^^9^ ^ ^^_ ^^<^ 6^"-. -5* c ^^^>. x.^ «• O N^i^t-^ <^' .0^ /c^ 'b^r. o > ■-^ ^■"■n*. ,«^ ^ ,4o. ^^•o & ^ -^^p^" « & .: =0^. c.^ ^' =^ Things That I Remember At Ninety-five. By Mrs. Olive Cleaveland Clarke, 18^1 -^•■i-»- -—'.-s-m 7^ 3^ ^^■ H^C EDMUND J.CLEVELAND. Se^ratnn- October, 3, 1870. I was born September 2G, 1785, in the town of Williamsburg. My father, Nehemiah Cleaveland, was born in Mansfield, Conn., hi>; father moved with his famil}^ to Williamsburg in 17G9. There were four sons, and one daughter who was married to Asaph Wales. He died in the revolutionary war. She was twice married afterwards, and brought up two families of children, but never had an}' of her own. One son never married, the other three married, and had large families. My father married Hannah, daughter of Jacob and Beulah Par- sons of Northampton, who had eleven children, four sons, and seven daughters. M3' grandmother had triplets, one son and two daughters. They were baptized in church. The son died in in- fancy, one daughter at the age of seventeen, one lived to the ago of 8G, and had a large family' of children. My grandfather had but one son who lived to mature age. At that time, there were public schools in Northampton for boys, but none for females, girls were not much esteemed in those days. My grandfather had to educate his seven daughters, and help to edu- cate other people's sons. There were no schoolhouses for girls. Some female in the neighborhood was hired as teacher, and slic provided a room for the school, sometimes the parlor, sometimes a chamber. Such things have taken place since my remembrance. A cousin of mine came from Northampton to Williamsburg to at- tend a district school, because tliere was none in Northampton. She boarded at my father's. I think that must have been about eighty-three or eight3'-four 3'ears ago. M}' grandfather's son and six daughters wore married, and had families. People in Northampton lived ver}' economically in those days. They ate bread and milk for breakfast and supper, boiled Indian pudding for dinner, with meat and vegetables. Those who were poor, and could not have milk, ate bean porridge. It was consid- ered a sin to drink tea in war-time, as some said it occasioned the war. Tliere were but very few time pieces in the town. I remember when my grandmother used to look at the sun-dial which was nailed on the well-curb, to see about getting dinner. When the sun did not shine, she guessed at the time. Northampton were an independent people, mosth' farmers. They raised all their produce, made almost all their cloth, and did all their own work. My grandfather gave each of his daughters, three hundred dol- lars when the}' were married, to fit them for housekeeping. M3' mother was married during the Revolutionar}- war. I have heard her say that she did not have more than half as much as her sister had, who was married before the war came on, on account of every thing being so much dearer, which made it ver\' unfortunate for her. The da}' m}' mother was married, after the ceremon}', the wed- ding part}' went to my father's home in Williamsburg. My mother road on a pillion, behind my father's brother. It was not the fash- ion for the bride to ride with the groom. They had to ride through Mill River without a bridge. My mother carried a letter of recommendation from the church in Northampton to the church in Williamsburg. Some members of the church were unwilling to receive her, because they thought the church in Northampton not a pure church, but I think they re- ceived her. My parents had twelve children, ten daughters, and two sons. One daughter died in infancy, one at the age of ten years, one at eight. Seven daughters and two sons lived to marry and have families. We generally had good schools, summer and v.inter. I used to attend through thick and thin. 8 My father always provided means for his family to attend eliuich. When they became so nnmerous that they conld not be accommo- dated, he got a two-horse carriage, which would take eight of us. Most people rode on horse-back, two on a horse, generally a man and wife rode together, and carried the baby if they had one. In winter we went in a sleigh. We hardly' ever failed of going. When the weather was tedious, and we rode two and a half miles to church, and then sat in a cold house, without fire, cushions, or carpets, and heard a sermon an hour long, we suffered very much. It is a wonder we lived through it. Rev Joseph Strong was the minister in Williamsburg in my youthful days. He was very aged, and rather a dull preacher. His wife was brought up a lady, and did not know how to spin ! Mr. Strong taught his daughters that art. Mrs. Strong had two dozen pewter platters when she was married. Parson Strong died of starvation. His throat gi-ew up so that he could take nothing but liquids for a long time before his death. While there was no settled pastor in Williamsburg, Dr. Lyman of Hatfield came to ayheat. There \Yere no