Journey into the Wilderness

4th–10th great-grandparents 

(1620s-early 1800s)

I've always enjoyed reading. When I was about nine years old, I devoured Nancy Drew mysteries. In fifth grade, I immersed myself in Greek mythology and astronomy (such as it was back then), and in junior high I read The Last of the Mohicans. I still have my forty-five cent, paperback copy that was published in 1960. My name is written on the front cover in the hand of a brand-new teenager still perfecting her cursive.

In recent years, my reading has shifted from murder mysteries, my preferred genre, to history so I can familiarize myself with places and events in the lives of my ancestors who settled Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Because their experiences varied depending on where and when they lived, I have to search for details using internet sources, county histories, biographies, newspapers, the Library of Congress, and even historical novels.

To create a backdrop for this group of ancestors, it's important to know what they actually encountered in the northeastern portion of the country from the 1620s through the very early 1800s. What did the region look like? What were the challenges? By learning about the places our ancestors walked and the obstacles they had to overcome we, as their descendants, will better understand the depth of their resolve and resourcefulness as they settled the unexplored regions of North America. 

 – THE WILDERNESS –

When our forefathers first stepped on the northeastern shores of what is now the United States, they discovered an unbroken virgin forest of oak and pine. Moving farther inland in the late 1600s, they found an ancient forest that had withstood the forces of nature for countless centuries and was virtually undisturbed by human activity. The diversity of the species – ash, basswood, cottonwood, elm, silver maple, sycamore, and willow – along with their varied sizes, ranging from seedlings to full-grown trees with imposing heights, would have been impressive. 

 

It didn't take long for land-hungry Europeans to spread across the New England province from Canada on the north to what are now New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey on the west and south. There they came upon a seemingly endless hardwood forest containing ash, beech, several species of birch, as well as chestnut, oak, sugar maple, ancient hemlocks, and enormous hickories. In the rich soil of the river valleys they saw pines that towered over the rest of the forest.

 

Little sunlight reached the forest floors. But in some places there were tangles of decaying, fallen giants, where natural events had taken a toll. A hole in the tree canopy above them allowed a patch of sunlight to reach the ground where seedlings, ferns, and other woodland plants could grow in the fertile soil beneath decomposing leaves and branches. Over time, those trees became hollow and covered in moss and fungi, providing places for snails, insects, and small animals to make their homes.

An old-growth European beech forest in Biogradska Gora National Park, Montenegro. (Wikimedia Commons courtesy of User:Tsnena by CC 3.0)

 

 

 

 

  

 

– HARDSHIP AND PERIL IN THE WILDS –

Even though the forests were beautiful, they held untold dangers. The terrain was challenging, consisting of large hills, low mountains, fast-flowing streams, wide rivers, and deep ravines and gorges that made travel slow and difficult. Our ancestors walked narrow game trails and footpaths, carrying or pulling their young children and belongings on litters, often made from sturdy tree branches with a "Y" shape. Until cabins could be built, they slept in the open or under small, crude huts made from interlaced branches covered with leaves. This left them exposed to the elements and the predatory animals – panthers, bears, wolves, and lynx – that roamed the forests. Diseases, such as typhoid fever, caused by unsanitary conditions were not uncommon. Even tuberculosis (also called consumption or the wasting disease) and small pox were present; doctors were scarce.

And, of course, our ancestors had to be vigilant in their watch for human enemies. The ongoing conflicts between the European settlers and Native peoples who had occupied the land for centuries were a serious threat. The Pequot and Mahican (Mohican) tribes in Connecticut, the Patuxet, Wampanoag, and others in Massachusetts, and the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca in New York were just a few who came into conflict with our ancestors.

 

The French played a large part in the perils of the wilderness, as well, because they wanted to maintain and expand their profitable fur trading business farther into the British provinces. The English monarchs wanted land and, among other things, control of the Hudson River and other waterways. The conflicting goals of the European monarchs were the cause of countless battles, much bloodshed, and many atrocities as wars continued off and on for a century in the dense forests of the Hudson-Mohawk River Valley and around Lake George and Lake Champlain. The Indigenous peoples of the region fought with whichever side would benefit them most as they tried to retain possession of their lands. It was a violent time. 

