Book Description

Excerpt from Recollections of an Old Settler: Stories of Kent and Vicinity in Pioneer Times The question has often been asked, what this country looked like in early days. Inasmuch as I was one of the early settlers, I thought I would give you some idea of it. I came into this country, or into Hudson, township, the 10th day of May, 1804. At that time this country was an unbroken wilderness, filled up with wild men and wild animals. Probably forty Indians to one white man. They were very friendly and peaceable. There were three tribes that inhabited this section of country - the Senecas, the Taways, the Chippeways. They appeared to live very friendly with each other as tribes. They had their hunting grounds all bounded, so that each tribe know their bounds as well as you would know your farm. The Seneca Chief's name was John Bigson. He was, I should think, a little short of six feet tall, of a stout, muscular frame, and keen black eyes, and a well proportioned man; had a stern look, and what he said was law with his tribe. He scarcely ever smiled, and I think he was perfectly honest, and what he said he meant. If he promised you anything, you might be sure of it, and if any of the rest promised anything, they had to be as good as their word. And if you promised them anything, they looked for it with as much grace, and if you lied to them, they would never forget it. The Taway Chief's name was Stignish. He was a very pleasant looking man, and honor and honesty was his law, and he taught his people so. The Seneca Chief had his headquarters in Streetsboro, on land now owned by Samuel Olin, that was quarters on or near the Cuyahoga River. I have been there a great many times when they lived there, and if they had anything they could bestow upon you in the way of eatables, it was as free as the water. They thought it was a privilege to give, for they thought it was a token of friendship, and if they gave one, they gave all that were present. Their wigwam was about twenty-five feet long or more, and they had their fire through the middle, and had it so constructed as to leave room for a tier of them to lie down on each side of the fire, so as to have their feet to the fire, for they lay on their skins and furs, and covered over with their blankets. They had a space left open on the ridge of their camp to let the smoke pass out. They had their wigwam thatched with bark, so that it was tight and warm, and had a door in each end, so that they could haul in their wood without much chopping. They lay there as warm and comfortable as a man in his palace. The Seneca Chief used to gather in all his family connections and lay there through the winter. And they would kill their meat before the hardest weather commenced, so they would not be compelled to go out in bad weather to get their living. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.