by Steer, William G.

See previous entry: Little Home Histories, Part 75 -- The James Stanton Home, 1837-.

When my father, James Steer, bought the grandfather William Green's farm, he also bought the stock which included three yoke of oxen and twenty-five head of three-year-old colts. He sold the latter at public sale the same year and kept the oxen for a few years. He employed a black man by the name of Sam Betts to drive them.

One of the first jobs was to have the sills for the barn hauled. They were twelve by twelve and sixty feet long, and came from the "Billy" Doudna farm on Sandy Ridge. Another thing of importance was to deliver the stone for the first bank vault built in Barnesville in 1865.

The oxen were so well trained that the driver could turn the team and wagon on Main street and not leave the sidewalk. At one time father hauled three loads of coal, one hundred bushels in each, to Barnesville, in one day. The coal digger helped him to load it.

In hauling coal to number two school house, he only used one yoke of oxen. After getting up the long steep hill and crossing the railroad with seventy bushels he stalled on the track. After going to the rear wheel, with his lifting, helped the oxen to get across the track. The outcome to this incident caused a report to be circulated that father had lifted seventy bushels of coal over the crossing.

In his prime, it was said that he was the strongest man in the township.

The names of three yoke were Jo and Jerry, Buck and Berry, and Bill and Barney.

See next entry: Little Home Histories, Part 77 -- Anecdotes Written by William G. Steer: Tramping Out Grain.

For the table of contents and first entry in this series, please see: Little Home Histories, Part 01 -- Table of Contents and Introduction.

This entry is adapted from Little Home Histories in Our Early Homes, Belmont County, Ohio, which was published in 1942. Its publication was coordinated by Robert D. and Beulah Patten McDonald. This entry has been reedited for inclusion in the Pierian Press Fulltext eBooks database, and is included on the Stratton House Inn Website by special permission. This entry is licensed for use ONLY on this Website. It may be used for educational purposes and personal pleasure under fair-use provisions via this Website. Please note that the Stratton House Inn iteration of this entry does NOT include the subject headings assigned each chapter for use in the Fulltext eBooks database.

DATABASE: Fulltext eBooks: Copyright (c) 2002 The Pierian Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ENTRY NUMBER: EBK30013776

	Top			Link to this page