Stories of Old KentuckyPurcell, Martha C. Grassham, Mrs.
History
Stories of Old Kentucky
Purcell, Martha C. Grassham, Mrs.
Kentucky -- History
Betsey Calloway, a brunette much tanned by exposure, was mistaken by one
of the rescuing party for an Indian, as she sat with the two wearied
maidens asleep with their heads in her lap. Just as he was about to
dash out her brains with the butt of his gun his arm was arrested by one
who recognized her, and a most horrible tragedy was averted. Amid
rejoicing they returned to the fort.
On the seventh of the next month Squire Boone, a Baptist minister,
performed the first marriage ceremony in Kentucky, when Betsey Calloway
became the wife of Samuel Henderson. The other two couples soon followed
their example.
A WEDDING IN THE WILDERNESS
The boys and girls in the early days of Kentucky usually married very
young; and a wedding was an event so important that every one in the
entire community felt a personal interest in the affair. The ceremony
was usually performed just before noon.
On the morning of the appointed day the groom and his attendants met at
the home of his father and proceeded to the home of the bride. The
gentlemen wore only clothes that were homemade; linsey shirts, leather
breeches and leggins, moccasins or shoepacks, and caps of mink or
raccoon skin with the tail hanging down the back completed their
costume.
The ladies were beautiful in linsey-woolsey, coarse shoes, or moccasins
embroidered with beads and quills, and buckskin gloves. Just after the
ceremony there was a feast of venison and bear, beef and pork, turkeys
and geese, potatoes and cabbage, cornmeal mush with milk and maple
sugar, ash cake and dodgers.
[Illustration: "As soon as dinner was over, the dancing began."]
As soon as dinner was over the dancing began and lasted not only through
the afternoon but through the night until dawn. The square dance, the
reel, and the jig were the figures that gave most joy to their flying
feet.
Either the next day, or very soon thereafter, the neighbors helped the
newly married couple "settle." A party of choppers felled and trimmed
the trees, others hauled them to the site, while others made the
clapboards for the roof, and puncheons for floor and door. If any
windows were made, they were covered with oiled doeskin and had thick
shutters. No one had windows filled with glass in those days.[2]
The neighbors helped not only to raise and cover the house, but to make
the furniture also. A table was made from a slab of wood with four legs
driven into auger holes; some three-legged stools were made of like
material. Sticks driven into auger holes in the wall supported clapboard
shelves where various articles were kept. A few pegs were likewise
driven in the wall where the wearing apparel of both men and women was
hung. A pair of buck horns or two small forks fastened to the logs held
the ever trusty rifle and shot pouch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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