Marion Co TOC

nbsp;      (Page 40) Being descendants of the hardy warring tribes of Scotland, Ireland, and England, later called Scotch-Irish, and coming to this country to flee persecution, our ancestors found refuge in the backside of the Appalachian Mountains and later in the westward movement, across the Mississippi River to the Ozark Plateau. In them are found the cool reason of the English; the poetic, fun-loving nature of the Irish; and the austere, penny-pinching, make-do-with-what's-at-hand hardiness of the true Scotchman. With his combination of charm, poise, and astuteness, they were invincible. As they came by ox wagon, horseback and on foot, they brought with them this invincibility and, because of it, were able to cut from the wilderness a culture unique and enduring until this year 1976, one hundred and forty-one years since the birth of the county, which is also the Bicentennial of our nation.
       The songs and ballads they sang; the children's stories, tales of fairies and elves, kings and queens, princes and princesses and knaves; the calls they used at dances; the games they played at gatherings; even the instruments on, which they made music were handed down through the centuries from the Old Countries. The dulcimer is found nowhere else except the Scotch-Irish. In their songs is told the tragedy and heartbreak of a misplaced people. Their music has a plaintive, haunting melody, as if, in vain, the hearts of our people hark to long-forgotten craigs, lonely moors and rugged coasts of another land. What we so glibly call "Arts and Crafts" today was a way of life to the early settlers of this area. Their very existence depended on their ability to create the necessities of everyday life.
       In the second census made in 1850, after Marion County was formed in 1835, one year before Arkansas became a state, there were listed 495 farmers, three preachers, one miner, one saddler, 16 blacksmiths, three teachers, one cabinetmaker, four millwrights, one cooper, four carpenters, three merchants, two tanners, two turners, two wagonmakers, two physicians, one sheriff, one miller, one gunsmith and two attorneys. The oldest resident was John Young, aged 91. (John Carter was 80 and William (Buck) Coker was 81). Mr. Young came with the earliest settlers when this was a territory in the year 1814 and settled near Lead Hill, Arkansas.
       At the beginning, Marion County included Searcy and a part of Baxter (Page 40 Top) Counties and the early history of these counties overlap, as the cemeteries show.
       The early homes were made of logs in what was then known as the P-Plan, the P standing for pen or one long room. Some homes were 2-P, some 3 and 4-P or a four-room house with a dog trot or open hall between. Each house had a loft that was reached by a ladder from the main room and this loft served as an extra bedroom and a place to store herbs, dried fruits and vegetables for the winter. The floors were puncheon of split and hand-hewn boards pegged closely together. The roofs were of hand-riven boards; the windows were closed with wooden shutters and the doors were of heavy oak with inside bolts for safety. The latch-string hung on the outside, most of the time.
       After some land had been cleared, it was soon producing such crops as were available and, though life was simple, the homes were comfortable and pleasant. The added color of harvested pumpkins, squash, beans, peas, peppers, onions, and Indian corn strung about from the rafters and pushed against the walls made it most enjoyable. The woods yielded many kinds of food. Besides the meat obtained from wild animals, fowl and fish, there was honey from the bee-trees, wild fruits, berries and nuts, all for the gathering. Bear oil was an important commodity, as it was used as seasoning, for light in candles or wick lamps, for oiling wagon wheels and rifles, patches, and as a hair dressing. Also, it sold for a dollar a gallon down-river when the pioneers sold their furs and hides.
       There was always at least one large fireplace in each house that served as the cooking and heating unit. Around it the family gathered at the close of the day to talk and, often before bedtime, to raise their voices in song and ended with Bible reading and prayer. Often someone brought out the fiddle and old banjo for dancing. Each family was a unit and furnished everything needed for its survival. Only on special occasions did the community meet for a cause, which included a death, a birthing, a house-raising, corn husking, quilting bee, dance, and, later, camp meetings that often held as long as a month at a time. These were usually held when the crops were "laid by" before the harvest began.
