One Township's Yesterdays Chapter XXVIII
OTHER EARLY SETTLERS
"The sun set, but set not his hope:
Stars rose; his faith was earlier up."
...Ralph Waldo Emerson |
THOSE EARLY SETTLERS must have possessed a certain sturdiness of character and tenacity of faith which sufficed to carry them
successfully through many days and weeks and even years of hardships, disappointments and discouragements Many of them, perhaps the
greater majority, experienced in fall measure the vicissitudes, the "ups and downs." of pioneer life. The settler who gave up hope
was lost. Truly, when the stars rose, "his faith was earlier up."
The pioneer men spent sometimes as many as from fourteen to twenty days straight in log rolling. They often traveled miles from their
own hearth and fireside to help other early settlers in erecting their cabins. It was a matter of continuous hard labor, because the
country was new and the land required constant effort in order that it night be cleared and brought to a state of cultivation. Means
and methods were, beside, of the crudest sort. But the land had to in attended to before real farm life could begin. Many a pioneer
had to start practically on nothing. or next door to nothing.
The histories of the earliest families in the township would fill quite a monstrous volume without outside help, and, notwithstanding
our desire not to slight any of them, we find it impossible to include them all. So, before proceeding with the chronicle of township
events, let us examine a few more of those interesting family trees.
In the neighborhood northeast of Lake Maxinkuckee, early occupied by the THOMPSONS, BUCKLEWS, MOSHERS, CAVENDERS, HARTMANS and other
families whose names figure in our history.