 

– AUTHORS PAINT THE PICTURE –

Sometimes an author describes a setting with such clarity and detail that a vivid image comes to the reader's mind and remains there. Such was the case for me when, a very long time ago, I read The Trees. The author's description of the North American wilderness has stayed with me all this time. That book, along with The Last of the Mohicans and The Pioneers, paint memorable images of what our ancestors saw and experienced as they walked through the primeval forests, worked to settle their families, and overcame obstacles as they pushed westward.

 

– THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS –

When I first thought about writing this post, I knew that James Fenimore Cooper's description of the wilderness and the violence that took place in it during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) would capture the essence of the time. The story centers on events surrounding the August 1757 French siege of Fort William Henry on Lake George in New York.

In the first pages, Cooper describes what French and British forces encountered in the Colonial Wars (1744-1763) fought in the wilds of the Province of New York. Cooper details the forest and hostilities in the following passages:

A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at this side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict.

Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontiers can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods than the country which lies between the head waters of the Hudson and the adjacent lakes. (Cooper, 1)

While, in pursuit of their daring plans of annoyance, the restless enterprise of the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of the Alleghany, it may easily be imagined that their proverbial acuteness would not overlook the natural advantages of the district we have just described. It became, emphatically, the bloody arena in which most of the battles for the mastery of the colonies were contested. (Cooper, 2)

– THE PIONEERS –

 

Written by renowned historian and author, David McCullough, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, was published in 2019. I ran across it in 2020 while searching online for something to read during the early days of the pandemic.

 

The book is a true account of the events leading up to and including the founding and establishment of Marietta, Ohio in 1788; it was the first permanent settlement in the Ohio Territory. McCullough's factual, but far from dry, portrayal of pioneers crossing Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains on their journey to the Ohio Territory brings the experience to life.

The story begins four years after the signing of the 1783 Peace Treaty of Paris, the document that officially ended the Revolutionary War. As a result of that treaty, the U.S. gained 260,000 square miles north and west of the Ohio River. The Northwest (Ohio) Territory was formed from this land in 1788. It included present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

McCullough chronicles five men instrumental in the settlement of Ohio. Among them was Reverend Manasseh Cutler, a minister, self-educated Renaissance man, Yale graduate, and representative to Congress in New York. His efforts ensured the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed. This document allowed the creation of the Northwest Territory. Due to Cutler's lobbying, slavery was explicitly prohibited within it, a free education was available to everyone, and freedom of religion was guaranteed.

 

Left: Reverend Manasseh Cutler (Wikimedia)

 

 

 

Another man central to the cause was General Rufus Putnam, a farmer, surveyor, self-taught engineer, and hero of the Revolution, who led the original group of forty-eight settlers to the Ohio Territory in 1788. Putnam's efforts as a veterans' advocate made it possible for them to receive land in the territory in lieu of cash payment for their service in the war. Putnam's planning, foresight, and leadership eased some of the difficulties on the journey. 

 

Right: General Rufus Putnam (Wikimedia)

 

 − PUTNAM'S TRAVEL PLAN − 

 

Route of the 1937 reenactment of the 1787-88 journey to Ohio led by Rufus Putnam. (Ipswich Historical Society)

 

The original group of men to make the trek to Marietta assembled at Ipswich Hamlet in Massachusetts at the home of Reverend Manasseh Cutler before their journey commenced. They were well-prepared and provisioned. Putnam selected men with a variety of skills to make sure the settlement would have everything it needed to build housing and provide for basic needs; he planned the layout of Marietta prior to the journey.

The first pioneers – forty-eight men including surveyors, carpenters, boat builders, common laborers, and a blacksmith were to go in two parties.