       The skins of deer, buffalo, cows and horses were carefully saved and tanned for moccasins, shoes, leggings, and coats. This made the shoe cobbler an important man because he made his rounds at least once a year. Each community had a tanning vat or two and there was always some man who was an expert at this trade called in to do the work.
       Every scrap of cloth was saved for quilts and they were lovingly pieced to add beauty as well as warmth to the household. The women and girls spent many hours with wool and flax, carding, spinning and weaving it into cloth for the family's needs. Beautiful spreads and table covers were made, the dye produced in dye pots before the fireplace where only indigo was bought, ready for use. The other ingredients were brought in from the woods and fields and mixed by hand. Walnut, hickory and red oak bark were used in these dyes as was certain rock that had copperas in it, and salt to set the color.
       The blacksmiths made their own coal, sending the boys out to the pine groves for pine knots. These were stacked in piles and covered with dirt and set afire. They burned without smoking about ten days before the charcoal (Page 42 Top) was ready to use. The blacksmith shop was a favorite place of men and boys to gather and talk Many useful items besides wagon wheels, horse shoes, ox shoes, and nails were made. Nearby was a livery barn where travelers put their tired horses for the night or boarded them out for awhile, if they were visiting.
       The earliest way of threshing wheat was by hand and corn was ground by the crude pestle (pessill) and mortar that stood on each homestead.
       Every neighborhood had its "yarb" doctor, a woman who was also a midwife and claimed to have the "second sight". Her home was always hung with sweet smelling herbs, seeds or bark of trees; roots and shrubs stood about in jars and cans to add a pungent odor. The most commonly-used of these included calamus root, senna, May-apple, Jerusalem oak, Virginia Snake root, burdock root, prickly pear, sarsaparilla, yellow puccoon, rattlesnake master, yellow dock, ginseng, sumac, mullin, spic-wood, wahoo, wild plum, wild cherry, slippery elm to give a few shrubs. While the herbs were well-known to all of the pioneers, many learned from the Indians, also. Some of these are: lavender, caraway, thyme, rosemary, coriander, sage, dill, rue, sweet basil, wormwood, horseradish, golden seal, horse mint, penny roil, sweet fennel, anise root, catnip, peppermint, spearmint, sassafras and Indian turnips and skunk cabbage.
       In the old days when doctors were few and the sick were cared for at home by relatives and neighbors, it was essential that home remedies be used and good nursing care given. Drafts were avoided like the plague. Bad odors were eliminated by placing saucers of sliced onions about the room or by burning brown paper. Sulphur was burned in the fireplace or in the house to kill germs, if the house was empty. Tannin from the bark and roots of white oak, wild cherry and willow was used as astringents and curative teas. Cordials from blackberries were used for diarrhea, as was apple juice and nutmeg tea. Tesanes, used for Summer Complaint was made from the common carelessweed and jimsonweed was used for bluing in the weekly wash.
       Sulphur and molasses were eaten in the spring to purify the blood and gallons of tea made from sassafras were drunk for that purpose. Boiled poke leaves was a good source of iron and the roots were boiled and the solution used in bathwater as a cure for the 'seven-year itch'. A strong solution of lye soap was used against head lice, along with combing the hair over a paper or cloth with a fine-toothed comb. Kerosene (coal oil) was used in case the other failed. Bear grease and polecat grease were used for the croup; mutton tallow was used for chapped lips and skin; goose grease was good for sore muscles; axle grease was used for cuts, as was soot from chimneys.
       Commonly-used patent medicines were: powdered aniferbin, a sure-all; calomel tablets, black draught, senna-leaf tea, Lydia E. Pinkham compound (a baby in every bottle), SSS iron tonic, Epsom salts, turpentine, camphor, castor oil, chill tonic, quinine, white and red linaments, and croton oil. Each household had its own remedies and handed them down to its children.
