1. Frank Nance
2. Huntsville, Arkansas
3. Retired
5. June 23rd, 1854
6. Dallas County, Texas
7. Married to Ella
Alderson, April 1st, 1877
9. Native Born
10. Lived in Arkansas 82
years
11. Native
12. Moved to Arkansas
with his parents from Fallen Kentucky in 1857 to seek better lands and
opportunities.
13. The early houses were
constructed of logs, with stone chimneys, “Puncheon” floors and doors made of
clapboards, the windows were constructed on the south side of the building so as
to keep out the north winds, in some instances the windows were constructed on
all sides of the house, and opened on the opposite side from the wind, to admit
light and for ventilating purposes.
14. Tallow candles and
“Fat Lamps” were used for lighting purposes, and among some of the poorer
classes pine-knots were their means of illumination.
15. Electric lights were
first used in Huntsville, in 1912, the first plant was very small, supplying
only the business houses and some very few of the more well to do residences,
the rates were almost prohibitive.
16. Wood was used for fuel
in this county as it was very plentiful in fact the majority of these farms you
see around here, I saw them wrested from the forest.
17. Meat, either beef,
pork or game, was the kinds used for food, the bread was made mostly from corn,
as mills were very few, and a long ways apart, the meal was prepared by grating
or “grittin”, this process was accomplished by rubbing the ear of corn while it
was in its soft stage over the rough side of a piece of tin that had been made
rough by driving nails through it making a number of rough perforations, some
families, had a mortar and pestle that they had acquired from some Indian, which
they used to mash up the corn. Wheat was not grown to any extent, flour was high
and we only had biscuit once a week, that was for breakfast on Sunday morning
18. Homespun clothes were
worn, each family raising its own wool and cotton; sometimes they were dyed in
fancy patterns, that is the “Sunday” clothes, by the “everyday ones” were dyed
with walnut hulls, sumac, and logwood. “The seed was picked from the cotton by
hand.” The wool had to be picked and washed then “carded and spun” on a home
made spinning wheel, the loom was also homemade, sometimes the “warp” was “store bought”,
but most generally it was homespun.
19. Bundling was not
practiced to my knowledge in the early courtships, but sometimes an agreement
was reached between the families of the boy and girl, before they reached the
“marrying” age, but in many cases the young folks tore these agreements and
hopes to pieces when they got ready to get married, “shivaree’s” were always
were always in order after the wedding, the friends and neighbors would be
notified by a secret messenger to assemble at a certain place at a given time,
armed with firearms, cow bells, dishpans or any noisemaking implement that they
might own or could borrow, then they would go to the place where the newlyweds
lived and there proceed to “raise cane” until such a time as the bridegroom saw
fit to invite them in for a treat, and if he did not, and became angry, they
proceeded to remove him from the house by force, place him on a fence rail and
carry him to the nearest body of water and dump him in, then if he did not treat
or promise to, the operation was repeated again and again until he did.
20. In 1881, when I was
in the General Merchandise Business, food was not as high as it is now, of
course everything nearly in the food line came in hogsheads and barrels, and
nearly every one raised the most of everything they eat, coffee and sugar was
not used to a great extent, a good grade of “Green Coffee” sold for 17 and 18
cents per pound, of course that had to be home roasted, molasses (or “Lasses”)
was used instead of sugar by many people.
21. The majority of the
people were very “neighborly” for example, John Johnson, would kill a beef, and
divide it with Bill Smith, and the rest of his neighbors, then Bill Smith would
kill a hog, and divide with John Johnson and the rest, and so on until they had
all had a turn, and in case some of the neighbors were not able to contribute
when their time came they were divided with just the same. Each neighborhood
always seen to it that no one in their vicinity went hungry, cold or unclothed.
22. The early cultivated
crops were Corn, Oats, Potatoes and some small grains such as Millet. Cotton
was raised for home use only. I do not remember when tomatoes ceased to be
known as “Love Apples” but I remember when they were called that and was
considered very poison, they grew wild and very few live stock would eat them.
23. “Bull Tongue”
ploughs, Diamond turning plows and a plow known as the “Shovel” plow are the
first I can remember, the “stocks” were homemade in nearly all instances, and
the iron used on the plow, was fashioned by the local Blacksmith, some owned
what was known as “Brought on plows” these were brought in when the early
settlers arrived, and were mostly manufactured in the North, some from the
south, The hoes were homemade, and were called “Grub hoes” and “Mattocks”.
24. Farming and stock
raising were about all the industries in the county. When the crops were “laid
by”, a lot of people turned their attention to the digging of roots and herbs
for the market, among the marketable herbs were: Ginseng, Seneca Root, Blood
Root, “Yellow Peccoon” or (Golden Seal), these roots were dug with a special
made wooden hoe so as to not bruise the roots, then they were sun dried, turned
over to the local druggist who purchased what he could use, and sent the balance
to some drug house in the North or South, and the owner was paid just what they
were of a “mind” to give.
25. Some of the native
plants used for flower gardens were; Sweet William, Princess Feather,
Forget-me-nots, Hollyhocks, Ladies Slipper, Sage. For medicines, we used Mullen
Tea for colds also red pepper tea in bad cases, Sassafras tea was used during
the month of February, for the purpose of thinning the blood, Paw-Paws were
eaten by the majority of the settlers, about the same as banana’s are eaten
to-day. Sun Flower seed were used for medicine, Poke “Salet” was eaten by
settlers who had fat meat to cook with it, as it was considered very poison
unless you used plenty of grease, it was said to be a good liver tonic, during
and after the war, Corn Cobs were burned to get the soda ash they contained for
bread making. Huckleberries, Blackberries, Service Berries, Dew and Goose
berries grew wild all over the country and were gathered and dried for food,
wild strawberries were also plentiful. Black and Red Haws “Fox” and Summer
Grapes, wild crab apples and horse apples were also plentiful. I remember that
during and after the war, we dug up old smoke house floors and boiled the dirt
to get the salt that was in it, and squirrel, rabbit and ground hog (Woodchuck)
was about all the meat we had.
