Blacksmith Shop

same person as Abraham Oakley. Five people had just one cow. The rest had a number of horses, sheep and cows; 187 cows and 291 sheep and 82 horses. All had two or more horses for work and travel. Probably the only cash income was from butter and wool and much of their living would have been raised on the farm. Jonathan Lockwood was the only one to have slaves, having three, but you note his family otherwise was small.

The largest family was that of John Stillwell with 13. John Houghtaling, John Sleght and Gilbert Titus each have 9.

Total Population 156.

By 1915 there were probably less children than in 1865. As I remember there were about 15 to 18 children attending school for all 8 grades.

About the same number of farms were still operating, using horses and no one yet had an auto. Quite a few farms were now selling cream to a creamery, several had orchards and were selling apples and quite a few kept hens. The changes over the years had been moderate.

BLACKSMITH SHOP

by William A. Benton, 2nd.

The "Smith", "A Mighty Man Was He", under his spreading Chestnut Tree. He sure was; Probably the most important artisan in the colonial population, for he produced everything in iron from the women's shears and bobkins to the scythes and sledges for the men.

Every hamlet had its blacksmith shop and larger places had two or more. Even "Clines Corners" had one, right in the junction of the roads, so Newton Reed tells us.

Many even in the small shops, had two forges and kept them busy. Just think of what the blacksmith contributed to this house in which I am sitting, when it was built in 1812; Nails, even lath nails; Door hinges, Latches, Bolts, Andirons, Cranes, Tongs, Shovels, Trivet, Toaster, Door for the Brick Oven, The Peel to take the bread from the oven, Candle sticks, Butcher knives, Toasting fork, Fry pan, Pot hooks, Tramels, Spinning wheel spindles, Hammers, Saws, Axes, Spit and Smoking tongs to transfer a coal from the hearth to light a pipe.

The forges were built of stone or brick about eight feet long and four feet wide, with the chimney standing on one end, with the edge of the hood just about over the twyer, with its pipe back through the foundation of the chimney, to the big bellows which were operated by a long lever.

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1 Bellows 2 Lever 3 Twyer

1=7 4

0 5 4 Anvil 5 Water 6 Coal 7 Chimney

These bellows had a horizontal central frame which was stationary, with the top and bottom halves of the bellows independently movable, up and down. The bottom half had an air valve in the bottom, went down by its own weight and was lifted by the lever.

The top half went down by its own weight to rest on a stop to prevent crushing the side leather.

When the lever was pulled down it raised the bottom half and forced part of the confined air out through the pipe to the "Twyer". The fire on top of the twyer held back some of the air which would raise the top half of the bellows, to be forced back out by the weight of the upper half to keep an even flow at the twyer. Thus intermittent strokes of the lever kept a more or less steady flow of air through the twyer and fire.

Charcoal was used for fuel in the old days before soft coal was available. It was an excellent fuel but required more attention than soft coal.

Forging was an art that required accurate knowledge of the action of iron under different heats, as indicated by the color, and the beating of the iron into required shapes before it cooled to the point where cracks would develop. Think of beating out a pair of shears or a scythe from steel, which requires much more skill and exact heat, than iron, and tempering them to retain cutting edges.

This pounding was hard work and for large pieces there was a helper always ready with a sledge to aid in the forging. This helper struck stiffarmed, that is he did not swing the sledge over his head, as in striking a drill, but used a heavy sledge with short, sharp blows. He had to be good, too, watching the hammer of the forger and striking exactly the same place and at the same angle, alternately with the blows of the forger and must know how hard or how light to strike.

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