       For broken bones, the pioneers made a plaster of red clay and vinegar. Sassafras tea was used to thin the blood in the springtime, as many old timers were thoroughly convinced that their summer's health would be poor without the blood thinner. There was an onion poultice for bad colds and congestion. It consisted of wheat bran, vinegar, and chopped onion all cooked (Page 43 Top) together until thick and hot. It was then placed in a cloth bag, while still very warm, and placed on the patient's throat and chest. A mixture of sugar and turpentine was used for cuts and lumbago. For a summer complaint, sometimes a tea from a wild plant known as the dollar vine was made to drink. If a person was bitten by a rabid dog, some member of the family would travel for miles to visit a friend who possessed the "mad" stone taken from a deer. This was placed on the bite and was supposed to draw out the poison.
       Many today, who claim to be free from superstitions through their religion, education and knowledge of science are, nevertheless, its victims. Fortune-telling is supported by thousands, and spiritualism has the human mind in bondage, as it pretends to communicate with the departed dead and control the occult forces of the universe. Many of these signs and omens of evil were handed down to us from our forefathers. Our forklore is filled with portents and warnings against adversity and even now we heed them. The strongest of us dread going alone near a graveyard, especially at the midnight hour when ghosts are supposed to walk. Who likes to begin a journey or start an important job on Friday or be number thirteen at a dinner party? There is that unmistakable and undefinable dread that possesses the soul and demands its tribute like a king if we must be alone with the dead or dying. We still consider the numbers seven and thirteen as unlucky. We listen to and pass on innumerable tales of ghosts walking about the countryside and, keeping lonely vigils in haunted houses. Some of these include the tale of the old Negro cook who, each evening at a certain time, dropped her pan of dishes and fell dead in the old Cochran house, as she did on that fateful day during the Civil War. We have been told of the tapping noises heard each night in the old Cook house where Captain Cook was murdered during the Great Rebellion. Also, we heard about the blood in the old hotel at Buffalo City that could be heard dripping each day at noon on the stairway where a Confederate soldier was killed. The doors could not be locked. No matter how they were locked and barred, they always swung open. Bill Pierce told of the man he knew who worked on the railroad and always carried a lantern with him. After he died, the light from the lantern could be seen on the tracks moving along by itself. There was another haunted house invaded with lighted candles that entered through a window and danced over the flames in the fireplace. The family could also hear chopping at the woodpile which always ceased when people approached.
       Superstitious beliefs in this county are: Whip-poor-wills lighting in the yard denotes a death in the family; A rooster crowing in the door at twelve noon means an immediate death in the family. If he crows any other time, it simply, means company coming. Sing in bed, wake up dead; tell a dream before breakfast and it will come true; never bring an axe into the house; if a black cat crosses the road in front of you and turns left, it is good luck; if the cat turns right, it is bad luck unless one stops and draws a cross in the road; if the first dove heard in the spring is in front of you, it means a move the coming year; if on the right, it means health; if on the left, sickness; if behind you, it means one would die the coming year; beware the howling of a dog. A bird at the window is a sign of bad luck soon; if a bird gets in the house, a death in the family is sure to follow; step on a crack, walk under a ladder, step over a broom handle or a person lying on the floor, turn a chair (Page 44 Top) on one leg, or pay back borrowed salt, all meant bad luck. To break a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck; never sweep under anyone's feet or that person would never marry; to find a straight pin on the floor meant a letter soon; to see a red bird fly to the right meant seeing your sweetheart before midnight; handling a frog would bring warts, but these could be removed by spitting on a bone and rubbing the bone across the wart nine times; bad luck would follow if two were walking by a tree or post and one went on one side of the tree or post and the other went on the other side unless one or the other cried out: "Bread and butter." If one were born with a veil or caul over his face, he would be blessed with great good luck; a whistling woman or a crowing hen were certain to come to an unhappy end. To carry a buckeye or rabbit's foot would bring good luck, but it was bad luck to lay a hat on the bed, open an umbrella in the house, or to carry a hoe into a room;
       Certain lore ruled the weather and the planting and harvesting of gardens and crops. Most all our forefathers planted by the signs of the Zodiac and by certain Saint's days. Potatoes were planted on St. Patrick's day and all other vegetables for an early healthly crop should be planted on Good Friday. The idea was that as Christ was buried on Friday and came forth from the grave on Sunday, so would these garden plants. All crops growing above ground should be planted on the light of the moon; all crops underground should be planted on the dark of the moon. If one could catch the sign in the twins and plant, it would produce double. If one wanted beautiful flowers, plant them when the sign was in Cancer. Always transplant tomato, pepper and onion plants when the oak leaves were the size of a mouse's ear. To wean calves or babies, to kill brush and weeds, or to deaden timber, act when the moon is in the last quarter. There was a certain time for butchering meat, splitting wood, riving shingles, cutting hay and planting corn, and they abided by them all. They picked apples and pears when the moon was old so bruised spots would dry up. Crops kept longer if harvested when the moon was old. Root crops dug in the third or waning quarter of the moon kept longer and stayed drier and better. Seeds and grains for future crops should be harvested when the moon was growing lighter. Fence posts set when the moon was old would not heave out of the ground. If the sun set red and glowering, it foretold of bad weather. If March came in like a lamb, it would go out like a lion-or vice versa. If the ground hog came out and saw his shadow on February 2 (Groundhog Day), it would hibernate for forty days more of bad weather.
