Pioneers Were Self-Sufficient |
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| Like most communities, in the early days, Shelby County, Ohio, was
almost totally self-sufficient, with farmers producing enough for their families, but
little more. Even town people had gardens and raised stock. Until good roads were built
and the canals/railroads installed, the
transportation to market centers (Dayton and Cincinnati) was so poor that there was little
need to produce surplus goods.Pioneers were often reduced to meager fare, especially as they
waited for those first crops to arrive. They soon learned the art of preparing foods which
were life-sustaining and could be easily transported. Their supplies usually consisted of
flour, dried meats and fruits, potatoes, beans, corn and a small reserve of sugar and
salt.
Salt, now one of the least
expensive items, was so expensive to early settlers that it was considered a luxury. Ohio
was fortunate in that there were several salt springs which were considered to be of such
great value that three of these were reserved by the national government to prevent anyone
from forming a monopoly.
Early eating dishes were larger and made of wood, partly for their durability and also affordability. |
Any other type of dishes, such as Wedgwood, had to be imported from
Europe. They were expensive as well as fragile. Probably the most important cooking
utensil used by the pioneers while on longer journeys was the bake oven or skillet with
its tight fitting lid. It was filled with dough for bread, and after it had been securely
fastened, live coals were placed on top — it baked perfectly. If the hunter was successful in shooting
wild game such as deer, wild ducks, geese or jackrabbits, they were also cooked in the
skillet. Along the way, wild berries, currants, choke cherries and other edible fruits
were added to the food supply. Settlers would also fish in nearby streams to vary the
content of their meals.
As soon as a pioneer would
arrive at a ‘permanent’ stopping point, they would start preparing the land for
crops. Oftentimes the early settler cleared the trees and planted before building a cabin.
Many of them used their ax to till the soil between the
trees.
[Up] [New Search] 'Pioneer' segment written in October, 1997 by Sherrie Casad-Lodge |
Stock raising in Ohio was commenced on a small scale. Horses were scarce and sold for $60 to $100. Hogs, cattle and sheep were more numerous. The stock were marked by clipping the ear, and were allowed to run ‘at large’ in the forests after bells had been securely fastened to their necks. Sheep were normally not eaten for mutton because of the scarcity of wool for clothing. They had to be penned at night to protect them from the wolves. The animals and birds native to an area could ravage a farmer’s fields, so laws were passed encouraging the killing of these pests by paying bounty on them. In 1891, a bounty of $.10 was paid for each groundhog killed and $.20 a dozen for English sparrows by Perry Township officials. From 1819 to 1854, a $4 bounty was paid for each of the almost 800 wolves killed in Shelby County. Squirrels were numerous and often large hunting parties were formed to hunt them. Near Columbus,19,660 squirrels were killed in a single day, in a combined hunt. Women planted gardens, dried vegetables/fruits and raised poultry. Canned food was just being invented, so the best way to store food was to dry it. Standardized measuring didn’t become ‘standard’ until the mid 1860s, so women used a ‘bit of this’ or a ‘pinch of that’. They gauged the food’s readiness by the way it looked. | ||