Until 1837 there was no county government and crime was almost unknown and civil contention was unheard of. More civilization and a monetary economy were to bring those evils and many more to us later.

The first houses were built of logs and had dirt floors. Later on floors were made of puncheons, which are hand-hewed slabs of wood. The settlers were very generous in dealing with each other and if one had some money or goods or anything another one wanted, he would loan to him usually without the formality of taking even a note.

Now that the preliminaries have been covered I will take each ten-year period and describe what changes it brought.

1840 TO 1849

From 1837 settlement became more rapid. Furs and hides were still the main crop. In the late '30's small patches of cotton began to be raised for home use and the cotton was separated from the seed by hand and carded and spun into cloth.

As one person by working hard all day could separate one pound of cotton from the seed, it can be seen how slow this process was.

The pioneer had to be a farmer, a stockman, a carpenter, a blacksmith and a shoemaker and many other things. Hides had to be tanned for leather and many other tasks performed which are now done in factories.