       The weaving of baskets for storage from willow, buckbush, oak and hickory withes was, no doubt, learned from the Indians. Iron wood, leather wood and bear grass (Yucca) were used as tie-ropes to hang things to dry, such as deer meat (Jerky), various kinds of foods, or to tie wool and hides in bundles. Gourds were grown profusely for storing staples and for dippers. Barrels, kegs and chests were made from split white oak and cedar for storage of household goods long before more-finished furniture was made. The hinges and other parts were of leather or withes of bark soaked in water, then dried. The needle arts we cherish so much today were learned as grandmothers, mothers and daughters spent long winter days closed inside small wilderness cabins. The clucking of their loom, The whirrying of the spinning wheel and the scrapping of the cards was their only entertainment as they used every scrap and thread for something useful. The young girls learned on the (Page 45 Top) creative samplers they fashioned alone, often working in family histories, maxims and bits of prose and poetry.
       Sorghum making was always a later summer job for the pioneers. Every farmer planted a field of his favorite sorghum cane in the spring and cultivated it all summer. When the cane began to mature, indicated by the cane beads becoming heavy and taking on bright colors, the real work began - the fodder or blades were stripped from the stalks; the heads were cut and piled to be used as grain for stock and chickens; the cane stalks were cut and put on the wagon to be hauled to the mill usually located near a spring, and stacked there ready to be fed through the rollers which ground out the cane juice into a huge barrel. This juice, after being strained, was put into the, "pan" or evaporator on a homemade furnace fired with wood from the huge stock put there long before the cane was hauled to the mill. After the pan was filled with juice, the heat from the fire underneath caused the juice to boil, and, as it boiled, the skimmings rose to the top and two men along the pan - one near the back, the other near the front - were kept busy taking the skimmings off and pouring them into the "skimming hole". The skimming hole, to the uninitiated in sorghum making, often became a source of fun to the old hands. The hole would be slightly covered over the top with cane pummies and the uninitiated would step into this hole of hot, slimey, thick, greenish liquid over his shoe tops. This experience took the fun out of visiting the sorghum mill. The pummey pile was a favorite wrestling and scuffling place for the boys at night during sorghum making.
       Alter the skimming, stirring, and testing, the finished product was put into pails and sealed or many families put their sorghum into barrels. Sorghum was for many families a substitute for sugar. Often, at the end of the sorghum making season, the last batch of juice was cooked until it was candy and the community met at the mill at night for a "candy pulling".
       Life was somewhat dull in these days and the work was hard, but a feeling of good will, hospitality, and helpfulness prevailed. If a farmer became ill during crop time, the neighbors came in and cultivated the crop until he was able to work, or, if illness continued, gathered the crop. If illness occurred in winter, neighbors saw that there was wood supplied. Since there were no hospitals in those days, neighbors took turns sitting up at nights and giving medicine to the sick. If a death occurred in the community, the women prepared food and carried it to the family of the deceased. Neighbors prepared the body for burial, since there were no funeral homes, and sat up with the corpse. The casket was usually made by someone in the community.
