More on Mason

Since I STILL cannot find out how old the Oviatt farmhouse is, I shall instead pass along today's history snippets .

This is from a scrapbook page.  It looks like a rough draft, and I have to question some of the accuracy.   I do not know who wrote it,  but he/she is writning about & quoting Jennie Oviatt ( a granddaughter of Fanny & Mason )

"MIss Jennie Oviatt has in her home at West Richfield, a beautiful maple chest of drawers with the original glass knobs leaded into it.  This chest was brought by her great-grandparents from Goshen, Connecticut.  Matching the chest of drawers is a hand-turned bedstead of maple made at a shop that stood on the site which is now occupied by the Girl Scout Camp. 

"Miss Oviatt and her sister Mrs Ingersall recalled how their grandfather would take cheese, which was made on his farm, by oxcart to Cincinnati to sell.  The trip took six weeks.  They relate also that dairying was the chief occupation of the early Richfielder's. The name Richfield came from the fact that a certain plant grew in the fields of pasture that afforded excellent food and tonic for the cattle and sheep. Hence the name "Richfield".

" The [John] Brown family was not held in very high esteem by their neighbors and their fortunes were anything but but good while living in Richfield.  Here, John Brown became bankrupt and in that process was stripped of everything but a few articles the court decided nessessary for their maintainence.  Among the things they were allowed to keep were:  eleven Bibles and testaments, one book entitled "Beasties of the Bible", one "Church member's guide", two mares, two cows, two hogs, three lamps, seven sheep, nineteen hens, and three pocket knives.  All their other belongings went under the auctioneer's hammer."

end of quote. This is me talking again.   I was pretty skeptical about Mason spending six weeks hauling cheese to Cincinnati.  As if Cincinnati can't get cheese from any place closer.  How realistic is that?  I mentioned this to Dr. Lee, the archeologist. He actually supported the Miss Jennie quote!!  Very shocking.  But the reasons are - Cincinnati, being on the Ohio river, was a major port for moving products to St. Louis, the major jumping off place for anyone traveling out west.  Anyone traveling a long period of time would need provisions, but there were very few foods that could be kept without spoiling.  Cheese was one.  Whiskey was another. 


Therefore, there was a HUGE market for cheese and whiskey.  It was not at all unreasonable for farmers in the Western Reserve to turn their crops into these two products.  The money they got for them made travel time well worth it.   

However - Miss Jennie was born 14 years after Grampa Mason died.  So any recollecting she did was of  Grandma Fanny talking about him. 

On the plus side :   The foundations of the shop are still there.