cktimes.ca Archives for Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Early settlers needed to be multi talented
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Early settlers to the Chatham-Kent area would have nodded their heads in amused agreement with the Red Green line - "if you can't be handsome, then at least be handy". Almost every article in the early resident's home was a home-made product of the settler's skill and "handy work".Take, for example, the very important bed. According to descriptions from local diaries of the time, the bed was, more often than not, a one-leg structure built into the corner of the house with the walls of the house doing the job of the other three legs. The "springs" were either poles or basswood planks, the "mattress" was, at first, hemlock boughs but later might have been corn-husks, rye or wheat straw sewed up in a tick. Later still, the feathers of wild fowl, so easily obtained in our area every fall, were used. The skins of wild animals were valued as both an item to lay down upon as well as to cover up with.
The open fireplace was, of course, another one of those indispensable items needed in every Chatham-Kent settler's dwelling. An opening was made in the far end of the wall of the cabin and a box-like structure, crudely constructed of field stones, was created. It had an open front which supplied a three-fold service - cooking, lighting and heating. The fireplace box was large enough to take a log that was four feet long and a foot through.
The chimney for this fireplace was built of clay and straw kneaded and rolled to such a consistency as to handle firmly and stay when placed between the poles that were put upright as the skeleton of the chimney. When building the chimney, local settlers would place a rod of iron (if it was available) on which pots could be hung over the fire. Quite an improvement was the "crane" which put on and then turned back over the fire.
The light from the fireplace was generally sufficient for the work being done after dusk. The men employed their evenings making axe handles which were often broken in the chopping and splitting of wood. At other times, the men devoted their evenings to mending their childrens' shoes or making hickory brooms for the housewife.
The woman of the house spent her evenings by the fireside spinning, knitting, patching clothes, darning socks or one of the thousand and one other duties that fell her way on a regular and ceaseless basis.
As a heat distributor, when the weather was very cold, the fireplace was not very satisfactory as one could be burning on one side while freezing on the other, but by turning around frequently this difficulty was remedied.
Just as their bodies in search of heat, they could just as easily "turn their hand" to a variety of tasks that were constantly demanded of them in this new ever-demanding land.
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
