HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
By Benjamin H. Crowley IN 1906
10th INSTALLMENTHOW THEY USED TO DO THINGS IN GREENE CO.
The Old Time Spinning Wheel and Loom our Fore Mothers Used in Making Clothes For the FamilyHOW THEY SEPERATED COTTON AND SEED
The First Cotton Gins, Saw Mills, Grist Mills and Wheat ThreshersHOW CREEKS WERE NAMED
The Old Time House Raisings and Log Rollings When Neighbors Made A Days Journey To Help One Another --- Free Whiskey and Brandy
In tracing the early settlement and development of the county the writer has already told something of corn-mills and ordinary farming implements. It remains for him now to describe the introduction of the cotton-gin, the spinning wheel and the weaving loom.In the early days in the county such a thing as a gin as now known was entirely unheard of. As it was costumary and necesary for people to wear clothes then as now, it devolved upon them to manufacture the goods in some fashion. This they did in a manner that may be interesting to the present generation. Nearly every housewife had her cards, wheel and loom, and they know how to use those things to their profit. The people planted only as much cotton as it required to make their family clothing, and after it was gathered, they would all join in picking the seed from the lint at night, around the open fire place, and often the neighbors would gather at one of the homes by turns, and make short work of the task so far as that family's cotton was concerned. The cotton was then carded and made into rolls, then spun into thread, put in the loom and woven into cloth. The cotton while in the thread state was colored to suit the taste of particular family and when woven it was as pretty and durable than the average cloth now bought at the stores.
The women and girls cut and made the cloth into garments, and the wearer was just as pretty, according to the times, as the beau and belles of the present day. Whatever carpets were had in those early days were made in the same way, or of rags torn into strings and woven on the loom. They young lady who could not weave forty years ago was the exception and was considered lacking in a very essential accomplishment, and was not much sought after by gallants of the time.
The men kept sheep and after shearing the wool from them, would pick the burrs and trash out of it, and with different cards from those used with the cotton, would card out the wool, spin it into coarse thread, and then put it on the loom and weave it into beautiful linsey cloth, which the women would make up into winter dresses and over shirts for the men. Home-made jeans were made in the same way, and it was colored with the ooze of black walnut bark, and of sassafras bark. By combining several kinds of bark, different colors could be obtained and would hold for all time.
A suit of home-made and home-dyed jeans were highly prized at that time, and the writer wore a suit of this kind off to college, and was really delighted with his clothes. The writers first wife was an expert at spinning and weaving and making home-spun clothes, and a piece of such goods was far more lasting than the modern store clothes.
The first cotton gin process the writer ever saw was constructed of two small rollers fastened in a block or frame, with a crank on each end to turn the machine. Cotton was fed into this apparatus just like sugar cane is now fed to a sorghum mill, and the lint was pulled lose from the seed. The first gin ever put up in the county was eredted at Gainesville by Col. John M. Mitchell. The second gin was set up by old man Starling Newsome, father of O.S. Newsome, at his old residence near where Finch post office now is. This gin was propelled by horse power,or rather than mule power, at it required four mules to propel the machine. The Newsome gin could gin all the cotton raised in the county at that time. Now there are forty gins in the county, some of them with a capacity of ten bales a day. Cotton is now the staple crop of the county, and there is plenty of land in the county that with good cultivation, will make a bale or more to the acre, during a fairly good season. The writer has gathered two thousand pounds of seed cotton to the acre, and fifteen or sixteen hundred pounds of good seed cotton will make a bale. The rule is that good cotton will third itself, that it will make one pound of lint and two pounds of seed. The seed has become valuable in recent years, as stock feed, oil, oleomargine, and possibly other useful things are made from cotton seed. For a long time the seed was used to fertilize the land, or was considered of no value and were thrown out on the waste places of land. Seed is now worth $15 or $18 per ton, and cotton seed oil mills are going up all over the country, and seems to be profitable industries. The hulls and meat are the very finest feed for cattle, and stock of all kinds will fatten quicker off of it than any other food, and will become fat from sixty to ninety days. The bark of the cotton stalk makes the finest quality of paper, and the stalks from an acre of good cotton will average in weight a ton per acre. So, that with the cotton lint, the seeds and stalks having become valuable there is no other crop raised on the farm that has the total aggregate value of the great southern staple.
The first threshing machine in the county was of the groundhog variety ans was run by horses.It was the property of W.P. McMellon and with it threshed all the wheat from Greensboro to Chalk Bluff. He had to carry one of the fan mills or wind mills along with the oufit and with it to fan the chaff and broken straw out of the wheat. Whenever the thresher got ahead of it's work, it would knock off, and the wind mill catch up with its part of the work. The progress of the country is not more notable in anything than in the mode of threshing wheat. The modern steam thresher, which can thresh, clean and sack a bushel of wheat a minute bears little resemblence to the old groundhog machine of fifty years ago. But everything considered, advancement has been made about equally along all lines of industrail development. The groundhog thresher was able to take care of all the wheat raised in the country at that time; the roads and bridges could then stand no heavier machine to pass over them and the same is true in every particular of the present wheat crop, roads, bridges and threshing machines of the day. The modern steam thresher is taxed to its full capacity to handlet the wheat crop now raised and no heavier machine could pass over the roads and bridges of the country at the present time. The invention of the labor-saving machinery only saves labor in one direction to create more labor along another line of industry and while the rate of travel has been increased a hundred fold over the olden times, men do not get along much better because everybody else moves equally as fast, and the only material difference after all is that competition is fiercer and men are traveling away from God.