26. House raisings were
quite common in the early days, the man who wanted to build a house, would cut
the trees, prepare the logs and bring them to the place to where the house was
to be built, then he would go round and invite all the neighbors to come in and
help him lift the logs in place, sometimes he barbecued a beef or hog, but most
of the time we just had “dinner on the ground”. “Log rollings” were also quite
frequent, when a man would clear a piece of land for cultivation, he would ask
the neighbors to come in and help him move the big logs off the ground,
sometimes they were just rolled in piles and burned, but lots of time they were
moved entirely off the land, especially if the land sloped. “Quilting Bees”
were also common, when a lady in the neighborhood got a quilt ready to be
“Quilted”, she would invite all the neighbor women in to help. “Dinner” was
always considered a matter of course. Brush Harbor meetings were quite common
in the summer time. When the “Circuit Rider” had the time, he would tell
members of the congregation to construct a brush arbor, at a central point,
near a good spring, and they would start a protracted meeting, sometimes these
would last a month, and people would come for miles around, bring their camping
outfits and just camp on the ground until the meeting was over. Dances were
quite frequent in neighborhoods where they had a “Fiddler”, and near lt all of
them had one, their slogan seemed to be from “dusk to daylight”. Hog-killings
were very seldom made an event, only a few neighbors coming in, to “swap work”,
(this is I’ll help you this time then you come over and help me when I get
ready). Play parties were held by people who did not care for dancing, or whose
religious convictions forbid them to dance, these were always well attended,
such games as charades, drop the handkerchief, pussy wants a corner and post
office were played , refreshments were always served. “Lassies Makin Time” was
usually quite an event, as in many cases there was only one mill for miles
around, the neighbors would haul the cane for miles, then stay until the
“lasses” were finished and barrelled, then he would load his barrel or barrells
in the wagon and return home, the always brought their camping outfit and
“camped out”.
27. Forest fires were not
regarded as very serious affairs, unless the approched some ones house or barn,
then the were either fired against, or whipped out with brooms made of “buck
bush”. In case of town or house fires, water was thrown on with buckets, until
the fire got too hot, then they just let it burn. It was quite a common
practice for stockowners to “burn the woods” so as to get the fallen leaves off
the grass.
28. Don’t know
29. I remember the first
Hotel in Huntsville was built by a fellow by the name of Long, and that there
was a Stage coach line from Huntsville to Ozark, also a freight Wagon line.
30. All the early schools
were subscription schools, if the people did not have the money to pay the
tuition, they paid in meat, corn or what ever they had that the teacher could
use, the rate was $1.00 per month for each pupil. The subjects taught were;
Reading, Writeing, Arithmetic and Spelling.
31., 32., and 33. I went
to my first school at what is known as Combs Station in the year 1859. The
teachers name was Thomas Shasted, then the children studied their lessons “out
loud”, and the school room sounded like a bunch of bees all the time.
34. The school books used
were “Websters Blue Back Speller”, “McGuffeys Reader” and “Rays Arithmetic”.
35. Magazines, Books and
Newspapers were very scarce, and it was very seldom that we saw one, and when we
did get hold of one it created quite a commotion in the famialy.
36. This community has
never had a Telegraph Station, and does not have one yet.
37. We have never been
bothered with Horse Cars, Trolley Cars or any other such contraptions. We have
buss lines now.
38. The first Automobile
that I remember seeing was in 1910 or 1911, it was owned by a man by the name of
Hill Burns, and was a two-cylinder Maxwell car.
39. The first train I
ever saw was in Texas before coming to this country, there has never been a
railroad in this town. (Huntsville)
40. The first Airplane I
ever saw, was in 1917 or 1918, there was a man came here with one and stayed a
week, he took up passengers at so much each.
41. The first buss I
remember was in 1914, it was started by a fellow by the name of Ingalls, and
operated from Huntsville to Eureka Springs, but it did not last long.
42. The early shows were
in some cases, Stock Companies, then we had school exibitions, that was about
all of the amusements we had except horse raceing.
43. The only really big
celebration I remember, was July 4th, 1876, to celebrate
Independence, and to also celebrate the 100th year of the
Independence, it was held at Kingston this county.
44. I was well acquainted
with Gov. Isaac Murphy, he used to come in my office when I was Deputy County
Clerk, and set and talk for hours at a time, that was when he was an old man, I
also attended his funeral.
45. Don’t remember any
46. Don’t remember any
feuds, that led to bloodshed.
47. Don’t remember any of
any importance
48. We never had a bank
robbery until 1912 or 1913 that I know of, and no lynchings or executions in
this county.
49. I was a little too
young to go to the army, but I herd the guns in the Battle of Fayetteville and
Prairie Grove.
50. I did not witness any
battles or skirmishes.
51., 52., 53. I don’t
remember any activities of any of these
54. None
55. Do not know of but
one Indian Mound, and that is at the Junction of Holmans Creek and War Eagle
Creek, five miles north of Huntsville, the Osage Tribe built this mound. I have
what was known as and Indian bread tray, it is what they used to mash corn in, I
use it for a water trough for my chickens.
56. None
57. I have one son, and
one Granddaughter
58. Denver Nance,
Fayetteville, Ark., Noleta Nance Fayetteville, Ark.
59. Noleta Nance,
Granddaughter, Fayetteville, Ark.
60. None.