Their tools, one ax and one hoe per man, as well as thirty pounds of baggage, were to be carried in the company wagon. It addition, each man was to furnish himself with one good musket, a bayonet, six flints, powder horn and pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of musket balls, and a pound of buckshot. Wages were $4 a month. (McCollough, 33)

The parties left Massachusetts on December 7, 1787, and would walk nearly 700 miles until, on February 14, they reached Sumerill's Ferry on the banks of the Youghiogheny [yah ∙ kah ∙ gay’ ∙ nee] River, southeast of Pittsburgh. Their December departure from Massachusetts was timed so flatboats could be built at Sumerill's Ferry during late winter and the group could then float down the swollen Ohio River in the spring. They would arrive in Marietta in time to build shelters and clear land before Spring planting.

 

− THE PENNSYLVANIA TOPOGRAPHY CHALLENGE −

The pioneers had to cross the entire state of Pennsylvania during their journey. It isn't the easiest state to traverse, even with today's cars and interstates. The central portion is made up of bands of high, heavily forested mountain ridges that run from southwest to northeast, and mountain peaks with heights of 2,000 feet or more.

Generally, pioneers settling in Pennsylvania, and now Putnam's group, followed the Forbes Road. In 1788, it was a rugged military road. Today parts of the historic Lincoln Highway (US 30) and US 76 roughly follow its route through the state.

In south-central Pennsylvania, Putnam and company faced their first major hurdle in the Alleghenies − they had to cross the daunting Tuscarora Mountain Ridge.

Map showing the Tuscarora Mountain Ridge, the general terrain in Pennsylvania, and the approximate route of Putnam's company [my blue dots and labels]. (Google Maps 2022)

 

Below is a view of the Tuscarora Mountain Ridge from the peak of Big Mountain. With an elevation of 2,459 feet, it's the highest peak on the ridge.

(peakbagger.com - photo by Lane Jefferson, May 4, 2019)

 

In his journal, published as The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam, Putnam described the obstacles the party faced as they crossed Pennsylvania. Due to the terrain and the provisions, baggage, and tools they carried, the men could only travel about ten miles per day. Along the way, the group encountered bad weather, extreme cold and deep snow, causing them to stop to build sleds to carry their supplies. When heavy rain fell after a thaw, the party was unable to move forward, putting them behind schedule. And they still had to cross Chestnut Ridge on the western side of the Alleghenies before they could reach Sumerill's Ferry.

Another instance of the challenges of Pennsylvania's terrain took place in late 1789, when a young man and his new wife decided to join a small party headed for Marietta. The couple was unprepared for what lay ahead.

The journey proved more difficult than they had imagined. At times, crossing the Alleghenies, progress became so slow, their wagons had to be taken apart and the separate pieces carried by hand over impassable barriers of rocks and ledges. (McCullough, 79) 

Often it was safer for travelers to walk rather than ride in a wagon. A passenger would be doomed if a wagon got too close to the edge of a rugged mountain trail and couldn't be righted. There would be no chance of escape if it ultimately overturned and plunged down the side of a mountain.

 

Chestnut Ridge is the westernmost ridge in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. Running for 75 miles from the northeast to the southwest, it extends into northern West Virginia. The ridge has elevations ranging from about 2,100 to 2,400 feet.  (peakbagger.com) [I added the names of the rivers and ridges.]

Chestnut Ridge viewed from Smithfield, Pennsylvania. (Google−Photo by Ryan Stafford, May 2004)

 

− HARDSHIPS IN THE OHIO TERRITORY WILDERNESS −

Left: The arrival of Rufus Putnam and American pioneers to the Northwest Territory at the mouth of the Muskingum River on the Ohio River, on April 7, 1788. (Wikipedia by  User:ColWilliam)

Note the flatboat being tied to a tree stump.

 

 

 

 

Once the settlers arrived at Marietta, the hard work began−several things had to be addressed immediately. Openings had to be cleared in the thick forest so cabins could be built and crops could be planted. Also, because Native tribes in the region still raided settlements kidnapping and sometimes killing settlers, it was imperative that a stockade be built quickly.

