LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - MARCH 7, 2021 by Lynne Belluscio This year, 2021, is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac. Somehow, it must be fate, because I am preparing activities for the Wolcott Street School, based on a wonderful book, “The Ox Cart Man.” For several years, we have included this book with the story of the ox cart in the Transportation Exhibit in the lower level of the Jell-O Gallery. The book tells about a family who works all year to fill the ox cart with shingles, and wool, a woven shawl, goose feathers, carved ash brooms, maple sugar, candles, honey, knitted mittens, honey, barrels of apples, and potatoes. In the fall, the father walks to town with the full cart and sells everything including the cart and the ox. He then walks home with a new embroidery needle for his daughter, a new barrow knife for his son, a new iron kettle for his wife, a few pieces of peppermint candy, and some money. As soon as the man returns home he begins to build a new ox cart and train the young calf, and his family begins to spin and weave and knit. Although the story takes place in Maine, it could have taken place here in LeRoy in the early 1800s. Right now, I am trying to fill our ox cart with many of the things that are mentioned in the story and to show the students how these things were made a long time ago. Afriend is knitting five pair of mittens, but is leaving one mitten unfinished on the knitting needles, so the students can see how mittens were knitted. We have a woven shawl by LeRoy weaver, Louise Richens. I will have a box of maple sugar, and a box of hand dipped tallow candles. And I have some split cedar shingles. Since I cannot put real apples, potatoes, and turnips in the exhibit, I will have fake substitutes. (So far, I cannot find big plastic turnips.) When the early pioneers came to LeRoy, they came with oxen, not horses. There’s a couple of reasons for that. First, horses need hay and oats to eat, and this area was heavily wooded. It would be several years before trees could be cleared and turned into pasture and oats could be planted. Oxen, like deer, would browse on leaves, twigs and bushes. Although oxen are castrated cattle, there are stories of pioneers having a cow in yoke, and a young bull that would be bred to the cow. The cow could provide milk for butter and cheese. The ox provided meat. Ox roasts were not uncommon, and people did not eat horse meat. Also, oxen had the strength to pull heavy loads and to pull the wooden “bull” plows that were used to turn over the woodland soil. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to do some plowing with a team of oxen at Old Sturbridge Village. One thing I learned - - they walk fast. The term “slow as an ox” doesn’t really apply. The other thing I learned, is that plowing with oxen was a two-man job. Although I had my hands on the handle of the plow, I had to rely on a “drover” walking up near the oxen to tell them what to do. Oxen do not have bits in their mouth (yes I knew a guy who had a team of oxen that he drove with bits and reins, but that is rare) So you have to talk to them. “Gee” means to go right. “Haw” tells them to go left. Like horses, they know “Whoa.” There are other verbal commands. I also learned that the commands are different in different parts of the country, so if you buy an ox team from the south, and take them to Maine, or vice versa, you have to make sure you know how to talk to them. The drover also carries a long stick with a small leather strap on the end. It’s not really a whip. He taps the animals on a shoulder, or on the flank to tell them to move up and move over. He also uses it to brush off flies. Oxen learn their names, so that the drover can speak to one or the other. Sometimes one is lazy, and won’t “pull his own weight” as they say. This can be a problem. Sometimes, oxen needed to have “shoes” on their feet, just like horses. Because oxen have split hooves, there has to be two pieces for each foot. In fact, we have a couple of ox shoes in the collection, (I need to find them and put them in the cart.) When the blacksmith would shoe an ox, the animal had to be hoisted up off his feet in a huge wooden frame. Unlike a horse, they will not stand on three feet to have shoes put on. There are still a few ox pulling competitions in some regions - -mostly Maine and New Hampshire. The large heavy ox cart on exhibit at the Historical Society, was owned by Leonard Wood, an immigrant from England who settled in Stafford. His 1852 probate record includes an ox cart valued at $10 and a yoke of oxen valued at $90. Many of the early pioneers did not come to the frontier with an ox cart. They actually came with an ox sled because they came to frontier in the winter, when the ground was frozen and they could cross the ice covered streams. There are stories that some early settlers would take short cuts across frozen lakes. Once the snow started to melt, the mud was deep and neither sleds or wagons could get through. Early settlers in this region usually had red oxen - - Devons or Durhams or mixed breed cattle. These cattle originated in England. Devons were shipped to North America in the early 1600s, shortly after Plymouth was settled. (The cities of Durham North and South Carolina, were not named for the cattle, but for men whose names were Durham. The Durham Bulls - - and the baseball movie of Bull Durham, is a whole different story.) And then, there is Bull Durham chewing tobacco . . . The Year of the Ox