Wood County History
By LOU MALLORY - Chairperson, Wood County Historical Commission
County Historical Commission
In the early days of farming in Wood County there were no stock laws. All stocks was permitted to run on the outside, requiring farmers to build good fences to protect crops.
A good fence was also built around the residence. Ample space was allowed so children would have plenty of room to play and still be protected from the many kinds of animal roaming outside.
In those days, cotton was considered the main money crop, so a larger portion of acreage was devoted to cotton than other crops. Corn, oats, peanuts, and a variety of hay crops were the main feed crops. Farmers would sow oats by broadcasting them then flat break the land with a turning plow and smooth it off for harvest time.
The mail tools used for harvesting oats was called a cradle and was operated by one man. It required an experienced hand to use the cradle.
Following this tool came the reaper, a machine with a two-horse power engine that would cut the oats and drop them in piles to be bound in bundles by men who followed the machine. Next came the binder (also a horsepower machine) that would cut and bind.
Mr. Joe Lloyd, who lived in the Coke community, owned a horsepower thrashing machine. After the oat crop was harvested, he would travel from farm to farm and thrash any grain the farmer needed thrashed.
Some farmers had land suitable to growing ribbon cane. Usually they would plant a patch large enough to produce syrup for family use.
This plant was propagated each year from the stalks dug up at maturity. They were stored in a bed on the ground with sufficient cover to protect from freezing. In the spring the stalks were stripped of their covering then planted in furrows end to end. Then they were covered with soil and left to grow.
Stalks of cane are covered by a thin hard peeling. The pulp inside is full of juice. The process of manufacturing the canes into syrup consists of cutting the cane at maturity, stripping the fodder blades off. The crop is then hauled to a plant to be processed by a machine made for the purpose of grinding the juice out. The juice is then conveyed to a vessel in which it is cooked to the proper stage then stored away in vessels for future use.
There is an art in the cooking and this must be supervised by an experienced syrup maker. If he knows his craft, he can produce a very fine treat much loved by those who know what pure ribbon cane syrup should be.
Most farmers kept a few hogs to grow and fatten. When the colder weather approached, hog killing time came around. The hogs were butchered, cut up and stored in a smokehouse to cure.
The hams, after they were cured, were wrapped in cloth and paper then stored away for future use. These hams had a much superior flavor to the average ham we can buy today.
Also, during the hog killing, sausage was ground up and packed in casings. These were hung up with the other meat and smoked. The fat that was trimmed from the hogs was processed into a very fine grade of lard for family use.
When the spring came around, it was time to make soap. The family built that they called "ash hoppers" in which wood ashes were stored and kept dry. When the time came, the ashes were wetted down with clear water to start the flow of a liquid called lye. The lye was stored in vessels. When enough had been collected, it was emptied into a large iron pot to begin the making of soap. Scraps of waste meat and other fats were mixed with the lye, then a fire was started around the pot to boil the soap.
An experienced soap maker could tell when the mixture had boiled long enough. Some women learned to make a very fine soap by mixing fats with lye and letting this stand for a few days. Then the soap would be cut into bars and stored. This was called the "cold" process. This lye soap was used by the family extensively as no other soap was available on the local markets.
As time went on, the old ash hopper became relegated to the past as the market produced better grades of soap, washing powders and cleaning fluids.
After cooling, it was stored away in vessels in the smokehouse for future use
The family laundry in the early days was done, of course, by hand. The needed equipment included plenty of clear water near a large iron pot, a good supply of wood to build the fire under the pot, plus an item termed a ‘battling block.' It was smooth on top and set at a convenient height for use. A ‘battling stick' was also used to pound the dirt out of the clothes.
‘Push sticks' were also used to push the clothes into the boiling water and for retrieving them from the water, holding them to drain then dropping the clothes onto the battling block where they were pounded vigorously. The clothes were then put into clear water, rinsed, and hung out to dry.
When the clothes were dry, the ‘smoothing' irons were heated before a fireplace or on top of a wood-burning stove. A good supply of wood was kept at hand at all times. All this work, done by hand, was a slow and tedious job. In those days, the women young and old wore long dresses which sometimes had fancy trimmings, plus underskirts with lace at the hem. This made the ‘smooth' ironing a particularly tedious job.
You can imagine how our ancestors would marvel at how quickly and easily all these chores can be accomplished by a huge variety of labor and time-saving devices available to us today!
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