Herbs, Roots and Barks Were

Remedies of North Pioneers

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By ERNEST C. COOK

“When I was a boy,” said Wellington Smith, merchant at Theresa, formerly of Lafargeville, “I used to like to go to my Grandmother Tuttle’s home on the banks of Mullet Creek at Tanner’s Corners, near Omar, just to have her tell me stories of pioneer days. She would relate how my grandfather, Jeremiah Tuttle, used to be busy gathering herbs, roots and barks to make his home-made medicines, which he thought were the only kind to doctor with.

“Grandma Tuttle was a daughter in the pioneer Tanner family, the first to make a clearing at Tanner’s Corners, Ashley Tanner had the first hotel and store in the place and they say that Ashley and Benjamin Tanner had to shovel snow for five miles when they came through the woods in the spring to start their settlement on the banks of Mullet creek.

“When Grandma Tuttle would be weaving I would stand at her side and beg her to stop long enough to tell me just one story of how they settled in the woods there. I never tired of her telling how they built a log house but did not have time to put on a door before they started living in the cabin. They hung a big blanket at the opening and trusted that no wild beast would enter nights when they were sleeping.

“One night, however, grandma felt something on her cheek and called out to grandfather. Grandfather arose from his side of the bed, took the candle, lighted it from coals in the fireplace and returned to the bedroom to find that a bear cub was reaching up and licking grandma’s face with its tongue, having entered the cabin when they were sleeping.

“Grandfather Tuttle was probably one of the best known of the pioneer doctors in the new settlement and traveled for miles on horseback to visit the sick. He made all of his medicine, feeling there was a plant to cure every ill. His sheds were filled with plants drying and ready for use. Every bit of his spare time he would be out in the fields and woods looking for plants and gathering all he could to have them stored away for future use.

“Another story Grandmother used to tell was that of Grandfather living among the Indians to learn how they used herbs to cure sickness. That was when he was a younger man and he was anxious to learn all he could about plants and their medical uses. He had been with the Indians for some time, feeling happy over the facts he had learned and was making ready to leave. He had selected some of their choice herbs to take with him, but some of the young Indians felt that he had gained too much knowledge at their expense. They did not propose to let him leave with so much inside knowledge and suggested that he be killed to stop the spread of their secret cures.

Grandpa Tuttle did not think they were serious in their threats, until a small band of young Indians surrounded him and prepared to strike him down. He saw no help, for they would not reason with him, and feeling that all was lost he thought of only one escape. He gave the Masonic sign of distress and to his surprise an old Chief, who was just approaching, commanded the young braves to stop. Grandfather never knew whether the old Chief recognized the sign or whether he was against the proceedings anyhow.

“I remember one plant grandpa thought of great value was the lobelia, found growing in many parts of that section. He claimed that it was a cure for certain ills and so I used to as a boy gather all I could for grandma to use. But there was also the sarsaparilla used each spring for a tonic and I think that about every pioneer family had it, made in one way or another.

“Grandma Tuttle used to think that the very best was made by taking sap from the maple trees mixture (sic) it with bark from the black cherry, rhubarb, wintergreen and other oils and roots, including sarsaparilla and I suppose sassafras. Before the mixture got too thick, it was bottled and it made a spring cure-all to bring new life to those suffering with the spring fever.

“Of course grandfather made ointments, salves and these were in general use. Why, in my day, several men were regular callers at our home to sell their home made salves and ointments. I remember a Mr. Schermerhorn who used to call regularly and my people thought his salve a most excellent cure for cuts and bruises. But, after all, I think Grandfather Tuttle had as good a knowledge of plants and herbs as any I ever heard of who doctored in pioneer days. It seemed so wonderful what these homemade remedies would do and there must have been value to them. I wished I had learned more about them when as a boy I listened to my grandmother tell of their use.”