1.  Mrs. Laura Tresner Woods

2.  Fayetteville, Ark. RFD#5

3.  Retired Housekeeper

4.  Housekeeping

5.  April 13, 1853

6.  Greencastle Putman County, Indiana

7.  Yes, Benjamin N. Woods, Nov. 10, 1872, Peru, Chauta [sic] Chautauqua Co. Kansas

8.  There were twelve families that left Indiana for Kansas in ten wagons some drawn by horse, some by mules, and some by oxen. They were on the road seven weeks from Indiana to Kansas. She stayed in Kansas about a year and married before coming to Arkansas. One of her father’s horses died on the road and he traded the other horse for a yoke of oxen. She said they had a lot of fun while on the way. Since they were not in a hurry. Some time after camp had been pitched the men went hunting and brought back deer, or squirrel or a big turkey. The women folk were often frightened on account of prowling bear and especially so if the men were out hunting. The journey was made late in the summer and early fall of the year 1877.

9.

10. Since 1877 or sixty-four years

11. See answer to question #8. Her family drove through from Kansas to near Goshen in seven days

12. Her father had moved to Arkansas in 1876 and her husband had suffered a sun stroke in Kansas wheat harvest that summer was the reason for her coming to Arkansas

13. The houses were built of log. Some hewn and some just made with rough logs. Many of these houses had dirt floors and a large fireplace on which the cooking was done. The chimneys were made of stick and dirt. The first frame house that was built in Round Mountain community was built in 1885. Mrs. Woods had the only cook stove and her neighbors were afraid of it. They said when Mr. Woods filed on his claim, a Mr. Irling who lived near by had been over with his gun and said, “You’ll have to move. This is mine.” Mr. Woods replied, “That so? Well if I move, it will be after the fight.” He never moved. Before this Mr. Irling had scared two others off. Mrs. Woods still occupies the same old homestead

14. Everyone used tallow candles or grease lamps, however, Mrs. Woods had brought a kerosene lamp from Kansas. On account of scarcity of oil she used the tallow candle

15. Electricity is just now coming into use in this community

16. Wood was the only fuel used in the home. It was also used as fuel for steam power.

17. Hog meat was in abundance in the early day. Also deer, turkey, and squirrel supplied a lot of  meat. Mr. Woods had made a pen to catch turkey with. At one time while the son Ed was   watching the pen thirteen turkey were turned into it. The boy ran to the field to tell his father, but while he was gone an old hog found the pen and let the turkeys out.

18. Mrs. Woods states that most all the clothing was home made. Cotton & wool was carded and spun and woven into cloth. There was only one sewing machine in the community. She says that one time when she could not do her cloth for clothing for the family. The sewing was all done by hand and Mrs. Woods paid Mrs. Ferguson 50 cents a day for sewing Mrs. Woods

     had a red flannel and by accident half of the material was made into a dress wrong side out. Since this had been made on the machine they thought it could not be ripped out and it was warn that way. Sometimes some of the more well to do would buy a store dress of calico. Men’s shirts were sometimes made from broadcloth and all shoes were made by hand from home tanned hides. The tanner tanned the hides himself. In 1889 she bought her first and only sewing machine which she still uses

19.In regard to courtship and marriage it was the custom for the contracting parties to give a wedding dinner. Those who were invited were not suppose to take part in charivaris.

     When Mrs. Woods was married her father gave her the choice of having a dinner or ten dollars. She chose the dinner and had nearly 250 guests. After the dinner they played singing plays such as “Old Dan Tucker” and “Shoot the Buffalo”, after which they had music with the violin and banjo and a big dance. During the afternoon one of her old sweethearts came in and asked her for a dance. During the set he asked for the permission to see her to church. She told him he would have to see Bennie. Then he left the party.

20. She says that in 1880-1885 corn sold at 12 1/2 cents per bu., 25 cents per bu., syrup 25 cents per gal., pork 3 cents per lb., & coffee 30 cents per lb. and had to be roasted. Sugar was bought in 100 lb. bags, but she does not remember the price.

