This and That

By Helen Kaverman, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Sunday, June 15, 2008 (2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Part 6
(Taken from Liwwat Boke, 1807-1882, Pioneer, compiled by Luke B. Knapke and published by The Minster Historical Society)
Liwwat ended the chapter in her journal as they were nearing Ohio. She talked about the next leg of the journey was to go along the Ohio River or down the Ohio to Cincinnati. One of her drawings is of a flatboat on the river with the caption “”Our flatboat down the river.”
She tells very little about Cincinnati, except to mention that they were married in the Catholic Church in that city. They had been previously married in a secret civil ceremony back in Germany.
Liwwat was very precise when it came to money. Their big expenses were: Bernard’s trip from Bieste to Ohio was $41.00; her trip from Bremen to Baltimore, Wheeling and Cincinnati was $53.00. Then her records indicated the price of the land they purchased: one piece of land, 80 acres in Section 23, with title was $105.00. The second piece was 94 acres in Section 5 for $147.00 and another piece, 80 acres in Section 32 for $117.00. They had saved money before they left Germany and she does mention an inheritance. Who it came from isn’t mentioned but her family was very poor. They also purchased other supplies in Cincinnati and she kept a record right down to the penny.
Part of the trip from Cincinnati to Mercer County was by canoe. Some of her drawings depict the men carrying the canoes and other belongings on their backs at a portage place near Piqua, where they crossed land between two rivers. She also writes that near Piqua the river was too wild so they had to get out of the river and carry everything. She writes that at that time the canal was not yet finished.
When Liwwat describes their home in the wilderness at St. John (now Maria Stein) she begins “How different I and Natz seem in these first times, how we struggled to overcome the dense, ominous, wet, silent forest, the streamlets, the creeks, the stones, the solitude… just we two against time, need and trees. The trees were strong-limbed and Natz is strong-boned. … It is indeed an important notion to describe how hard and tedious it was, the time it took to clear the land of all these trees and underbrush. The forest is a vast, attractive, wonderful sight to see and enjoy, but that one cannot eat or wear. Natz and I are thankful about our decision to emigrate to America.
It is the best situation to live in the forest, also much better married to a nice fine man whom I love. Mary, Joseph, I am so very thankful. One matures in this battle to take over the woods, but we did achieve it up to our expectations.”
Then she describes a building they constructed, which stands between the loghouse and the little barn. They took 22 long poles, saplings about 20 to 24 feet long and built a wigwam. They covered it with bark from elm trees. It was dry and watertight. They used it as a storehouse, granary or corncrib. It was also used to store fodder and hay.
Their usual food was wild game, which they kill or trap in the woods and creeks. They get a few little fish. Other foods are corn, beets, beans, soupbeans, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, melons, cabbage and turnips and onions, all from their garden. They also got carrots and plant roots, along with fruits, nuts and berries from the woods.
“Often there is no meat in the house, so that Natz goes out early in the morning in the dark with an empty stomach and his gun and powder. He says that his hunger and the thought of his hungry family forces him to try harder and continually reminds him of his need and of our family’s need, whereas with a full stomach he is more easy going, negligent and lazy, all the time thinking about his house, and he wastes his time to no purpose. Nevertheless, many days he, and therefore we, got nothing. In the morning is the best time to hunt the deer, turkey, goose, bear or raccoon.”
Other foods are hardtack, rye or cornmeal mush … “Cornmeal pancakes with honey are the best. We know many different ways to prepare corn. We make a porridge from corn and cooked meat, either fresh or dried meat. Meat with potatoes, carrots and cabbage makes good stew … We have no chickens yet. We need a chicken coop first, otherwise one cannot protect the chickens from the wolves, weasels and foxes. We get eggs and sometimes a hen from Hanefeld’s house by trading with them.”
She talks about cooking squash and pumpkin with a little water but mostly in their own juice, slowly in a pot with a lid. She made stewed fruit from all the wild berries and quince with honey. Raspberries were plentiful. She made wine from the mulberries. It was good for diarrhea. Liwwat baked bread with whatever kind of flour they could get. Sometimes she mixed pumpkin, dried beans or blueberries in her corn bread.
“Another kind of bread is made with either pounded or mashed green corn paste stuffed into a green corn leaf usually with a ladle, well wrapped and baked in the ashes. … This is quite sweet and a delicacy. …If a traveler needs some food, he takes a spoonful of the paste in his mouth and with water from the stream drinks it down. With this minimum food one can keep from hunger all day long.”
In another days journal, she writes: “Of the forest, my first impression was I am imprisoned, swallowed deep in its gloomy throat. In these wooded depths there is no dimension or direction, so dreadfully quiet, so damp, dark, cool. Behind, below, above in front are the brush, the woods, and two million unbending trees. Their branches, their boughs clutch at me at each step, and there is no path except by the old branchless trees, a topsy-turvy paradox, cool three fourths of the day and a cookpot all afternoon. … It is impossible to describe how dense, dull and clumsy, how pitifully bewildered we and our neighbors were … how imprudent nature was … Our complaining went away in time. It was worth our waiting and screaming. God is indeed with us!”

(To be continued)

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