people at the west to raise it for them, and no conveyance to bring it if there had been. It was a great undertaking to move three hundred miles into the state of New York, to go through swamps when they would get so deep in mud that it was difficult to get out. About the year 1795, an uncle and aunt of mine, went out to Genesee Count}-, in a sleigh, to visit relatives. It was said the}' were the first people that ever went out there to visit friends. In 1817, ni}' father moved to Skaneateles, about two hundred miles west. In 1820, my husband and I started one Monda}- in September to visit ni}' parents. We travelled six days before we reached the place of our destination. I cannot tell how warmly we were welcomed by our friends. I had two married sisters liv- ing in Skaneateles at that time. Our friends (tarried us to Aul)urn. ^^c went into the State prison, and saw some of the prisoners. We saw the foundation wall of the Theological Seminary, which Avas going up at that time, where my brother said they would man- ufacture ministers. Our friends went with us about seven miles distance, to see the canal. It was not completed, but boats began to run a part of the way. A boat was expected soon at the place where we were, so we went some distance to meet it, and came back on the boat, which was something worth telling. J\Iy father died in 1843, aged 00 3'ears and six months. ]My mother died in 18G1. She was 104 3'ears and seven months' old. We had a family gathering to celebrate my mother's one hundredtli birthday. Seven daugliters and one son were present, besides many grandchildren, and other relatives. M3- mother attended church the next Sabbath, vvith her eight children. She had remarkablv iiood 10 health, never having any ails about her. One of her sisters lived to the age of 91) 3"ears and one month, another lived to the age of 98. I have heard my mother say that when she was young, the law was that a person who committed suicide should be buried in a crotch of the road, Avithout a coffin, and have a stake driven through the bod}'. Carpets were not in use about here in my childhood. When I was married, in 1809, I think there was not a carpet in the town of Williamsburg or Chesterfield, and not many in Northampton. I never saw a carpet until I was more than 18 years old. Some years since, a little girl in this town went to church for the first time. When she reached home, some one asked her who she saw there. She said she saw God, thinking the minister was God. AVhen I was young, I did not think the minister was God, but thought him next to llim. AVhen I was 3'oung, there was but one piano in Northampton, and an organ v.as an unheard of thing. Some 3'ears ago, I heard an old lady say that she in her 3-ounger days went to see the city of Boston, and as she rode through the street, she was accosted many times b}' Avomen who came out of their houses and asked, "Hnve you butter, ma'am? Have you but- ter, ma'am?" My father and brother have taken the Hampshire Gazette ever since it was first published in 1785, tlie year I was born. In 1859, we celel)rated our Golden Wedding. A large number of our relatives came, some from the state of New York, some from Deerfield, Plainfield, and other places. A part}" from North- ampton came with an old stage coach, which had been used man}' years before on the I'oad from Boston to Albany, which brought many recollections of old times. Our house was filled with guests. We received many nice presents from our friends. I had six sisters, and two l)rothers married. None of them lived with their com])anions long enough to have a Golden AYedding. 11 We celebrated the GOth niiinverstir}' of our marriage, May 2otb, 18G9. Many friends came to congratulate us, and we had many presents. Brother John Clarke sent two five dollar gold pieces, of the first coinage of gold in this country. They had been in the ^ family many 3'ears. On my 90th birthday, a few frii^nds came in, and among the rest, Mr. William Cullen Bryant and daughter. They made me a pres- ent of a Shetland shawl. I saw at a neighbors a few years since, a Bible which was in the bosom of a soldier, in a battle of the last war. It had a bullet hole in it which came from the enemy's gun. It penetrated but little way through it. In 1802, there was a snow storm which continued five da3-s and nights without intermission. It was six feet deep, and there was not a fence to be seen. People who rode out in a sleigh, carried shovels to break a track when th.ey met a team. In 1804 there was another great snow storm, and wind which drifted it, so that it was six feet above the top of the lower room windows in my father's house. I have heard my father say many times, when he thought a thing impossible, that it was as much impossible as it would be to build a bridge across Connecticut river. M3' grandmother once told me that when she was young, and lived in Connecticut, there was on one Sabbath a contribution in church. Each one put