OLD HOMESTEAD 



He had early been taught to do every kind of farm and 

 woods work, was handy with all kinds of tools, and had a ca- 

 pacity for doing work which is seldom possessed or acquired by 

 any one. He was not what would be called a ''jack at all 

 trades and master of none," but was a natural mechanic, who 

 acquired considerable skill in many different trades without 

 serving any apprenticeship other than that which necessity and 

 circumstances placed upon him, as well as an athletic, strong 

 man, capable of enduring the hardest and coarsest labor. No 

 job was so difficult but that he could see some way through it; 

 no task so hard but that he had energy to undertake it if cir- 

 cumstances demanded. He did not have to go to school to 

 learn the properties and powers of the lever, wedge or screw. 

 No one ever saw him try to lift a big log or rock by taking hold 

 of the short end of the handspike. He seemed to know in- 

 tuitively how to take advantage of anything that he had to lift 

 or move, and used his brains as well as his strength. Deft and 

 handy, he was also strong, and a continuous use of his strength 

 made and kept him so as long as he lived. 



He concluded that the manufacture of potash might be a re- 

 munerative business. The town was clearing up rapidly, the 

 timber had to be burned to get rid of it, and by saving the ashes 

 from this burned timber, as well as the ashes made in the house, 

 they had the material for the manufacture of the potash, with 

 the exception of lime, which was easily obtained. Potash in 

 those times was very salable, as the various chemical com- 

 pounds now used as substitutes therefor had not then been dis- 

 covered. Acting upon this idea, he established on his farm 

 what was known as the old potashery, near the creek, where 

 later on was built the lower milldam, the ruins of which appear 

 in the cut just above "Pork-Barrel Rock." 



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