CHAPTER V.

FARMING AND MERCHANDISING.

Three early land offices had been opened in Tennessee at different times. That for Middle Tennessee was opened in 1783. A military reservation was laid off to satisfy bounties promised the Revolutionary soldiers of North Carolina. Thousands of acres were taken up. As no method of selecting land was used (the holder of a warrant could explore and locate anywhere and in any shape), the best was taken up, and poor tracts were left in every section. The North Carolina demands for her old soldiers were allowed even after Tennessee became a State. Each private was given 640 acres; each noncommissioned officer, 1,000; each captain, 3,840; each colonel, 7,200; and so on. Gen. Nathaniel Green was granted 25,000 acres.

Many warrants were located on DeKalb County lands. Not all the soldiers or their heirs desired to locate here, though some came. So numerous claims were bought up by speculators, Linn Cocke being one of the best known.

Early crops were hemp, cotton, and tobacco in more than one portion of the county. Neither cotton nor hemp is now grown here. Wheat to-day is one of the main crops, but the pioneers grew so little of it that wheat bread was with a host only a Sunday morning luxury. Wheat had to be cut with hand sickles and threshed with a flail or tramped out by horses and

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oxen, and making it into flour was not easily done. The grain was ground between rough millstones and the product bolted by hand. Before the turnpike was built, corn, which has always been the American pioneer's stand-by, could not be carried to distant markets with profit, and this may be one reason why there were so many distilleries in the early years. Cotton and hemp were used largely in making clothing for the slaves, for there were many in the county. John K. Bain, whose father, Peter Bain, settled near the mouth of Sink Creek in 1812, says: "The productions of that section were corn, wheat, oats, and rye. Reaping was done with hand sickles. Plows used were bull tongues. Iron cost twenty-five cents a pound. The range was good. Hogs got fat on beech mast, dry cattle lived on the range all winter, and there was no thoroughbred stock." Dr. Foster writes: "Corn about 1845 sold for $1 a barrel, or ten cents the bushel if you went to the country after it. I remember when the best horses sold for $40; then the price went up some, and as fine a horse as I ever saw in the county was bought by John F. Moore at Liberty for $100. Hauling was done mostly with oxen, many men driving two yokes. As fine apples grew in the Basin as anywhere."

An account book of 1844, once belonging to Col. Abraham Overall, gives an insight to farm products and prices of that period; they were probably about the same throughout the county. Hemp retailed on the farm at about five cents the pound; tobacco, four cents; flour, $1.50 per one hundred pounds; apples and sweet potatoes, twenty-five cents the bushel.

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Freight by wagon from Nashville to Liberty was sixty cents per one hundred pounds.

If the foreparents did not generally have pure-bred stock, they had good crosses, judging by the great herds of hogs driven south yearly. The Copperbottom horse was popular, as was the Morgan. Doubtless the Narragansett was known, since for years pacing was an appreciated gait. William B. Stokes, T. W. Fitts, and others made a specialty of fine horses in ante-bellum days. It might be interesting to dwell on such breeds of poultry as the old dominique and shanghai, once prized but now differentiated into brahmas and cochins. Likewise vegetables like peachblow and London lady potatoes and the small varieties of tomatoes or "love apples," as they were then called.

The grandparents lived well. Vegetables were carefully stored for winter use. Smokehouse and larder were full. Maple sirup and New Orleans molasses were used, as sorghum was not introduced into America until 1853. Loaf sugar was a delicacy, though there was a cheap quality of brown sugar.

The earliest merchants of the county doubtless carried small stocks. One reason was that merchandise was hauled long distances. Another was that every village had its hatter, tailor, shoemaker, and saddler. Handmade things were the rule. Much cloth was manufactured at home (housewives vying with each other in weaving) and made up at home or by the tailor. Isaac Whaley once gave this pointer to the writer: "Our people generally wore homespun clothes

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- the women cotton dresses striped with indigo and turkey red, though some had silk. The men's clothing was usually made by tailors, our first tailor at Liberty being Bill Cochran; the second, Joe Perryman. The best of our early hatters was Mathias West, who made considerable money. Wool and fur hats were made. Mr. West could make as fine a 'stovepipe' as you will see. The price was $7 or $8, and when the fur was worn off the hat was brought back and made as good as new. The wealthiest people, like Francis Turner, Ned Robinson, and Abraham Overall, had fine broadcloth suits made by the tailors." The old people have always claimed that merchandise was frequently brought from New Orleans, necessitating high prices with the middlemen, for the trip by keel boat required five months. Even the Liberty merchants may have got some of their wares by water, for this item is found in Dr. Wright's daybook: "John Conger, credit for raising flatboat and keeping her till next boating season in Caney Fork, $20."

By 1830, however, stocks of goods were no doubt enlarged, and Alexandria may have made the innovation. Dr. Foster writes that "the people of that town were always more dressy than in other parts of the county"; while the writer remembers the remark frequently made by Squire Len F. Woodside just after the War between the States: "Yes, sir, the Petersons don't send to Paris, but to Alexandria, for the latest fashions with which to illustrate their magazine."

