The Pioneer Wedding
From History
of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of
by Wills De Hass
Chapter III (1773) Pages 99-102.
Published in
Submitted by Barbara
Blake Goddard.
“For a long time after the first settlement of this country, the
inhabitants in general married young. There was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts, the
first impression of love resulted in marriage; and a family establishment cost
but a little labor, and nothing else.
A description of a wedding from the beginning to the end, will
serve to show the manners of our forefathers, and mark
the grade of civilization which has succeeded to their rude state of society in
the course of a few years.
In the first years of the settlement of the country, a wedding
engaged the attention of a whole neighborhood; and the frolic
was anticipated by old and young with eager expectation. This is not to be wondered at, when it is
told that a wedding was almost the only gathering which
was not accompanied with the labor of reaping, log-rolling, building a cabin,
or planning some scout or campaign.
On the morning of the wedding-day, the groom and his attendants
assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of
reaching the home of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for
celebrating the nuptials; and which for certain reasons must take place before
dinner.
Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store,
tailor, or mantuamaker within a hundred miles; and an assemblage of horses,
without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. The gentlemen dressed in shoe-packs, moccasins, leather,
breeches, leggins, linsey hunting shirts, and all home made. The ladies dressed in linsey petticoats and linsey or linen bed
gowns, coarse shoes, stockings, handkerchiefs, and buckskin gloves, if any. If
there were any buckles, rings, buttons, or ruffles, they were the relics of
olden times; family pieces from parents or grand parents. The horses were
caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack-saddles,
with a bag or blanket thrown over them: a rope or string as often constituted
the girth as a piece of leather.
The march, in double-file, was often interrupted by the narrowness
and obstructions of our horse-paths, as they were called, for we had no roads;
and these difficulties were often increased, sometimes by the good, and
sometimes by the ill will of neighbors, by falling trees, and tying grapes vines across
the way. Sometimes and ambuscade was formed by the way side, and an unexpected
discharge of several guns took place, so as to cover
the wedding party with smoke. Let the reader imagine the scene
which followed this discharge; the sudden spring of the horses, the
shrieks of the girls, and the chivalrous bustle of their partners to save them
from falling. Sometimes, in spite of all that could be done
to prevent it, some were thrown to the ground. If a wrist, elbow, or ankle
happened to be sprained, it was tied with a
handkerchief, and little more was thought or said
about it.
The ceremony of the marriage preceded the
dinner, which was a substantial back-woods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and
sometimes venison and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes,
cabbage, and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest
hilarity always prevailed; although the table might be a large slab of timber,
hewed out with a broad axe, supported by four sticks set in auger holes; and
the furniture some old pewter dishes, and plates; the rest, wooden bowls and
trenchers; a few pewter spoons, much battered about the edges, were to be seen
at some tables. The rest were made of horns. If knives were scarce, the
deficiency was made up by the scalping knives which were
carried in sheaths suspended to the belt of the hunting shirt. Every man carried one of them.
After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted till the next morning. The figures of the dances were three
and four handed reels, or square setts, and jigs. The commencement was always a
square four, which was followed by what was called
jiging it off; that is, two of the four would single out for a jig and were
followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied by what was
called cutting out; that is, when either of the parties became tired of the
dance, on intimation the place was supplied by some one of the company without
any interruption to the dance. In this way a dance was
often continued till the musician was heartily tired of his situation. Toward
the latter part of the night, if any of the company, through weariness,
attempted to conceal themselves, for the purpose of sleeping, they were hunted
up, paraded on the floor, and the fiddler ordered to play ‘Hang out till
to-morrow morning.’
About nine or ten o’clock, a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride, and put her to bed. In doing
this, it frequently happened that they had to ascend a ladder instead of a pair
of stairs, leading from the dining and ball room to the loft, the floor of
which was made of clapboards lying loose. This ascent, one
might think, would put the bride and her attendants to the blush; but as the
foot of the ladder was commonly behind the door, which was purposely opened for
the occasion, and its rounds at the inner ends were well hung with hunting
shirts, dresses and other articles of clothing, the candles being on the
opposite side of the house, the exit of the bride was noticed but by few.
This done, a deputation of young men in like manner stole off the groom and
placed him snugly
by the side of his bride. The dance still continued;
and if seats happened to be scarce, which was often the case, every young man,
when not engaged in the dance, was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one
of the girls; and the offer was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity the bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night, some one would remind the company that
the new couple must stand in need of some refreshment: black Betty, which was the
name of the bottle, was called for, and sent up the ladder; but sometimes black
Betty did not go alone, I have many times seen as much bread, beef, pork and
cabbage sent along, as would afford a good meal for half a dozen hungry men.
The young couple were compelled to eat and drink,
more or less, of whatever was offered.
But to return. It often happened that
some neighbors or relations, not being asked to the
wedding, took offence; and the mode of revenge adopted by them on such
occasions, was that of cutting off the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses
of the wedding party.
On returning to the infare, the order of procession, and the race
for black Betty was the same as before. The feasting and dancing often lasted several
days, at the end of which the whole company were so exhausted with loss of
sleep, that many days’ rest were requisite to fit them to return to their
ordinary labors.
Should I be asked why I have presented this unpleasant portrait of
the rude manners of our forefathers, I, in turn, would
ask my reader, why are you so pleased with the histories of the blood and
carnage of battles? Why are you delighted with the fictions of poetry, the
novel and romance? I have related truth,
and only truth, strange as it may seem. I have depicted a state of society, and
manners, which are fast vanishing from the memory of man, with a view to give
the youth of our country a knowledge of
the advantages of civilization, and to give contentment to the aged, by
preventing them from saying, ‘that former times were better than the present’.”