November 1996 Blazer

Pioneers worked and played together

THE HISTORY BLAZER ATE H7S OF UTAH'S PAST FROIII THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake C i t l~ T T8 4101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 333- 3303 Pioneers Worked and Played Together THED IARY OF CATHARINEM EHRINGW OOLLEYt, h e young, Pennsylvania- born wife of Samuel A. Woolley, reveals that the couple arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1848 with their small son, Bub, and Samuel's brother Edwin ( E. D.) and his family. Other family members crossed the plains that same year. Thus Catharine and S. A. ( as she most often referred to him in her diary) enjoyed an immediate network of extended family and friends from Nauvoo and Winter Quarters. Through this network, they were given temporary room for their tent and wagon boxes behind John Woolley's ' house." Catharine immediately set up housekeeping, airing out their packed belongings, cleaning the boxes ( in the process frightening away two mice that had eaten some brown muslin), and baking suppers and dinners. But she did not try to cope alone. She paid Susan Gusting 37 cents to do her first week's washing, an accumulated batch from the final weeks of the journey. And she immediately commissioned women to sew her a bonnet, tailor a jacket for Samuel, and cut out linings for dresses she was making. Samuel's first task was to go into the canyon and cut logs for a cabin. He did not work alone either; he and his brother Edwin's boys formed a small caravan of family wagons. Lumber trips usually took three days. During his absence Catharine always fetched cousin Maria Dewey or ' Sis" ( one of Edwin's daughters) to spend the night. It is hard to tell how much of the constant bartering among these early settlers was motivated by social instinct and how much by economic necessity. Catharine often welcomed several visitors during the afternoon- mostly women friends who had finished their daily chores. Samuel's male associates were more likely to drop by in the evenings. Almost always the guests brought goods to trade: three cucumbers for a skein of thread, turnips for saleratus ( soda), beets for the laan of a teakettle and some milk, " garden sauce" for some of Catharine's soap. Less frequently, Catharine went to other women's homes, usually combining such visits with a shopping trip. One day at her sister- in- law's cabin she ironed while Maria cut out a cap for Bub. Once when Catharine made pies and pudding, she took some to a friend with whom she had had lunch a few days before. A few days per month Samuel, having a sturdy team and wagon, hired out for cash as a hauler. He moved corn fodder, hay, stone, and lumber. A nephew often accompanied him on these trips. More often Samuel worked with his brother in John's cornfield, helped to build a family hayrack, or traded labor with other men in clearing each other's lots. He virtually never worked alone. ( more) After waiting in line at the sawmill to get logs split, Samuel and Catharine were ready to build their own cabin. This too was a group effort as other couples came to watch and help. Only when the cabin walls were up and the roof laid did Samuel work mostly by himself at chinking and daubing. Even then, as he sawed out and constructed his window frames, Catharine stood by to insert the glass panes. Samuel got Calvin Ensign, a finish carpenter, to make two bedsteads. To save on the wst, Samuel bought only the components, intending to assemble the beds himself. But when he went to pick up the pieces, Calvin and Lyman Ensign returned with him and helped him put the frames together, cord them, and set up the beds. Samuel paid for the carpentry work but not for the extra service. Besides working together the pioneers played together. On one November evening Horace Wtney, Porter Rockwell, and a Mr. Baird dropped by the Woolleys' new cabin. After chatting for a while, someone got the idea of adjourning to John's house where an impromptu dance lasted until midnight. Another evening ' two young gents" stopped by to see if the Woolleys would host a Christmas party. Catharine spent the next week baking cakes and pies. On Christmas morning Samuel took the furniture out of the house, and a friend, Betsy, came in to mop the floor while Catharine finished preparing the holiday meal. Seventeen couples arrived for lunch; stayed for dinner, a nap, evening refreshments, and a dance; and did not leave until sunrise the next morning. Much like our Generation X, Utah's early settlers appear to have loved a party. This tendency must have made pioneering more bearable if not downright enjoyable. Source: Diary of Catharine Mehring Woolley, excerpts published in installments in J. Cecil Alter's column, " In the Beginning of Things in Utah," Salt Lake Telegram, February 8 to March 2, 1935. THE HISTOBRLYA ZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( BB)