       In the early days, women and girls often "took up" dish orders - that is, they walked from house to house with a dish-order catalogue that had many pictures of beautiful pieces of china and crystal. The neighbors would place their orders with the girl and she, in turn, would receive a premium or premiums-depending on the size of the order. The women took pride in their beautiful tableware secured through these dish orders. These have become prized antiques and collectors pay fancy prices for them, when found.
       Company was always welcome in pioneer days as it broke the monotony of family life. The visitor was a new face and voice that brought news and stories to listen to around the fire when the chores were finished. Neighbors were few and far between and these visitors often stayed overnight, sometimes a week or, as the saying goes, "until they got weak". Mr. Tom Sims (Page 46 Top) and his wife Maude, Mr. George Horner, Mr. Frank King and Mrs. Johnnie Briggs, with her sister Mrs. Hettie Lynch-all of whom are in their 80's and 90's at this writing-can remember many of the oldtimers and love to tell tales of days of yore and the things the people living then said and did.
       Walking was the style for transportation. Mr. Ed Jones, John Pendleton, John Blair and George Slagle were all good walkers. Uncle Mike Wolf was a great walker who liked to talk as he walked. He would say, "There are three things I like to talk about-Baptists, Masons and Democrats." On his rounds, he had certain places he enjoyed visiting and people got to expecting him ever-so-often. He never took off his hat to talk or eat-and only the last thing at night before sleep. Then he'd say, "Well, seems like it's moderated some, ain't it, but might as well throw another wagon sheet over my feet, just in case."
       Uncle Wiley Doshier kept pins stuck all over the front of his coat, in case he needed one some time. Mr. William Thomson, an oldtimer of 96, had his picture made at the county fair one year. He always rode an ox. J. R. Hamilton had several oxen and had made wheels for his cart out of large logs. Uncle Jim Burkett made ox yokes. As he worked, he always "cussed" or prayed.
       Many legends grew as the years went by and with each telling they changed shape or size, according to the storyteller. The legend of the lost silver mine has never died out and people still look for it and question oldtimers about it. Most every family knows at least one panther story and the tales of wolves are still told around campfires. For instance: When Vesta Snipes was a small girl during the Civil War, she heard the story of two neighbor girls. One went home with the other to spend the night. The day was cloudy and darkness came on quickly. On the way home, they were followed by a pack of hungry wolves. To save themselves, they climbed some trees. The wolves howled, snarled and gnawed the trees until, at last, one tree fell and that little girl was devoured. When daylight came, the wolves went away, but just in time for the other tree was almost gnawed into and ready to fall to the ground.
       Girls out looking for cows also played a part in the first zinc mine discovered on Rush Creek, when they found some "glitter stones". They found them in front of an old stone smelter of Spanish design and thought they were silver. So, mining began there.
       It is told that caves are under the city of Yellville that the "Feds" used for storage-later closing them and sealing them over. Many have searched but, so far, they have not been found. There are caverns, supposedly, under the town of Flippin that were once used by bootleggers. A Hangman's Tree stands near Yellville, just below Crook Creek bridge. Another is located near the Buffalo River on Cedar Creek. No Negro was to let the sun go down on him in Marion County after the war was lost. The last Negro hanged in the county was in 1909. There have always been stories of hidden treasure. Many did hide their gold, silver and valuables during the Civil War. Charlie Boyd told of someone digging up an iron pot one night from the Old Buffalo City cemetery. Lights were seen there and the next day some of the neighbors investigated and found the prints of a large, three-legged pot. Others then remembered strangers asking to borrow a pick and shovel that were never returned, nor were the people seen again in that area.
       (Page 47 Top) In the early days, styles were quite different than now. It took from seven to fifteen yards of cloth to make a dress, worn with hoops, that swept the floor. Men wore "flint-lock britches, claw-hammer coats and bee-gum hats" to be in style, says Mr. Thomas Estes who wrote of Civil War times in Marion County. Coonskin caps and buckskin leggins were worn by hunters and trappers, and plain "linsy-woolsy" dresses by women and girls.