The first tan-yard put up in the county, was by old man William Lamb at the big spring near Salem CampGround. At a later period another tannery was put up in the father of R.H. Schisler, near where the county line between Craighead and Greene counties passes in the southwestern corner of the county. Then J.C. Nall established another tanyard as did also Gramling and Gregory already referred to.The Nall tanyard was set up near where the camp ground is between Paragould and Gainesville.
The first pair of shoes the writer ever remembers to have been the proudowner of, was made of this kind of tanned leathes, and the shoes were made by his step-father, on a home-made last, around the big old open fire-place, one Christmas eve night. The shoes were not finished midnight, but the prospective and proud owner sat up until the last peg was driven and the last stitch was sewed, in order to have his new shoes to wear on Christmas morning. He also recalls the first of boots he ever had and it was a happy epoch in his life. His Uncle, Wiley Crowley, was his guardian and took a load of beef cattle to the New Orleans market, and when he returned home he had brought the writer a pair of red-top boots and they were the envy and admiration of the whole country. There was to be a 4th of July celebration at the Dr. Croft settlement and he hiked up his red-toped boots and shirt-tail and went to the celebration and barbecue in all the pride andglory of a Chesterfield.
The first brick kiln burned in Greene County was put and operated by Wiley Crowley on his place, which belongs to the writer. The manner of making then was different from what it now is. First the ground had to be cleared, prepared by mixing the proper amount of clay and sand. Water was then poured on the material and several yoke of oxen were driven in on the yard, and made to tramp the clay and dirt to the right consistency and mix it ready for brick-mounds. The brick were then burned and were ready for use. They were built into two good chimneys, and are perfectly sound. They are larger than the standard size brick as now manufactured.
The old house which Wiley Crowley built as a home for himself and family about the year 1840 is still standing. It was built of large hewed pine logs, and these lay just as they were placed by the neighbors over half a century ago. The logs were cut and hewed by old Zacharia Hampton, father of the late Nimrod Hampton and of Mrs. Lucy Willcockson, widow of Capt. I.P. Willcockson. It is claimed that at the raising of this house that every man in Greene county was present and assisted in the erection of the building. The day for the raising had been set in advance, and word sent around to the different settlements. Those who went from the remote parts of the county had to atart the day before and some reached the homeof Wiley Crowley late atnight on the same day. Others reached points nearby and remained in camp or put up at the house of some neighbor overnight. After assisting in raising the big log house, they started home, and went as far as they could before night over-took them and traveled the remainder of the way the next day. So, it took some of the neighbors three days to help the old man Crowley raise his house. This service was all rendered free of charge, and the writer submits that no such neighborly relations ever existed between men in any other section of the country. The writer remembers having come from near Walcott to the Old Bethel neighborhood to take part in a log rolling, when some neighbor way trying to clear a piece of new ground.
There was not then such a thing in the country as a saw-mill, but the people had what thaey called a whip-saw which operated up and down, instead of horizontal as the cross-cut saw. The log which was to be cut into lumber was put up on a scaffold, six or eight feet from the ground, and one man got up on the log to lift the saw and guide it straight, while another man stood directly under the saw and drew it down with force through the log. This last man did all the real labor and his job was some what harder than splitting rails with maul and wedge. Some good lumber was made in this slow and laborious manner, and there is plank in the Wiley Crowley house today cut by the whip-saw method, and it is still in a good state of preservation.
In the early days of the county and while the country was over-grown with forests, the roads of that time consisted of blazed ways through the timber. When the road or trail was blazed between old man Benjamin Crowley's home and that of Samuel Crowley, who it will be recalled settled on Eight Mile Creek near where Paragould now stands, every tre on the route that an axe was struck into on a certain day in June, died instantly, and the reason was never understood. Blazing consists of striling an axe into the sidde five or six feet above the ground and scaling the bark down so that the eye of the traveler may see the white scar, and be directly nearby. It is seldom that a tree dies from blazing and some wonder was caused by all the trees dying that were blazed on the route over to Eight Mile. This creek was so called because it was eight miles from the home of old man Crowley on the Ridge. So was Village creek named from the fact that an Indian Village had existed on the banks of the stream, near where the home of A.A. Herrin, Alex Hall and Tol and Will Willcockson now are. Thompson creek was named after Lary Thompson, who settled on the stream. Big creek was so named because it was thought to be the largest creek in the county. Poplar creek was given this name for the reason that so much poplar timber grew along it banks. The trees on this stream owing to the very rich soil there-abouts grew to immense size, and the tallest poplar trees west of the Mississippi were on this creek. This tree is not to be found west of the foot-hills of the Ridge except where it has been transplanted. **Sugar creek was given its name from the abundance of sugar or maple trees found along its course. These sugar trees can be tapped in the spring after the thaw begins and will run a great quantity of sweet water, which can be boiled down and made into sugar. This tree-sugar is very fine, and the syrup or tree molasses, is one of the rarest dishes ever eaten and the ingenuity man has never devised a syrup that will compare with tree molasses for deliciousness.