into the box what he had to give. One old man went up and said, *' Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee," and took off his old wig, and put it in the box. 1 will write something about m}' ancestors. Joseph Parsons married Mary Bliss in 1G4G. They lived in Northampton. She was accused of being a witch. Mary Bartlett died, and Mrs. Par- sons was accused of having caused her death b}' witchcraft. The County Court sat in Springfield, and Samuel Bartlett produced 12 some testimony on oath against Mary Parsons. Siie, knowing what was being done, did not wait for a summons, but voluntarily appeared before the court, and spoke for herself, saving that the righteous God knew her innocence, with whom she left her cause. The Court appointed a committee of chaste women to examine her person for marks of witchcraft. They then sent all the testimony to Boston, and Mary was summoned to appear there. The Grand Jury found an indictment agidnst her, and she was imprisoned un- til the trial, which was about ten weeks. She was accused of en- tering into familiarity with the devil. She pleaded not guilty, and was discharged. She was a proud, high spirited woman, and her husband was one of the wealth}' men of Northampton. In 180G there was a total eclipse of the sun. It was in June, at about 11 o'clock. The day was clear and free from clouds. The sun was hidden from our view, the air was chilly and damp like evening, stars were to be seen, fowls were affrighted and hur- ried to their roosts. There seemed to be a great change in the weather after the eclipse. It was cool through the season. In my youthful days, there were but two or three stores in North- ampton. These stood in shop row, as it was called. The build- ings were small, one story high. I remember seeing the moss that grew on the roofs of the stores. M}' mother went to one of these stores to purchase calico for a dress. The merchant did not take down his goods and exhibit them, as is done now. My mother pointed to a piece on the shelf that she would like to look at. The merchant wished her to promise slio would purchase it, if lie took it down. Mr. Hallock, who was the minister of Plainlield many year;^ since, used to take scholars to educate, and fit them for college. He charged one dollar a week, for board, tuition, and washing. His salary for preaching was two or three hundred dollars a yeai-. He laid up money enough to carry two of his sons through college. 13 Mr Halloek used to smoke. One da}', two or three of his schol- ars went to the store, and returned with a long pipe for each of them, and sat down to smoke, this looked so disgusting to Mr. Halloek, that he told them if they would give up smoking he would, which the}' all agreed to do. Mr. Halloek once made an exchange with Mr. Waters of Chesterfield. He came Saturday. He said in the pulpit the next day, that he saw boys playing ball, vSatur- (h\y after sunset, on that wicked hill. September 20, 188(h We celebrated my birthday on the 2Gth of this month, with a few friends from abroad. It was a very interesting time to me. It brought to my mind many scenes which I had passed through during my long life, and the great changes that have taken place since my childhood days. I have outlived my generation, and feel like a stranger here. Our house was built in 1828, on the same place v>here the old house stood. We lived in the school house near us, while it was in building. The desks and seats were taken down, and we got along as we could. The day we inoved out of the ohl house, while the workmen were tearing it down, I was cooking dinner by the fire place. A neighbor came in, and said he had heard of people having their house torn down over their heads, but never savr it done before. The workmen slept in the corn-house. We had a cooking stove out of doors. The district put off the school two weeks to accommodate us. When I was an infant, a few months old, my parents went to Amherst, to attend an ordination, and carried me. In descending a hill, the harness broke. My father saw that they were in dan- ger, and reined his horses against a tree, and turned over his load to save them from a worse fate. No one was hurt much. One of my mother's earrings was found in my clothing. Babies used to r.ttond ordinations, and all public places, when I wa> young. The 14 saying is, "every generation grows wiser.'