       The people may have lived hard and worked long hours for very little return by today's standards, but, for the majority of them, it was worth it and they were, for the most part, a happy, carefree people with a deep sense of duty and purpose. Their sense of humor was priceless. They were able to laugh at themselves and others, thereby avoiding self-pity and depression when the going was hard and rough, as was often the case in wilderness living. Faith in a loving Heavenly Father whose sovereign will was never questioned kept away despair when sorrow and death made reality a severe test of His care and promises to provide for them as He provided for the lily of the field and the sparrow on the ground.
       Favorite "snide" expressions of their native wit and wisdom follows: When someone took the last biscuit off the dinner plate, another was sure to quip, "It will be a fair day tomorrow." Seeing a neighbor pass without stopping to "pass the time of day" was certain to bring the remark that "he must be in a burnt hurry" or "he must be going to a fire" or "he needs to make fewer tracks and more to the mile if he's going to get where he's going before dark". In case of small accidents or need for encouragement, the sayings were: No use cryin' over spilt milk; it's a long old road that has no turning; just wait and see which way the cat jumps; just wait "til the shoutin' is over and they gather up the song books. If some character professed religion out of hand, the folks would say: he's just hollerin' down the rain barrel; he's just laying' out with the dry cattle; or he's just antigogglin' around, spittin' ambeer and a-drinkin' branch water. Other sayings were: They're small potatoes and few in a hill at that; All duck and no dinner; He ought to either fish or cut bait; He'll sure pour water on your wheel; He needs to quit farmin' and go to work; He makes more corn than ever goes to mill; He was just meanderin' and steppin' around like a lost goose or a ruptured duck; Whewee! this here is pure quill (referring to a good moonshine or white lightning); Shucks, now, I don't chew my tobaccker but once; once burnt, twice shy; Oh, it's Katy bar the door for me; you can just wait 'til the cows come home-'til hell freezes over-or 'til St. Peter blows his horn.
       Comparison sayings are familiar to all hillfolk, such as: It was as if he had two thumbs and four left feet; it was as easy as pourin' sand down a rabbit's hole; it was as easy as fallin' off a log backwards; he looked like a hog with a side saddle or a cow that had eaten cabbage, stems and all; I'm as dry as a gourd, as skinny as a rail, as thin as a splinter, as light as a feather, as high as a kite, as poor as Job's turkey, as poor as a churchmouse, too big for his britches, too lazy to spit off himself, too slow to catch the itch; I'd sooner be in hell with my back broke; as soon get me a tin bill and pick manure with the chickens; he stuck out like a sore thumb; he was blinkin' like a toad in a hail storm; he's next to nothin'; he'll be lucky if he comes in last; he squeaked like a new saddle; he is lower than a snake's belly; he's so ugly that he has to slip up on the dipper after dark to get a (Page 48 Top) drink of water. All of these favorite expressions of derision were spoken in fun but never with true malice of neighbors and friends nor "furreniers", especially.
       It was said "A man's work begins and ends with the sun, but a woman's work is never done," but in pioneer days the whole family worked to provide the necessities of life and each season had its quota of tasks. We gather and cherish antiques because they speak with nostalgia of our ancestors. They spent long tedious hours making, by firelight on long winter evenings, everything they possessed-the candles that lighted the bare cabins, the soap, along with the sand, that cleaned and scoured; the tools they used, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, saving the surplus for the days when the ground would not yield its harvest. Little, if anything, was store "boughtin" when this county was new, but life was good and the people were carefree and happy as they worked and sang together. A three-fold cord is not easily broken and families and communities held together against the enemy that would destroy. That made a strong central government and good citizens. The church stood central, a magnet that held the center hub of their society in place. Indians, wild beasts, hardships, illness, war, or bands of roving outlaws were not able to defeat them. Today we see the fruits of the hearty, courageous efforts of our forebears, who broke the cane, blazed the trails, and settled this area, as we look with pride at the prosperity and prospects of Marion County.