McCullough describes the grueling process:

The overriding, immediate tasks were clearing land and building shelter. Though accustomed as most were to hard work, few had had any experience in clearing virgin forests. Sometimes it took one man three to four weeks to chop down a single acre of hard-wooded forest, leaving the stumps in the ground. When it came to the largest of the trees, they had to be "girdled"−a ring of bark cut away around the trunk, so that the sap could not rise−and thus the tree would stand in place and slowly die. Many of the giant surviving stumps were to last for decades.

Huge, accumulating log heaps demanded weeks of laborious attention unless the weather remained dry, which it seldom did. To keep them from rotting, the logs required constant rolling together and re-piling − heavy, dirty work. (McCullough, 44)

But the measureless forest, the gigantic trees of every kind−hickory, beech, sycamore, tulip, ash, buckeye, oaks six feet in diameter that reached fifty feet before breaking out in branches−were the dominating reality. ...And it was the immense task of clearing portions of open space that went on every day but Sunday, men working with "persevering industry." (McCullough, 45-46)

  

Map of the Ohio Country marking battles and massacres between 1775 and 1794. (Wikipedia)

– THE TREES –

The Trees, written by Conrad Richter, was published in June 1940. The bulk of the story is set in the Ohio Territory after the August 20, 1794, Battle of Fallen Timbers that took place in the wilds near present-day Toledo, Ohio. By the end of the battle, General "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his troops had defeated 1,100 warriors from seven tribes led by Miami Chief Little Turtle and Shawnee Chiefs Tecumseh and Blue Jacket. 

 

 

"Charge of the Dragoons at  Fallen Timbers," painted by R. F. Zogbaum for Harper's Magazine, 1895. (Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

One of the main characters in the story is Worth Luckett, a hunter and "woodsy," whose wife, Jary, is "poorly with the slow fever" (tuberculosis). Unlike Worth, she wants to live in a settlement with their five children. At age fifteen, their daughter, Sayward, is the eldest. I read this book at least four decades ago but I still remember Richter's description of the wilderness through the eyes of Sayward Luckett.

Early in the story, Worth tells Jary that game has left the woods around the small settlement where they live in western Pennsylvania. He's determined to move the family to the Ohio Territory where he can follow its plentiful game; there would be few settlements. The move meant the family would have to walk a great distance through a dark, never-ending forest filled with enormous trees.

In their journey, the Lucketts came to a fork in the trail. Worth tells Jary the left fork goes through the forest and the right fork leads to "Sandusky and the English seas." Jary once again makes her preference for living in a settlement known, but to no avail.

In the end they took the lefthand fork, and the light faded from Jary's face. All that day and the next the forest continued to thicken. None but Worth had ever laid eyes on such trees. A black walnut stood along the trace and three of them couldn't reach around it. No, they had to get a fourth to span it. Still bigger buttonwoods stood rooted on a creek's bank. Worth reckoned the heaviest close to fifteen feet through. He bragged he could drive two yoke of oxen past each other and never get off that stump.

Jary's face had gone cruelly bleak at the talk of oxen in this wild place. She peered dully at the nameless stream. The giant trees reached over it and covered it from either side. Even in the middle the water looked dark as old Virginia tobacco.

"Ain't it got sun in these woods, Worth?" she complained, her eyes hard on him like her enemy. (Richter, 16) 

In this passage, the family has come upon a ridge. Sayward describes the view of the wilderness from above:

They rounded a high ridge. A devil's racecourse cleared the air of limbs below. Here was something Worth had not told them about.

For a moment Sayward reckoned that her father had fetched them unbeknownst to the Western ocean and what lay beneath was the late sun glittering on green-black water. Then she saw that what they looked down on was a dark, illimitable expanse of wilderness. It was a sea of solid treetops broken only by some gash where deep beneath the foliage an unknown stream made its way. As far as the eye could reach, this lonely forest sea rolled on and on till its faint blue billow broke against an incredibly distant horizon. (Richter, 8) 

 

– REFLECTIONS –

For a great number of our ancestors, the thought of venturing into the unexplored forests of the northeastern regions of the country would be an experience to be savored, even with the many risks involved. Others, like Jary Luckett, preferred to put down roots and stay in one place. Whichever they chose, the basic needs of food and shelter made it necessary for our ancestors to clear land in order to survive. Because of this, the forests were not viewed as something to be admired for their beauty. They were viewed as obstacles.