* In many things there is a great improvement. When I commenced attending school, Miss Esther Ludden was teacher. She taught seven summers in succession. We hardly knew we could have any other. She was a ver}' good woman, and taught us many good things. She would go through ''the Catechism" every Saturday' forenoon, but I think we did not understand it much. She used to take her Testament, and go out into the woods at noon, and eat her dinner. She tamed a squirrel, so that it would come and take dinner with her. At the close of school at night, she would count the scholars, and tell the number. Some- times she would saj', "Forty and two, just as manv as the bears tore to pieces for mocking Elisha." I well remember hearing the bell toll for the dei\th of General Washington, who died in 1799. It commenced tolling about eleven o'clock in the morning, and continued tolling a long, long time. My husband died June 29, 187G, aged 90 3'ears and six months. We had lived together sixty seven years, "In hope of eternal life." a ] a 1 ingj maniiesL mat ii is Pope can long resist ^^y^ (59^^''^ 06 X^;^ /V ♦♦'•'«'< NEW-YORS, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 1881. ., ever since the civil ;erest to visitors from ;|2ave had kinsmen and hile not a few of them cerated vrithin its walls. ) through the buildine. ecially since the other Ihunder, was destroyed ;en so great as to put iinit to no little incon- jre would be a hundred (ll wanted to see every torrupted.the work of. ^' tobacco factory, whicb D.? the callers have been, Jjrtion of relic-hunters, chmond without carry- he noted prison. Intent d knocK: a brick or part lit a piece of wood from .'rest cut one of the iron iratic industry that the :irely carried off in time. IS signs were in conse- e public that anybody Id be dealt with accord- • j the chipping and dis- l \)Y stealth, and the still besieged with ,rs of the tobacco end, and finally decided "r annoyance. For some the building, knowing to contend. At last lertilizing company took [be thing in which they ktnusiasm and curiosity fapital of the Confeder- liver-busy hands of relic- !. The old brick pile at ^entieth-street is still an '^tMl visited, though to a t was a tobi-'cco factory. ' tain distances the senses ; d women who have the ll recollections of the away after a glance or ons of the fertilizers. ?fo withstand a given amount scores of romp.ntic wom- esolved to stand on the other, lover, or husband •erlsh nights, htve been An old lady in Western Massachusetts, Mrs. Olive Cleaveland Clarke, of 95 years of age, has lately published a brief memorial of the social con- dition of that part of the country in the latter por- tion of the last, and the early part of the present, century. As might have been expected, she has given a number of incidents which have not the leaj-t general interest; but, as the pamphlet was in- tended for private circulation, it would be unfair to take exception to this defect. A few of the points made by her are of value as Illustrating the changed condition of social life. At the first of the present century the towns in Western Massachu- setts were, relatively, old settlements; that is. most of them had been in existence nearly, or quite, 150 , i-ears, but the maniifir of livinp was exeeaaivelv simple and meagre. In the families of well-to-do people, in such a town as Northampton, bread and milk was the regular diet for breakfast and supper. while the poor who could not afford to use wheat flour and milk made their morning and evenina meals on bean porridge. But to have meat mora than once a day would have been looked upon as a sinrjl extravagance. Mrs. Ct arke's father was , a fairly prosperous man, and during her youth she seems' to have made visits in a number of the different towns of the district- but she says that she was 18 years old when she first saw a cax^ pet, An incident she relates about the Hon. Ca« LEB Strong, an early Governor of the State ol Massachusetts, is characteristic of this same sim< pUcity of American life. The Governor used to travel from his home in Berkshire County to Bos< ton in his private carriage, taking three days for the trip. He had defined stopping-places for stay- ing over night, but on one occasion having been delayed he was compelled to spend the night at a private house on the road. The supper consisted of a large bowl of oread and milk, and the guest ana family were merely provided with spoons with which to supply themselves from this common dish. This method was a trifle too simple for the Governor, who suggested that it would be well to put his portion in a separate dish, as otherwise he might eat more than his share, but the host replied that they were willing to take that risk, and the guest was thus forced to supply himself as best ha could. Another interesting feature in Mrs. Clarke's narrative is the evidence it gives of the prolific character of the New-Encland stock three or four generations ago. She gives the names of eleven res- idents of the little village of Chesterfield, where she lived in 1808, who each had from ten to twen- ty-oue children. It would be difficult to find in a large town in Massachusetts at the present time a single family of ten or more children where the ■. j-_4._ «i; CT/^t-floT.D tuVir* r»5iTTie tft LRAp'23 08^ 82 V ""^ .^^ 4 o "b ' ,/%, /''b S* "j' s i-^ If ^L' , . • • , V. - - ° ' ,«^ ^■%y' \^\v^5.; __, O \ ^jun^ ^,<^^^^s^ ^_ ^^^ A^.yr-^^ .^^^^ '^o ^r^"T.^ ^0 H C. .^^■^ O ;. o a1 .^^ ... V'*-'''\^* • N^ !>' v,>. 1^- ' 'I' ^. .^v \^~ ♦ AV vT^ ^^ o > ^M .^ N. MANCHESTER, "♦