21. There was a time during Cleveland's administration when food became very scarce. There was no money. She and Mrs. Ferguson were able to buy salt meat once in a while and they would save the meat rinds and divide them among their neighbors to grease their bread pans with. Salt was so scarce they saved what salt they could scrape off the meat and used it to season vegetables. If a neighbor came to want on account of sickness, they would supply their needs. Sometimes the neighbors would come in and work out the crop or do whatever was needed

22. The early cultivated crops were corn and wheat. They raised just enough to supply home needs as it had to be flailed out by hand. Oats and vegetables such as potatoes, beans, & peas were also grown. Domesticated animals were horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, chickens, turkey, geese, and duck. Pigeons were so numerous that they would darken the sky as they came to roost

23. Farm implements were hand made. Her husband was a blacksmith and a wood workman. Steel was bought in slabs from which he made the bull tongue and other plow points. He made the plowstick too. Manufactured plows came in use about 1885 or 1890. Mrs. Woods still has the spinning wheel that he made soon after they came to Arkansas. He was also a cabinet maker. She has a round table made of walnut and put together with four screws. It still is in excellent condition. Mrs. Lillie Cora of Fayetteville has a square walnut table which Mr. Woods made about the same time which is also in good condition. She stated that her husband manufactured the lumber that the side walks from the square in Fayetteville to the University were made from with wood. This has been replaced with concrete

24. Farming and saw milling. There was a grist mill at Fayetteville about where the brooks store now stands. The mill was operated by a Mr. Ed Cravens.

25. Polk salad, carpenter’s square (a tender weed like plant with a square stem), crow’s foot (a tender plant cooked with pork), sassafras tea, wild strawberries, blackberries, wild grapes, and yellow paw paws. There were lots white paw paws, but they were not good.

26. House raisings and log rollings were great occasions for the whole community. Neighbors would come together with provisions to prepare for a great feast. If it was a house raising would soon have the house up and sometimes get the roof on. Then they would play games and dance. If it was a log rolling they went to the clearing where logs had been cut in uniform size and carried the logs back the one who could hold the handspike under the heaviest load was declared the champion. Then followed a party which followed far into the night.

            Another event of great interest was the harvest festival which was given by the German Baptist (Dunkers). On such occasion in September or October a beef was killed from which beef soup was made. They made this in large washkettles on the church ground. This was at Round Mt. on a lot in adjacent to where the Apostolic Church now stands. This soup supper was free to all who wished to take part and at such a supper long tables were arranged with one or two large bowls to each table. Each person helped himself from the bowl. They only served soup and light bread. Then while still at the table they washed their feet. After the washing of feet the Lord's supper was observed; members only participating, This was always a very quiet affair. After this services were continued far into the night. They camped on the ground or stayed in the church house. Then early in the morning a bountiful breakfast was served free to all. This was a feast of everything good to eat that the community could supply. It was called the "Love Feast."

27. None.

28. None.

29. None.

30. Not much school in her childhood.

31. Terre Haute, Indiana

32. George Kennon was her teacher.

33. Tuition at first was $1.00 per scholars if the teachers could get as many as twenty-five subscribers. A little later the schools were tax supported. When they came to this place most schools were subscription schools. Sometimes the teacher was paid partly with farm products. Here she relates a story about a Mr. Evin in Kansas who owned a big apple orchard. He would fill a sack with apples and rider out on the school ground at the noon hour. This sack was tied at both ends. He did this on purpose so that he could untie each end of the sack and run his horse off the school ground. He then amused himself in watching the children gather up the apples.

34. Ray's Arithmetic, McGuffy's Reader, and the old Blue Back Speller. When one reached the fourth grade, he was considered well educated.

35. The reading material was first the Bible, The also took "St. Louis Globe Democrat", "Toledo Blade" and "Kansas Journal."

36. Fayetteville had its first telegraph line about 1880. One reason she remembers it so well is that her brother Mr. Tresner, took his wagon and hauled a large crowd to see the first passenger train come in. She did not get to go, but since she had seen trains in Kansas and Illinois, and Indiana, she did not care to go.

37. She did not know, but said she never saw a trolley car in Arkansas.

38. In Fayetteville in the year 1903 or 1904.

39. In Indiana, but does not remember when.

40. At the fair ground in Fayetteville in 1914.

41. She does not know.

42. She says that there was a theatre in Fayetteville, and that local people put on what performances they had. Traveling shows such as Barnum and Bailey were annual affairs. She has never seen a movie.