And so it happened that, as our European ancestors and their descendants moved westward clearing land for their homes and crops, they slowly and surely deforested the North American landscape. Despite their dreams and resilience during the early days of America, one thing is certain. We will never see the like of that vast wilderness again − deep, dark forests with immense, centuries-old trees measuring over six feet through.

 

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– THOUGHTS FROM THOREAU & A MODERN NATURALIST –

 

Henry David Thoreau was an environmental naturalist, essayist, and philosopher. His book, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, first published in 1854, is a reflection on his life at Walden Pond where he lived in solitude for two years. In the chapter entitled, "Spring," Thoreau says this:

We can never have enough of Nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander. (Thoreau, 339)

 

 

 

Nearly 170 years later in the 2018 film, The Lost Forests of New England − Eastern Old Growth, Bob Leverett, co-founder of the Native Tree Society, expressed a similar sentiment:

It's clear to me that, within our evolutionary path, nature was an absolute base of our understanding and experience. I wouldn't want to underplay its importance to the human spirit. (Asselin, 54:08)

 

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– FURTHER READING –

Take a look at the first installment of a two-part series on the history of North American forests by writer and professional photographer, Whit Bronaugh, and you’ll want to keep reading. 

• Part 1: “North American Forests in the Age of Nature,” (Spring 2012 issue of American Forests) 
  

• Part 2: "North American Forests in the Age of Man," (Summer 2012 issue of American Forests)

 

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– DIG A LITTLE DEEPER –

Those who live in proximity to western Pennsylvania are fortunate to have some old-growth forests nearby. While they aren't nearly as old or large as the virgin forests our ancestors traveled through, visiting them will provide a sense of what our predecessors discovered. 

Right: East Fork Run, McKean County, within the Tionesta Research Natural Area of Allegheny National Forest. The Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Areas encompass 4,000-plus acres of old-growth forest.

The forest is magnificent; however, the combined effects of beech bark disease and weather disturbances (particularly the May 1985 tornado) have greatly opened the forest canopy. (Wikimedia Commons by Nicholas T. via Flicker CC BY 2.0)

 

Nestled within a small 120-acre area of the Allegheny National Forest, some of the largest old-growth trees in North American grow alongside an easily accessible, one mile trail. The Heart's Content Recreation Area is home to a white pine that is more than 900 cubic feet, as well as a 300-year-old hemlock and beech. This preserve is a great way to view an old, beautiful forest and its wildlife without traipsing deep within a wild area. (American Forests)

Left: Heart's Content Recreation Area, Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania (Nicholas A. Tonelli via Flickr)

**Scroll through Nick's beautiful album on Flickr to get a sense of what our ancestors saw. "Old-Growth Forests - Pennsylvania, northwest New Jersey, and northeast Ohio." 

 

Right: Mossy fallen logs in Hawk Woods, Riddle State Nature Preserve, Athens County, Ohio.

(Wikimedia Commons, photo by John Knouse, 2004 CC BY 3.0)  

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SOURCES

Asselin, Ray, producer and narrator. The Lost Forests of New England – Eastern Old Growth. A New England Forests film, March 15, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi12xaJxA5U, retrieved July 7, 2022. Images courtesy of Fisher Museum at Harvard Forest, Wellcome Library, London, D & R Beefalo Farm, Nick Allen.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans: a narrative of 1757. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1919. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/lastofmohicansna00coop/page/n5/mode/2up, retrieved July 10, 2022.

 

McCullough, David. The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West. Simon & Schuster, 2019. ISBN 978-1-5011-6869-7.

 

Richter, Conrad. The Trees. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1955: . Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/trees000rich/page/n9/mode/2up, retrieved June 29, 2022. 

Thoreau, Henry D. Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854: 339. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/waldenorlifeinwo1854thor/page/n3/mode/2up, retrieved July 31, 2022.

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Bradish-Scott Family History – July/August 2022