GOUGHNOUR, Family History

GOUGHNOUR

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 2/6/2006 at 15:25:31

"The Fairfield Ledger",
November 9, 1904
Page 5, Column 2

HISTORY OF A PIONEER FAMILY.

Having lost nearly all his property in the panic of 1837, David GOUGHNOUR, sr., a sturdy mechanic, with wife and eight children, four boys and four girls, concluded to go to the great west to try his fortune. Taking a canal boat at Johnstown, which at that early date was the only way of public travel except by stage coach, they arrived at Pittsburgh, boarded a steamboat named Walnut Hills, which carried them down the Ohio River to its confluence with the Mississippi and up that stream to their destination. In those days racing on that river was an exciting feature of a trip, and often attended with serious results. Soon after leaving Cairo and starting up the Mississippi a small steamer came out of a port on the west side of the river, heading directly for our craft and in the same direction, and it was given out on our boat that a race was on. This fact was soon made apparent to all on board from the increased speed and the wonderful exertions of the firemen in feeding those old boilers, not only with the ordinary fuel then used but by throwing hundreds of pounds of bacon to increase the heat in the furnaces. All was excitement. The old boat quivered and shook like a leaf in a windstorm, to such an extent that the passengers became alarmed for fear of an accident. After about two hours of this excitement our boat gained very materially on the other, and, either giving up the chase or for some other reason, it struck for a landing nearby, and all on our boat were very thankful that the race was at an end with nothing more serious than a big scare.

The family arrived safely at Burlington on April 28th, 1844, stopped for a short time near that place and then moved to Libertyville, Jefferson County, where all lived for many years, some still being residents of this county. After arriving at Libertyville the father and mother took stock of their worldly possessions, which consisted of one hundred dollars in silver and a few household goods, among which was an old style loom that later was a means of very materially assisting the family in making a living. The father soon bought forty acres of raw prairie land near this village, built a small house and improved as circumstances would admit. The family moved to its new home and began life anew. Times were hard, money scarce, and little work to be had at any wages, but the father got such as could be had and the mother used the old loom in making such cloth as was used in those days. The girls worked out. The older boys, eleven and thirteen years of age, hired out to shuck corn at 15 cents per day, payable not in money but in corn. This low wage, however, was in part compensated for by the fact that corn was only worth 5 cents per bushel, thus giving the boys three bushels per day, and I assure you (for I was one of them) that they thought they had struck it big. And so in fact it was in some respects, as corn helped materially in supplying their wants as food, as well as to feed the crumply horned cow, on which the family depended for milk. So from year to year they all bent their best energies in trying to get on in the world. A daughter died in 1847, a son in 1851, and the father in 1850 and the mother in 1873. Six children remain and on September 21st of the present year they met with one of the sisters in Polk County in a family reunion, and I doubt if a more pleasant meeting was ever had by any family in this state or any other. The combined ages of the six survivors is 423 years, much more, I judge, than is generally allotted to one family of that number, proving the value of correct living, industry and sobriety. None make any pretensions to great riches, but all are independent and well to do, and have no fears of being subjected to the cold charity of the world in their declining years. Many strange and interesting incidents could be related about the hardships and privations of some of the survivors, but as this article is not intended for any such purpose, I close by saying that the above family is that of David GOUGHNOUR, sr., of Johnstown, Pa., who settled in Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1844.