43. She was in Kansas at the close of the Civil War. There were not much celebration on account that Kansas was not greatly disturbed by the war. Feeling ran pretty high at a great celebration and it looked as if trouble could not be avoided. It finally closed without any causality. They had several fist fights. The next celebration was in honor of the first passenger train in Fayetteville in 1880.

44. She remembers the James boys. Her husband and Jessie's wife were well acquainted. At one time while they were passing through, Mr. Woods and Ben James, a relative of Jessie James, shod their horses at the old McGuire home. The James boys did not do anything in this part of the country.

45. Near Peru, Kansas. There were several killings and hangings on account of homesteads. On one occasion near Peru, Mr. Woods was on his way to work when looking up he saw a man hanging from a limb. He had been killed because he was trying to homestead some land the other fellow wanted. Mr. Wood's neighbor, Mr. Elgin, waylaid the road and when John Bailey was going home, he met him and said. "You've stold your last cattle from me." He then shot the main and left him in the road. He was never prosecuted for the crime.

46. None.

47. None.

48. She was not an eyewitness of any executions of horse thieves, but knew something about the operation of the anti-horse thief association. Her husband was a member of that association, She knows of no bank robberies that came under her personal observation in her community.

49. She stated that in Indiana where they lived at that time there was not much excitement, but her father, Mr. Ham Tresner, was a private in the Army and served all through the war. Mr. Benj. Wood, her husband also served in the Union army at the end of the war. She has a postage stamp a little larger that is a twenty-five cent piece with Thomas Jefferson' picture on it. It is of the 1862 series. It has a brass binding and was used by the the soldiers instead of money.

50. There were no battles or skirmished neat where she was. At the 4th of July celebration at Terre Haute, Ind., where there were lots of Rebels as well as Union men a foray occurred in which there was much fighting. A Union man who was operations a lemonade stand began to cry out "Lemonade stirred by Abraham Lincoln, the best that was ever made." A southern man was also running a stand and began to cry, "Lemonade by Jefferson Davis, the best that can be made." From this the fight began and several men took part fighting with fists only. One man was killed and several carried off the picnic grounds.

52. She states that the K. K. K. was a southern institution to scare the negro and to intimidate the carpet bagger or scalawags. It possibly was an order which brought about better conditions after the war.

53. The Farmer's Alliance was established to which her husband belonged. They established a store in Fayetteville in 1880 with Mr. Jackson (Grandpa) as clerk. Mr. Jackson was father of Ham Tresner's wife. His family was one of the twelve families that came from Terheaut (Terre Haute), Indiana in 1870 or '72 to Kansas.

54. Her father, Hamilton Tresner, fought in the Civil War. He had also served in the U. S. Army that drove the Indians back west. There were two brothers in the Civil War. The only difficulty that happened to her younger brother was that he was put in the guard house for three days for killing the Captain's dog. The other brother was killed in a battle at Shiloh. One son Peter Woods, served in the was of 1914. One grandson, Bert Tresner got killed in Germany.

55. There is a large cave on the south side of Round Mt. in which an old Indian doctor lived when they first came to the community. This Indian gathered herbs from which he made his medicine. He left. No one knew when or where he went. It was probably about 1885.

56. None.

57. There is a total of forty-five known descendants. In her father's family there were sixteen children and she is the only one living.

58. Peter B. Woods, son, Rt. 5, Fayetteville, served over seas. Two old maid daughters, Fannie and Stella, at home, Bert Tresner a nephew, killed in action in World War, Evert Hinds, a grandson, was also in service over seas.

59. Charlie Stillwell in Navy Santiago, California. He is a nephew.

60. There is a sort of Journal in which he kept an imperfect record of his business activities.

58. Supplementary to question 58. Names of her children.

Edward Woods, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Rt. #5

Miss Fannie Woods,      "          "          "

Mr. Peter B. Woods,      "          "          "

Mrs. Clara Stillwell, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Rt. #5

Miss Jane Woods, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Rt. #5

34. Supplementary to question 34.

     The early school in which her children attended was in a log building at Round Mountain. The teacher was David Crisp. This school house was furnished with split logs for seats. The first few years after the war, the schools were subscription schools. If the teacher could get as many as twenty-five subscribers, he would teacher for $1.00 per scholar.

Transcribed by Kyle Morrow, Class of 2012