But Dr. Wright's daybook indicates that his stock was full enough for a village store. It also indicates

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that his patrons bought on time; moreover, there is not an item charged at five cents. Joshua Bratten is charged twenty-five cents for half a pound of powder; Col. Abe Overall, $2 for eight pounds of coffee and 12 cents a pound for sugar; Hariette C. Roulstone, 43 cents for two yards of "apron checks"; Thomas Cameron, 75 cents for three yards of domestic; David L. Ray, $1.50 for three yards of calico; Leonard Lamberson, 62 ½ cents for a fourth of a pound of tea; John R. Dougherty, 62 ½ cents for a pound of raisins; E. Wright, 12 cents for two dozen eggs; John M. Leake, $1 for a bandanna handkerchief; Irving Gray (hatter), $2.50 for six yards of calico; Jacob Overall, 12 cents for two gimlets; Littleberry Vick, $5.75 for twenty-three yards of homespun; Louis Y. Davis, 25 cents for two pounds of "homemade" (maple) sugar; Col. Abe Overall, $7.50 for a mill saw (probably the straight sort); Elizabeth Overall, $2.25 for a cotton umbrella, "to be paid for in brown jeans"; Liberty Lodge, No. 77, "to cash to pay postage, 6 ½ cents"; William Blair, two reap hooks, $1.50; Asia Cooper, one dozen button molds, 6 ½ cents, and one paper of tacks, 18 ½ cents; W. B. Stokes, four pounds of nails, 50 cents; W. G. Stokes, one drab hat, $8.50, one cravat stiffening, 12 ½ cents, and one vial oil of cinnamon, 25 cents; Bartimeus Pack, one hymn book, 75 cents; Richard Arnold, one fur hat, $6. Calico was worth 50 cents the yard; nutmegs, 6 ¼ cents each. A lady is charged 87 ½ cents for three and a half yards of domestic and 60 cents for a pair of cotton hose. T. W. Duncan buys a dozen gun

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flints for 6 ½ cents, and John Canler a paper of ink powder for 18 ¾ cents. James B. Pistole is charged $8 for "one Tom and Jerry hat"; William C. Garrison, $3 "for Webster's speeches"; William B. Stokes, 62 ½ cents for "one piano song"; L. H. Bethel, 37 ½ cents to pay postage; Thomas E. Bratten, 75 cents for a gallon of molasses. There is a charge of $1.20 for four pounds of loaf sugar. Loaf sugar was in conical packages and came ready wrapped in dark-blue paper. Somewhat pathetic is this charge of eighty-two years ago, "Two boys' balls, 6 ½ cents," for one cannot help wondering what came of the boy or boys. A farmer is credited $2 for twenty-four and a half pounds of butter and another $2.16 ½ for six and a half pounds of wool.

The leghorn hat was fashionable then and later. Was it also called a "poke" bonnet? A writer in the Liberty Herald in 1892 stated that the "leghorn bonnets were a foot and a half long, more or less, without any artificials, simply a plain ribbon drawn across the top and tied under the chin."

The Dunstable bonnet was much in vogue. One is charged in the following bill to Miss Elizabeth O. Hall: "One Dunstable bonnet and trimmings, $6; six yards blk. silk, $6; seven yards calico, $3.50; pair side combs, 12 ½ cents; one best fancy handkerchief, $2; twelve strands beads, 87 ½ cents; one black bobbinet veil, $2.50; one black bandanna handkerchief, $1; two and a half yards bobbinet lace, $1.56 ½ ."

Among the products of the farm in 1832-33 were cheese and flax seed. David Griffith's account was

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credited with 62 ½ cents for one and a quarter pounds flax seed; and at the time Jordan Sellars was charged $9 for "one fine fur hat," he was credited with 85 cents for eight and a half pounds of cheese.

Since Isaac Whaley's reference to the clothing worn by the foreparents has been introduced in this chapter, it will be only a second digression to quote the words of an old DeKalb Countian who wrote from Missouri to the Liberty Herald April 6, 1892, of before-the-war days:

For Sunday many of the well-to-do men wore a blue or black broadcloth coat which cost from four to ten dollars a yard. They were usually cut with a frock or "claw-hammer" tail and rolling collar. The black and white satin vest, double-breasted, was worn by the fashionable. Pants were made very loose and had wide or narrow flaps before, invariably. A black silk cravat, doubled crosswise, was worn around a collar of uncertain dimensions. The dress described was worn by the fashionable, such as Eli Vick, Jasper Ruyle, Pete Adams, Len Walker, Joseph Clarke, Peter Clark, and others on Sunday. Later Dr. Horace Sneed, Dr. J. S. Harrison, the Hayes boys, the Turners, and the Turneys were the leaders in fashion. Many women sometimes wore silk dresses - not gaudy-colored, but plain black silk. A calico dress was seldom seen. Nearly all dresses were made with two widths of cloth and a gore on each side. Hoop skirts were as rare among women as drawers among men. All young women wore their dresses fastened behind. No such institution as a corset was thought of. The hair was usually parted in the middle, a strip bent around each ear, and wound up with a large horn comb at the back of the head.

The people did much trading by exchanging one commodity for another. The amount of money in circulation must have been negligible. For instance,

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this note was made by Colonel Overall, who was not poor, but owned perhaps twenty-five hundred acres of land, a score of slaves, a mill, cotton gin, and distillery: "The amount of money that I have spent since the 26th of August, 1844: September 10, $1; September 18, 50 cents; September 20, 50 cents; October 1, $1; October 20, $2; October 25, 45 cents; November 9, 50 cents; December 6, $5."

Life was "slow" compared with this age that goes the pace that kills, but it had its advantages. One worth $10,000 or $12,000 was in easy circumstances. With his slaves, abundant crops, and loaded tables, he made a social impression that is not now made with thrice that amount. He had time to read; he indulged in hospitality; and, free from business cares, behind his grave demeanor lurked a trace of humor tragically absent from the countenances of the nervous men of the present.

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