not only among the representatives of
Uncle Sam, but among the people who had just left the boat. It was my
first encounter with the United States Army and I was badly scared.

About ten o'clock after we landed, we started three wagons with a pair
of oxen for each and about ten head of cows and young stock. It was a
beautiful night, with full moon and after traveling a mile to what was
known as Bloomington Creek, we stopped to graze the cattle and to rest.
We all got more or less sleep and it was eight in the morning before we
were able to start the cavalcade. We arrived in sight of our future
home, under most auspicious circumstances. The weather was mild and the
sun shining brightly when we came to a place from where father pointed
out the log house in the edge of the woods, with a stovepipe through the
roof and the smoke coming out. My uncle Sherbuel had remained an
occupant of this house all winter, that he might hold this claim of my
father's and the one next to it, which had been selected for my Uncle
William. Uncle Sherbuel was something of a hunter and trapper, and had
made good use of his time during the winter and had a good assortment of
furs, otter, wolf, mink, fox and those of smaller animals. He had killed
several deer and was tanning the hides at the time we arrived. He had
also caught and salted several hundred pounds of bass, pike and
pickerel.

Father had little money left and we were without seed, except potatoes,
for about three acres of our land. Potatoes were of very little value
and it was doubtful if it would pay to plant them, but as we had nothing
else to put into the ground father concluded that he would seed the
three acres with potatoes, of which he had plenty of the kind known as
Irish Reds, a round potato of exceedingly fine variety. He sowed a few
acres of wheat, two or three acres of oats and planted two or three
acres of corn and of course, we had a garden. We had to build a yard for
the cattle at night, some sort of shelter for them, and we also had to
build pig-pens. Lumber was almost unobtainable so these structures were
largely of logs. They had to be very well built, strong as well as high,
in order to keep cattle and hogs out of the fields. I remember that we
had one hog that would climb anything in sight and what she could not
climb she would dig under. Many a time in the summer of '54 and '55 did
I chase that animal and her offspring back into the pig-pen.

I had a most treme