Not every pioneer woman of early Jefferson was obliged to fight wolves, flee from Indians on the war-path or shoot panthers from her backyard. Not but what pioneer woman had hardships and went without many things that women of today class as necessities, yet they enjoyed giving the feminine touch to the home life. May some of them spent more time in that manner than some of their sisters do today.

Take the case of Mrs. Almira Barnes Lull, the first school teacher of Theresa who became the wife of the first merchant of the settlement of High Falls, later Theresa. From her early home in central New York she brought to the new settlement a taste for refinement that was truly wholesome. Her parents, the Barnes, located down towards the St. Lawrence river at what is known as Barnes Settlement, the place is named for them -- and it was there that Miss Barnes spent a little time before coming to Theresa, to become the bride of Ebenezer Lull, merchant.

Mrs. Lull has two grandchildren in this village, the Misses Helen and Annie Bearup, and their home has many a rich memento saved and cherished from the pioneer days. One can spend hours in this home viewing some of the choice work of feminine hands of many years ago.

Probably one of the finest counter-panes in the north is to be found in the Bearup home, treasured as the work of Almira Barnes, who spent months working it out to completion just previous to her marriage in July, 1821. One cannot describe the fine work in this counter-pane. It would indeed be an object of great interest and value in its day. Now it is even more valuable. All over this heavy counter-pane are thousands of small stitches that were used in working intricate figures. The design gives on the idea of a land of plenty, for in the very center is the horn-of-plenty out of which flow flowers and fruit. All about this figure is an intricate border and then one finds more fruit and more flowers until the outside border is reached. In this outer border one finds cluster after cluster of grapes, with the leaves of the vine.

All of these designs are tufted, the soft cloth figures being raised and filled with cotton or wool so that they stand out with fleece-white lightness.

And in the outside border, in an artistic design, one notes in a rather small inscription the name of the maker, “Almira Barnes, Alexandria, 1821.”) Theresa was a part of the town of Alexandria, when the counter-pane was made. How this young lady found time with her school teaching, home work and many other duties, in a pioneer home, to make this splendid creation of the quilt-maker’s art, one can hardly see. She must have been months and months at it.

This young bride had many a battle to fight to keep her little family together and provide them with the comforts of life. Her young husband, merchant and dealer in lumber for the Montreal markets, lost his life only six years after their marriage. He was taking a raft of timbers down the St. Lawrence and encountered a storm as they entered the Lachine rapids. The raft broke up. The merchant in an effort to save his property was thrown in the cold waters and died soon after.

Yet this young wife maintained her home, brought up her children to respected man and womanhood and lived to be 90 years of age. She was one of the first to join the Methodist church at Theresa.

But one soon learns, when in the Bearup home, that they have other priceless possessions handed down from early days and that the family history runs back through a line of pioneers who helped build this nation. They show a wonder quilt, with birds and fruit and flowers, all in natural colors, applied and worked on, and this starts the story of the brave woman on the Lull side of the household who had plenty of trouble with the Indians and made for herself a name immortal. She stands out as a heroine for when a girl she tasted the bitter things of life in Cherry Valley.

Her maiden name was Martha Knapp and she was born at Nine Partners that is a strange name given to a village, in the year 1762. When Martha was eleven years old her parents moved to a wilderness section of Cherry Valley. It took every one at their task each day to clear away the forest. Martha was as busy as the rest. When she was 13 years of age her father was so busy about his work of getting up buildings that the daughter proposed she would operate the sugar bush. They needed the sugar for household use. The surplus could be traded at the store for merchandise. In making sugar she had four kettles to tend. It was busy work, but she did it alone. She was wise about the dangers of the woods. Her father had told her never to run if wolves approached her at her work. She was to snatch burning brands with which to make war upon them. They would not remain long to bother if a few got burned, if indeed they would come close enough to burning wood to get burned.

Martha always remembered the day she heard wolves in the distant, a pack probably running in search of prey. She wished they had come earlier in the day as it would now be dangerous for her to start for home. But she got into action at once. She grabbed some burning brands with which to meet them. They seemed to be coming nearer. She wondered how many there might be in the pack. There she was along in the woods, swinging her burning brands. It seemed a long time for her to wait their approach. Suddenly she heard a sound in the opposite direction. Badly frightened she turned to see what new danger was approaching her. She rejoiced to see two youths who were filled with amazement at the lone girl making ready to fight a pack of wolves.

It was a delightful meeting for Martha. Soon she had their story. The youths were, so they told her, new in the neighborhood. Their father was Benjamin Lull who had just come to the settlement to take up lands. The two boys, the one named Joseph did the talking, thought towards the end of the day they would go out on an exploration trip to see what the country was like. They had smelt the smoke from the sugar bush fire so turned to see who was in the neighborhood. About that time the sound of the wolves came. In the distance they saw a form with firebrands waving. As they came nearer they could hardly believe their eyes to see that it was a lone girl who was standing ready to fight.

They warmly commended her for her brave work. They proposed they go with her to her home, feeling she would be safer than going alone. So Joseph and Martha visited much on the way to the house. They seemed to be well acquainted when Martha introduced the boys to her parents as some of the new neighbors who had come to reside in the Valley. It is not strange that Joseph came back often to see a girl so brave and resourceful.