Old Nelly Moore who used to live on Sugar creek, would mold the sugar while warm in a tea cup or small pan, and sell them to the merchants and the demand for the sugar cakes at good prices was always greater than the supply. Phillips Andrews also lived on Sugar creek, near a big spring, and he made quite alot of this tree sugar and tree molasses. A good story is told on old man Andrews by Dock Welsh, a contemporary of his. Dock remained over night with Andrews once, and the following morning could see no other provision for washing his face than the big spring, which was always very cold. He started into the spring to take his morning bath, when he was stopped by Andrews, who told him he might wash in the spring if he thought he could stand it, but he was advised not to do so reckless a thing especially when there was no need in it. Andrews give it as his opinion that chills and fever and many other maladies were caused by people dabbling in cold water in the morning, and that it was a useless and disagreeable habit people had of washing so much. He rarely let the cold stuff come near him. But the demand for Andrews sugar and molasses was never lacking, even after the story leaked out on him that he had an advrsion for water.
Sugar creek was one of the strongest streams of water in the conty, as it was fed by a number of large springs that never failed during the dryest seasons. Old man William Smelser put up a water-mill on Sugar creek in an early day and would grind for the public. His was one of the leading grist mills in the county, and patrons would carry their grists to this mill for miles around, but they would rave to leave their grain for it's turn and take another grist back the following week, when they might get the meal of the previous week's trip. We rarely had wheat bread in those days, and then on Sunday or when the Preacher or some other special company came. Wheat had to be cut with the sythe or candle, the grain beat out with a fail, or tramped out with horses then cleaned of chaff and dirt by pouring it up and down in the wind. Harvest time was a jolly season on the farm in the early days of the county. Especially was this the case with the boys on the farm. A score or more of harvest hands usually neighbor men and boys, helping by turn, and it was the small boys part to serve as water boys and by that was meant that they were to carry the jugs and keep the water kegs filled with cold water fresh from the springs. There was then no revenue on whiskey or brandy and there were numerous stills in the country where corn liquor and peach brandy were made in abundance, and it could be bought for fifty cents a gallon. A liberal supply of one or more of there liquid refreshments was thought to be indispensable at every log rolling house, raising or harvest occasion. To this supply of whiskey or brandy everyone helped himself whenever he felt so inclined and worked right along. It was very seldom that you saw anyone out of the way with drink. As an illustration of how public sentiment has changed on the subject of drinking in the past fourty or fifty years, it was then though nothing of a church member to engage in manufacture and sale of whiskey and brandy and many of the very pillars of the early churches in the country drank anything and as often as they liked. Old man Nimros Capps, the leading man in founding the Mount Zion church, ran a still at which he made up his fruit crop into brandy and sold it to the men and boys of the country. He owned a fine peach orchard and that was the only way he had of utilizing his large fruit crop. At a later day, Wyatt M. Peebles, who was for a long time sheriff of the county, owned and ran a still-house, so did Joseph Rowe on the same Sugar creek, John Boone Willcockson had a distillery at a big spring near where Mrs. Casey now lives on the Walcott road.
In the early days we would meet and have parties at the home of some neighbor and one of the very first of the preliminaries to be looked after, was to go or send to one of the stills and lay in a supply of liquor and brandy and most always both. It was placed in a convenient and conspicuous position about the house, and all who wished would help themselves.
Should a fellow get drunk and misbehave he was ostracized from the best company and this served to keep self-respecting young men from drinking to excess. These occasions were filled with the rarest enjoyment and it is doubted if anything of the present day approached them for unalloyed happiness. When men cannot now restrain themselves in the drinking habit and cease from making hogs of themselves on every occasion where they can get access to liquor is a puzzle to me. Whether men were stronger then or whether whiskey is stronger now is a question but certain it is that there was less drunkenness than in proportion to the amount of liquor consumed than now, and while we understand the evils of intemperance better than our father, we do not hold the drunkard in any more contempt than they, and the amount of crime and immorality was decidedly in favor of our early ancestors.
**The mention of Philip Andrews, he is the father of Martha Andrews who is the mother of Wyatt Savage Peebles and John Thomas Peoples. Wyatt M Peebles is their father. Wyatt M Peebles was also a Sheriff in Green Co. The Smelcer name, is Philip Andrews wife's name Rebecca Smelcer Andrews. I do not remember without looking which Smelcer. They were from Calloway Co Kentucky. I just wanted to put that connection down. Charlotte K Peebles
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