In and Out of Rebel Prisons

by A. Cooper

The mother of the author, Amanda Cochran, was a daughter of John Cochran, a Revolutionary soldier. John Cochran was an Irishman by birth and as such was claimed as a British subject, and was arrested by the “press gang” as they were then called, and taken on board an English man-of-war to be impressed into the service of Great Britain.

The vessel was anchored about one and a half miles from shore, the better to prevent the escape of the impressed seamen; but, notwithstanding the strict surveillance under which they were placed, John Cochrane and a comrade one dark night, tied their clothing into a bundle, which they fastened on their heads and dropped into the water from the fore chains of the vessel where they were stationed, and swam to the shore and made good their escape. The story as frequently told me by my mother, is a long one and filled with thrilling incidents, as was also the military life of my father, John Cooper. My father died October 23d, 1831, when I was only eighteen months old, leaving my mother with a family of nine children, one of whom was a babe only a few weeks old. Her only income was the products of a farm of 25 acres, and the trifling wages as a carpenter’s apprentice of my eldest brother, Lorenzo.

In the spring of 1836, my mother having sold her farm in Victory and bought fifty acres in Sterling, we moved into a new log house that my brother had built during the winter and early spring, and around which he had made a clearing of sufficient dimensions to avert the danger of the house being crushed by falling trees. This clearing was extended during the summer to ten or fifteen acres by cutting off the timber, and afforded us youngsters plenty of work, piling brush and burning them, and the log heaps which a bee of neighbors had constructed. The house had not been chincked, and the floor was made of split basswood slabs, hewn smooth and nicely fitted together, which if not as elegant as the more modern floors, at least possessed the elements of strength and durability. A large Dutch fire place, and a wide chimney built of sticks and mud, took up nearly half of the north side of the house, while at the right of the fire place was constructed a rude pair of stairs leading to the upper rooms. The lower part of the house consisted of this one room, about 16x18, which served as parlor, dining room and kitchen, and a bedroom and recess occupied the south side.

The upper rooms were two in number and were supplied with rough board floors, and with a window in each room. A cellar was dug under the front room for the storage of apples and vegetables during the winter, and was entered by a trap door near the center of the floor.

The district school was about half a mile north and was kept in what was called the VanPetten school house. Here it was that the author first attended school, which was taught that summer by Miss Rachel Lester—now Mrs. McFadden. For seven seasons I attended school there under the instruction of different teachers, among whom were, Miss Sarah J. McCrea, now Mrs. George Turner, Mr. Emerson Crane, Mr. Mathew B. VanPetten, Obediah Cooper, Dennis Cooper, John B. VanPetten, and others. Up to the time of my mother’s death, which occurred January 17, 1845, just before I was fifteen years old, I had attended school summer and winter, with the exception of part of the last two summers, when I was obliged to stay at home to assist in the farm work, and being easy to learn, had acquired a fair education in the primary branches for a boy of my age—14 years.

At the death of my mother the only legacy I inherited was a robust constitution, a cheerful and happy disposition, and the faculty of always looking upon the bright side of life. These characteristics were clearly inherited from my mother, to whom obstacles that would have seemed insurmountable to most women seemed only an incentive to more determined efforts.

To her household duties were added the work of the loom and the spinning wheel, and up to the time of her death there were very few clothes worn by the family that she did not weave and afterwards make up into garments.

The linen trowsers and shirts that were bleached to snowy whiteness for our summer wear, and the full suits of comfortable sheeps-gray for winter, were alike the production of her own toil. The dresses worn by the girls, especially those for Sunday wear, were also the production of her loom, and were dyed and pressed by herself. Besides all this, all the time that could be spared from the duties of her own household was employed in weaving for others.

Both she and my father were members of the old Reformed Dutch Church at Cato—now Meridian—that was at that time under the pastorage of the good old dominie Houghman, and her well worn Bible bore testimony to her faithfulness in her Christian duties. She was faithful in instilling into the hearts of her children the religion she practiced, but rather appealed to their sense of duty than to the fear of punishment.

After the death of my mother I followed the pursuit of a farmer, attending the district school during the winter, until I was 19 years of age, when I entered the employ of Mr. Charles Burnett, of Skaneateles, N. Y., in his dry goods and grocery store. I remained with Mr. Burnett one year and then, as he retired from business, I came to Oswego and entered the drug store of the late James Bickford, jr.