at him. Mr. Wolfe began to walk backward, making a
rapid retreat to the fort. Long afterwards someone asked Mr. Wolfe why
he did not kill the old dog since his years of usefulness were over and
he was apparently uncomfortable. He told the inquirer the story of how
the animal had saved his life and added, "I would sooner be killed
myself than suffer that dog to be killed."
"There is a time to every purpose under the heaven--a time of war and a
time of peace." So spoke one of Woodstock's most famous sons, the
Reverend John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, in the Lutheran Church one
Sunday morning after the Declaration of Independence had been issued.
After delivering an inspired sermon taken from this text in which he
reviewed his stand on liberty, he dramatically cast off his black pulpit
robes and revealed to his astonished congregation his colonel's uniform
of the Revolutionary army. He was about thirty years old then and had
served the Woodstock flock for four years.
Dr. Wayland in his book _The German Element in the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia_, suggests that the Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg was associated with the
Episcopal as well as the Lutheran church and that "he seems beyond
question to have received Episcopal ordination.... His connection with
the Church of England was probably sought in order that his work as a
clergyman might receive the readier and fuller sanction."
Almost immediately after preaching his patriotic sermon he raised a
regiment among the Valley folk. Known as the Eighth Virginia, or German
Regiment, they saw hard service at Germantown, Brandywine and Monmouth
as well as in some of the southern battlefields.
Before the close of the war Muhlenberg was made a brigadier-general and
after his retirement he lived in Pennsylvania, his original home before
coming to the Valley of Virginia.
A movement is under way at the present time to restore the little church
of the Lutheran faith where the colonel made his firey sermon. Let us
hope this may be accomplished so that we may catch the inspiration of
his remarks.
Woodstock saw the march of many feet during the War Between the States;
almost constantly were the troops passing by, causing fields to be laid
waste, crops to be confiscated and stock to be carried off. But the
little town conceals her war scars well and today is a progressive
community.
Massanutten Academy is located here and draws boys from all over
Virginia and a number of other States.
THE LINCOLN FAMILY
Contrary to popular belief, President Lincoln's forebears were not poor
and shiftless, but were influential and prosperous Virginians who lived
in the handsome old brick Colonial home which, in a fine state of
preservation, is still standing, with the Lincoln family cemetery and
slave burying-ground nearby.
The Lincoln homestead is near the little village of Edom, not far from
the Caverns of Melrose, and can be reached by turning west from U. S.
Highway 11 at these caverns, six miles north of Harrisonburg. Visitors
are welcome at this homestead. Exact directions as to how to reach it
can be obtained in the Melrose Cavern's Lodge.
Thomas Lincoln, father of President Lincoln, was born in this house.
John Lincoln, great-grandfather of the President, moved with his family
into Virginia in 1768 where, as an influential pioneer, he built the
first brick unit of the beautiful Colonial home.
John Lincoln was known as "Virginia John." Abraham Lincoln, his eldest
son and grandfather of the President, lived in this homestead and was
captain of a Virginia company during the Revolution.
Captain Abraham Lincoln, with his son Thomas (father of the President)
moved to Kentucky in 1782, leaving Jacob Lincoln, a brother of Captain
Lincoln, in the Virginia homestead. Many Lincolns, descendants of Jacob
and other sons and daughters of "Virginia John," now live near Melrose
Caverns, in Harrisonburg and elsewhere in Rockingham county.