Читать книгу The Experiences of Uncle Jack: Being a Biography of Rev. Andrew Jackson Newgent онлайн

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At the age of nineteen, in the year 1825, he was married to Mary Pugh, of Shelby County, Kentucky, his native county. Her parents had come from Scotland and were substantial citizens.

Soon after their marriage they moved to Parke County, Indiana, and settled on a tract of land which the wife had received as a dower from her father.

Pioneer life in Indiana need not here be enlarged upon. A solitary dwelling in the interminable and trackless forest; the building consisting of a single room built of unhewn logs, roofed with hand-split clapboards; the chimney covering one entire end of the building; the rough doors swung on wooden hinges; the small windows with greased paper or the tanned skins of animals through which a bit of daylight finds its way with difficulty; the huge fireplace used for both cooking and heating purposes; the few pieces of hand-made furniture—these were some of the outward aspects of domestic life out on the ragged edge of civilization. The cabin of the Newgents was typical of those of their neighbors, the nearest of whom lived some fifteen miles distant. The larger wild animals were frequent visitors and the war whoop of the Indian had scarcely died away.