Samantha Pattison Hough

From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.

SAMANTHA PATTISON HOUGH*

Samantha Pattison, daughter of James and Mary Glendy Pattison, was born in Saluda Township, Jefferson County, Indiana, January 12, 1843. Her family was of Scotch Irish descent and her father came from Ohio around 1839. The Glendy family moved to Scott County in 1844 and the Pattisons to Jefferson County. Mr. Glendy was a farmer and had a family of nine children, six of whom lived to maturity.

Mrs. Hough's earliest recollections were of running away to her Grandmother Pattison's and of being hooked off of the fence by a cow. They lived in a log house with little furniture other than beds and cooking utensils. They cooked in the fireplace and her mother, who was famous for her cream biscuits and coffee which often was carried to sick neighbors, cooked in the fireplace. They had plenty of cornbread and her mother wove goods for their clothing.

The first school Samantha attended was at Concord in Scott County. John Spencer was her first teacher and there were fifty to sixty pupils of all ages. The building was an old fashioned frame used for church as well as school. She first used a primer and later studied reading, spelling, writing and arithmetic.

Her first church was the Old Seceder Presbyterian Church in Clark County, called Greyfriars, and the next was at Carmel. Moses Arnot and Reverend Brown were the first ministers that she recalls. Other early churches were the Hebron Baptist and the Concord Christian Church. The Concord church moved to Lexington, although it later was rebuilt at Concord.

She attended wool pickings, and play parties, and quiltings. Some of the games played were "Marching Down to Old Quebec," "Old Sister Phoebe," "Thimbler," "Weevly Wheat," and "Whiste in the Key."

MARCHING DOWN TO OLD QUEBEC

We're marching down to Old Quebec,

Where the drums are loudly beating;

The Americans have gained the day,

And the British are retreating.

CHORUS

The wars are o'er and we'll turn back,

To the place from whence we started;

Open the ring and choose a couple in,

To relieve the broken hearted.

OLD SISTER PHOEBE

Old Sister Phoebe, how merry were we,

The night we sat under the green sugar tree.

So rise you up, sister, go choose you a man,

The fairest and best that ever you can.

(To Boy)

Oh, Brother Sonny, how merry were we,

The night we sat under the Juniper Tree.

So rise you up, Brother, go choose you a wife,

The fairest and best you can for your life.

(To Girl)

Take this hat on your head to keep your head warm,

And take a sweet kiss, it will do you no harm.

It will do you no harm I know, I know.

It will do you no harm, I know.

They also attended dances doing the Cotillion, Polka, Schottische, Virginia Reel, Eight Handed Reel, Singing Schools, Spelling Matches, etc. Songs included "Amboy," "When Marshalled on the Nightly Plain," "Barbara Allen," "Lord Thomas." The singing master at Greenbrair was Stephen Miller who used a tuning fork and hand shaped notes.

Samantha and her friends rode horseback everywhere, the girls using the side saddle. They wore plaid flannel, linsey and delaine in the Winter and calico, lawn and jaconnette in warmer weather. They also wore mozabique which was $.40 per yard at the time and they mixed linen, bombazine (fine, soft wool) and chaille delaine. Samantha never wore a plain white dress in her life but her dresses were made at home and were long, reaching to the ground. The women wore hustles, tilters and hoops, the first hoops being made at home from green brairs, grapevines and rattan. Later they wore skeleton steel hoops, a full set costing $1.50.

Samantha at times recalled a number of girls who were wearing steel hoops who were caught in a thunder storm and, fearing the steel would attract lighting, they took refuge in a store, where they remained until the storm was over, to the amusement of the men and boys gathered there.

The women also wore quilted petticoats and wool skirts in the Winter and several petticoats of muslin in the Summer, with pantalettes which fastened around the knee. Their dresses had tight waists and, later infant waists, calico sacques, hair nets with tassels made from silk cord and Shetland wool, cloth gaiters with rubber insides for summer, heavy calf skin shoes without overshoes. They colored cloth by using indigo, madder, butternut (using a layer of wool and a layer of bark), aniline and cochineal.

Samantha's father and neighbors cut trees and had log rollings to clear the land. The principal crop was corn and the children helped plant corn and cultivate it and the girls in particular assisted the women with housework.

She married Alex Hough on September 25, 1867, and began housekeeping on the Hough farm two miles east of Lexington. Their furniture included stoves, beds, a table and homemade split-bottomed chairs made by Daniel Hough -- a cabinet maker who lived on an adjoining farm and who also made clock frames, bureaus and chairs. Her first bureau, made by Dave Wilson about 1850, is still in the family. This first log house had two rooms and a porch.

Samantha and Alex had seven children, four of whom survived -- Eugene, Royal, Louis and Vincent. They lived all their married lives in Scott County. In 1892 they moved from the Lexington area to Scottsburg and, with the exception of a few years spent on the farm, made Scottsburg their home until their deaths.

*Permila Boyd

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