"Ague, Ague, day after day, that’s what brought us from Indiana into Richland County." So spoke Moses Bible, of Westford Township, when we asked him why his parents came to Richland County. We don’t suppose that the Bible family thought much of the ague with its chills and fever, but we can give it credit for one thing and that is it was one of the main reasons for the family coming into Richland County. A fine family it was, and is. The early pioneers and their sons and grandchildren have proven worthy citizens.
When we were at the farm of Moses Bible not long since we found that venerable gentleman supervising the laying of some rock as a foundation beneath a shed. Mr. Bible was directing the young man doing the work and no doubt but that the young man learned a valuable lesson in masons work.
Mr. Bible will be 90 years old in September and has lived upon the same farm for 82 years. His father was also named Moses. He was a native of Tennessee and was born in April 7, 1808. He remained in Tennessee until 1846 when he moved to Indiana by team. In 1855, again by teams, they came to Richland County. Moses Bible, the son, was seven years of age when his parent came to Wisconsin. They cam by team and brought three or four head of cows. The Bible family was accompanied by two other families, Zachi Clary and Johnathan Smelcer.
This was in the fall of 1855. There was an old log shack on the land entered by the father. In it was hardly room for the whole family to gather at one time but they managed some how and the next summer a large two story log cabin was erected. This log house still stands but is used as a workshop. The old fireplace serves as a blacksmith forge. Upstairs we noticed a couple of old fashioned grain cradles while out in a nearby shed was a handmade harrow and a handmade plow of the model of about 1860, we should judge.
Mr. Bible told us that it took about six weeks for the trip from Indiana to Wisconsin. It was in the fall that the family landed at the spot which was to be the future home. The horses and cows browsed around for food but when winter set in there was nothing to feed the stock. They picked what little they could find and basswood shoots were gathered in the forest and fed to the stock through the winter.
Food for the family was scarce the first winter. Game of all kinds was plentiful in the woods but what supplies were brought from Indiana had to serve during the winter. The next year a bit of corn was raised and from then on Mr. Bible says it was corn, corn, corn. Wheat bread was a great luxury indeed. They would get to see some in a while; but it would have to be Christmas or the Fourth of July to have it on the table. However the family, hardy pioneers that they were, managed to weather the cold days and these hardships which they endured proved to benefit them and their were "built upon the land and not upon the sand".
"Money" said Mr. Bible, "was a scarce article. We raised nothing to sell and the only way we could get money was to dig ginseng. The whole family, nine of us, father and mother and us seven children dug ginseng early and late. We sold it down the valley to a Mr. Moody and were paid $0.25 a pound or $0.06 a pound green. We couldn’t starve to death waiting for the roots to dry so most of it sold for $0.06. To dig a pound of ginseng and market it for six cents was a lot of work."
The original farm was 160 acres but Mr. Bible has added to it and so he owns 332 acres which is enough for any 90 year old to manage.
In the old log house the first religious services of that vicinity were held and now down the valley about a quarter of a mile away from the log house stands the Concord Church and in the cemetery across the road were laid to rest the early pioneers, their children and grandchildren.
Mr. Bible told us that his father once traded horses with a man down Loyd way. For his horse, Mr. Bible got a mare and 30 bushels of rye and 5 bushels of wheat to boot. The horse secured in the trade, unknown to Mr. Bible, was a balky one. However it was soon broken of its balkiness and proved a good worker. It mothered 15 or 16 fine colts and died of old age.
Blazed trails were through the woods from neighbor to neighbor farm, no roads, just a path through the forest. Today a gravel road winds up the valley, an electric light line is close at hand, a telephone line passes the door and overhead airplanes drone now and then. A far cry from the days when they had to feed the cattle basswood shoots.
"You know" said Mr. Bible, "if I were to tell you just how the pioneers had to live, what they had to eat and wear those who didn’t know would think I was telling a great big lie." Mr. Bible knows it is true and so do we from the lips of many we have heard the same story.
Mr. Bible lives alone, except for the hired help, does the cooking, houseword and is kept busy with other tasks.
Pioneers like Mr. Bible, in a few years, will have passed from the scene of action but they have worthy successors. The children of Mr. Bible are Mrs. Hetty Anderson, Mrs. Vieve Hess, Fred and Bert Bible of Cazenovia vicinity, and Fannie Huffman of Akan.
We should, meaning you, visit these pioneers more frequently, for it has been by their hard work, their hopes and their good citizenship that you and I are now enjoying the luxuries denied them but mad possible by such worthy folks as the Bible family.
A family reunion is to be held on the Bible farm on the last Saturday in June, which is the 25th, where descendants of those that ague chased out of Indiana will gather together.