Late in the fall of 1798 a revolutionary soldier wrote on the fly-leaf of his Bible that the “North-west Territory” made a delightful home, saying: “My footsteps always gladly hasten homeward; and when I pull the string and open the door, the delicious odor of roasting game and cornbread meets with smiles of hungry approbation. And with kisses for the children and blessings for a good wife, who could ask for more or a better home.”
Home of the Pioneer.
Another in 1799—“We often talk of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters and friends left behind, and wish them here. And as the holidays draw near we send them our wishes and prayers, for it is all we can do. There is no mail or carrier pigeon to cross the wilderness that takes any thing else.”
The pioneer believed in the declaration of the Ordinance of 1787, that “Religion, Morality, and Knowledge” were necessary to good government and happiness of mankind. Thanksgiving and Christmas were days of universal observation. The Star of Bethlehem was the Star of Empire, and rested as brightly over the North-west Territory as when shining on the little town in Judea.
During the first few years of pioneer life, new and interesting as it must have been, few persons, comparatively, kept a diary of social life and times; and of such accounts fewer still remain to the present. Yet the number is sufficient to show corroborating testimony or agreement with the following in substance taken from a family history of a father and mother who, with three small children, a dog and gun, and all their worldly goods, crossed the mountains on foot, by following the Indian trail—reaching the Ohio river, floated to the mouth of the Scioto on a temporary raft, and from the confluence pushed up its winding course over fifty miles in a “dugout” to the “High Bank Prairie,” near where Chillicothe now stands—making the trip from Eastern Pennsylvania in sixty-three days; arriving at the place of destination April 25, 1798—a day of thanksgiving ever after.
The first Christmas seen or enjoyed in the new home of this family would in the present era be considered out of date, but doubtless at the time was the duplicate of hundreds of others. The day, before the event, was set aside for procuring extra supplies from nature’s store-house, regardless of any signal service. A coon-skin cap and gloves—deer-skin breeches and leggins, and a wolf-skin “hunting shirt” made the weather right at all times with the hunter.
“Ay, this is freedom!—these pure skies